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Comment by ketchupdebugger | Hacker News Reader

I'd be happy if they got rid of cleaning fee and chore requirement from AirBnB.

The cleaning fee on AirBnB is actually one that has some logic to it. A property needs to be cleaned after each guest, regardless of whether you use it for one night or ten. The owner pays for it to be cleaned either way and it makes sense that this would get passed on to the customer. What needs to go is the "service fee" which is AirBnB's cut of the total. This is usually a fixed percentage and should just be counted as part of the price if I filter for places less than $X a night.

Yes, the place has to be cleaned, but there isnt any reason at all it needs to exist as a separate fee. Just roll it into the price. It isn't negotiable, therefore it is the price.

> The cleaning fee on AirBnB is actually one that has some logic to it.

Yes, but a common phenomenon lately is you arrive and not only is there a significant cleaning fee, but there's a list of chores on the "house rules" you're required to do before leaving that should be part of that cleaning fee.

People have occasionally been asked to mow the lawn.

Yeah, I am not going to meticulously clean their place and also pay them to have it cleaned on top of that.

I am not a messy person. I can tidy, no problem. I'm not paying you a $250 "cleaning" fee after 2 nights and doing your chores too.

usually they tack on couple of hundred dollars on top of the price. The per night price is usually slightly cheaper than hotels but with the cleaning fees, the total usually comes out to higher than what a stay at a hotel would cost. AirBnB used to be a cheaper alternative to hotel but not anymore.

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