It's even more abusive because the listing says, "$35 cleaning fee." If he rents it to 6 different people, he has already recouped his costs and the rest will be profit.
Edit: I don't think I communicated my meaning well here. Bottom line is, Hilton doesn't charge me to clean the room--it's a cost of doing business and is rolled into the cost of the room. The practice of adding on a 'cleaning fee' reeks of profit grabbing... similar to an airline charging for checked bags, except that this is a fee that is a requisite for staying in the room.
It's abusive because he is passing the cost of cleaning the place to the user... which in fairness should then be variable based on its usage. 1 OCD person gets charged the same fee as multiple slobs that brought their pets and smoked in the apartment. That 'fee' should be rolled into the rental cost/cost of doing business. He is using it to augment his profit.
It's abusive because he is passing the cost of cleaning the place to the user...
All costs of a business are passed to the consumer. Where do you think the money a business makes comes from? Sure, if there's a cost increase, a business can decide to lower the profit margin to avoid increasing the price, but the costs are still being passed on.
which in fairness should then be variable based on its usage
Why? When did it become wrong to charge flat fee for a service? The cleaning lady is also charging a flat per hour fee even though it's cheaper for her to do a single 3-hour job instead of 3 1-hour ones, is she being unfair too?
Nobody who offers a service can or should be required to charge proportionally to the costs. It's irrational to demand that.
That 'fee' should be rolled into the rental cost/cost of doing business.
I suggest he eliminates the cleaning fee and raises the prices by $35/visit. Apparently the morality of a fee depend on whether it's itemized.
It is relatively common for vacation properties to be priced this way because, well, it tends to reflect the owner's costs in that someone is paid to thoroughly clean the property when the renter checks out. (And it's either not cleaned or cleaned much more cursorily on a day to day basis.)
The distinction is that the cleaning fee is per stay; I'd agree that it would be smarmy if the fee was per night.
So if you stay one night you pay $35 and if you stay seven nights you still pay $35. Raising the per night rental fee would mean penalize people who stay longer than the average stay.
I'm not seeing the abuse here. How is it abusive to make a profit if he gets enough volume? I am not aware of any commonly held moral value that forbids potentially making money on an honest business venture. My boss makes money on my work. Do you think he'd continue paying me if that were not the case? I would sincerely hope not.
Edit: I don't think I communicated my meaning well here. Bottom line is, Hilton doesn't charge me to clean the room--it's a cost of doing business and is rolled into the cost of the room. The practice of adding on a 'cleaning fee' reeks of profit grabbing... similar to an airline charging for checked bags, except that this is a fee that is a requisite for staying in the room.