Sharing-- maybe this is the new normal?

[Laura2592]

A friend of mine has a nice furnished condo in a major city in Florida. She has spent the last few months rehabbing it (she inherited it) and making it ready to rent. She talked to me at length about putting it up on ABB/VRBO and decided against it due to various issues (parties, reviews, fees, lack of support, etc.) She is remote, so hired a realtor to get it listed and rented for 6 months instead. It rented right away at good rate to a retired couple who were fully vetted/credit checked.

The place looks great from what I can tell of the listing and pics/videos. Its not high end luxury but its certainly very nice and new: I am sure some hosts would put it in the "luxury" category. Her tenants showed up over the weekend. They have already said:

1. the screen porch is too hot. 
2. the bed isn't what they like
3. they can't figure out the (brand new) dishwasher so it "probably doesn't work".
4. the smart lock doesn't work (they pressed it too many times because they were inputting in the wrong code. She left them a regular key which they prefer. They said it was "too sunny" and they couldn't see the keypad. {sunglasses?})
5. the screen door sticks.
6. the neighbors upstairs are on their balcony too much.

She is ready to pack it in. She has someone on site who went over and addressed the concerns about the dishwasher and screen door in 5 minutes. 

Is this the new normal? Is it that people are now used to reviewing every cookie they eat, every word someone utters that they are all hyper critical? Or is this somehow pandemic related? A Pandemic Karen Syndrome (PKS if you want to use the shorthand), where, deprived of the ability to make choices about travel for a period of time, many adults have regressed to a peevish, unable-to-be-satisifed tantrum that stunts the ability to perform simple tasks or figure things out with a base level of resilience? 

We were toying with the idea of a 3 or 6 month lease to a tenant at our cottage but now I am not so sure. 

[Felix-Lam0]

@Sarah977  Hopefully I will not come across as rude as I am generally trying learn more, but how would you be able to hire someone daily while remaining financially viable and economically reasonable for guests(We are not a tourist destination, the cleaning rates here are £15/hr and sharing space requires 4+hrs). We also inform the guests of our cleaning schedule so they have an expectation, we also have posters to remind them to keep the space tidy. In addition, are hosts expected to clean up after them after every guest cooks/uses the bathroom like a daily maid service? 

We also attempted to make arrangements where one of the bedrooms is rented longer term for reduced rent for cleaning, but none has worked out long term. 

[Sarah977]

@Felix-Lam0  "how would you be able to hire someone daily while remaining financially viable without charging the guest more per night?"

You can't. You need to up your nightly fee to cover this. And charging a bit more will likely result in getting more respectful guests.

Every review you get mentioning that the place wasn't clean loses you business from guests who don't want to stay in a place with low cleanliness reviews and ratings. So what you'll end up with is a bunch of dirty, disrespectful guests. It's a self-perpetuating situation.

[Huma0]

@Felix-Lam0 

I don't know if cleaning services are more expensive in Cambridge than in London (I would expect it to be the other way round), but I pay my cleaners £13.50 an hour, which is the most I've ever paid when not using an agency and they are very fast.

I am not sure of the square footage of your communal areas, but my house is large. It's four storeys, with a very big entrance hall, large kitchen diner, large living room and a lot of stairs and landings, plus 3.5 shared bathrooms (not all these areas are shown in my photos). I also have a lot of stuff, which means it takes longer to clean. My cleaners do all of that and more in 2.5 hours and that's a weekly clean and they do a very good job.

If mine were coming more often, perhaps they would need less time per visit. I am not sure, as I haven't tried that out. But, I reckon they could easily do your communal areas (excluding guest bathrooms, as I get the impression these are private rather than shared) in two hours max. That means, you could get 2 x 2 hour weekly cleans for less than you are paying for your once a week one.

Obviously, that means finding great cleaners, which I know is not easy.

I think @Sarah977 is absolutely right though that your reviews and ratings are going to put off clean guests and attract the dirty ones. So, getting on top of the cleaning and raising your prices a bit might be the best plan.

I do not believe that you need to clean up after every guest cooks or uses the bathrooms if you have mostly clean and tidy guests. If you don't, then a week's worth of mess is going to look pretty bad to anyone who is clean.

[Huma0]

@Felix-Lam0 @Sarah977 

As someone who rents three rooms individually in my shared house, I understand how frustrating it is when guests do not clean up after themselves properly. Although I now have weekly cleaners (thank goodness), I have to do some sort of daily cleaning and this usually involves cleaning the hallway/kitchen/diner floors daily and cleaning and tidying up the kitchen several times a day. The bathrooms I do as needed as which ones the guests use varies, but I always clean the shower every time I use it, make sure all toilets and sinks are clean at all times etc. etc.

When I have clean guests, this is not too stressful. The most stressful situation is when you have a combination of clean guests and dirty ones. That's when I start to feel resentful about all the extra cleaning, but there is a limit to how long you can wait for someone to clean up after themselves before it starts to create a bad impression on the other guests. I also find that mess encourages more mess. If one guest leaves dirty dishes by the sink, others are more likely to follow suit.

I cannot imagine how bad it could get over the course of a week. I did travel a lot for work pre COVID though and was always dreading how things might look when I got back, especially as I didn't have the weekly cleaners coming in back then. I remember one guest commenting that she really noticed the difference, i.e. she had no idea how much I did every day to keep the place clean because it all went to pot while I was away!

So, @Felix-Lam0 not to ramble on any longer, @Sarah977 is correct. You need to find a solution to the cleaning issue if you are want guests to stop making negative comments about it in their reviews. One of the advantages of this is that Airbnb CS are more likely to side with you against a guest claiming the place is dirty when all your other guests say it is spotless and give you 5 stars for cleanliness.

I am not saying it needs to be spotless. My house is not, but my guests still usually rate me high on this or mention that it was clean in their reviews. I also think that it really helps when people see you cleaning during the stay. That alone can give them a perception that the place is really clean. One guest commented in her review that I clean the bathrooms every day. I do not clean all the bathrooms every day, but that's the impression she got!

[Bonnie7]

Interesting conversation!

I agree, as Airbnb and the like 'ages' the guests are more savvy to what is expected and demanded. The availability to constant communication (excellent to horrendous) brings more to the platform. In the 5 years I've been hosting only 1 person was a menace.

Trust me, she is a prime example why many hosts close their doors!

Sooo . . .I  choose to support other hosts through such difficult times. 

Thank you for your precious time. 🌺