Dish Washing without a Kitchen sink

[Priscilla150]

I have a separate living area for my Airbnb guests as well as a room in my house.  The separate living area has a private entrance and they never come into the main house.  

There is a kitchenette minus a stove and sink.  They have a microwave, toaster, coffee maker and refrigerator.  Water for cooking or filling the coffee pot is obtained from the bathroom sink.

My house manual says that you must keep your area and the common areas clean.  My in-house guests have always done their own dishes.  However, since there is not a kitchen sink and only a bathroom sink in the separate living area, I am wondering if I should incorporate the same do your own dishes rules or not.

I have a plastic tub the guests put the dirty dishes in now.  That tub could be used to wash the dishes.  Although they would need to get the water from the bathroom sink.  I can see where washing the dishes could be quite cumbersome for the long-term guests.  

How do other hosts handle this type of situation for their long-term guests?

Thank you. 

[Lisa723]

@Priscilla150 our guest suite is similar. We don't want food waste going down the bathroom sink, so when we got tired of collecting and washing dirty dishes we installed a utility sink and a small portable dishwasher in the adjacent laundry/utility room. And we discourage long-term guests in this space.

[Sarah977]

There's a couple different ways to deal with this that I can think of off-hand.

The guests put their dirty dishes in the tub and you take it back to your place to wash them yourself. A friend who has a set-up similar to yours has always done this.

You must have an outside faucet somewhere? Like with a hose to water the garden? Guests could fill a pail at the outside faucet with water, or you could do that for them. You could add an electric kettle to the kitchen appliances and they could heat up water for dishes in the kettle, mixing it with water from the pail to get a good temperature.

@Priscilla150 

[Inna22]

That sounds like a potential nightmare scenario. They will splash the water everywhere so if you have floors that could potentially be ruined – consider that done. They will attempt to wash in the sink whatever can fit there and clog that up. I’m not a big fan of disposable plates but perhaps that’s the way to go if you are tired of doing the dishes for your guests.

[Christine615]

I'm not a fan of doing dishes in the bathroom because of potential contamination. It might be worth the investment to have a kitchen sink installed - then raise your prices a bit to cover the investment. 

[Priscilla150]

Mostly, I agree with each of you.  It gets cold here in the winter, so using a hose may not be the best idea for here.  We put them away in the winter to prevent freezing.   

Thank you to each of you.

I tried to comment individually, but I kept getting an error message.