From cleaning person: "All my other houses, the guests take out the trash!" - How do YOU handle?

[Joanne-Flynn0]

HI Hosts!

Do you ask your guests to remove garbage upon checkout or leave in the house?

I am a (super)Host of a cabin and I've also started co-hosting a ski condo.

Most guests are 2 nights so I ask guests to tie the garbage bag up and leave it in the kitchen. (if someone is staying longer I let them know there's a garbage bin in garage)

For the condo the cleaning person said, "for all my other houses the guests take the trash and deposit in dumpster."

I personally don't want the last thing the guests remember as they are leaving to be the trash. For example guests may think and write in a review, "why am I paying $75 cleaning fee and STILL have the take out the trash!"

I want to be open minded about this and ask other hosts how you handle.

Do guests take trash out for short stays?

If you ask guest to take the trash have they ever commented about it in your reviews?

Thanks so much host community!

[Alexandra316]

@Joanne-Flynn0 No, definitely not. We have guests who have asked if they need to do it, and I always tell them no. If they are staying over a garbage day, I always tell them they can put out trash if they want to (not if they're only staying a night or two, but if they're there for a bit). If they're paying a cleaning charge, I wouldn't ask them to take out the trash, personally.

[Joanne-Flynn0]

Thanks @Alexandra316 
I appreciate the insight!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Joanne-Flynn0

I don't charge a cleaning fee, and I host a lot of long-term guests in my private room (shared home) listing but I would not expect guests to handle taking out the trash. I do ask guests to recycle (it is mandatory in Korea) and so we have different bins at home. Instead of a paying guest, let's say I had my sister stay as a guest, or maybe a friend of a friend..... I would still not expect any of those people to take out the trash. 

With this said, when I was a guest user there were a few places that asked us to tie up the garbage bag and take it out. It was a bother, but I didn't mind all that much. And even with the cleaning fee, we felt we got a good deal, the place was clean and tidy upon check in, and the host let us drop off our bags early on the day of check-in so disposing one bag of 4 days worth of trash as we were heading out wasn't a big deal. 

[Joanne-Flynn0]

Thanks @Jessica-and-Henry0 

It helps to hear how other hosts are handling this!

[Tim209]

@Joanne-Flynn0 

Looking through the various active cleaning checklists on TurnoverBnB, it's typically the responsibility of the cleaner to take the trash out upon checkout - unless there's a weird circumstance. For instance in Hawaii, bugs are a part of life here, so instructions to a guest might say "we recommend empyting the trash at least once a day to minimize unwanted pests". I'd say emptying the trash at the end of the stay though isn't super usual, but it might be necessary if the unit is remote and the cleaner can't get there right away. 

Just my two cents, 

Tim

TurnoverBnB

[Joanne-Flynn0]

Thanks Tim,

As a traveller of all the places I've stayed I've been asked to take out the trash in two airbnbs. One of them was in Hawaii (Maui) so now I know why!

Thanks for checking the TurnoverBnB database. What a great resouce for hosts!

Joanne

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Joanne-Flynn0

we never ask our guests to do it ( we rarely have guests stay more than few days ) but most of our guests do it anyway. To be honest - I like when they leave one used trash bag in the apartment bc I also need to throw away paper towels etc..  which I use for cleaning .

[Joanne-Flynn0]

That's so interesting @Branka-and-Silvia0 that your guests take it out without asking!

Thanks for your insight.

And will definitely look you up if I make it to Croatia!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Joanne-Flynn0  you are welcome 🙂 

[Matthew285]

@Joanne-Flynn0, we do not ask our guests to take out the trash.

In fact, our specific house instructions say to NOT take out the trash.

(We added that after one guest did the trash. Very kind, but very unnecessary.)

Maybe the guests are forced to take out the trash at all the other houses because of this cleaning person.

This cleaning person is trying to make it normal by yelling at any host that dares to ask the cleaning person to take out the trash.

[Joanne-Flynn0]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts @Matthew285! Good point!

[J-Renato0]

@Joanne-Flynn0

My listings are not hotel rooms, so the guests are aware that there is no maid to throw out the litter on a daily basis. If they rent an apartment, they are supposed to dispose of the trash.

In the kitchen of my listings, next to the rubbish bin, there is a note hanging on the wall:

"Please, throw away the litter once a day to avoid insects in the kitchen"

Most of the guest, I would say 90%, would throw away the litter before I had hanged the note on the wall.

If it was not for the 10%, I would not hang the note on the wall.

I charge a cleaning fee. If the guest is polite and educated, I think they understand that the cleaning fee is to clean the apartment in normal circunstances and for laundry costs as well. The majority of the guests are polite and reasonable persons.

[Joanne-Flynn0]

Thanks @J-Renato0 for sharing how you handle this in Brazil!

[J-Renato0]

Hi Joanne Flynn, actually I receive many guests from Europe, UK, and South America, and some from Asia, Australia and US. I do not know precisely, but I believe that, at least, half of my guests comes from abroad. I usually do not rent for less than 4 days.

I think guests love advices and information on how to deal properly with the place they are staying. In the note I hang on the wall, it is explained where to disposed of the trash as well. They feel we care for their stay. Actually, many guests ask question about this procedure, before reading the note.