A guide to understanding Airbnb fees

When you set up your first Airbnb listing, it can be confusing trying to figure out all of the fees, deposits, and how much to charge your guests. If you're renting out a spare room in your own house or putting up your whole home when you're away for a week, it can be especially tempting to charge your guests a high deposit - after all, this is your home and you want to guarantee it will be safe. You might also be tempted to bump up your cleaning fee to squeeze a bit of extra profit out of your guests. But putting your fees too high can put off guests, and you might not get any bookings at all. Read our guide to find out more and strike the right balance between getting enough bookings and covering yourself properly with these extra fees.

Cleaning fees

Should I charge a cleaning fee?

You have two options for charging a cleaning fee - you can either incorporate it into the listing price, or you can charge it separately. Including it in the overall price might mean more guests going ahead and making a booking once they land on your listing, because they won't see cleaning fees as a 'hidden fee'. On the other hand, you'll get more guests onto your listing page if the overall price is lower - so it's about finding the right balance for the price point of your listing.

How much should I charge?

Again, there's no specific amount you should charge for cleaning because it depends on a lot of factors. You can use a higher cleaning fee to encourage longer bookings - guests will feel be happier to pay a £100 fee if they stay for a week than if they stay for a single night. The fee should also be proportionate to the price of your listing - guests won't want to pay a £50 cleaning fee on top of a single-night £30 booking. A high cleaning fee is more appropriate for a high-end listing - but this means your guests will expect your Airbnb to be immaculately presented when they arrive. You should also be aware of how the cleaning fee will change your guests' behaviour. If your house rules ask guests to place towels in the bath or empty the bins before they leave, for example, they won't expect a high cleaning fee as they're doing a lot of the housework themselves - and if they've paid a high cleaning fee, they probably won't do these things. Try looking at similar listings in your local area, and price your cleaning fee relative to theirs, or try keeping your fee low (or not charging one at all) when you first start out hosting to encourage more bookings.

Should I use a professional cleaning service?

Whether you use a professional cleaning service or not probably depends on how long you've been hosting and how much spare time you have. If it's your first time, you'll probably clean the property yourself. But there are plenty of reasons for using a cleaning service. We all have busy lives, and not everyone has the time to clean an Airbnb and do all of the rest of the things in their lives as well. If you own a few properties or your renting out a holiday home that's in a different location, then using a cleaning service is a lot more practical than travelling yourself just to clean. Likewise if you are starting to get a lot of bookings or you're starting up an Airbnb business, a professional cleaning service is a necessity to ensure consistency for all of your guests.

Security deposits

What is a security deposit?

You can charge your guests an optional security deposit to cover against wear-and-tear damage to your property. The purpose of this is to cover things that the Host Guarantee doesn't cover, like a stain on a rug. If you make a claim against your guest, you'll need to do it within 14 days of them checking out or the next guest checking in - whichever is first. 

Should I charge one?

Like the particulars of the cleaning fee, this depends on what kind of Airbnb you have. Some guests are put off by the security deposit. Even though the guest isn't charged the deposit upfront, this is a popular misconception amongst guests. On the other hand, a security deposit can keep away guests who are less likely to care about damaging your property. 

Additional guest fees

What is it and should I charge one?

The additional guest fee is an additional charge for every guest on top of the booking. When your guests first enter the number of guests when searching on Airbnb these fees will automatically be included in the nightly total, so your guests likely won't even be aware of it. Your additional guest fee should only be for every person above the normal occupancy but below the maximum occupancy - for example, if you have a king-sized bed, then your normal occupancy is two, so you shouldn't charge an additional fee for the second guest. Additional guest fees are worth charging for extra guests above this though, because extra guests cause more wear on tear on the property and will consume more things like food and toilet paper. Hosts normally charge between £5 - £20 per extra guest, depending on how established they are as hosts and how expensive the listing is overall.

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