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Comment by robocat | Hacker News Reader

They clearly meant a surprise fee, from context. The AirBnB cleaning fee is expected and already included in your bill.

Edit: top context is “That is against AirBnB rules” and “refunded” i.e. AirBnB has explicit rules against surprise fees or bonds, and it can enforce rules.

I am guessing you just responded quickly but it is always good to spend time to try to “Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.” - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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I think you're guilty of what you're accusing the responder with. The exorbitance of a $200+ cleaning fee is a well-known criticism of Airbnb.

And no, not until recently could you see the actual total prior to sunken cost of Reviewing your booking. That too, Airbnb finally implemented once the Biden administration compelled them by law - that is, not before making much fanfare about it with the pretense of them "doing it for the customers"

> The exorbitance of a $200+ cleaning fee is a well-known criticism of Airbnb.

People criticize all sorts of things they don't understand. Our cleaning service charges us $280 per turnover. Separating the cleaning fee from the nightly rate makes our property more appealing for longer stays, which we (and our neighbors) prefer. It's not like a hotel, where the cleaners come every day; why should guests pay every night for a cleaning which will only happen once, after they leave?

As long as its transparent and included in the per-night price calculation so I can easily compare multiple properties I do not have an issue with any fee regardless of its name.

People are annoyed because these fees are often sneaky or not apparent at first sight which makes the UX annoying.

$200 cleaning fee? How big are the houses you stay in?

$200 isn't even that large of a cleaning fee by AirBnb standards (i'd say that closer to the median for a full home in the markets I travel in).

The last 3 bedroom home I rented on AirBnb had a $500 cleaning fee. We were there 4 days. Its ridiculous, but it's becoming the standard on AirBnb.

When I used a cleaning service 10 years ago, it was $275 for 2 maids to clean 1100sqft house. 1 bath, 1 bedroom, vac+mop everywhere, kitchen dishes. They were done in ~3 hours. NYC area.

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