Cleanliness Rating Should be Based on House Cleanliness Upon Guest's Arrival

[Ting-and-Ning0]

With longer staying guests increasing, we recently had a dilemma. Several guests rated our normally sparkling clean house with 4 stars and even a 3 star. The reasons were similar. They mentioned in the feedback that they noticed cobwebs or spiderwebs inside and outside of the house, and sometimes dead bugs.

Our house is situated in the wooded area near a lake. We always pay special attention to spiderwebs from the ceilings, the corners, whenever we clean up the house to make sure it's web free and all clean before guests' arrival.

During guests' longer stays, new spider webs start to form, and if the windows and doors are open during their stay, the insects would come in. At the end, guests gave the ratings based on their general impression of the cleanliness condition DURING their entire stay instead of the condition when we first handed them the house. It's not fair for hosts who work so hard trying to keep the house spotless and web free.

It will be helpful if Airbnb could add a line before guests start to rate on the cleanliness category to remind guests that their cleanliness rating needs to be based on the condition when they first arrive at the property. Because cleanliness condition changes during their stay. After a long stay when they are ready to rate us, they would have forgotten how clean it was when they first arrived. 

[Huma0]

@Ting-and-Ning0 

I agree with you. I am in rather a different situation though because I am a home host and live in the listing. So, there is cleaning going on in communal areas throughout the stays.

Re the guest's actual bedrooms, with long term stays, I give them the option either to clean the room themselves (all materials provided) or I can clean it for a small fee. Perhaps this is something you could try, e.g. giving them an option for cleaning during their stay (for a fee) or they can agree to clean it. That might help them to realise that the space is not "self-cleaning"!

[Sarah977]

@Ting-and-Ning0  I'm not sure why you need Airbnb to tell this to guests, although I agree it would be useful if they did. When you get long-term renters, there's nothing preventing you from explaining this to them.