Airbnb Charged My Guest a $10 Cleaning Fee… Even Though Mine Was Set to $175

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned while launching our vacation rental is this: Never assume the system is right.

I thought I had finally figured out the cleaning fee settings. I had entered the amount, reviewed the listing, and moved on to the next item on my never-ending Airbnb to-do list.

Then I reviewed my upcoming reservations.

Two different bookings had been charged a cleaning fee of just $10.

My cleaning fee was set to $175 when those reservations were made.

Ten dollars. Not $175.

I immediately wondered what I had done wrong. Had I accidentally entered a discount? Was there another setting hidden somewhere? Had I missed one of those Airbnb features that you only discover after something goes wrong?

So I went back through everything.

And everything appeared to be set correctly.

What made the situation especially confusing was that the issue wasn’t happening consistently.

Another guest who stayed the exact same number of nights had been charged the full $175 cleaning fee. The reservation after the two affected bookings was also correct.

If I had accidentally created a short-stay discount, I would have expected it to apply consistently to reservations that met the same criteria.

But that wasn’t what I was seeing.

I checked the pricing settings again. I looked for a discounted cleaning fee. I reviewed the reservation details. I tried to find an explanation that made sense.

Nothing explained why two guests were charged $10 while comparable reservations were charged $175.

At that point, I decided it was time to contact Airbnb Support.

I contacted Airbnb expecting someone to investigate the discrepancy and help me understand what had happened.

Instead, I was told that I must have created a discounted cleaning fee for short stays.

The problem was that I hadn’t.

I reviewed my listing again and confirmed that no short-stay cleaning fee was configured. I also explained that another reservation for the same number of nights had been charged correctly.

The explanation still didn’t account for the inconsistent charges.

Ultimately, Airbnb declined to adjust the reservations because the guests had booked at the price displayed to them.

I understand the importance of honoring the price a guest agrees to when booking. What I still wanted was a clear explanation of why the system had displayed a $10 cleaning fee when my configured fee was $175.

As of this writing, I haven’t received an explanation that resolves that discrepancy.

The pricing issue also created a practical problem: our cleaner still needs to be paid.

On July 8, I increased our cleaning fee from $175 to $225 to better reflect the actual cost of preparing the home between guests. That change was separate from the two reservations that had already been booked.

I may request the difference from the affected guests through Airbnb’s Resolution Center, and I’m hopeful they’ll choose to approve it. However, I understand they booked at the price they were shown, and any additional payment would be their choice.

Regardless of the outcome, I’ll make sure our cleaner receives the full amount we’ve agreed to pay her.

She didn’t create the pricing issue, and she shouldn’t be expected to absorb the cost of it.

That’s simply part of being responsible for the business.

This experience has changed how I manage our Airbnb reservations.

I used to assume that once the pricing settings were correct, the system would apply them correctly to every booking. Now I know that reviewing the settings isn’t enough. I also need to review the actual reservation.

From now on, every booking gets checked as soon as it comes in.

Here’s what I review:

• Nightly rate: Does the rate match the pricing I expected for those dates?
• Cleaning fee: Was the correct amount charged?
• Guest count: Does the reservation reflect the correct number of guests?
• Discounts: Were any weekly, monthly, promotional, or other discounts applied?
• Taxes: Are the applicable taxes reflected in the reservation?
• Payout amount: Does the expected payout make sense after fees and deductions?
• Additional fees: Are any applicable pet fees or other charges included?

It only takes a few minutes, but those few minutes can prevent an expensive surprise later.

If something looks wrong, I want to catch it immediately—not weeks later when the guest is about to arrive.

Launching a vacation rental has taught me that running an Airbnb is about much more than creating a beautiful space and publishing a listing.

There are contractors to coordinate, permits to track, inventory to manage, pricing to monitor, guests to communicate with, and a constant stream of little details that can affect the business.

And now, apparently, cleaning fees to double-check.

I still believe in using systems and automation. They make it possible to manage a vacation rental without manually handling every single task.

But automation doesn’t eliminate the need for oversight.

Trust your systems. Verify the results.

That’s the habit I’m taking forward from this experience. A quick reservation review may not prevent every problem, but it gives me a much better chance of catching one before it costs hundreds of dollars.

And if there’s one thing this Airbnb journey keeps teaching me, it’s that the lessons usually arrive right after I think I’ve finally figured everything out.

Tanya Peterson is a REALTOR® and Principal Real Estate Broker with Next Level Real Estate PNW at John L. Scott Market Center. With more than 20 years of real estate experience, Tanya serves Forest Grove, Washington County, surrounding Portland Metro communities, and Oregon property owners navigating major life transitions.

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