We all like our homes to be clean when we arrive. We also like our homes to be clean when our guests leave. Cleaning has a cost. The dilemma is: does the guest or the host pay for it? I think the host should always pay for it. In this way we are helping those who travel to enjoy their vacations more and spend their money on other things (museums, restaurants, etc.). When we are guests, the same thing will happen to us. Sometimes guests have time to clean, if a flight leaves very early they wonāt have time, nor can we force guests to clean perfectly. This thinking is more similar to the Home Exchange philosophy. Let there be no money.
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Hi everyone
Thisbis really from case to case basis, and it should be communicated at the very beginning.
Ihad some really, really bad guests, totally left the house trashed, withour even taking their own trash out, with respond, Oh I didnāt know we have to dot that, and even leaving bad review after this. Than, also, we had some wonderfull people, large groups, family reunion, that left everything like nobody was thereā¦
My practice is, I leave someoneās home like I would mine when going awayā¦Ususalky I stay after everyone for 30min to check if everything is fine, and then I tak the video of the house so that owner has immediately information. Plus, this way I.make.sure that new guest or cleaner doesnāt brake anything after we.are.gonne.
So, my point is, be aware of other peopleās propertiesā¦ common, whe yiu are leaving your own, yiu take.trash out, you turn stuff off, you dont leave A/C running on max (like some did), your dirty linens and towls sshould be stored properly in some bin, while wet.once hanged. It is jus common sense.
Still, Ibhad some very, very nice folks, and have aome others that didnāt have time to donit and offered to oay nominallyā¦
I totally agree with you, hosts should take care of the cleaning always.
Letās not stress each other while we are traveling. We pay the cleaning as hosts and donāt get stressed as guests.
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We all like our homes to be clean when we arrive. We also like our homes to be clean when our guests leave. Cleaning has a cost. The dilemma is: does the guest or the host pay for it? I think the host should always pay for it. In this way we are helping those who travel to enjoy their vacations more and spend their money on other things (museums, restaurants, etc.). When we are guests, the same thing will happen to us. Sometimes guests have time to clean, if a flight leaves very early they wonāt have time, nor can we force guests to clean perfectly. This thinking is more similar to the Home Exchange philosophy. Let there be no money
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It really depends on the situation. In the summer of 2024 we did a series of exchanges in Europe that were a combination of reciprocal and guest points. We were away from home for almost 12 weeks and had 8 exchange guests in our home during that time. That meant that we needed to have our home cleaned between guests and we were out of the country so could not do it ourselves. Asking for our guests to cover the cost of the cleaners between stays is really a necessity not a luxury or a way to make money! We want to ensure each guest with a perfectly clean home! In the summer of 2023 we had two long term reciprocal exchanges that covered 7 weeks. In that case, our cleaners only had to come in once and we paid for that. In a perfect world, all of our exchanges would be long term reciprocal exchanges and we would have minimal need for cleaners. But in the real world, many people want an exchange of a week or less and in order to make it work, the cleaning fee is necessary or we would be paying over $1500 to be away for 10 weeks!
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Hello KennedyWood
What people say is the 8 hosts who hosted you were also obliged to clean their home to welcome you.
So if all the hosts take the cleaning in charge, there is no cleaning fee.
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That would be ideal and that is the preferred type of exchange. And this is always the situation for us on reciprocal exchanges. However, for us the problem comes when we have multiple exchanges and need cleaners between guests. We often will be in 2-3 week exchanges as guests where we use guest points. And during that long period of time we will have 3 or 4, four day exchanges in our home. It isnāt always a one for one exchange. I think that many people want shorter exchanges and in order to allow that convenience, cleaning fees are appropriate. The alternative is to only accept long term exchanges or exchanges of exactly the same length?
"The alternative is to only accept long term exchanges or exchanges of exactly the same length?"t
I donāt think that way.
An exchange does not have to be exactly similar.
Some american people hosted me a longer time than i did because the French have longer holydays and my appartment was exactly what they dreamed of - right in the city centre of Paris.
On my side, i host returning guests for free when i can do it.
Youāll find extremely generous people on Homeexchange.
It is a beautiful state of mind.
If you feel more confortable with exact number of days or points, it is ok.
Just to let you know that generosity does exist on HE.
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[quote=āNathalie1, post:110, topic:1488, full:trueā]
"The alternative is to only accept long term exchanges or exchanges of exactly the same length?"t
I donāt think that way.
An exchange does not have to be exactly similar.
