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A woman has revealed how she refused to book via Airbnb after seeing a huge chore list on top of paying a pricey cleaning fee.
Whenever we’re booking something online, we’re often met with various extra charges and fees, many of which are credited to vague reasons like ‘administration’, ‘processing’ or ‘handling’.
But one woman drew the line when she saw an additional charge on a holiday rental she was looking to book, as it looked like the very thing she’d be paying for... would actually be done by her.
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Posting a video on TikTok last year, Mel (@melworeit) said she’d been looking for an Airbnb for a couple of nights away in February.
She’d noticed a $125 (£100) cleaning fee on one property, which didn’t bother her at first, but that soon changed when she read the online description a little more closely.
“Where do Airbnb owners get the audacity?” she said.
“So I'm just doing some research for a little mini vacation my husband and I wanna take at the end of February.
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“Found this place that I liked that’s within our price range. It does have a $125 cleaning fee, as most Airbnbs do.
“And I don’t have a problem with that, but this is what I do have a problem with.”
She then cut to a summary of ‘other things to note’ in the property’s listing.
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It said: “We ask that guests complete a few checkout duties before departing to allow time to prepare the house safely and on time. Removing garbage, removing bed linens, starting the dishwasher and one load of laundry.”
Mel continued: “Now, maybe this is like entitlement or privilege talking, however, if I’m paying $229 a night to stay somewhere, plus $125 cleaning fee, I’m not doing any f**king laundry. Full stop.
“I know it’s one load of laundry, it’ll take me two minutes to do, but it’s the principle that bothers me.”
It seemed many others agreed, with one TikTok user commenting: “Either I clean or I pay for cleaning... not both.”
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Someone else said: “Fees should be included in the original price.”
Another agreed: “I’ve helped manage an Airbnb and even I think it’s SO tacky and I will not stay in one that makes me DO THE LAUNDRY on my vacation.”
Mel later revealed she ended up just booking a hotel – and has been doing so ever since.
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She added in a comment: “This video is 8 months old and going viral again lol I stayed at a hotel and have only booked hotels since!”
A spokesperson for Airbnb told Tyla: "In preparation for an anticipated record-setting travel season, today, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced that we’re improving nearly every aspect of the Airbnb service - and we’re doing it based on feedback from our community - including total price display and transparent checkout instructions."
Jess Hardiman