As someone relatively new to HE, I will often do a search for an exchange and get excited to see an available listing only to read at the very end of the description that a cleaning fee is required. Regardless of what people think of cleaning fees (I’m not a big fan, especially those profiting off of them), is there a way or has there been a discussion of when you are searching for an exchange, to be able to filter out homes that charge a cleaning fee or at least filter out by $ amount of that fee?
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Not possible no. Cleaning fees are not a normalement, putting any filter on it could invite members to considerate it is. So no it’s not planned
It would be a good idea rwinchesterIII
As far as i am concerned, i wrote in my listing :
« We are happy to treat your home as our own.
Therefore, for those who charge a cleaning fee, ours will be equal to yours in order to keep the spirit and the gratuity of the exchange. ».
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Hi, a different view on cleaning fee and I don’t think it’s profit. Those with fees are usually secondary homes so you could filter them out by selecting primary residences only. The cleaning fee is usually because they do not live there and property is often used as airbnb as well. I am happy to pay a fee as when travelling we often have to get a plane early morning and I can just strip the bed and leave the washing etc for the cleaner without feeling guilty! Makes it so convenient and stress free. Hope this gives another perspective.
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In my opinion, it would be very difficult to filter by cleaning fee because it is not so cut and dry. Some have a fee for GP exchanges, but not for reciprocal ones, so it can be quite subtle and variable according to circumstances.
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Maybe an upfront note re cleaning fees instead? It’s often embedded in lots of text. The agreement could then state XX GP and £ XX fee?
Agreed.
I ask for cleaning fees for GP exchanges next summer because we will be gone for 2 whole months and we pay someone to clean and prepare the house between exchanges. I don’t ask for fees for reciprocal exchanges and I don’t usually ask for cleaning fees the rest of the year (but I offer it as an option to our guests).
So cleaning fees are not a “yes or no” question, it depends on the situation and it would be difficult to have a filter based on that. Also, I agree with Etienne, adding a filter would make cleaning fees “acceptable” and most people would probably ask for them?
It should be not normal to ask for a cleaning fee, but unfortunately there are a lot of families that ask for it, specially for GPoints home swaps.
I think cleaning fees should be banned, as it should be the rule leaving the home as clean as you find it, if not better, and there is already the HE guarantee that should cover it in case we returned to a filthy home.
And regarding people that take very early flights and cannot clean the home themselves, they should directly discuss this fact with the home owner and pay for a professional cleaner themselves.
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Hi!
I like the idea that guests should leave a home as they find it but are people really going to spend 6 to 7 hours cleaning on the last day of their holiday?
That’s how long it takes to clean to a high standard between guests. Are guests really going to clean the inside of a kitchen bin or empty the crumbs out of a toaster or clean all the glass windows that a child may have touched etc?
It’s been my experience in fifteen years that guests leave a home superficially nice but not deeply cleaned. I wouldn’t expect them to do more than that. That’s what my cleaner does before and after each set of guests.
Having said that I think it’s up to the individual host how they work their cleaning. They should make it clear, and if people don’t like it then they don’t have to ask to stay.
I find being asked for a cleaning fee (for points swaps) very reassuring as around a third of the homes I’ve stayed in haven’t been that clean.
I’m much more careful now.
Charging for cleaning is discriminatory and creates inequalities, because, on one hand, you can travel to houses where you won’t be charged for cleaning, but your host family will have done it anyway to prepare the house for you. On the other hand, if you live in countries with strong currencies, like the UK or the USA, for example, your cleaning fee will be much higher for a family living in regions of the world with much lower wages. Therefore, the cost of cleaning is not proportional in that sense either.
I insist that I’m not saying optional cleaning services can’t be offered, but it should be prohibited to make it mandatory. Leaving the house clean for the next guests and cleaning it when you leave so the hosts find it in perfect condition is the minimum that can be expected when exchanging a house.
And if, in any case, this doesn’t happen, the solution isn’t to charge a cleaning fee, but to report it properly to HomeExchange, so they can deduct the cleaning cost from the security deposit. And it should be from a professional cleaning company with an invoice, to avoid under-the-table payments.
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