Airbnb has long been been popular with Australians on holidays and weekend getaways – but the accommodation platform is falling from favour with some travellers of the extra fees it charges.

Reports on social media suggest holidaymakers in Australia and overseas are frustrated at steep add-on charges for services such as cleaning, particularly when the host complains about the condition of the home.

One Australian took to Reddit recently to complain about the cleaning fee on a luxury apartment in northern Queensland they stayed in for two weeks for a whopping $6200.

“[I got] an email complaining about the state of the place and the cleaning the host had to do,” they said.

“What’s up with the damn cleaning fees if hosts are going to whine about the mildest level of cleaning that renters literally pay for, especially when there are blatantly lacking elements from properties[?]

“I’m less and less interested in using Airbnb these days because [of] the temperamental attitudes of hosts.”

Airbnb owners are out of their mf minds pic.twitter.com/lcDC0uaKTH

— Kay (@ohKAYx33) March 15, 2024

Another Redditor said they had been charged a $275 add-on fee by an Airbnb host in Melbourne for leaving a property in a dirty state, which came on top of a $150 cleaning fee.

“$275 seems [like] daylight robbery,” they said.

Australian comedian Jenny Tian has had 14,000 likes on a TikTok expressing her dissatisfaction at all the extra jobs she had to do on a recent Airbnb stay.

“I haven’t take a holiday, I have paid to become a housekeeper,” she said.

Airbnb has grown in popularity massively around the world in the past decade among travellers as an option for finding accommodation in tourist hotspots, including across Australia.

But more recently the US-based company has begun to recognise that add-on fees are turning people off.

Earlier this year, it told investors it was trying to eliminate them from bookings in the US.

The company has started showing users all-inclusive pricing when booking a property, leading to almost 300,000 listings removing or lowering their cleaning fees, Airbnb claimed in its investor reporting.

It said almost 40 per cent of active listings in the US were no longer charging cleaning fees.

Airbnb has also recognised the frustration among customers.

“Guests should not have to do unreasonable checkout tasks such as stripping the beds, doing the laundry, or vacuuming when leaving their Airbnb,” the company has said.

“But we think it’s reasonable to ask guests to turn off the lights, throw food in the trash, and lock the doors – just like they would when leaving their own home.”

Even without cleaning fees explicitly added onto bills, some travellers fear hosts will start baking the costs into the base price of accommodation, effectively making them pay it.

One Redditor said they were “sick” of spending hundreds on cleaning fees and had decided they’ll “pay more for hotels” in future.

It’s unclear how much in savings awaits consumers who opt to leave Airbnb and seek alternative accommodation in hotels, motels or caravan parks.

Prices vary by time of year and location, as well as the availability of Airbnb listings in various tourist hotspots.

Airbnb was contacted for comment.