Is it reasonable to ask a host to provide a frying pan?

[Kerrick0]

My girlfriend and I are staying in a listing with a kitchen that came with a single cooking pot (and no other cookware). I asked the host if they could provide a frying pan so that I can cook things that aren't easy to do in the pot, and after a bit of back-and-forth the host brought a $3.50 pan from IKEA. The pan didn't work however because the stovetop is induction and the pan is aluminum, so I asked if they could provide a suitable one, and they pushed back saying that the price of IKEA induction pans (which are around $20-$30) is above their expenses.

I think $20 is a reasonable amount to pay to provide a frying pan, given that it's standard at every other AirBnB I've stayed at, and we payed $1,449.80 all-in ($1218.84 not including cleaning and AirBnB fees) for our 33-day stay at the listing. Plus, they are not buying the pan for me; future guests will also be able to use it.

Is this a reasonable request?

[Inna22]

@Kerrick0   In some parts of the world it is not customary to provide cookware with a listing. Are you renting in the US? I also do not know how big the place is but $1200 a month is cheaper than a motel. Did the listing promise cook wear? While for my US properties it is easier for me to fulfill a request like this for the guest than argue, regardless of if it is reasonable request or not, I do have a condo in Russia where getting anything is very difficult and I have argued with a guest over an iron for example. It would have cost me almost the amount she paid for rental to get one by the time she left and it was not offered in the listing.

[Robin4 · Accepted solution]

@Inna22 

Inna, this particular case is not whether a host provides cookware or not.....some do, some don't. I agree it is unfair for guests to ask or demand things which a host does not provide and does not be seen to provide. You can't just cane a host for not providing an espresso coffee machine when one is not advertised in the listing.

In this instance however, the host does provide cookware, he/she provides an induction cooktop and an induction cooking pot, so they obviously understand the difference......what utensils are required to use with induction cooking.

When the host was asked to provide a frypan he/she did.....but provided a cheap aluminium frypan that would not be suitable for an induction cooktop  with the ridiculous excuse that this was as far as the budget would stretch! The host was prepared to compromise their supplied equipment and annoy a guest for a handful of dollars.

Guests travel, and hosts like this make us all look stupid, they make the platform look stupid and for that reason do need to be called out. This is not a matter of a simple ommision, this is someone who has no right to be an STR host.....let him get a job managing a car park where all he needs to do is rent out and empty space....and stop making the rest of us look stupid!

@Kerrick0 

Cheers........Rob

[Inna22]

@Robin4 I do think that some things need to be uniform and I know many hosts would resist it, some for legitimate reason. A year or so ago toilet paper and linens became a must and I personally thought it was a step in the right directly. With more and more people using Airbnb coming from different cultures, speaking different languages and none of them bothering to read, some things should just be there. Period. If the host can not provide it for a very legitimate reason (hunters cabin for example), there should be some big pop up acknowledgment. Or, there should be a separate section for those. I completely agree that it reflects on all of us

[Robin4]

@Inna22 

Yeah I agree with you but this specific case is nor a matter of whether to supply something or not Inna. This is like supplying an electric kettle without a plug on the end of the cord.....there is the kettle but, I can't afford the correct power plug so you can't use it.

Can you see what I am getting at?

Hey, loved your Chicago walk around!!

Cheers........Rob 

[Anonymous]

@Robin4  You seem to be advising the host on how to solve the problem, when it was in fact the guest who asked for advice.

Considering that the guest has already requested a frying pan, and the host has already made a decision on that, the choices available to the guest are:

a) double down on the insistence that the host provide the item at his own expense, risking an escalation of conflict that would probably poison the well for the rest of the stay

b)  press the spurious case with Airbnb that the absence of a frying pan constitutes an unusable amenity, as a basis for ending the booking early and going to all the trouble of finding new accommodation and relocating

or

c) just buy a bloody frying pan and be done with it.

As I've already weighed in, (c) would be my own choice, if I intended to complete the stay. There's a time and a place for righteous indignation, but you have to ask yourself if that's the hill you want to die on, considering how the problem could be solved so much more easily without ever having to ascend a hill in the first place.

