Airbnb Cleaning Fees: 2 foolproof ways to increase your bookings using them

Did you know you can drastically increase your bookings if you intelligently use Airbnb cleaning fees? The first-time host often sets this cleaning fee as a way to pass on their costs to guests, although there are smarter ways to use them. Today you'll discover these techniques that will boost the profitability of your tourist accommodation.

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What are Airbnb cleaning fees?

If the cleaning service costs me €25 per tourist apartment, then I will set this same price in my Airbnb panel settings. However, you can use this number to optimise the profitability of your apartment.

Today we'll look at some examples of how we can use Airbnb cleaning fees to increase your bookings. You can find more information about this in the Airbnb help centre by clicking here.

How do cleaning fees affect the profitability of my tourist accommodation?

This is key: cleaning fees influence the average daily price of your tourist apartment. Regardless of whether you clean the tourist apartment yourself or hire someone. And you must take them into account when pricing your accommodation! Imagine you have a property that you rent for €50 per night and you have cleaning fees of another €50.

Suppose two potential guests make two different searches: guest A wants to book two nights, while guest B wants to book 7 nights. Let's see the prices per night they would see in their searches:

Column 1Your price per nightCleaning feesAverage price per nightGuest A(2 nights)€50€50€75Guest B(7 nights)€50€50€57

A difference of €18 per night! What happens if we include our costs? Don't forget this if you want to know your profitability. We will assume, for simplicity, that you only have cleaning costs – about €25 for our example.

Let's see:

Column 1Your price per nightCleaning feesCleaning costAverage price per nightYour profitability per nightGuest A(2 nights)€50€50€25€75€62.5Guest B(7 nights)€50€50€25€57€53.6

In conclusion, Airbnb cleaning fees influence the average price of your apartment, boosting or detracting from long or short stays.

And with that, you influence not only the number of bookings you receive but also the profitability of your tourist apartment.

Next, we will discuss what happens when you set low or high Airbnb cleaning fees.

Do you spend too much time cleaning your accommodation? Check out our ultimate guide to cleaning tourist apartments.

When should I set low Airbnb cleaning fees?

Let's recap. In our example, we have two guests: guest A, who is thinking of booking two nights; and guest B, who wants to book seven nights.

Some hosts use cleaning fees below their costs. This way, they get more competitive average prices per night for both short and long stays. But what are the implications of doing so?

Let's update the table:

Column 1Your price per nightCleaning feesCleaning costAverage price per nightYour profitability per nightGuest A(2 nights)€50€10€25€55€42.5Guest B(7 nights)€50€10€25€51.4€47.8

The first point seems clear: the average price per night is very similar in both cases. That is, you are not penalising shorter stays – or rewarding longer ones. Furthermore, the difference in your profitability per night for a long stay (guest B) compared to a short stay (guest A) is practically the same.

Now it's up to you to decide if, as a host, it's worth it to set low Airbnb cleaning fees.

What if I don't have cleaning fees?

Finally, what happens in the most extreme case? Not charging for your Airbnb cleaning fees. In this situation, the average price per night for both types of stays is identical, and your profitability is slightly higher for guest B (remember, the one with the long stay).

Column 1Your price per nightCleaning feesCleaning costAverage price per nightYour profitability per nightGuest A(2 nights)€50€0€25€50€37.5Guest B(7 nights)€50€0€25€50€46.4

In conclusion, if you set low or no Airbnb cleaning fees, you are boosting short bookings over long ones. This technique can be useful if you are looking for a higher number of bookings and reviews.

Although remember that you will be sacrificing time: long stays require less work from the host!

As we have seen, cleaning fees influence the average price and profitability of your bookings. Low Airbnb cleaning fees reward short stays over long ones. But what about high cleaning fees?

Effects of high Airbnb cleaning fees

Before we return to our table, let's remember: we have two guests: A, whose stay is 2 nights and B, a 7-night stay. The price per night is the same in both cases, but now let's assume that the Airbnb cleaning fees are €100.

As you can see in the table below, the average price per night (remember that this is the value your potential guests see) is €100 for short stays but... only €64 for long stays! Depending on the area of the tourist apartment, the average price of short stays might be out of market, right?

Column 1Your price per nightCleaning feesCleaning costAverage price per nightYour profitability per nightGuest A(2 nights)€50€100€25€100€87.5Guest B(7 nights)€50€100€25€64.3€60.71

That is, with high Airbnb cleaning fees, you are rewarding longer stays: it is clear that you get less profitability per night, but you ensure longer occupancy of your tourist apartment.

Conclusion

In short, you can use Airbnb cleaning fees to increase the bookings you receive for your tourist apartment:

• Low cleaning fees will attract guests with shorter stays – which ensures a higher number of impressions of your listing, more bookings, and more reviews.
• Whereas if you set high cleaning fees, you will penalise short stays and attract guests for longer, more profitable stays.