Seems that property owners are getting most of the flak for this...

I've got a chalet listed on Vrbo. It's been online for 25+ years... used to be Holiday Rentals, which got bought out by HomeAway, which got bought out by Vrbo... which is now part of Expedia. 25 years ago a lot of rentals came through magazine inquiries. 7+ nights was normal. These days you have an automated system as people was instant confirmations and no interaction. They also stay as short as 2-3 nights (though I set a 3 night minimum). Holiday Rentals used to make money from owner listings... Vrbo now charge us AND tags on a semi-hidden "service fee" to the renter.

Unfortunately cleaning costs are fixed, and whereas I would be happy to (in fact, used to) absorb this into the overall rate: it penalises those who stay a long time and yet setting minimum 5-7 nights doesn't work today.

Here's the thing: I define a cleaning fee and a daily rate, but I would be happy for Vrbo to combine this. My intention is NOT to "be a greedy property owner and grab more for cleaning", as some have alluded to here, but to input an accurate cost structure that includes zero markup for cleaning portion. Platforms like VRBO can totally work out how much a daily rate is based on # of days searched, the daily rate + average daily cleaning cost. VRBO likely doesn't do this because they want to be opaque and buy into the whole ancillary fee nonsense. It's not the owners. Don't forget they now tag on a booking fee too, which didn't exist back in the day.

I hate non-upfront fees as much as any other. I note that Vrbo does give a total now, in smaller and non-bold numbers (deliberate no doubt, and typical). I would prefer they just give a single clear total, and order accordingly if sorting by price.

It's worse that Vrbo doesn't even label it a cleaning fee... they say "host fees" which implies greed: even though on the owners portal, it's clearly marked as a cleaning fee.

I think the anger towards ancillary fees is directed at the wrong people...