Airbnb. Just drop the soap! Please

[David6]

Have noticed several guests are saying ‘soap’ is missing in my listings. Young and older guests. 

We provide several bottles of shower gel & shampoo - different fragrances. 

At the sinks we provide liquid soap. I despise bar soap. I don’t wish to provide it, it’s a waste of money and after each guest - we have lots of 1 nights stays - it get tossed in the bin. All that waste of packaging too, day after day. Liquid soap can be topped up & I just find it so much easier.

But hey, it isn’t about me (as Airbnb policies reinforce every day) But ALL about my guests!? 🙂 

Any thoughts on this? 

[Rachel0]

@David6 Those little bars of soap are revolting and I find that using them is very harsh on the skin of my hands.  I provide the M&S hand wash - it's not the cheapest but guests often remark on how gentle it is and how good it smells.  I have never once had anyone complain that I don't provide a bar of soap!

[Emilia42]

@David6 

Do these little spying on the host questions at the end of the review process really impact anything? They are optional and the guest can easily x out of them after the review is submitted. I don't have the app so I have never seen the answer to any of these questions. If guests or Airbnb are sending me tips or a list of things that are missing, I am not getting them. So do they really matter?

[Mark116]

@Emilia42  Ha.  Yes, we do 95% of everything on desktop, and only use the mobile app when we're traveling, so whatever those 'extra' messages are that come from guest reviews, I'm not seeing them and that is probably a good thing.  

I would love to be the proverbial fly on the wall at an airbnb strategy meeting to understand how or why they focus on this tedius BS in the guest reviews and don't lift a finger on the government or media relations side to stem the tide against STR being blamed for everything from drunken parties to homelessness.  

[David6]

@Emilia42   The point is we supply liquid soap (not bars), just Airbnb seem to think it relevant to hound hosts with notifications that things were missing.

And yes I do care because a review of 5* in every category  ends up being downgraded  to 4* by a guest as they are reminded that things were ‘not there’ therefore creating negativity in their minds. Surely Airbnb don’t need to prompt the guests, they can mention missing items if they so care to. 

[Emilia42]

The optional series of questions that Airbnb asks about "what’s missing" comes after the guest submits their review. At least that was the case the last time I was a guest. If enough guests are really taking stars away with the feedback of “no soap” then give them bar soap. Liquid soap isn't doing it if enough people have mentioned it.

[David6]

It’s not about the soap. Anyway we are on different pages about this subject so I’ll just leave it there. 

[Michelle-And-Michael0]

No soap bar at our place either, I'm afraid.

Really don't like the idea of wastage.... not to mention traditional soap bars usually means more soap scum to clean off the shower and basin. No Thank you!

We've never had any complaints that I know of, yet.

[Emiel1]

@David6 

In my city you can buy soap in a dispencer and everytime you press it, the bottle starts to sing !

It's actually for children, guests will NEVER use it again after one try ! But at least there is (annoying) soap.

I would like such a bottle not singing, but shouting "five stars please on your review !"

BTW Google "singing soap" to check facts

[Mike1034]

@David6 I got the same kind of comments as well. "Soap is missing". I think that some poeple are used to use bar soap. That is why I got the soap missing a few times. Those guests who left the comment of missing soap actually never told me when they stayed. Otherwise, I would have given them a soap bar, which is not much. But soap bar normally can be more messy for cleaning job.

I don't care. It seems that it does not hurt even there are those comments. When Airbnb CS calls or text me, I can explain to them.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

after about 600 guests in 3 years of hosting nobody EVER said the soap is missing. We have a dispenser with liquid soap.

but this is some third world Croatia so guest's expectations are low 😄

[Anonymous]

Also after hundreds of guests I never got the feedback that bar soap was missing.

My guess about what was really going on:  guests who only stay one night have a very patchy memory of what amenities were available. Maybe they didn't take a shower that night - would they even know whether there was soap? 

[Mary419]

#soapgate is not solved because I use hotel size wrapped bar soaps religiously in addition to liquid hand soap, liquid dish soap and (if dishwasher is present) dishwasher detergent. And in a few places I also provide body wash on top of that other stuff!  I still noticed I  was flagged with 36 "soap missing" moments. The biggest takeway for me is the fact Airbnb does not show the specific guest and property for these generalized info bubbles and for anyone with more than one listing it is very annoying

[Mark116]

@Mary419 

That is really strange, how do you think people can be not seeing all this soap laying around everywhere in bar and liquid form?

#soapgate

[David6]

Wow @Mary419

and I thought I had problems. #soapgate 

[Beth80]

@David6  

Thanks for bringing this to light. I didn't know that information was even there.

Seems someone couldn't manage to open the cabinet to get extra toilet paper. 

As if the review system wasn't unfair enough already they have to encourage guests to nit pick?.