Airbnb is phasing out cleaning fees to increase pricing transparency. Airbnb said in today's earnings report that nearly 300,000 listings have eliminated or reduced cleaning fees since the company began showing all-inclusive prices when guests book listings early last year. Nearly 40% of active listings now no longer charge cleaning fees.
On the customer side, these cleaning fees have long been a source of distress. You might have your eye on a cheap vacation rental on Airbnb, only to be shocked at the last-second cleaning fee of hundreds of dollars when you check out. As cleaning fees climb, so do the average rental prices on the platform, making Airbnb a less attractive option when booking a vacation.
The drop in cleaning fees does beg the question - are Airbnb hosts no longer paying cleaning fees? Or do they just include the cleaning fee into the price of the property? When Airbnb first launched what it called a "total price display," it seemed like it was trying to find a happy balance.
"Guests should not perform unreasonable check-out tasks when leaving Airbnb, such as removing the bed, doing laundry or vacuuming," Airbnb said at the time. "But we think it's reasonable to ask guests to turn off the lights, throw food in the trash, and lock the door just as they would when leaving their own home."
It’s hard to believe that simply reminding guests to turn off the lights can bring such great financial benefits. Still, the average nightly price for its one-bedroom listings is $114, down 2% from last year, according to Airbnb, while the company says hotel rates are up 7% during the same period, with the average nightly price at $149.
Overall, Airbnb's quarterly revenue increased 17% year over year to $2.2 billion. But the company lost $349 million in the quarter due to one-time tax costs worth $1 billion.