Some american people hosted me a longer time than i did because the French have longer holydays and my appartment was exactly what they dreamed of - right in the city centre of Paris.
On my side, i host returning guests for free when i can do it.
Youāll find extremely generous people on Homeexchange.
It is a beautiful state of mind.
Hello. The alternative is that the host always pays. Itās simple. Itās the most comfortable way for everyone. The host cleans, if he doesnāt want to or canāt, he hires a person or a company. In this way, we help the guest not to spend money on their vacation. It also goes in the line and spirit of Home Exchange. I only charge for cleaning, when the guest charges in their own home.
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Itās December 2024, and my husband and I are crossing the country using both HomeExchange and hotels/motels. I had a 2-night stay just about finalized, so I back-dated and budgeted around that, only to find the Sedona host asking if I was okay with a $350 cleaning fee. This was on top of a Guest Point rate that exceeds anything Iāve ever paid out, but I was prepared to splurge for more space than we needed and good location. This home owner is quite obviously using our wonderful platform to gouge for cash. Thereās no way it would cost $350 to turn over a room and bathroom in a house. You get your points! Thatās what you get! OR AN EXCHANGE. Itās a shame what people have done to HomeExchange, an otherwise wonderful opportunity most perfectly described by the original poster, Jasper.
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I agree with James.
If you have a Home Exchange guest staying for 4 days and checking out and later that day you have an Airbnb guest checking in, it has to be 100% perfect, with the shampoo bottles filled up, extra toilet rolls put out, brand new dish cloths, fill up the tea bags and coffee, identify any problems and fix them, etc etc.
You work hard to train your trusted change-over cleaner to leave everything perfect for the next guest, and your reviews depend crucially on everything being perfect when the new guests arrive. Every drawer and cupboard has to be checked and not a hair left behind - one hair costs dearly.
Thereās no way a guest would want to spend four hours cleaning at the end of their trip and thereās no way Iād trust them to either. Plus the new guests arriving will drop off bags to be looked after by the cleaner and pick up the keys. How would a departing guest do that?
As far as I am concerned, I have always had a cleaner to clean my own home, and a cleaner to clean my Airbnb. I do not intend to do any cleaning when I am on holiday except washing up, and if someone stays at my home or my Airbnb, then even friends will pay for the cleaner at the end of their stay, because of course they wouldnāt expect me to pay when it is they who stayed.
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Hello
I think you should inform Home Exchange about this situation. You should inform the guestās name. These situations should not exist.
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This must be stopped. Itās not allowed, report it. The cleaning fee cost maximum 30 euro if the house is big and the lady is slow.
In aparthotels one lady clean a 2 bedroom apartment in less than 30 minutes, so itās not acceptable to ask to pay for 4 hours cleaning fee for the same thing.
ideally no cleaning fee should be asked as hosts are the ones that should be responsible for the cleaning always and not guests.
I donāt know where you live but these are not the prices in North America. I live in Montreal and my cleaning lady charges me 100$ to clean my home, and she is well under the normal prices (some would charge me 150-160$). It seems to be more expensive in the US from what I see.
Also, I know that in some countries (France for example) you have a tax refund when you hire a cleaner. Thatās not the case here in Canada, I pay 100% of the fee.
(That being said, I agree that 350$ is ridiculous, I would report the member to the HE staff.)
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There is no tax refund in France.
It is the reverse.
As any amount is an income, it is a taxable amount when itās an employee or a bill when itās a company.
If you pay 15ā¬ per hour, the gross amount to pay is 30ā¬ and you must add the margin income tax % to get the global price.
If your income margin tax is 20%, you must add 20% of taxes = 36ā¬ / hour.
If your income margin tax is 40%, you must add 40% = 42ā¬ / hour.
It is deductible only if you rent and if you have chosen this tax system.
Homeexchange is not a rental website.
Any cleaning fee is a taxable income in France.
Not sure I understand your answer. Of course any income is taxable for the person who earns it. But if youāre the employer, you can use the CESU and get a tax credit (50% I think?) on what you pay your employee.
CESU exists but the employee have much less social advantages especially if they are pregnant.
Nothing is free.
Not in the US , $180 for a 3 bed /2 bath in the east cost. Sedona is quite pricey for rentals and has limited worker housing so I could see this being the fee there but I would expect the house to be bigger than a 1 bed /1 bath so if the host has a larger home and you are only using one room this could happen. Frankly if that was my cleaning fee I just would not accept HE stays especially for short stays. It would not be worth it.