I won't bore everyone with the details behind this question but can I ask you owners whether I'm right in believing that usually a rental property charge for cleaning relates to the clean at the end of the rental rather than before arrival?
Thanks in anticipation.
Each owner operates their own policy but it seems to be standard policy that if you do charge, you do so for the end of stay clean. We only charge for stays of 6 nights or under, otherwise is it included in the rental rates.
I have never heard of a renter being charged for the previous renters clean, but everyone runs their homes as they choose.
Fiona
Bit of a tough question to answer really KG, as it really just depends on how you define things. A clean at the end of one stay is the same clean as the clean at the start of the next stay ... if that makes sense. You could view it either way.
Trying to read a bit between the lines of your question though ... it gets to be a bit more important a point when there is a big gap between guests.
A 'typical management company' (and I quote that because I'm not even sure that there is a typical MC) will typically do the clean as close as is practical following a departure. There are a number of reasons for this ... food left out, dripping taps, alarms not set on departure, etc. The list of what could happen is long. Even if they schedule the clean for a day or two later, a good MC will make sure they visit a villa shortly after a guest departure to give it a once over and make sure everything is OK.
A management company may choose to delay a clean by a few days to better fit with their logistics. Suppose they have five villas departing on the same day but only two sets of cleaning staff. They may have a back-to-back in one of those villas, a next day arrival in another and the other three may be empty for a few more days. The MC will obviously deploy the resource to making sure that the villa with the back-to-back is ready for the guests arriving same-day, then next will be the next day arrival, etc. Good management companies are good at doing this. Poor management companies might just buy-in an unknown set of cleaners for a one-off clean. Poorer MCs still may do this and not even check the quality of that clean!
So what if a villa is cleaned after a departure but then doesn't have guests in for some time?
Here's where you hit probably the biggest difference in how management companies operate. A poor MC (IMHO) will take the opinion that the villa was OK after it was cleaned and so won't do anything - the idea being that if it was OK after it was cleaned it will be OK when the guests arrive. The theory is sound. In practice this is not a good way to operate.
A good MC will visit the villa shortly before the next guests arrive to make sure it is all OK. If they spot anything, they'll put it right there and then so that the incoming guests have a great holiday.
A truly great MC will have it in their processes that they do an individual set-up for each set of incoming guests. They'll leave a welcome pack, plus drop off any other special requests the guest may have (a few beers usually go down well after a long day of travelling), and give the villa another thorough examination. They'll make sure that the TVs all work, that the internet is up and running (a great MC will have all their owners' wireless details in their smartphone!), that nothing is out of place, and for evening arrivals will even make sure that the lights are on.
As a bit of a digression, and hopefully for the benefit of any other guests who may at any time read this thread ... truly great MCs are not common. One reason is that they have to do more work as they typically visit a property two times or more between guests - yes - every set of guests. Another reason is that they are more expensive and some owners do not want to pay for the additional quality.
For any guests booking any villa, I would always recommend that they ask the villa owner about their management company.
Steve
Whoops - think I went off at a bit of a tangent there KG. Apologies.
A quick summary is that it's a bit of a moot point. If you are itemised a charge for a clean, I don't really think it matters all that much as long as the villa is clean when you arrive, and you are only charged once.
Steve
When renting a villa you would expect it to be clean and beds made etc. I would expect the cleaning charge to be for when I leave. Whichever way round it is you should always arrive to a spotless villa.
Lyn
Agree with everything above - and like others, we charge a cleaning fee for bookings of less than 6 nights......depends on your situation, but I would ask the Owner directly re cleaning fees.
Our cleaning fee is included in the rental, villa always clean for arrivals and on departure only ask for a specific cleaning fee if a booking is 5 nights or less
Val
The Cleaning fee is included in our rental fee unless you book 7 nights or less then we add $85 / £55 clean charge which is detailed seperate in the Quote.
Our cleaning fees are also included in the rental unless the booking is for 6 nights or less where there is a fee of $125.
Jim
We too include the cleaning fee in the rental unless the booking is less than a week when we charge a fee of $75/£50.
Andrena
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