Why We Stopped Charging Airbnb Cleaning Fee
Social Norms vs Market Norms
Together with
, we used to charge Airbnb cleaning fee when we first started renting our apartment. It seemed fair, as we always dry clean sheets and towels and try to keep our apartment spotless. Once we had quite messy guests. They didn’t do any permanent damage but added a few hours of cleaning to prepare the apartment for the next tenants. On Airbnb, both sides, host and guest, rate the stay. As a host I can rate guest cleanness, I rated those guests at 3 out of 5 stars. Airbnb won’t reveal the rating of one side, until the other side rates the stay or a certain number of days will pass, at this point reviews are revealed and blocked. After a few days, the guest rated their stay and at that time our review became visible to them.When our guest read the review, they messaged me asking why I rated their cleanness so low if they paid the cleaning fee. We exchanged a few respectful messages and I explained to them that rating and fee are two separate things and that the apartment needed extra work on top of what we usually do.
This situation got me thinking. What if this fee not only raises expectations but also influences guest behavior? We decided to stop charging it. Over the next few months we noticed that compared to previous prior, guests leave the apartment cleaner.
As it happens, there is a behavioral science phenomenon that explains it. I came across it while reading “Predictably Irrational” by
. When entering transactions, humans apply either market norms or social norms, or both as in the case of renting Airbnb.Social norms are like unwritten rules about how we should behave in a group or society. They're based on the culture and common understandings of a group. If we break these rules, we could be judged or even punished by others in our group.
Market norms, meanwhile, are the accepted ways people behave in business or economics. They help us understand what's fair when buying, selling, or trading. Breaking these rules can lead to losing money, getting in legal trouble, or giving your business a bad name.
From a guest's perspective, using Airbnb involves both social and market norms. Social norms come into play as guests are expected to respect the host's property and follow any house rules set by the host, such as noise restrictions or no-smoking policies. They're also expected to interact respectfully with hosts and any neighbors.
Market norms are evident in the transactional part of using Airbnb. Guests pay a set price to rent a property for a certain time, and they expect the property to be as described in the listing. They might compare prices, read reviews, and consider location or amenities before making a booking decision. Here, the rules of commerce apply - providing the payment, receiving the service, possibly dealing with cancellation policies, and so on.
When a cleaning fee is added to an Airbnb booking, it moves the expectation of leaving the property clean from the realm of social norms to market norms. Initially, guests clean up after themselves out of respect for the host and the property - a social norm that dictates politeness and consideration for others' spaces. However, once a cleaning fee is applied, the act of cleaning turns into a paid service. The guests now expect that regardless of how clean or messy they leave the space, a professional cleaner will come in and clean the property. They view it as a part of the service they've paid for, turning it into a market norm.
In his book, Airley gives another example of how adding price can make behavior worse. He describes research conducted by Uri Sneezy and Aldo Rustichini:
A few years ago, they studied a daycare center in Israel to determine whether imposing a fine on parents who arrived late to pick up their children was a useful deterrent. Uri and Aldo concluded that the fine didn't work well, and in fact it had long-term negative effects. Why? Before the fine was introduced, the teachers and parents had a social contract, with social norms about being late. Thus, if parents were late, as they occasionally were they felt guilty about it-and their guilt compelled them to be more prompt in picking up their kids in the future. (In Israel, guilt seems to be an effective way to get compliance.) But once the fine was imposed, the daycare center had inadvertently replaced the social norms with market norms. Now that the parents were paying for their tardiness, they interpreted the situation in terms of market norms. In other words, since they were being fined, they could decide for themselves whether to be late or not, and they frequently chose to be late. Needless to say, this was not what the daycare center intended.
What is even worse, when they tried to remove the penalty, social norm didn’t kick back in. People stuck to “worse” behavior. Luckily, this wasn’t a case with our Airbnb, most of our guests are visiting for the first time, so we establish our relationship a the time of booking.
It’s important to remember that, there are situations when it is better to rely on market norms. In my parent's home, there is a piece of wallpaper that is missing. The story behind it is that my uncle, as a favor, promised to put the whole wallpaper. When he was almost done, he needed to do something for his paying client. He was meant to be back in a few days to finish the job. It’s 20 years later, and it wasn’t finished. I’m pretty sure that if my parents paid him for this, he might have felt a bit offended, but he would have finished it right away.
In the end, what stands out is how essential it is to recognize and respect the different types of norms - social and market norms, and how they apply to the situation you are in. Trying to mix them up can mess with people's expectations and behaviors. Just like our Airbnb story showed, sometimes you might unintentionally push people from acting out of respect and good manners to thinking they’ve paid for the right to behave differently. Or, by paying someone, you can ensure that they will get the job done without relying on their character.