HCM CITY – With Tết (Lunar New Year) only a few days away, demand for house cleaning services is skyrocketing in HCM City, driving fees up by as much as a third.

Busy with her work, Hà of District 7 could only call a house cleaning service provider on Wednesday to clean her three-storey house for Tết.

A service provider in Phú Nhuận District asked for VNĐ7 million (US$302) and VNĐ1 million more if the house was “difficult” to clean.

For this amount, the floors will be scrubbed clean, all the rooms will be vacuumed, the kitchen, bathrooms, furniture, and cabinets will be cleaned, and trash will be removed.

When she hesitated because of the price, the company said it was not much higher than on normal days, and if she could wait until after the holidays, the price would be 10 per cent lower.

The company only accepts orders until the 29th of the lunar month (February 3).

Q. Trung of District 3 hired a house cleaner last Sunday. It cost him VNĐ30,000 per square metre or VNĐ3 million for his 100sq.m apartment. The fee was 25-30 per cent higher than normal.

Hùng, who runs a cleaning service in District 6, said demand had been increasing rapidly not only to clean houses but also offices. He had to hire more cleaners and pay them extra.

“My company only takes orders until the 28^th [of the lunar month] because after that all the employees want to go back to their hometowns for Tết.

“Then you cannot find anyone to clean your house even if you pay VNĐ40,000-50,000 per square metre.”

Other services such as curtain, mattress and sofa cleaning are also fully booked, Thanh Niên reports. Salem Clean said it stopped receiving new orders last week.

This year it will only work until the 27^th instead of the 30^th like last year because all the workers were exhausted.

The company said it would give a 20 per cent discount to customers after Tết.

On average, the cost of cleaning mattresses and sofas now is VNĐ350,000-500,000 per set and around VNĐ30,000 per kilogramme for washing curtains.

Pet care services

Tết is also an opportunity for pet shops to make big bucks.

Kiều Anh of District 4 went to Teddy Dog store on Võ Văn Tần Street in District 3 to “rent a room” for her three dogs as she will go away for several days during the holidays.

According to the shop keeper, sheltering and caring fee for a pet weighing up to 15kg is VNĐ150,000 and double that for heavier animals.

But during Tết, the shop is charging customers an extra VNĐ100,000 per pet. Since demand is high, customers have to put down a deposit of VNĐ500,000 to reserve their place.

Kiều Anh paid nearly VNĐ7 million on her pets for nine days.

But this is just the cost at a mid-range place. Pets of wealthy people go to VIP rooms that could cost double.

The most luxurious place costs VNĐ500,000 a day.

The owner of another pet care facility said that in the past few years this service had become popular in big cities.

From being a small facility with 10 cages in 2017, his place has now expanded to have place for nearly 40 pets, a grassed area for them to play and a swimming pool.

"Owners also bring their pets here on weekdays if they go on a trip for a few days,” he added.—VNS