[Robin4]

@Anonymous 

No, I am not advising the host Andrew, in fact if you look at my first post in this stream I said the guest should just go out and buy a suitable frypan and take it with them when they leave.

From that point I was responding to Inna's posts

I am just a bit annoyed that a host would set out to abuse a guest like this, It's not fare on you or I Andrew.

Cheers.......Rob

[Sarah977]

What is considered "long term" on Airbnb, which could just be a month-long booking, as with the OP, is not normally what a landlord would consider long term, which would tend more towards a year's lease. In the first case, the person would still seem like a "guest" to me, rather than a tenant. Guests aren't likely to travel with their own cookware, unless cooking is a big thing with them, in which case they might bring their own chef's knives, or some other specialty item. Nor would they expect to have to go out and buy a set of cookware for a 1 month stay.

I manage a little studio cabin next door to me for the owner, who is a friend, that gets rented long-term, as in anywhere from 6 months, to the tenant who is currently there and has been for 2 years. It's totally furnished and in the beginning there was cookware, which was the owner's, but over the years various tenants trashed the stuff, until there was nothing usable left. So now, anyone who rents the place is expected to provide their own.

[Belinda55]

Our studio/weekender where we host has a separate kitchen and is fully stocked with cookware etc, including multiple saucepans and a frypan.

I did stay some years ago for a week in a large apartment with separate kitchen (in Tokyo) which had no cookware and virtually no crockery or cutlery. The host said ‘oh yes, we had a frypan once but it broke’. I went out and bought a cheap pan but same aluminium/induction problem. There were no local shops for other cookware items, but many restaurants and takeaways so I guess they assumed that guests wouldn’t be cooking! I ended up cooking in a stainless steel salad bowl.
The washing machine likewise was in almost unusable condition, and I had to spend a couple of hours cleaning it and running an empty cycle to clean it. These facilities should not be listed if they are not usable!

[Jjulia0]

 I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that the kitchen (when offered as an amenity) will contain a full set of cookware.

[Colleen253]

Wow @Kerrick0  you've really stirred the pot here with your question. Hopefully you got that fry pan by now. Please update asap 😉

[Sarah977]

" I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that the kitchen (when offered as an amenity) will contain a full set of cookware."

It may be reasonable to most of us, but it's unreasonable for a guest to "expect" anything that isn't stated as being provided. That's the purpose of the amenities list, so guests can check as to what to expect. If it says it's provided and isn't, that's another story. But even then, there are things worth spending time complaining about, and things that aren't. If the place says there is hot water and there isn't any, that's a bigger deal than finding that the host didn't leave a bottle of shampoo when that was supposed to be provided.

This host seems quite chintzy, though. That he went out and bought a $3.50 frying pan that doesn't even work on the cooktop provided is ridiculous. But as Andrew pointed out, if I were a guest, I'd just go buy a frying pan. If the listing stated that cookware is provided, I'd then mention in the review that only one pot and nothing else isn't what I expected "Cookware" to mean.

@Jjulia0

[Laura2592]

@Sarah977exactly! That is why its always best when the guest asks before booking. What may seem like common sense to most of us may not be universal. If I were this guest I would probably buy a pan and leave it behind or not fry things during my stay. Depending on where they are staying it might be better to try out some local takeaway.

[Eve5167]

Cooking items (saucepan, skillet, quart cooker) along with plates, flatware and glasses are standard host items especially if you're paying $1400.00 for your stay.  Were your hosts expecting you to call for delivery each night?  

[Petrina3]

I furnish my airbnbs with everything that i would like to be provided  with when i am travelling as a guest as I love to stay in self contained accomodation- it works for me and guests often compliment me with " there was everything there that i needed" 🙂

[Jim2380]

Hosts are not required to provide dishes and cookware but if they do not they will get hammered in their reviews. It’s absolutely standard for an Airbnb that has a full kitchen to supply these things. Any host who doesn’t will learn the hard way after a few one star reviews that their bookings will fall off a cliff. Really dumb move.