Short answer: yes — but only fees disclosed in the listing before you book. Anything invented afterward is against Airbnb's rules, and you don't have to pay it. Here's the clean breakdown for both sides of the booking.
If you're the guest
Legitimate fees appear in your price breakdown before you confirm: the cleaning fee, extra-guest fees beyond a stated count, pet fees, security deposits, and Airbnb's own service fee. Some listings also disclose things like parking or late check-in charges — fine, as long as they're in the listing or house rules up front.
Not legitimate: any charge that materializes after booking. A host messaging "there's also a $75 cleaning fee" post-reservation, or asking for cash on arrival, is out of policy — decline politely and contact Airbnb support with the message thread. Payments outside the platform lose you Airbnb's protection entirely, which is exactly why the rules require everything on-platform and up-front.
Damage claims are the after-the-fact exception with a process: hosts can request payment for damage through Airbnb's resolution system, with evidence, and you get to respond. Normal wear — and normal cleaning — is not damage; a host can't bill you extra because dishes were in the sink.
If you're the host
Every fee you charge lives in your dashboard's pricing section, and the strategy is transparency: fees disclosed up front read as professional; fees that surprise read as a hustle and end up in reviews.
On the cleaning fee specifically, the math most hosts get wrong: the fee should reflect what a real turnover costs, not what you wish cleaning cost. Underprice it and you'll subsidize every stay or — worse — cut corners on the one thing guests rate as its own category. A consistent professional turnover at a known per-visit price makes the cleaning fee an honest pass-through: guests pay what it costs, the unit is five-star ready every time, and your rating stops depending on whether you had a free afternoon. What a proper turnover covers is its own checklist → The Short-Term Rental Turnover Checklist That Protects Your Rating
Extra-guest fees: benchmark similar listings in your neighborhood before setting one — priced above market, the fee quietly filters out the exact group bookings that fill weekends.
The one-line rules
Guests: if it wasn't in the listing, you don't owe it — and Airbnb's Help Center adjudicates. Hosts: disclose everything, price the cleaning fee at reality, and let a professional turnover crew make the fee worth it. For San Jose hosts, that's us — scheduled around your bookings, at published rates you can build straight into your fee → Airbnb cleaning · Short-term rental cleaning prices
