Welcome/ammenities kit

[Guilherme451]

Hello dear community, 

I would like to hear from airbnb hosts what are your thoughts related to welcome/amenities kit.

It happens often that guests forget essential personal hygiene items. The property owner/manager has to manage various cleaning, kitchen, and hygiene products, and sometimes, guests are not comfortable using products that are already opened and used.

My intention is to offer welcome kits at affordable cost, something in between $1-$3 per kit, depending on which products you would like to have, these kits would have small size products such as:

- Cooking products: 20ml cooking oil, instant caffee, tee, salt, sugar, pepper, etc,

- Cleaning products: trash bags, kitchen sponge, dish-washing detergent, etc,

- Hygiene products:  toothpaste, razor blade, shampoo, etc.

These would offer a better guest experience, showing attention to detail. quality and safety as all items are high quality and sealed. All with a very low investment.

I am looking forward to hear the comments from all of you, positive or negative 🙂

Best regards,

Guilherme **

**[Sensitive information removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Guilherme451 

Good idea, but is all the packaging easily recyclable? This may or may not be an issue for you in Brazil. In California single use packaging is a big deal. 

We provide such conveniences without charge. Most people do not use them, others do. We have also included such sundries and unopened standard sized food items in the room rate. 

Here in California we are acutely aware of environmental issues around single use packaging, particularly plastics, and especially in small single use sized items. We use refillable hand sanitizer, soaps and shampoo, etc, which is now standard in the hospitality industry here. We do provide pre pasted cellophane wrapped (factory sealed) toothbrushes.  This eliminates single use toothpaste; the cellophane wrapper is biodegradable. If used and left behind, we sanitize and re-use them here for deep cleaning cracks and crevices, such as around where the sink and toilet meet the floor. Yes, there are folks who still deep clean using an old toothbrush! When we recycle them we break off the brush head with pliers and recycle the plastic handle. 

Looking forward to more ideas in this conversation!

[Guilherme451]

Hello Kitty

My apologies, I was not clear enough when describing my idea, my intention is to offer these welcome kits to property hosts at a rate of $1-$3, ideally this is not charged from the guests.

My intention is to hear from property hosts if they are open to this concept and if it really brings benefits to ease the property management and improve guest experience.

I get the recycling issue, this is a challenge to this idea, to reduce waste. I appreciate your feedback.

I also use airbnb as a guest and sometimes I feel a little bit concerned using cooking products that are left at the property, I prefer to go and buy new as there is no way to know if something was done to the products left there.

[Zheng49]

It's a good idea but I wouldn't charge for it. 

[Guilherme451]

Hello Zheng,

My apologies, I was not clear enough when describing my idea, my intention is to offer these welcome kits to property hosts at a rate of $1-$3, ideally this is not charged from the guests.

My intention is to hear from property hosts if they are open to this concept and if it really brings benefits to ease the property management and improve guest experience

[Kia272]

@Guilherme451 Not a very good idea. Most hosts offer many of these things free of charge. Additionally, why would you charge for cleaning products meant to keep YOUR PLACE clean? Why would a guest pay for those? Trash bags and dish washing soap are there so that guests can keep YOUR PLACE clean. 

It's in your best interest to have those things available and to hope the guests even bother to use them. A better guest experience is when the host supplies these things. 

Most guests have their own personal hygiene products, because by the time we're adults, we have certain products and brands that we like. Personally, I'm likely to bring my own shampoo, etc., but I do expect the host to supply things like hand soap in the bathroom. 

The idea is neither innovative or smart, and it would seem to me as a guest, that you are nickel and diming me. 

[Guilherme451]

Hello Kia

My apologies, I was not clear enough when describing my idea, my intention is to offer these welcome kits to property hosts at a rate of $1-$3, ideally this is not charged from the guests.

My intention is to hear from property hosts if they are open to this concept and if it really brings benefits to ease the property management and improve guest experience

[Kia272]

@Guilherme451  Yes, your question was entirely unclear. 

However, I don't think it's practical at all. As hosts, we buy in bulk and then use as necessary for guest stays. For example, I buy kitchen garbage bags at Costco, and then replace the bags between guests. Same with paper towels, toilet paper, etc. 

Buying from you in small packages would not be cost effective at all. 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Guilherme451 

I provide all of the above free of charge and I would like to think that guests appreciate having these basics on hand rather than having to go and buy them.  Incorporate the cost into your price -  eco-friendly and painless for the guests😉

[Hans797]

Hi, Joelle.

We supply such amenities free of charge.  Our guests already pay a significant amount of money for their stay, and we don't believe that leveling a cost (even at a nominal rate) is reflective of our mission, vision and fundamental beliefs.

All the best.

Hans

[Guilherme451]

Hello Joelle,

thanks for the feedback, and these welcome packs are something you would be willing to buy from a company or is it your preference to arrange and manage these items by yourself?

[Joelle43]

Hello @Guilherme451 

No I wouldn't buy through a company as some of the cleaning products I leave for guests are the ones I also use when I clean.  I leave the items in a cupboard and tell them to use what they need and then replenish where needed.  I try and be eco-friendly whenever possible.

I use hypo allergenic products whenever possible and have cleaning products for different surfaces so the chances are that you wouldn't have the products I need.  I have four different bin sizes too to cater for.

And another thought, when I have left small soap dispensers for the toilet as just one example, people have left with them so the bigger the better as I'm hoping that guests might think twice of taking them back with them😉

[Diane1588]

I wouldn’t like to buy anything like this. I provide a full size and leave it to be used until empty - all except for milk which I refresh each time. If guests aren’t happy to use an open tin of coffee they are can supply their own but so far I haven’t had anyone complain about it. 

Also I use eco friendly products and try to minimise waste. 

Diane 

[Deb4790]

Hello. We mostly host medium-term(28 nights or more) guests. So we keep our units fully stocked with standard or large size supplies of cooking oil, tea/sugar/coffee/creamer, kitchen towels, shampoo/conditioner/bodywash etc. no personal hygiene supplies though. We avoid single use products for the most part.