The problem is when instead of a reasonable fee the double, triple or more is charged. Which is all but unusual.
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Iām all for choices and we do offer our private home (no cleaning fee) and our professional holiday apartments (at-cost cleaning fee, situation similar to yours) to guests.
As a guest, I love a cleaning fee as it stresses me to make sure everything is spotless when catching an early flight.
I am always baffled when people want to kick me off the platform - sometimes because we have cats and they donāt want to cat sit, sonetimes because of the cleaning feeā¦ Thereās so many options on HE, it hurts nobody and people can just filter out the stuff they donāt likeā¦
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Sure we can skip listings with cleaning fees Zann.HomeExchange
But what a waste of time because we are obliged to read them all.
Try putting yourself in our shoes, it is a huge additional work.
It is more or less as if it was not possible to have a list with a number of beds and obliged to read the description to know if the listing does suit our needs.
No it does not.
And this is why this conversation "has sparked a lively discussion. "
I think that cleaning fees should not be charged to guests, but should be paid by the hosts. The guest would have a cheaper vacation. The host will then be a guest, remember. In my opinion, the exchange becomes more equitable. Someone commented that they should charge $140 in the United States for cleaning. In Argentina the cost can be $20. This distorts the concept of reciprocity, related to the allocation of GP. A house in Argentina and another in the United States with the same characteristics āIt cost" 200 GP, but in one I will have to pay $140 and in the other $20.
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How do you know that the owner is charging double or triple? Where the home is located can make a very dramatic difference in the cost of cleaning.
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Iām with @Sergio. If the costs of cleaning a home in the USA are higher than in Argentina, the salaries are, too. So if everyone pays for their own cleaners, itā s more logical and fair.
If someone from Argentina has to pay 150 dollars when traveling to the USA, this is very expensive, whilst on the other hand, for someone from the USA, paying 20 dollars is a bargain. .
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Hi illopart. Sureā¦ My proposal is: each host pays for the cleaning of his/her house. And when that host becomes a guest, he/she will not pay anything!!!
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I donāt understand the logic on cost, if it costs more in a country that is true of everything including utilities ect. and other things you use in someoneās house so it really doesnāt make sense. They are paying more to host you in an expensive country then you are paying to host them in a inexpensive country. Also party sizes are not the same. If I travel with 2 and you bring 8 and use 4 beds it is not the same. It is not always equal. People should just decide if it works for them. Also people should keep in mind bringing in a cleaner is different than if you clean yourself. If you host sometime a cleaner must be brought in or re-scheduled to meet your needs in the exchange.
I prefer to see that someone is charging a cleaning fee so that I know that upon leaving, I need to leave the house completely tidy, however, not deal with the scrubbing. Also, I want a house to be clean when I get there. I am new to HomeExchange and just did my first stay at someoneās home. It was completely tidy, but it was crusty around the edges. I wouldāve also have appreciated the beds having been made before we got there, as I have done for people who have stayed in my home.
I repeat, my opinion is: the host should pay for the cleaning. That way, travelers do not have to pay extra during their vacation. Itās simple. When the host travels, they will not pay anything during their vacation either.
Hi,
Iām new to HomeExchange and still figuring things out, but I think cleaning fees depend on the property. For a small flat, I agree fees shouldnāt be necessary, especially for short stays. But I have a 3-floor house with a garden and pool, which takes a lot to maintain.
Iāve tried to keep it fairāā¬10 per day for short stays and ā¬50 max for longer ones. This doesnāt even cover my weekly cleaner for the house and pool but ensures itās spotless for guests. I only charge this for points stays; with swaps, I donāt charge anything. Of course, Iād expect to pay the same if I was staying in someone elseās home.
That said, I agreeāpeople charging $200 or more for cleaning is really taking the piss!
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I get your repeated opinion, but I have hosted more times than I have been hosted so what I am saying is I donāt agree. A cleaning fee is a negotiable item. You donāt want to clean it when you leave you pay a fee. It is not about making your vacation cheaper or super easy. To me it really is about what works for the particular exchange.
I did not find your logic on cost compelling and explained why.
Me too, if the cost is affordable
Cleaning Fees? It Depends on Where You Live.
Hi everyone, Iād like to share a different perspective on cleaning fees in HomeExchange. Iām not here to stir controversy, just to offer another way of looking at things.
In the U.S., Cleaning Services Are a Luxury, Not a Given.**
I live in the U.S., and cleaning here is not what many people think. In major cities, even wealthy households often hire cleaning services only once a month or every two weeksānot because they donāt care about cleanliness, but because professional cleaning is extremely expensive.
