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Airbnb Clean Fee Pricing Hack Transcript
(00:00):
Hi everyone. It’s John here. So today I want to talk about the risk associated with those high clean fees. We talked about clean fees on different podcast episodes, but this is a little bit of a new spin on it because it’s now with the increase of complaints comes increased risk. And anytime a guest finds one little thing wrong with your place, they’re asking for their money back and Airbnb obliges and gives them their money right back. So here’s a way that you could balance that and manage your risk and not be at risk for losing so much money when someone complains about that anyy weeny little thing. So cleanliness is a big thing, and we always want to give a place that is to the highest cleanliness standard. That’s what we want to receive. That’s what the guest should receive. But if you miss, because inevitably something will get missed in the course of doing business, how much do you actually want to be at risk of losing?
(00:50):
For example, if your property’s $250 a night and you have a $200 clean fee, if the guest complains that your floors are sticky and they make a big enough deal about it, Airbnb will give them that money back, no questions asked about it, then you’re at risk of losing 200 bucks. So that’s a huge issue. What I recommend doing is not to put no clean fee unless you really want to advertise that you have no clean fee. It’s to make that clean fee more reasonable. So keep it more closer to your cost. You’re actually only paying 135 for cleaning it. Don’t put your clean fee at 200, put it at 1 35. And if it’s a four bedroom, maybe just put the clean fee at a hundred. Even if you have to take a portion of that clean fee out of your nightly rate to pay your housekeeper, it actually looks better for a guest.
(01:34):
So on the psychology standpoint, guests are more likely to book it because it’s a lower clean fee, but you’re at less of a risk of losing more money because if the guest complains, then you’re just losing a hundred dollars. You’re not gonna lose $200 because Airbnb can say, Hey, I’ll refund the clean fee, but that clean fee is now $100. So you’re lowering your risk, which really comes in handy if you have a larger place, because if you have a place that’s 10 bedrooms, yeah, we have a lot of them in Orlando, your cleaning fee could be over $400, and if your cleaning that high, that’s a huge risk of a loss if something goes wrong. And that’s a lot of pressure. Now, let’s talk about expectations a little bit. The more you charge for your clean fee, the higher that expectation’s gonna be. A guest can say, I’m paying $400.
(02:19):
It better be damn clean if I’m paying $400. And we all know the cost that goes into it because they have to do laundry, they have to take offsite laundry, they have to be there for six to eight hours. It, it’s a big thing, and we know why it costs what it does, but the guest doesn’t care because they’re looking for a deal, especially today. So it makes it easier and less risky if we lower the clean fee because if you do lose at a dispute and you need to give it back, and Airbnb gives that money back, the clean fees less, you lose less money. If you need to refund the guest or Airbnb does it, you’re losing less money. And the expectations, if you’re paying a hundred dollars clean fee versus a $200 clean fee, they
(02:58):
Will still expect it to be clean. Your clean fee is reasonable, but they’re not going to have a $200 expectation. The higher your clean fee is that place better be spotless, right? That’s the logic, that’s the psychology. That’s how it’s, so hopefully this little cleaning fee hack will help you in your endeavors to become a better Airbnb host. And my recommendation, just to recap, is to have a more reasonable clean fee so that you’re at risk of losing less money. Because if your clean fee is lower and it ever does get refunded, you’re not losing as much. So I hope this was helpful. If you haven’t left me a review or rating yet, please leave a rating. It just takes five to 10 seconds and it helps get this show in front of more listeners so that I can teach these lessons to as many people as possible, and it really helps me so much. So if you haven’t left a rating or review, please just take five to 10 seconds to do that. I would really appreciate it. And until next time, friends, take care.
Vacation Rentals With John is one of the fastest growing short term rental podcasts. The show has been growing in popularity because of its no BS, to the point lessons on how to grow and operate a vacation rental. Join the facebook group. To listen to any of the past episodes, check out this page.