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0 pointsalistairSH2y ago0 comments

you need to reserve and pay for a cleaning crew as if it was always a disaster.

Yet hotels manage this fine - it's just baked into the price.

I don't have a problem paying a cleaning fee. I just don't want to pay the fee AND be required to do 90% of the cleaning myself.

I'm happy to put the dishes in and then start the dishwasher. I'm not going to wait around for it to finish and then put them away. I'm happy to pile the used towels and bedding in a single spot, but I'm not going to do the laundry. I'll pick up any trash and wipe down the kitchen, but I'm not going to take out the trash or do a deep clean of the kitchen. Etc.

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cameldrv2y ago

This is the fundamental problem with AirBnb as a business instead of a side gig. The hotel has massive economies of scale in cleaning and other things, because they have dozens of rooms on site. If one room gets totally trashed, they just won’t use that one until they get around to cleaning it. If a guest checks out late or wants to extend their stay, they just put the next guest in a different room.

Also the cleaning crew is already on site. People are always checking out and checking in. The crew just pushes their cart to the next room instead of driving across town, packing and unpacking all of their stuff, and making sure to hit a precise time window between checkout and checkin.

dawnerd2y ago

This may be true for hosts with one property but it's becoming more and more common for management companies to own a lot of properties on airbnb. The whole economies of scale have been figured out.

alistairSHOP2y ago

It's really kind of wild. We rented a house on the Chesapeake Bay last summer. Newly remodeled (was very run down the year before - we've visited this town several times) with decent finishes. The manager runs a little real estate empire, either owning or managing rentals all along the I-64 corridor in VA (VA Beach through the Blue Ridge). She also runs a consulting business for people looking to get into the vacation home ownership game.

I used to dream about owning a vacation home, but my parents bought a beach house about 15 years ago. They'd rent it peak season, but keep it for family use on the shoulders through winter. It was fun for a few years, but eventually the constant upkeep and expense wore them down and they sold it. Renters can be real animals - constant stream of broken furniture, stolen kitchenware and decorations, and just plain weird stuff like broken bathroom mirrors. Really opened my eyes, at least to a money-making rental property.

alistairSHOP2y ago

Absolutely, there's a lot more risk in renting a single unit vs a hotel. The fees should be higher. The check-in/check-out timing should be stricter and with more time in between. Etc.

nick12r55t12y ago

My wife and I have an airbnb and this is exactly how we structure our check-out. It still costs $250 per turnover for a reliable cleaning crew to come and clean the 3br, 3ba two level house.

temporarara2y ago

$250 sounds like a lot of cleaning, multiple hours of cleaning by one person for sure, of course depending on your location. But that really gotta be some mansion or your customers are really the absolute worst if that's always required. Meanwhile my friend who does this stuff changes the sheets and towels and wipes the tables together with some light vacuuming and that's basically it, only a few times per year he does a more thorough cleaning. And he does it by himself since he has reasoned that he wants to check the apartment personally every time it's used anyway and he can carry those operations at the same time since it takes something like half an hour to do so.

mistrial92y ago

that number is almost useless without context .. a dozen things factor into that, and the incentives, local labor market etc

nick12r55t12y ago

Sure, and so is the $200 number in the first-level parent comment.

groggo2y ago

I think that's all pretty fair.

Put dishes in the dishwasher and start. Strip the beds. Pick up trash, quick counter wipe down.

Only difference is the trash which could just be an issue if the host isn't coming for a little while.

These should all be common sense. I don't think I've ever been asked for much more than that. Cleaning fee is for deep clean and general turnover. Maybe it should just be called the "flat-fee" though.

Hotels are literally factories for this. The fixed effort per stay is much different in a home.

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cameldrv2y ago

dawnerd2y ago

This may be true for hosts with one property but it's becoming more and more common for management companies to own a lot of properties on airbnb. The whole economies of scale have been figured out.

alistairSHOP2y ago

Absolutely, there's a lot more risk in renting a single unit vs a hotel. The fees should be higher. The check-in/check-out timing should be stricter and with more time in between. Etc.

nick12r55t12y ago

My wife and I have an airbnb and this is exactly how we structure our check-out. It still costs $250 per turnover for a reliable cleaning crew to come and clean the 3br, 3ba two level house.

temporarara2y ago

mistrial92y ago

that number is almost useless without context .. a dozen things factor into that, and the incentives, local labor market etc

nick12r55t12y ago

Sure, and so is the $200 number in the first-level parent comment.

groggo2y ago

I think that's all pretty fair.

Put dishes in the dishwasher and start. Strip the beds. Pick up trash, quick counter wipe down.

Only difference is the trash which could just be an issue if the host isn't coming for a little while.

Hotels are literally factories for this. The fixed effort per stay is much different in a home.

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