So while some HomeExchange hosts in the U.S. donāt charge a cleaning fee, many do, and it makes sense.
We Clean for Ourselves, But We Hire for Guests.**
Many of us donāt have regular cleaning servicesāwe clean our homes ourselves. But when we host guests, we hire professional cleaners to ensure the place is spotless. This isnāt just about hospitality; itās about hygiene, time, and ensuring a high standard for every guest.
Letās be honest: not everyone leaves a home in perfect condition. And while hospitality is key to HomeExchange, washing sheets, scrubbing toilets, paying for valet trash pickupāitās not the same as just wiping down a counter.
For those of us with multiple properties, we canāt always verify whether a guest cleaned properly, and a subpar job can impact ratings on paid rental platforms.
When Agreements Are Ignored, Who Pays? @Zann.HomeExchange
In one of my homes, a guest refused to pay the agreed cleaning fee upon arrival. Not only did I have to cover the cost myself, but they also left the place messy, with trash still inside. Iām still waiting on HomeExchange to resolve this claim.
Iām not saying cleaning fees should be mandatory, but I do believe that if they are agreed upon, they should be paid. At the end of the day, beyond personal opinions, this is about respect between hosts and guests.
What do you think? Should HomeExchange do more to ensure cleaning agreements are honored? 
What I think is that, if someone leaves your home dirty and messy, you have to give him a bad review and contact the HE service for them to pay the cleaning costs from his deposit.
Cleaning fees are not the solution to un-responsible travellers and just increases the cost of the holidays and makes more difficult for some families to be able to travel.
Every host should prepare his own home for his guests (cleaning himself or hiring a cleaner, as preferred) and every guest should leave the home spotless at his departure (cleaning himself or asking the host to provide a cleaning service if he didnāt want to clean or do not have to time to do so, because of an early flight.
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I agree. I will not even look at homes that have a cleaning fee. I really donāt even understand it. You should leave your home clean for guests, and as a guest you leave it as clean as it was when you leave. How you achieve this is up to you. If you donāt want to do the cleaning, fine, you can choose to pay a cleaner to do it. But demanding that your guests pay does not seem in any way fair to me. If I ever find myself in a situation where the host asks for a cleaning fee, I will ask them for one too. Then we are even.
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Your sentiments may have merit if it is your own home and you are OK to do the cleaning yourself or your regular cleaner does it at little/no additional charge.
But many properties are either second homes or part-commercial / part-HE and often they have a professional cleaner/caretaker in charge; typically the owner is absent. These people have to be paid for.
So please put aside all this about trust and making new friends etc., any guest should be prepared to meet any additional costs incurred by the host that are directly as a result of his/her stay. Of course nobody should be making any profit, and any and all costs should be quoted up-front.
At least then if the potential guest does like the terms then he has the option of not request an exchange.
Sorry, I donāt buy your argument/excuse of being absent and of a home being a rental. That is your reality, your cross to bear.
An exchange is an exchange, thatās the spirit.
Those who host you may not hire someone, but the work still gets done, their time is money, or at the very least their time is not free to you unless you reciprocate.
In the case of a reciprocal exchange, I told the other party I would also charge a cleaning fee, equal to theirs (their profile did not make it clear whether the cleaning fee was only for GP exchanges or also for reciprocal exchanges).
In principle, had I not refused, it would have come down to us driving 3 hours to our secondary home, spending 4 hours cleaning and prepping it, and greeting them, all free to them, and in return us paying their concierge because they are absent from the home in which we stayed??? That is just not on!!
As a host, you are responsible to get the work done, whether you do it yourself or hire someone, that is your business; it does not suddenly become the responsibility of the guest as a cost, that is called offloading.
As for the argument, āit should be cost neutralā that reveals this is actually a business for you, we are no longer in the realm of exchanging.
With members like that, I would also charge them for our firewood and garden produce, which I normally make available for free, in large quantities.
Letās not be bean counters!!
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I totally disagree. If you choose to do the cleaning yourself or pay for someone else to do it, thatās your choice. When you are doing reciprcocal exchanges with peopleās homes, it makes sense. In my case I do almost all for GPs, and it is my choice that I require my property to be set up in a professional manner for the next guest who could just as easily be a paying guest via AirBnB or another HE guest - the one thing they have in common is that they expect the place to be properly cleaned and set up for them to enjoy as if they were in paying accommodation. In such circumstance, guests should be willing to cover the relatively minor cost of an outside cleaner, thereby ensuring that they need not worry about spending their precious time cleaning. I do not expect gifts nor particularly want them, I just expect my cost to be covered, thatās all. To me that still nicely embraces the HE spirit of exchange.
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