Ok to ask friends to pay for cleaning when they use our beach house?

[Anonymous]

Not rude at all! We have friends with a second home in the mountains that they rent out. They let us stay in it for free if it's available but we always happily pay the cleaning fee.

[Anonymous]

Definitely okay to ask. I agree that if I was your friend, I'd insist. And, if we stayed with you while you were there, I'd STILLl insist and /or leave extra, since your house would have twice as much use than if it was just your family. I do think you should find a way to bring this up before you lend it to others, to prevent hard feelings from the clueless.

[Anonymous]

I also don't think you are in any way obligated to lend out the house - maybe for close family, but for others ... There is obviously wear and tear and other cost you incur

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tacky NO WAY. !!!!!!!!!! I've never in my life slept at somebody's home and got a cleaning bill. That's billing them it's crazy!!!

If its far,away, the reasonable thing to do is ask they put all dirty dishes in the dishwasher (and turn on) and take all garbage from every room outside when they leave. And take off all sheets, leave in laundry room, and put new sheets on the beds. That's our beach house tradition. That way, it's ready for the next people. No trash no dirty dishes and clean sheets.

This is not the same as sleeping at someone's house! Unbelievable. Your beach house must be filthy. No cleaning the counters, sweeping mopping floors, cleaning showers, mirrors, TOILETS, etc?

You can't be bothered to pay $200 or so for a cleaning fee but the OP (or someone in a similar situation) could be charging thousands in rental fees? GTFOH.

[Anonymous]

We use our friend's place in Bethany a few times each summer, and we pay the cleaning fee (despite leaving it cleaner than we find it) and a little extra. Our friend suggested an amount to use the house that was essentially couched in those terms. "Well, we rent it for $2k a week, but perhaps you could cover the cleaning fee? $200 would more than cover it." So that's what we happily pay...that wouldn't even cover a hotel room.

If you have a million dollar beachfront home, I'd charge a bit more--and I'm sure your friends would be happy to pay it.

[Anonymous]

You are nicer than me, OP. I rent out my beach house only to friends, and charge a low rate (like $90 a night in a $140 a night area).

I don't charge if they are with me, but if they are going for their own family vacation, I do. It is mutually beneficial in that they get below-rate rent and I get money to cover cleaning and utilities.

[Anonymous]

Tacky.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would not let anyone other than the closest family members stay at a second home - especially one as nice as yours seems to be. You are being extremely generous (possibly too generous for your own good). If I was lucky enough to be offered a stay at a beach home, I might initially be taken somewhat aback at being asked for a cleaning fee - but that's only because I always make sure to thoroughly clean up before I leave. If I knew that you were paying a cleaning team, I would be perfectly fine covering the cost.

I'd suggest that you just be honest - "We love having friends stay at our home, but we've found that it's been costing us quite a bit to get the house ready for our next visitors, so we've reluctantly decided to ask our visitors to cover the cleaning fee." I can't imagine anyone would object to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I would not let anyone other than the closest family members stay at a second home - especially one as nice as yours seems to be. You are being extremely generous (possibly too generous for your own good). If I was lucky enough to be offered a stay at a beach home, I might initially be taken somewhat aback at being asked for a cleaning fee - but that's only because I always make sure to thoroughly clean up before I leave. If I knew that you were paying a cleaning team, I would be perfectly fine covering the cost.

I'd suggest that you just be honest - "We love having friends stay at our home, but we've found that it's been costing us quite a bit to get the house ready for our next visitors, so we've reluctantly decided to ask our visitors to cover the cleaning fee." I can't imagine anyone would object to that.

.

Totally agree and this is great language to use. I wouldn't mind at all and frankly would feel relieved instead of having the awkward "how nice a thank you" to send internal debate

[Anonymous]

Not tacky at all.

[Anonymous]

I think it's fine. One of my friends does this - I believe her costs are $70 per cleaning, but her place is probably much smaller than yours. No one minds. I never care about people using my beach house, but I would be resentful if it resulted in cost to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have no problem with that. In fact it would make be feel better about accepting your generosity.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Real friends would insist on paying the cleaning fee; no questions, awkwardness, or hurt feelings.

One of the conditions of staying should be that the guests pay the cleaning fee.

[Anonymous]

This is one of the reasons we don't really encourage friends to use our beach house. It's a house that would rent for $4000 a week if we were to rent it. Between cleaning and utilities, along with wear and tear (broken glasses, etc) it costs us $500 week for someone else to use it. And based on this thread people think it's tacky to ask to cover the cleaning fee. We are delighted to have guests when we are there, and have friends nearly every weekend in summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think so. Generally, the cost of a beach house rental includes cleaning costs. If I were on the receiving end of your generosity, I would insist on paying for the cleaning.

+1 I also think every time I have been on the receiving end of such generosity I have found myself wracking my brains for a thoughtful and appropriate thank you gift. I'd frankly much prefer to pay for cleaning and send a nice bouquet of flowers or something over having no expenses and sending a very large gift certificate to a restaurant you end up not liking or something like that. I know my stay costs you money (in utilities, wear and tear, etc., in addition to cleaning) so I would really really prefer to contribute in some way.