I'm a 22-year-old Airbnb manager who charges guests a $250 cleaning fee — here's why

• Kayla Laatz, 22, manages two Airbnbs inside a beach resort in Kauai, Hawaii.
• Laatz recently upped the cleaning fees on the properties from $200 to $250.
• "We raised the fee for many reasons, including to pay our cleaner a better wage," Laatz said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kayla Laatz, 22, who manages two Airbnbs in Kauai, Hawaii. It has been edited for length and clarity. 

For the past year, I've been in charge of managing two Airbnb properties that my dad owns in Kauai, Hawaii. This was my first time taking on a job like this, but it excited me because I want to eventually take on more houses and become a property manager for the vacation-rental industry.

As the manager, I help guests with the check-in process, arrange for the handyman to come, and schedule cleanings in between stays. 

Currently, both of the properties I manage are inside of a beach resort

The resort gives guests access to a private beach, pools with water slides, and a lazy river. Both of the apartments we rent out on Airbnb are two bedrooms, each with two-and-a-half baths. 

Most of our customers are families, and each of these apartments can sleep between seven to eight people. Usually, guests book these properties for at least a week, though we don't have a minimum stay. Guests can stay for one night if they'd like. 

Since our properties are in Hawaii, we find that there's never an off-season. We're pretty busy year round, and the average price for a one night's stay is $600.

For the most part, guests are pretty tidy and respectful

However, you do get a few guests a year who just don't pick up after themselves and sometimes leave the property damaged. I've dealt with broken doors, ripped screen doors, fallen-off door handles, broken chairs, and scratches on wooden furniture.

Sometimes guests will be honest about what happened, like that they got into a fight, and will offer to pay for the costs of the damage. But luckily we do have insurance, which comes in handy for broken items that guests won't pay for. 

We usually have only a 6-hour turnover time between guests 

Our property is booked around the calendar, and our cleaner spends the entire time between stays getting the place ready for the next guest. We've used the same person for the past couple of years and have built a good relationship with her. 

The job of cleaning and turning over these apartments isn't easy, so that's why last year, when I started managing the properties, I decided to raise our cleaning fee from $200 to $250, no matter the length of the stay.

We raised the fee for many reasons, including to help cover the cost of supplies and replacing linens or towels (which get stained almost every single use), and to pay our cleaner a better wage. 

Upping our fees didn't decrease bookings too much

When I did some research into this, I noticed that other similar places charge between $150 to $200, so even though our fee is a bit higher, I don't feel bad about that. We started off doing a trial to see if this would deter guests from booking our properties, but we haven't had any complaints or bad ratings so far about this increased cleaning fee. 

For the most part, I'd say that raising the fee hasn't decreased the amount of bookings we've received either. We've benefited from the post-COVID travel surge and have stayed busy. 

Because of these two things, I feel like there's no reason to lower this fee. 

We use a part of this increased fee for supplies

In some of our worst case scenarios, we've had to replace a ton of items after a guest checks out, including sheets, linens, cups, cooking supplies, and other things that've been damaged or missing.

When we can, we try to buy supplies in bulk, whether they're cleaning supplies or sheets.

While we do have some items stocked on site (like sheets and towels), other items require the cleaning staff to go out of their way to drive to the store to buy these items before the guest checks in. In those situations, we can't look for deals; we just have to get what we find to make sure the property is ready for the next guest. 

I pay my cleaner a decent wage 

Usually, I just have two cleaners who work on the two different apartments. My cleaners get $200 per property each time they do a clean. It was very important to pay my cleaners a living wage, especially because they work spontaneous hours and days (based on when guests check out). My cleaners also use their own vehicle and fuel to drive to the property, and if it's a last-minute clean, they drop everything to be there.

There's also a higher cost of living in Kauai, so I feel like in order for us to receive excellent service, we're happy to pay good people to do this job, especially because a clean place means everything to a guest. 

When you have someone walk into a property, you want to guarantee they'll be happy with their first impression. If a cleaner skips out on cleaning the shower or does half the job picking up the mess in the kitchen, the guests will be unhappy. That would hurt our business more than a high cleaning fee. 

I want cleaners I can trust

Not only do I want to work with a cleaner who is reliable, but it also matters to have someone you can trust. Guests often leave items behind — everything from swimsuits to wedding rings — and because our cleaners are trustworthy, they always alert us of this and we're able to communicate that to the guests. 

Our reputation means everything 

A good review and a good reputation means everything to us. Not only because I want to provide a positive experience for guests, but because the more good reviews you have on Airbnb, the more you can be shown in search results on the platform, which can generate even more business.

After raising our cleaning prices a year ago, we're happy with what the results have been and as of now, we don't see a need to raise our prices any higher. The only reason we'd do that is if our cleaning person asked for a raise, and then we'd consider making a change. But at this time, there's no reason to do so.