Another cleaning fees question

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Sorry for another post on cleaning fees but I donā€™t think this particular case has been covered.

Iā€™ll be staying at a hostā€™s place and hereā€™s our message exchange:

HOST: ā€œHi Lee, sure! We have a ā‚¬40 cleaning fee. If that is ok, go ahead and approve.ā€

ME: ā€œExcellent, yep, the 40 is no problem: good to know its enough to keep the place tidy but not need to deep clean when we leave! Thank you and very much looking forward to our trip!ā€
HOST: ā€œI think the way HEā€™s cleaning fees are meant to work is that the cleaning fee is for getting the place ready. Since I an working that day I need to get someone to do it, once the kids have left. You are welcome to use my cleaner as well, when you leave, she charges ā‚¬10 per hour, and Iā€™m sure the house wonā€™t need 4h after you like it does after our kidsā€

I know there is a lot of division around whether cleaning fees should be allowed and generally it seems the best case is to agree things in advance and I personally offer the option of ā€˜leave it as you find it or cover the cleaning costsā€™.

I find this case of charging for cleaning in advance and then also requiring me to clean at the end/pay for more cleaning is however unreasonable but I wanted to get othersā€™ opinions before responding!

Thank you all for your time!

Lee
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Hi Lee, youā€™re completely right, the cleaning fee is oir when you leave! Itā€™s the hostā€™s responsibility to prepare their home for your arrival!

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Lee,
You are absolutely right. The expectation is that guests leave the home as they found it, and either clean it themselves or pay for a professional cleaner. The responsibility of the initial cleaning is absolutely with the host. I think that you should contact the HE Support team about this situation so that they can contact your host and remind them of the policy.

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Thank you, @SusanJbrn and @CapBimet!
I have messaged the host and hope we can still work this all out amicably but its good to know that the HE Support team can help!

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Thank you @SusanJbrn and @CapBimet for your great advice. I hope you have managed to solve this issue with the host, it is certainly a tricky position. However it sounds like the host does just need a little gentle reminder of what the standard policy is. This FAQ might be helpful as it states that the fees are for the ā€œend of the exchangeā€ https://help.homeexchange.com/hc/en-us/articles/18086361094813-How-to-handle-cleaning-before-an-exchange

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Thanks Melissa, I think that is helpful but it is still not explicitly saying that fees can only be requested for cleaning at the end of the exchange and not for cleaning prior to it. Is there any chance that the page can be updated to clarify?
I would also perhaps explicitly advise that if cleaning fees are required, the only cleaning responsibility of the guest is that rubbish should be removed and dirty dishes washed by the guests to ensure no odors remain in case there is a gap between the end of exchange and the cleaner arriving.

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I think its very rare that a host would ask for a cleaning fee before guests arrive, but if you really wanted to exchange with this person I think Iā€™d agree to the fee and add on 2 hours for when I left. It isnt a very high fee and Iā€™d prefer to be sure the house was clean when I arrive :sweat_smile:

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@Lee Iā€™ve fed this back to the team who deals with the FAQā€™s :slight_smile:

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