As Airbnb grows, so do cleaning fees

Airbnb always looks like a great deal. Until you realize the cleaning fee for a 2-bedroom costs an extra $500.

Since Airbnb was founded in 2008, relative Google search interest for “cleaning fees” is up 212%, and ~85% of US short-term rentals now have them, per The Wall Street Journal.

Some cleaning fee stats:

• Fees increased 9.8% between 2020 and 2021, and then another 6.6% by 2022.
• The average fee for 1-bedroom properties is $73 (up from $59 in 2020), and $410 for a 5-bed coastal property.

Who’s to blame? Inflation and pandemic-era sanitation, no doubt.

Still, some customers think the fees are just unreasonably high. And can you blame them?