Do you provide....?‌‌

[Laura2592]

What sorts of things have you been asked if you provide by guests?  Have you thought "oh great idea!" and purchased them? Or been confused that anyone would expect a host to have this for guest use?

Here are some from our experiences.

-Fishing gear. Nope, we don't.

-Camping gear. Again, no. 

-Bicycles. No, but I have thought about getting some old bikes. Not really a great place to cycle near us though.

-High chair. No, we don't host infants at this point.

-Breakfast. No. Though we do leave snacks for guests. 

-A laptop for guests to use. No. 

- Sheets and towels. Of course. 

-Firewood. We provide a duraflame for indoors and do not provide wood for the firepit. We did at one point but it was impossible to keep up with how much got burned by some guests. 

-Pet beds. No but I have thought about getting one as we are pet-friendly. Will likely provide one in the future.

-Entertainment. No, not sure what type of entertainment the potential guests in this case wanted, but we are not on site. I guess I could sing to them over the phone?

-A steamer for clothing. Not at this time.

-A flat iron. Not at this time.

What about you my fellow hosts?

[Annette76]

Phone chargers are something people forget and regularly request.  I have some I bought at the dollar store. I write the cabin name on pink duct tape and wrap it around the cords. No one has taken one yet. 

[Alexandra316]

I used to get "do you have a BBQ?" constantly. So I finally bit the bullet and bought one, because it was so frequently requested. It barely ever gets used: it's definitely been used fewer than 10 times in the year it's been in service, and I've hosted almost continuously. 

My most annoying one was the guest who asked if I had candles available. That would be a no, and I told them I really didn't want them burning candles in the space. They were really mad about it. I ended up getting a bunch of flameless candles and left them in the flat. It also got added to my list of rules immediately. 

[Anonymous]

@Alexandra316  Good call on the candles.

The last Airbnb I stayed in was impeccably clean inside, but the BBQ was crusted with unspeakable things. I've seen posts and reviews from guests making similar observations in places they stay. It might be the feature that both guests and housekeepers are likeliest to overlook when cleaning up. 

[Alexandra316]

@Anonymous Yeah I totally agree with that. I always check it out to make sure it's clean and has propane.

I always check because I had a bad experience with a guest who booked my no-longer-listed cottage who cooked a beef brisket or something in a pure sugar sauce: it took like 2 hours to get the BBQ to a reasonable state. If I'd been the next guest and I'd lifted the lid on that, I would have been pretty annoyed. 

[Debra300]

@Anonymous,

On the Airbnb platform, we charge a refundable $25 fee to use our portable gas grills (on other platforms we already have a security deposit), and also provide guests the supplies to clean the grills after use.  So far, this has been enough of an impetus for all of the guests to put forward some effort to clean the grills after use.

[Colleen253]

@Alexandra316 Same same re the candles. And guess what? ALL of the flameless candles have been ‘lit’ at some point. I leave them there as an ode to ‘that guest’. 

[Trude0]

My first ever guest suggested a BBQ/grill, when checking out. Promptly sent husband out to buy one (electric). 50 guests later I think it has been used ...twice? I’ll probably forget to clean it if some guest ever uses it...;-) 

I was expecting my first ever British guests, and thought: Must get a toaster! Said and done. Do you think they used it? 

[Brian1961]

Andrew, 

You are a very patient person.  I would never want to stay at a hosts property that is so blatantly rude, I don't care how much experience the lady has. I was sitting here with a group out 8......five women and 3 men and all agreed with Carly.  

[Stephen1156]

For each of our cottages we provide what should be the essentials including bed linen (we also check whether guests want a soft/feather pillow, medium wool pillow, or hard memory foam pillow a few days before the guests arrive - it's about 70% medium, 25% soft, and 5% hard), towels, a fully-equipped kitchen and gas barbeque, iron and ironing board, a full first aid kit, a supply of emergency sanitary products, and firewood (we live on 100 acres in the bush - there's no shortage). We keep a portable cot and folding high chair at our house and will provide it on request.

There's also a full supply of cleaning products and a laundry at each cottage for anyone staying longer. We drop a selection of books and games in each cottage that we rotate in and out from our own collections.

We supply coffee pods (and the recycling service), several kinds of tea, sugar and substitutes, locally farmed milk, and the fixings for a cooked breakfast (locally smoked bacon, free range eggs, sourdough, and cultured butter) or a cold breakfast (fruit, sourdough, jams and preserves, and two different mueslis).

