# "Cleaning Fee"



## wag (Sep 7, 2008)

Is there a way to find out if a resort charges a "cleaning fee" before making a reservation? If one is considering comparable places then the cleaning fee could make a difference.   Bill


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## Lazy8 (Sep 7, 2008)

Holy crow,
I'm in the mist of buying a timeshare.
This is a new one on me "cleaning fee"

Can someone spell out all the hidden costs to me.

Cleaning Fee, Parking Fee, Maintenance fee. and god knows what else??

Are timeshares really worth it.

Should I sell my motorhome and stop going to all inclusives before I buy one.


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## Bill4728 (Sep 7, 2008)

There are several point based TS which charge a cleaning/housekeeping fee. Most TS systems give you several free ones per year but if you strech your pts with lots of short stays, you may need to pay extra housekeeping fees. 

As an example, Worldmark give you one free housekeeping fee if you own 7000 pts. But if you used your 7000 pts for (2) 3 night stays, you'd have to pay for one housekeeping fee.


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## vacationhopeful (Sep 7, 2008)

Cleaning fees:
RCI Points vacations which are less than 7 nights - the resort you are staying at may charge you a cleaning fee as they will be possibly cleaning the unit twice in the same 7 day week ... you stay for 3 nights and someone else's stay for 3 nights.  Collect by resort.

Wyndham Point - HK - housekeeping credits are based on total number of points you own.  They are spent based upon the SIZE of the unit you reserve and are charged the same for 2 nights as 7.  If you make multiple short stays, you may run out of HKs.  When making a reservation and you are short HKs, you will be charged then (credit card payment) or no reservation.

Those are the two systems I am familiar with.  My one resort charges a fee for the inroom safe - $10.60 per week which includes the tax.


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## Ken555 (Sep 7, 2008)

Starwood charges an extra cleaning fee for each stay beyond two for each one week 2-bed you own.


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## CharlesS (Sep 8, 2008)

Lazy8 said:


> I'm in the mist of buying a timeshare.
> This is a new one on me "cleaning fee"
> Can someone spell out all the hidden costs to me.


In the Bluegreen Points system there is no cleaning fee unless you are a Premier Member and extend your stay with some free days that are in another unit.  If your free time is in the same unit there is no cleaning fee.  Solara Surfside has a fee for valet parking.  That is the only BG parking fee I know of.  Some resorts have a fee for the in room safe.

Charles


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## gorevs9 (Sep 8, 2008)

vacationhopeful said:


> Cleaning fees:
> RCI Points vacations which are less than 7 nights - the resort you are staying at may charge you a cleaning fee as they will be possibly cleaning the unit twice in the same 7 day week ... you stay for 3 nights and someone else's stay for 3 nights.  Collect by resort.



I was charged a cleaning fee in the vicinity of $50 for a 2 BR.  The amazing thing is the check-out policies basically had the occupant doing most of the cleaning anyway (i.e. empty trash, strip the sheets from the beds, etc.).  I figure that the resort at most spent 1/2 hour doing the "extra" cleaning.

Since this was my first experience with a vacation of less than 7 nights, it was totally unexpected.  After I returned home I contacted RCI about the policy and questioned why they do not add that tiny bit of info to their resort descriptions.  While they did not have to, they refunded my exchange fee.


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## Lazy8 (Sep 9, 2008)

Is this the going rate for a cleaning fee. Sounds rather steep to me.



gorevs9 said:


> I was charged a cleaning fee in the vicinity of $50 for a 2 BR.


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## vacationhopeful (Sep 9, 2008)

My RCI Points resort is $39 which I think is too cheap.  Try getting someone to do that work at your 2 bdr condo or vacation home at the beach ... my sis pays about $150 per turnover at her Ocean City MD 2bdr/2ba beachfront condo which she rents almost every week during the summer  .....  this is NOT an ad, they have a solid supply of rentors.  I want to show they are in a business and have used multiple services over the years ... prices are higher than many people think.  She even charges her family the cleaning fee, so the service doesn't quit.

IMHO, $50 is still cheap ....


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## timeos2 (Sep 9, 2008)

*Pet peeve - superficial "cleaning of units*



gorevs9 said:


> I was charged a cleaning fee in the vicinity of $50 for a 2 BR.  The amazing thing is the check-out policies basically had the occupant doing most of the cleaning anyway (i.e. empty trash, strip the sheets from the beds, etc.).  I figure that the resort at most spent 1/2 hour doing the "extra" cleaning.



Your description of "cleaning" the unit seems to apply to Wyndham & DVC among many others - superficial of the obvious in 30 40 minutes. 

For timeshares a good cleaning takes 2 hours or more. There are dishes to wash, floors to mop/vacuum, 2 or 3 baths to thoroughly clean, counter tops & appliances to clean & polish, dusting lamps, tables, dressers, etc, the obvious trash, linens and more. 30 minutes isn't going to do it although far too many hotels/timeshares think it does thus the questionable conditions you tend to find far too often on arrival.


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## CharlesS (Sep 9, 2008)

*Rational*



Lazy8 said:


> Cleaning Fee, Parking Fee, Maintenance fee. and god knows what else??
> 
> Are timeshares really worth it.



The timeshare management has to budget keeping the units clean.  Since most timeshares are sold on a week basis (even if it is in some kind of "points", the underlying deed is most likely a week), I would think that they would include in the routine annual maintenance fee, the cost to clean the unit once.  That's fair, one week, one cleaning, one maintenance fee.  However, some owners can split that week up into two or three stays which means one or two extra cleanings.  Someone has to pay for it, that is a given.  The question is Who?  

Some resorts with a large amount of partial week usage might simply build it into their maintenance fee budget others will charge only those who use partial weeks, and others have other schemes to share the cost appropriately.  But in any event, it has to be paid for.

And in response to the second question, Yes timeshares are worth it to many people, but not everyone.  But that's a discussion for another time and place.

Charles


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## Lazy8 (Sep 10, 2008)

CharlesS said:


> Yes timeshares are worth it to many people, but not everyone.  But that's a discussion for another time and place.
> 
> Charles



Thanks for you opinion Charles.
Being new to TS's, I just thought I shoud ask that question. I think I still have to do a lot of soul searching to do  and then ask myself. Is this really for you. Is this really what you want to do in the years to come.


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## gorevs9 (Sep 10, 2008)

timeos2 said:


> Your description of "cleaning" the unit seems to apply to Wyndham & DVC among many others - superficial of the obvious in 30 40 minutes.
> 
> For timeshares a good cleaning takes 2 hours or more. There are dishes to wash, floors to mop/vacuum, 2 or 3 baths to thoroughly clean, counter tops & appliances to clean & polish, dusting lamps, tables, dressers, etc, the obvious trash, linens and more. 30 minutes isn't going to do it although far too many hotels/timeshares think it does thus the questionable conditions you tend to find far too often on arrival.



One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was that if I didn't do the prescribed check-out procedures like emptying the trash and running the dishwasher, I could be assessed an additional "cleaning fee" (in addition to the regular $50 fee).


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## nicklinneh (Sep 11, 2008)

solara surfside also has a safe-fee, which i get waived.
other parking fees exacted by BG= Charleston, New Orleans (for sure) and maybe Atlantic City and Las Vegas (haven't been there)  -ken


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