Vegan hosting

[Fio1498]

Hi all,

are there any fellow vegan or veggie hosts in the house?

When I started hosting a room in my vegan home a few months ago, I did consider how I want to handle kitchen access and food on the premises. I landed on taking the risk of lower conversion rate by setting a house rule of only vegan food being prepared/stored in my kitchen. What I have found is that guests simply don't follow the rules. Which makes for awkward situations - yes, I've learned that some simply just didn't get it (don't get me started on that), and I wonder how other hosts are handling this - if at all?

I could also just say that the kitchen is not available to guests - but seems unfair to everyone based on a few exceptions.
There's also not really a great way to feed that back to Airbnb, the only way is to give a lower rating in the 'followed the house rules section'. I don't actually think that anything happens based on that though - other than share the feedback with the guest.

I'm about to rent out my room on a mid-term basis to someone I know, so won't have to deal with this for much longer, but am still curious to find out how others handle this or whether you have any tips to share.

Have a great day,
Fio

[Fio1498]

Hi Julien,
thanks for sharing your experience. Ha! That happens here a lot as well - I think so far only 1 couple washed AND dried up. What surprises me the most is that most guests even wash up by hand instead of just stacking dishes into the dishwasher.

Since I'm sharing my space, I have mentioned the "tidying up after cooking" in the house manual rather than the check-out message.

[Kevin3913]

Hey, hope you having a blessed day but to answer your question the best advice is to take innovative approach when using the kitchen.  Guest always  complain on missing grocery or someone ate or drank something of their. Things of that nature so will suggest to just have patience and ask if everyone is using the area. 

[Fio1498]

Interesting - I guess this happens when multiple different guests share a kitchen!? In my own case, it's usually guests that eat something of mine that wasn't meant for them. Usually fruit. But I don't really mind - any fruit that I don't want to share, I keep in my fridge salad drawer.

In hostels, guests have to put their name and date of their check-out on food items they leave in the fridge. Not sure if that is enough to make sure no-one uses their food, but it sure makes it easier to clean out the fridge on any left behind items. 

Since I only rent out one room, I have a couple of dedicated shelves in the fridge for my guests.

[Juna78]

Hi, I’m Juna. We are certainly very flexible; if guests wish to cook for themselves, we are more than happy to share our kitchen with them. This is common among guests with young children, as we understand they want to provide the best for their baby's health. We often end up cooking lunch or dinner together, and I find it truly wonderful—sharing stories and chatting about everything. It’s hard to put into words, but you really have to experience it—it’s an amazing experience.

[Fio1498]

Hi Juna,
I understand and I think it's also quite common for budget conscious travellers. I have only ever cooked with guests once so far and occasionally shared some treats that I made, but left them to enjoy by themselves. Perhaps with solo travellers in the future, but it's kind of hard to know if they want to socialise or not when they only stay for a short time. How do you know who wants to connect in this way rather than be left 'in peace'?

[Katie1799]

Our guests have their own kitchen, so there are no rules imposed on them. I agree that if you are sharing, you need to have rules. However, make sure you are hospitable. I once stayed in an Airbnb and arrived exhausted and stressed only to be greeted with many rude signs like KITCHEN OFF-LIMITS! even though their rules actually allowed for the use of the fridge and microwave, which was all I needed. It was very off-putting.

[Fio1498]

I understand that. I had the opposite experience a couple of months ago - the description said kitchen is off limit, but when we got there, we were told that we could use the kettle/coffee machine to make drinks and fridge to store food. It's better to be surprised this way round rather than what you experienced.

[Helen56]

@Fio1498   I'm vegetarian, but have no written rules about meat/fish.  I rent out one room in my house and let the guest use the kitchen.  I just let them know, during the kitchen tour, that I'm vegetarian and could they please wrap any meat in a zip lock bag or a storage box - I provide these too.  They have the top shelf in the fridge and space in the freezer too.  Occasionally someone will forget to use a bag/box and just leave a packet of sliced ham/turkey open.  So I just bag it for them, let them know that I bagged it so it wouldn't dry out.  It's never been an issue at all.  However, I usually dislike the smell of their cooking meat so have to open all the windows and doors, saying - cooking always makes this place so hot.  I don't ever want to complain, just make myself comfortable.  I think if you ask them to wrap their food it should be fine.  You could consider providing a designated frying pan, saucepan and utensils in a separate cupboard for their use since this seems really important to you - I don't, the dishwasher is very efficient.