Carpet stains

[Georgette53]

Hi I just replaced an area rug last month, due to a guest staining it with an unknown substance. Another guest just stained the new carpet. I have only been a host for 6 months and am ready to leave the site and make it a long term rental. I am trying not to be impulsive but I am beyond frustrated at the lack of respect people have for others’ property. I am hoping for some advice on how others deal with things like this? Do I forbid food and beverages anywhere but the kitchen?! Do I not allow long term stays? Both incidents happened during a 10 day stay. 
Thank you for any advice. I really don’t want to jump ship but I don’t live close to the property and it’s just been one challenge after another. 

[Nash-Cottages-LLC0]

@Georgette53 makes total sense! Let us know what you decide to do. Would love to use your experience to rethink what we're doing. 

[Georgette53]

I sure will!!

[Mary1523]

Agree with all the great comments including the pro who makes a living out of advising airbnb hosts.

The only thing I would add, is that any soft furnishings are at higher risk of damage, whether carpet, rugs, couches, cushions etc.

I've come to the conclusion after 8 years of hosting of a large 6 bedroom house that:

a) im in the hospitality business (they are not staying in your home) and expectations of guests looking after things are false

b) be prepared to chuck stuff out or replace when it breaks/soils so dont spend too much in the first place

c)i have carpet, rugs, cushions etc, and i accept that having them makes the place cosy and i accept they will get damaged, i have reasonable guest protections in place inc threat of charging for damage, providing carpet cleaner stuff etc. a few times i have had to claim on the guest (they'll never return and its unlikely they'll give you 5 stars btw) but its rare.

Besides, half the time the cleaner doesn't pick up the latest stain so i have so suck it up anyways. i have invested in a nifty upholstery cleaner machine which helps.  I will replace carpet floors with something hardwearing one day and will always have rugs. 

Note my cleaner who is elderly hates the rugs because they impinge her mobility so there;s that to consider for those less mobile

Flooring is probably the biggest category of issues I do have, because usually when there is a problem, its expensive. I've got recent deep scratches in my parquetry but claiming would have meant i wouldn't get 5 star review. So i'm going to overlay with lino as an example.

So its a choice you make on how much you accept. I accept this because, I actually love being an airbnb host. Gotta love what you do, those who do it for the money only (excluding those who use it as a holiday home for them so you suck it up), I think should think twice. 

Kind regs

Mary

[Georgette53]

Thanks for the advice @Mary1523 ! The biggest challenge I have is not living in the same city so fixes are difficult. When I bought the property, I was told the current airbnb owner was from another province so figured if she could make it work, so could I. Turns out she’s FROM another province but was currently living in the city the property was in. I didn’t find out until 2 weeks AFTER the sale finalized. And for me, it is my home, it is where I will visit when I am on vacation and it is where I will retire. Airbnb was initially designed to be in people’s homes. So hospitality yes but like a hotel, no. I’m not interested in being a host that treats there guests like a hotel would. I prefer to have a personal experience for them, offering them something they can’t get in a hotel. If people want to come in, make a mess and leave, then they should stay in a hotel where they have daily maid service?

[Mary1523]

Hi there,

Given you've said its your holiday property, then you really don't have a choice.

You want the income when you are not there, so you are in the hospitality business, but just with a different offering to a motel/hotel. You make your decisions based upon that principle. 

So you shrug your shoulders when you have an occasional bad guest (and with careful positioning of your property and expectation setting of your house rules), it should be rare.
Accept you can't put really nice stuff in, and if you do, don't expect it to be 100% respected. Accept that they will eat in places you personally may not (I have a sign saying please don't let kids eat in the toyroom but it's an honour system) etc. Your house rules will only go so far in protecting your stuff, but guests also do have expectations and don't want to be constrained on what they can and cannot do (to a reasonable level).

Ultimately when I look at what a guest has done in my property that I may not like, if I don't have an explicit house rule (and the more you have, the more onerous it is to enforce and creates a bad experience), then there's not much I can do.

eg walked in last week to find leaves, dirt all over the floors and a dirty cooktop. Did I like it? Course not. But does my house rules say, please vacuum before you leave and wipe down cooktop so its sparkling, no they don't! And if they did, they would argue, what's the cleaning fee for? I can't rate them down on those things alone but my guest review might say 'guest left property ok', but I'm not using words saying 'left in superb condition'. When they stain the carpet and its a small spot, nothing I can do. It's unreasonable to expect guests to not have an accident, but if its a big obvious problem (and i mean big), then my house rules are enough to kick in and i can request a damage claim.
All I do ask in a very kind way is to do a general tidy up and give the kitchen a wipe down before they leave, but it's not a clean.
So I agree, we don't want guests who will treat the place like a hotel, but there's a place in the middle, and the majority fall into this whereby they will treat it better than a motel/hotel and thats why they choose you for for the additional benefits but they won't treat it like a precious diamond (and nor should they, although you will get a small % who will and they are the ones you rave about in your guest reviews). 

My experience after 8 years with short and long stay bookings, with large and small groups...

Hope this helps