In your place, as @Nathalie1 advises, I would contact HE as soon as possible and explain the situation, so that they can be the ones to inform the hosts that they are actually breaking the rules in two different ways. Obviously, you should not pay anything until you arrive, and the fact that they have to pay the cleaner in advance is not your concern. They chose to hire an agency that requires payment upfront; that was their decision, not yours. Your obligation is simply to pay for the cleaning when you are there.
Moreover, although HE allows you to pay upon arrival, strictly speaking, since cleaning is a service, you should not have to pay for it until they provide you with an invoice for the service. And they certainly cannot charge you any additional fees for anything else.
That said, I can completely believe that other families have agreed both to pay before they have even arrived at the house and to pay the extra charge for the hot tub. Many people simply donāt feel comfortable standing up for their rights, especially when they donāt want to create tension with the hosts before their stay or risk receiving a negative review afterwards.
I donāt know where youāre going on holiday, but $410 for cleaning for just five nights seems excessive to me.
I think Iām late to the party here but I LOVE paying a cleaning fee and wouldnāt stay anywhere these days where I wasnāt charged one. Iāve been swapping for fifteen years now and Iām so glad cleaning fees are on the increase. My experience is that homes that charge cleaning fees are usually, but not always, much cleaner.
Homeexchange is a big pond and thereās room for all of us.
Iām about to go on a swap with a five bedroom house and the cleaning fee is Ā£275. Thatās a lot of money for us but thatās what it costs to clean a house to a very high standard incl bedding etc. I certainly donāt want to spend 10 hours cleaning and scrubbing and putting new bin liners etc in on my last day
For the people who donāt want to pay a cleaning fee - stay somewhere that doesnāt ask for one.
I agree. No cleaning fees. This will become like Airbnb didā¦ Exorbitant! My studio was in Airbnb for awhile and I considered it part of my income, part of my job, if you will. I cleaned it at no extra charge. But then people started listing 3, 4 or even 10 units and could not keep up with cleaningā¦ Totally illegal now in my community.
I find HE guests are so considerate and leave my home so clean as they wish people to leave their home. Letās not ruin this great exchange site.
Iād love a filter for cleaning fees as I only stay in places where a cleaning fee is charged That would save lots of time for those who do and donāt want to pay a cleaning fee Each to their own
