Stained linens and towels

[Vivien280]

Hello,

I need some advice regarding stained linens and towels. During a recent inspection of my remote STR, my cleaner showed me a large pile of stained linens & towels that she deemed untreatable. I used Dr. Bronner's cleaning agent, spent a few hours rubbing off the stains and salvaged most of the linens & towels. However, I can't ask the cleaner to do that for each turnover, she doesn't have time to do such task. I'm thousands of miles away from the property. I can't imagine throwing linens & towels away just because there are a few stains that can absolutely be removed. What should I do? Thank you in advance for anyone who is willing to share your wise advice! 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Vivien280 I would add a $ or 2 per night and replace towels as they get stained. Then ask your cleaner to collect stained towels so that when you visit you can refurbish them.

[Marie8425]

What is staining the linens every turnover?  That seems like a high incident number?

[Vivien280]

@Marie8425 I have no idea, mostly stains that make my white sheets look yellow/orange. Sweat?

[Marie8425]

@Vivien280 

If the problem is white becoming dingy then maybe it's using white sheets?  I know that is the general choice, but maybe white is not a good choice if a remote area, which correlates with Guests doing outside activities so I would expect people on vacation might decide to take a nap after hiking or spent the whole day hiking I am exhausyed I will take a shower in the morning.  

I do all work stay Guests but contractor that do specialized construction work so just in case I choose non white sheets and towels.  My cleaner has not presented any staining problem.  Sometimes the answer is to remove the problem.

[Vivien280]

Thanks @Marie8425. I'm working on switching to non-white sheets and towels.

[Shelley159]

@Vivien280 maybe do a partial switch to test?

Darker colours can also need replacement as some beauty products contain chemicals that bleach fabric (at least, I think that's why they keep getting bleached spots?)

Then I switch back to white and spend hours not removing stains 😃

I don't know the answer, all I'm saying is don't get your hopes up that darker shades automatically solve all your problems.

With the bedding stains you describe, I think @Marie8425 has a good point that you could test whether a darker shade works better.

[Marie8425]

@Vivien280 

Your rental seems similar to mine that a Guest would expect that your linens are durable.  Think from a Guests point of view, does my linen choice crowd their enjoyment because they are worried about getting dirt in a position of dirty activities is why I am choosing the location.

I buy nice colored linens from Costco Online.  I haven'y had any unexpected failures.  And I choose cheery colors and my target Guest doesn't complain.  I even have brown sheets.  We have to think if we  notice a problem.  Does the Guests notice a problem?  Guests don't always mention little things when so many great things.

[Lorna170]

@Vivien280  If your cleaner does not have the time to treat your linens, is there a local laundry service that she can take them to for washing and treatment?  

If there is no service available and your cleaner does not wish to try to do the stain removal herself for an additional payment, you are stuck with storing the damaged sheets and towels until your next visit to the property.  

[Vivien280]

@Lorna170 I think I will ask my cleaner if she is willing to remove stain for an extra fee. That’s probably best. 

How do you deal with stained linen?

[Greystone0]

Hi @Vivien280  - agree with the really good advice shared.  love a good cleaning dilemma.

Here's some comments:

- like @Shelley159  mentioned colored linens have their own issues too, we experienced a strange orange bleaching damage to a good bit of our linens, bedding, towels, floor mats, and finally determined it was various guests (as it happened repeatedly) using a benzoyl peroxide product. It does not come out.  There is no solution for this. It permanently stains colored fabrics. This ruined perfectly good stuff and rendered it even unworthy of a donation (it just looks terrible). We DO use these damaged items as 'owner use', old towels go in a pile for various things like cleaning the garage or wiping a car or as dog towels etc. We now have a note in our guidebook to please refrain from using benzoyly peroxide when in our home.  Not the problem you shared but that's how we managed it.

- like you, our cleaner doesn't have the time to address things that require significant time and effort to fix. So if a something is stained beyond her time limits, she puts it aside for us to deal with when we are in our home.  Sometimes she has the time to dedicate sometimes she doesn't, high season vs low season and so on. 

- as long as you have enough stuff to allow you to keep going then this should take the time pressure of  the cleaner and allow them to address when time allows. This is our tactic - either we/owners get to it, or the cleaner comes back to it.

- and there are a lot of good suggestions (here in community center or post a new dilemma) on stain removal, products, etc to help as you encounter things!

good luck!