HI there @Lavanya5 -- if this is a private room inside of a 3 bedroom house, it's not clear from your listing if they also have access to a joined/communal living area and a kitchen with you, or only the mini fridge and coffee maker.
Also, can you share more about how they are leaving a mess? I am a little confused about what they are doing that is "dirty" so if you can clarify what areas you are speaking of, and what they are leaving undesirable, I can try to help. Do you have policies visible about how to check out?
I don't have instant approval on my listing, so I can have a chat with them before I approve. I also have language that says "this is my home, and it's not a hotel, so for first time guests, I like to make sure we are on the same page about what to expect and how to leave it." I tend to not accept first time guests or guests who have no reviews or who have not left host reviews, because they tend to think of it like a motel. Additionally, it's important to put in your listing about "no parties" and "no extra guests" without permission and extra fees, as well as pets, to ensure no surprises. I had someone sneak in an additional 4 people and trash my place, and I should have followed my intuition about them when they were asking questions that were unusual. I have language and pricing in my listing so I was able to appeal to airbnb to have them pay for extra cleaning and damages because they had more people, so a per person fee, extra laundry and cleaning, and broken table. With your spare room, you likely won't have that happen, but it's good to have in your digital handbook so you have some protection. Airbnb won't support you unless you have it in your listing, and they have to read it to book, or have to sign a contract after they book (which we are allowed to do, as long as we list the contract terms in the listing as well.)
My biggest gripe about airbnbs is when hosts do not print directions. I think it's important to have a PRINTED guest manual, in addition to a matching digital guest manual in the app. Many people ignore the instructions in the app. I have it printed, laminated and in a small binder or in plastic placards in the house, depending on what it is, i.e. directions for the washing machine or TV remote, directions for checkout, go on placards, and the other things like local restaurants, instruction manuals, etc. go in a binder. I always have phone numbers for our team printed by the door on a placard or in a picture frame, inside the same card as the WIFI, so I know they will look for it. That is a good trick by the way, to only give the wifi code on placards that have information you want them to see. You can have a welcome message, wifi and check out bullet list all on one card if you like.
For check in and check out instructions, I send them messages via the Airbnb app, that you can pre populate to copy and paste; I text it to them the day before arrival and departure. I meet them at check in or have my local manager check them in, and tell them we check IDs for insurance, and then that also preempts them trying to bring in extra people or underage people with alcohol for parties, but I am booking whole places. I do find that in general, across all of the homes I have hosted, I find people take much better care of my home when I check them in, and they have to put a face with the home! I also list in the instructions that we will stop by to do a check out walk through (but we never do, it's more preventative than anything.) When I text them to say we'll stop by to check them out and get keys, it ensures they do the check out list! And then, unless we have doubts they will leave it as requested, we will send them a text that morning, an hour or two before checkout time, to say they can just put the keys through the letter box or leave inside. Again, with your home, this may not be relevant since it's a private room.
Most of all, for you, I think you could do what I do which is to have a short check out instructions list that I print and put in a plastic placard in a highly visible place.
I did not see any instructions in your listing, so if you want to post what you send them after booking, I can react to it. I typically tell them what to do with the beds, towels, trash, dishwasher and lights/heat. If they need you to strip the bed, tell them that early after they check in, so they are not surprised late night before they leave, and then send a reminder before they leave with a thank you note. If you have it built into cleaning that they don't need to strip the beds, tell them so, and if you need them to put the used towels somewhere, like the bathroom floor, or the laundry room, tell them that, and ask them to remove trash and put it outside in the bin. I also ask people to empty the fridge / kitchen of any opened and unused food or items, and specifically say that if they want to leave UNOPENED unused items for the cleaner, they can do so. If you have lights or AC to worry about, and windows to close or doors to lock, mention that, and if you have a washer/dryer and/or safe, remind them to check it for left items. I usually ask them to load all dishes in the dishwasher and run it before they leave, but again that may not apply to your listing.
If there is anything that is complicated, we send them videos via the WhatsApp host group, that I set up between the guests, my handyman and my local friend who is my co-manager when I am out of the country. That helps them with things like the locks, digital thermostat, and a general tour around the place. Yours seems more simple so you wouldn't need that.
Hope that helps! Tracy
