125 
???
It costs me $150.00 to clean my home between guests or even for me when I have a housekeeper come out each month. I only charge if itās a GuestPoint swap as I am not here to monitor the house. My housekeeper takes care of it.
So if I have people come for the weekend, its the same price if they stay for the month. The choice for me is either not to accept 2,3,4,5 day GuestPoint exchanges at all, or charge the $150.
Leave it up to the guest ā¦ if they want to pay that or not.
Craig
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Hi Jasper!
I totally agree! We need to work to keep the culture as it was.
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Jasper
There is no need to gaslight James by telling him what he is or what he isnāt. You donāt know the person and no need to publicly gaslight him.
The end result is ā¦ itās a choice, someone can choose to stay in a place and pay a cleaning fee ā¦ or not.
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Sorry, but I really wish you would speak for yourself and not for others. Especially not for me. Removing the vacation rentals from this platform wonāt save the ācultureā but will result in a bankruptcy.
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Thank you.
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Exactly what I charge. Also only for guest point exchanges. For reciprocal exchanges I typically donāt charge a cleaning fee unless requested and it is also reciprocal. I honestly donāt see the big deal or how this affects the āculture.ā
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The reason youāve only just stumbled onto this forum is the fact that it was only launched 2 days ago.
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OPās post literally says
āWeāve been on this forum for 8 yearsā¦ā so excuse me if I didnāt know it was created 2 days ago.
i donāt think cleaning fees are inappropiate. I donāt ask them and the one time I agreed with a host that I would pay a fee, the host felt I cleaned so well, she didnt want to charge me the fee. 
And I hadnāt cleaned the way I normally do, for a cleaner would come.
But if someone has a cleaner regularly or if itās a second home, I donāt find it strange or not in the spirit of HomeExchange if they ask the guests to pay for it.
As a guest, I donāt mind paying a fee. However, somehow, I always find homes that do not ask them.
For those of us who have a second home, it is not possible not to charge it. The house needs to be prepared to receive people and must be deep cleaned when they leave. Many times the house is unoccupied for weeks or those who go out leave it very dirtyā¦ you cannot receive guests if the house is not fresh and well prepared, in the end the aim is to offer good experiences and find a perfect place and leave it as you found it. , is the minimum basis of satisfaction for both parties.
In my case, it has a cost that I ask to be paid directly to the people who do it. I donāt even live thereā¦ Not all of us see business in cleaning as proposed and it cannot be generalized.
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I do feel like you Jasper.
I had the luck to know HE before being polluted by people who rent.
When i read we charge 50, 100, 150, 250 $ cleaning fees in a listing, i just boiled inside.
Upset with the state of mind which is not the spirit of home exchanges which is based on welcoming community members as one would welcome friends or family.
I would never charge my sister!
To conclude, now it is written in my listing :
āif you charge cleaning fees, we will request the same amount on our sideā.
So the total = 0 
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I completely agree with you here!
I also want to add that in one of our homes, there is no laundry and itās our second home, so we have no option but to only charge a cleaning fee. Never would we expect the guests to clean AND payā¦
We also prefer to pay for cleaning rather than us doing it as we often have to catch flights, pack and wrangle kids, so paying a cleaning fee is what we prefer most. Needless to say, we are leaving an amazing 9 nights in Cava De Tirenni, Italy tomorrow to go to Sardinia. Our stay here was through Roby on HE! I would HIGHLY recommend her penthouse if you want to see the Amalfi Coast, but not stay in the busy coastal towns.
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No problem if it is optional.
My wife is often relived that some hosts charge for cleaning as a way to ensure cleanness.
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For 2nd homes you can also not charge.
When someone come to your main or 2nd home, it has to be cleaned.
And when you go to the main or second rƩsidence of your host, it has to be cleaned.
It is the same with GP.
Someone come to your 2nd home and it has to be cleaned and you use these points to go to another place which has to be cleaned.
So the total is 0.
Because EVERY host must clean their house.
Never mind it is you or a professional because when it is you, your time is also money.
This is why cleaning fees are inapropriate when exchanging because ALL the places must be cleaned.
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I absolutely agree. Weāve been exchanging since 2008. Back then (and for many years into it) the norm was that the host was responsible for turnover/cleaning when their guests left. I still stand by this as a host, because I donāt want anyoneās vacation to end by them scrubbing my toiletsā¦and home exchange is meant to be free of costs. I havenāt had a single exchanger leave my home in disarray anyway, and we always do our best to leave things tidy and clean on a basic level, at least.
There have been times where the situation was unique and required me to clean more thoroughly for the next guests. (For instance, a wonderful family in Paris squeezed us in between two other exchanges, and it was a huge help to us. I was more than happy to clean up in that case.) As long as that is clear to me BEFORE the exchange is locked in, I am okay with people asking for help. The reality is I probably wonāt choose an exchange that asks for it, though. Itās not that I mind the money or even the cleaning exactly (like I said, Iāll be cleaning up after myself anyway), but I strongly prefer the vibe that goes with treating each other as GUESTS and not as employees or customers.
I think a simple solution to this problem is for Home Exchange to create a search filter for ācleaning feeā versus āyou must clean houseā versus āwe will take care of the cleaning after you leave.ā Iāve suggested this to them before, but so far I havenāt seen that change. (Maybe itās there, but I havenāt been searching much this year.)
Anyway, I do love exchanging so so much. I just hope we can keep it feeling as close to the original experience as possible. We all come here because we enjoy travel and are open to sharing our homes with others so they can do the same, right? Any home exchanger in my home will be treated the same way I do when friends or family are visiting.
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I hear what you are saying about cleaning fees, but I want to give you another perspective. We had a guest recently disappoint us in their definition of cleanliness. I was ready to quit HomeExchange after finding dirty dishes put back into the cupboard and that was just one of the many issues we had with this guest. After I got over my initial disappointment, I decided to be explicit in my expectations in my listing and cite a cleaning fee option if the guest did not choose to return my home in the condition in which they found it. Frankly, I would much prefer to not have to have this uncomfortable conversation with any guest and I have felt that it makes it clear to guests that there will be a consequence if they choose to take advantage of my hospitality. This guest was extremely worried about what feedback I would leave them on the exchange after I voiced my concerns to them in private. In hindsight, I should have been more explicit in my disappointment on my review, but that is also very uncomfortable for me to do as it does not allow someone to change their behavior and grow if they cannot get any more exchanges because of the review. The optional cleaning is the best compromise I could think of and thus far it has worked out well.
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Hi Jimmi!
Thatās actually not allowedā¦ They should have it in their listing AND touched on it again in the discussion prior to the exchange finalization. Please let our member support team know if you come across this again in the future (although I hope not!).
When we offer our home, first or second, we receive Guest Points. We will use those Guest points to travel and not have to pay at a hotel. We really saved a lot. I believe that if the owners cannot clean and have to hire someone else, the owners should pay for that cleaning. It is a way to help guests who are traveling and collaborate so that they do not have to spend money on that trip.
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