Whether you love or hate the Airbnb business model, you can’t deny that there’s a rather peculiar relationship between some hosts and guests. On the one hand, you have hosts who charge a cleaning fee but force their clients to clean up after themselves. On the other hand, you have some guests who leave a massive mess behind when they leave.
TikToker and streamer Jeremy, @jeremy_gonewild, went viral after calling out Airbnb host @jayrolling who had filmed how messy some guests actually are. According to Jeremy, it’s unfair to force someone to clean up after themselves if they’re already paying for that service. Bored Panda has reached out to Jeremy via email, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from him.
One Airbnb host shamed a guest for the state in which they left the apartment
Image source: jayrolling
Boom, so we get in the unit. First off, the doors are left all open. I look to the left and we got a mattress on the floor.
Image source: jayrolling
And then I look to the right, you got trash, food boxes all on the counter, dishes left in the sink, just stuff looking dirty. You got chicken bones on the kitchen floor, I didn't get that in the video. But it's just, you know, just stuff that shouldn't be left around.
Image source: jayrolling
The stove top is dirty, stuff that you could clean yourself, you know, if you got common courtesy.
Image source: jayrolling
I mean, I understand the trash by the trash can, I can take that out myself because that's what I normally do.
Image source: jayrolling
But leaving dirty dishes all on the table.
Image source: jayrolling
And then you get to the room and they left the sheets all in the corner. They took the key fob.
Image source: jayrolling
Also, once you go in the closet, you got hair on the floor, you got lashes, and stuff that you should clean up behind yourself.
Image source: jayrolling
Image source: jayrolling
Image source: jayrolling
And then I go from the room to the bathroom and it's, you know, just…
Image source: jayrolling
You can watch the full video right over here
Meanwhile, one TikToker called out the Airbnb host in his own video
Image source: jeremy_gonewild
Image source: jeremy_gonewild
Here's the full version of the TikTok
People feel very strongly about hosts setting high cleaning fees and then expecting the guests to actually clean the place
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Both TikTokers’ videos went viral. Airbnb host @jayrolling’s video about the “guest from hell” got 226k views. Meanwhile, streamer @jeremy_gonewild’s critique got over 217k views. Jeremy’s conclusion was that it was outrageous to charge a cleaning fee and then force the guests to do what the money’s meant for in the first place.
That, according to streamer Jeremy, is the reason why he doesn’t use Airbnb and just opts for a hotel. Nobody expects you to clean anything there! Things would be entirely different if there was no cleaning fee at all or if the guests could recoup the fee if they picked up after themselves and didn’t damage the property. However, as of the time of writing, Airbnb states that “the cleaning fee is part of the booking total and is not returned to guests at the end of the trip.”
Many guests would assume that the fee would be used to buy cleaning products and hire a professional cleaner. However, some hosts opt to do the cleaning themselves and then just pocket the fee. In some cases, that’s quite a wad of cash! And it’s one of a long list of reasons why there’s tension between hosts and guests.
Cleaning fees are quite common in the United States
Image credits: DragonImages (not the actual photo)
A recent analysis done by NerdWallet found that the median cleaning fee in the United States was a jaw-dropping $75! And that’s just for a single night. An Airbnb spokesperson told the outlet that cleaning fees average less than 10% of the total reservation cost. However, NerdWallet found that the average was actually 25% of the total cost. That’s a very substantial difference.
Airbnb is planning on having a toggle so that guests can see the total price of the booking displayed, along with all of the fees that are included. As things currently stand, travelers tend to focus on the nightly rate and some people can simply miss the actual, total price. In short, there’s a need for more clarity, simplicity, and better communication.
According to Airbnb, 45% of its listings around the world don’t charge cleaning fees. However, the analysis done by NerdWallet found that barely 15% of the listings didn’t have this fee. The difference in numbers comes from the fact that Airbnb looked at its global data while the analysis focused just on the US.
There’s also some indication that higher cleaning fees lead to messier properties, as guests are then more inclined to see the listings as hotels. Lowering the fees could, paradoxically, motivate guests to pick up after themselves more often.
Here's how some internet users reacted to the video criticizing the Airbnb host
Some people thought that guests should still clean up after themselves
The internet has long been confused by the huge cleaning fees some listings have
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