If people do a really great job at returning the space to its original condition before they got there, do I have the option of NOT charging the cleaning fee? Am I naive to think that these people exist?
They have already been charged, so I would let it go. There are those guests, just be grateful for the occasional group like that. I used to worry that guests would ask for some money back if they did not use their entire booking period (which is also rare, but has happened), but that was never an issue either.
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I have my cleaning fee set based on what the average booking takes to clean up behind and like to look it more like an overall balance. You’ll get the occasional guest who is SUPER tidy but you’ll also get guests who DGAF and are messier.
We’ve found that when we charge a cleaning fee, people take it as license to be super messy. But, when the expectation is that the space must be returned to its original state before they leave, they’re much more careful. Depends somewhat on what you allow people to use your space for though, I suppose.
Perhaps I have been lucky (knock on wood, etc.) but most of my guests did leave the place clean. However, I regard the cleaning fee more as a prep fee. I have a huge garden and a lot of outdoor space which is more often than not part of the appeal. Before a booking, it has to be raked and swept. I scrub the kitchen floor wash the bathroom, etc. even if it’s not dirty, & were a crew not coming, I would not clean. I lock up cupboards, and do many other things to make the booking go smoothly. In addition, I supply little towels in the hand washing area which have to be laundered and folded. Some people have asked me to forego the fee since they would leave the space clean. I explained that for me, it’s really a prep fee. I would love to see it renamed a cleaning/prep fee since that’s what it really is, probably not only for me but for others.
Before they leave, I do a walk-through and if there is somewhere they have made a real mess, left dishes dirty, etc, I have them take care of it. I do not have them wash floors, dust, etc. So far, all have been very agreeable (once again, I knock on wood).
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You can think of it too as going in and resetting the place for the next guest. Even if you have to take out the garbage it’s still your time that you need to dedicate regardless if they left it clean. I still wipe down counter tops in the makeup room even though it’s clean, think of it as sanitizing too!
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I don’t charge a cleaning fee, but stipulate in my messages and terms of use that a very messy room will incur a $75 resetting fee. This is sort of enforceable, but the system usually works out very well, especially since my guests are mostly large groups of professionals and small groups of amateurs doing photo or video shoots. Since there’s usually not much of a mess to make, I have the worry that a cleaning fee will make guests feel like they’re paying to be cleaned up after, and so it’s almost always great.
I charge a cleaning fee and, for the most part, my clients have returned my home to it original condition. There is always additional cleaning necessary, i.e. the bathroom, and vsccuming, and the additional sterilizing that I do with UV room sized light takes additional time. Be cause my home was spotless when the production team arrived, I have never had anyone ask for a cleaning deposit to be returned.
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No matter how clean they leave it, you still have to sanitize everything they touched. You still need to restock the toilet paper and paper towels. You should still clean the bathroom after they used it and stuff like that… I would definitely charge the cleaning fee.
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Even if you returned it, Peerspace charged you a percentage of it. You’d think they only charge you for the hours rented, but their actually taking a percentage of the cleaning fee too. Your cleaning fee gets added to the rental fee and they take their percentage out the total not just the hours rented. They real slick with that one.