What do I do with discoloured Towels and Washcloths?

[Tommy150]

I am a newer host and just had guests leave. 

They were wonderful... No issues.

After they left it at my normal walkthrough and put all the linens and towels and things in a hamper and took them downstairs.

I just to throw the towels in the washer and noticed discolouration on them (they're grey).

This does not look like a stain at all it looks like something was bleached almost maybe some kind of makeup product or something? at any rate my question is what should I do in this situation... I saw many threads by searching that sort of stains and things like that are considered wear and tear and just to deal with it but this is something a little different.

They're not terribly expensive as I purposely made sure I shopped and watched for sales but the point is I'm going to have to replace them should I say something to the guest? I'm not sure how to tackle this...ps sorry for the bad typing for some reason I'm having trouble editing this on my phone.

[Melodie-And-John0]

Great Idea, Im jumping on board with that one like white on rice @Susan151 !

[Tony-And-Una0]

Hi

We use Tena extra strong tissue cloths as disposable washcloths. We just leave them in a labelled plastic container for guests to use as required. 

The really do stand up to being  used in the shower. In the UK they cost £10 for a pack of 200 (so 2 pence each).

We buy them via Amazon. I believe they are available in the US.

[Nicole3327]

Do you find guests taking them? Just noticed a guest took one of my blankets home … I think they’d have sticky hands if offered a large supply of something like this for use. 

[Ivan53]

I've had the same thing happen 3 times!  Dark green towels ruined and a beautiful 100% cotton duvet cover.  I then realized it is the acne product. Proactive.  

from now on I am on alert, and if I think they might use it, I offer. Different linen, so far hasn't happened again.

no wonder hotels use only white!!

[Tommy150]

Thank you everyone for your replies.  I decided to chalk it up to cost of doing business.  I did mention it in the "private" feedback to them, very nicely... basically just saying - hey, as a heads up -- some of your grooming/facial products appear to contain benzoyl peroxide and bleached a few of my towels... just something to keep in mind at other airbnbs.  You may not have been aware of this and use white towels at home.

My Grandmother had to go into long-term care last year, so this was a good opportunity to clean out her linen closet and take all the cute, but mismatched, washcloths and hand towels from the last few decades she has.  Laundered them all and put a basket of them in the bathroom with a note "Benzoyl Peroxide and some other facial care/acne products may bleach/cause discoloration of towels.  Please use these for your face/makeup if you use products containing that chemical - Thank you!"

That way .... if they get ruined I can throw them out.  Murphy's law dictates they'll all be fine lol.

I'm still on the fence about getting white towels.  I personally hate white towels.  I feel like no matter what you get - there's a challenge.  Colored towels get bleached, white towels get stained with makeup.  I think I'm going to just stick with light colored towels - I'm going to go lighter than the gray ones I have... silver, very pale green, yellow, pink - I have bold colors in my bathroom so it'll work well.

For those of you looking for white towels, I saw the recommendations about Cosco -- there's also webstaurantstore - they look like they have good prices and reviews on all their hospitality towels:

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/11185/towels.html?filter=usage:healthcare&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvo_qBRDQARI...

[Melodie-And-John0]

Good thread @Tommy150 , thanks for bringing it up, I always assumed it was from bleached hair but the BP in the facial crap makes sense.  Im also putting out the cheap washcloths and explanation card as well.  Im in your camp on white, I dont do white sheets, blankets or comforters either, it just doesnt fit in our decor or work well with our 150 year old Spring fed well water.  Stay well, JR

[Sandra6363]

Hi Tommy!

I’m new hosting Airbnb (just got Superhost 🤗). About colored towels and girls, or people, who uses cleansing and stuff - makes it expensive . 

for my Airbnb I only use big towels in white an smaller towels (quite cheap ones) in different grey colors. I also think it’s boring with white. 

white cotton you can always clean in the hottest temperature (90 degrees Celsius) and also bleach if needed. 
white towels goes with white sheets 😉. 

best regards 

sandra

[Tommy150]

Hi Sandra, thanks for your reply. This was from 2019 though. I still hate white towels and have gone with light colored ones from Sams club that are bleach resistant from their hotel collection. They have held up remarkably well and guests love them. I actually bought some for myself. 

Sadly, they discontinued the light bluish green color I used to get, but they've held up now for 3 years and I'll just switch over to a new color. 

I bought bleach friendly quick dry towels from JC Penny... AWFUL. the ends fray, they get folded over and dressed and aven after multiple multiple washes, they lint like crazy. 

Best of luck, thanks again! 

[Calvin173]

@Tommy150 I think you did wonderfully! This happens, and if the guests were nice, it's not worth burning that bridge. They'll probably stay at your property again eventually, and you'll want to keep as many nice guests around as possible, because when they're annoying it's a major headache!

[Rajan2]

Thanks for all the great tips! Also added a TV w/ Roku to my room using Guest Mode! I highly recommend it. The Roku is built in so you only need one remote 🙂

[Carmen802]

This is soooo weird, I  just dealing with the same thing. The guest said it was make up. It is on all four towels, 2 grey and 2 yellow. I tried, stain remover with oxygen, bar arbitrate of soda, white vinegar, still there.

#tommy150

[Jenny349]

I’ve given up trying to resuscitate towels once they get stained with bleach/facial products like that, I either keep them for myself or cut them up for cleaning rags. I stock up from time to time at IKEA. In a moment of madness I once considered buying luxurious brand name towels…what was I thinking?! 😂Didn’t I read somewhere in here one host had a guest who used the towels to clean his motorbike? 😬Maybe it was just a nightmare….!!

[Carmen802]

OMG!

The exact same thing happened to me - the same colour towels, grey.  It was an acne treatment.

After that I started writing in the house rules that if guest stain towels they will need to replace them - that was when I used to do the laundry for long term guests - it felt a bit mean, so I decided that I would no longer do laundry for guests, so that avoids me feeling bad giving them back stained towels.  If it is stained when they leave - no problem, I give the new guest a new set of towels.