We provide separated bins for landfill, recycling, and organic compost with a list of what can be placed in each.

As an aside, we've also made it clear in some of our conversations on social media platforms that we actively welcome and provide a safe  place for members of the LGBTIQA community to holiday at. There have been a couple of occasions where it's been noticed.

[James2566]

I once asked a host to borrow a luggage scale in Miami. That would be so handy in some major cities where tourists do a lot of shopping.

As far as strange asks I’ve received: 

—Convert the second bedroom into an office space for the week (there’s office space in the master)

—Stage two office spaces for two spouses within the apartment (source additional desk and chair)

—Bring in full-sized refrigerator for a studio kitchenette in addition to the small fridge

—Lounger cushions “that dry faster after it rains on them”

—To move a large flat screen television to the dining table with HDMI cables for guest to use as large computer monitor

—To borrow a large flat screen mac style computer monitor (I refereed the expat to the local computer store) 

—Extension chords for work electronics (granted with note on guest file for return)

I believe in the movie Casino, someone asks a hotel for two strippers dressed like Dallas cheerleaders, so it could be worse!

[Kim578]

I'm on this thread because a guest just said we should have provided toothpaste and they had to run to the store to get some. We provide shampoo, conditioner and body wash but I would think guests would pack their toothpaste with their toothbrush.  Is toothpaste a standard item?  It seems those who don't need it will just pack it up in their travel bags for future trips. Thoughts?

[Debra300]

@Kim578,

WeI don't provide toothpaste, tooth brushes, deodorant, shavers, or menstrual pads as standard items included with the rental.  Since most of our guests travel a long distance and duration before reaching us, we do keep a supply on hand if our visitors ask for a forgotten toiletry, because we know that they probably don't feel like running to the store after such a long journey.  

[Sarah977]

@Kim578 I provide soap, both bar and liquid, that's it. (I have a fairly budget priced home share listing) As far as I'm concerned, body wash, bath gel, etc. are just marketing gimmicks designed to get consumers to buy more products. I don't buy those things for myself, nor for guests.

I do have some cheap, individually packaged toothbrushes, in case a guest forgot theirs, and provide Q-tips, cotton balls and earplugs.

Many guests will leave barely used products behind- they are heading home and don't want to pack them. So I end up with bottles of shampoo, sunscreen, shaving gel, hair styling products, etc. If it's just dregs, I toss them, or use them myself, but if they are at least half full, they go in a basket in the guest bathroom. I sterilize the containers with bleach wipes, undoing the cap to wipe around the top, so nothing is mucky. I let guests know they are welcome to use any of it, and that it's all sterilized between guests, regardless of whether it seems to have been used by the previous guest or not.

So it's an ever revolving basket of stuff, and some guests definitely do make use of it.

Because I home share, if a guest needed to borrow some toothpaste or shampoo before they went shopping, they could just ask and I'd be happy to give them some.

I find that female guests tend to bring their own favorite products- men aren't so fussy about what they use, so seem to just go buy a cheap bottle of shampoo if they need it, or use some they find in the basket.

No guest has ever complained about what I don't provide.

You don't need to provide anything in particular in the way of bathroom products, except soap. There's an amenities list- if guests fail to read it, they can't fault the host because they expected something that isn't checked on that list.

[Annette76]

I do have a basket in a bathroom drawer with a few items. We are fairly remote, nearest store is 20 minute drive and definitely not open 24 hours ! I just leave the bare minimum and have my restock supplies in my tote. I have dollar store travel toothpaste and toothbrush kit, a cheap disposable razor, a few tampons and pads(I’m thinking about my linens). The toothpaste is the one I’ve had to replace most, but not so much that it is an expense issue. Oh, and my new daughter in law’s mother works at a dental office and she now restocks that for me.  
A hairdryer is a must in the humid Georgia summer, so I’m happy providing that. There are also quite a few popular wedding venues in the area so an iron and ironing board are available. 

[Pat271]

How are you hosts who are providing wet and dry condiments getting around the Covid concerns? Here on Maui most accommodations have been encouraged, and in some cases even forced, to remove anything that can be used by more than one guest. So I started just providing small packets of sugar, ketchup, mustard, boxed tea, and little salt and pepper packages. However, shortly after that a guest informed me (in private, thankfully) that the closed packages of sugar, tea, etc. are wasteful and leave a large carbon footprint. So…now I have bare cupboards, and am waiting to get a “no condiments” complaint!