Airbnb is slowly killing the cleaning fee as it aims for more transparent pricing.
Since early last year, when the company began showing guests all-inclusive prices when booking a property, nearly 300,000 listings have removed or reduced cleaning fees, Airbnb said in profits report today. Now, nearly 40% of active listings no longer charge cleaning fees.
On the client’s side, these cleaning charges were a long-term frustration. You could find a deal on a vacation rental on Airbnb, only to navigate to the checkout and see hundreds of dollars in cleaning fees piled up at the last second. As cleaning fees rose, so did the platform’s average rental price, making Airbnb a less attractive option when booking a getaway.
The cleaning fee reduction begs the question – are Airbnb hosts just not paying for cleaners anymore? Or do they just bake the cost of cleaning their properties into the list prices? When Airbnb first launched what it calls the Total Price View, it seemed intent on finding a happy medium.
“Guests should not do unreasonable checkout tasks such as making beds, washing clothes or vacuuming when they leave Airbnb,” Airbnb said at the time. “But we think it’s reasonable to ask visitors to turn off lights, throw food in the trash, and lock the doors – just like they would when they left home.’
It’s hard to believe that just reminding visitors to turn off the lights would make such a big financial difference. But according to Airbnb, the average nightly price for a one-bedroom listing was $114, down 2% from last year, while the company says hotel rates rose 7% to an average nightly rate of $149 this time. period.
Overall, Airbnb grew its quarterly revenue by 17% to $2.2 billion, year over year. However, due to a one-time tax charge of $1 billion, the company lost $349 million for the quarter.
