How to get rid of smells?

[Lizz0]

I often see the house rule: No cooking allowed.

I never saw a problem with curry until I cooked one day and woke to the smell of it the next morning even though there was no trace of it in the kitchen. It took another day or so to dissipate completely.

I'm assuming that a month of curry cooking would be much harder to remove, so I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for getting rid of strong smells in a hurry. I tried Ozium, but it had no effect.

I would rather learn how to deal with it than to forbid it. Besides, I love curry.

[Monique727]

@Letti0 

Hi! Love your comment!

I am struggling with people cooking curry in my property and it makes me very anxious.

How long do you suggest simmering the white vinegar on the stove? 

Thank you 🙂 

[Frank687]

I have this problem currently. I am hosting a couple who are heavy on the use of curry and garlic powders daily. I am avoiding to be discriminative, but I cannot help it if the whole apartment smells curry after 1 day.

[Jackie378]

“No cooking curry” sounds terribly discriminatory. 

Open windows. Vinegar. Baking soda. An air purifier/diffuser. A candle...

[Christie-And-Jack0]

We recently had guests who ruined a perfectly wonderfully brand new townhouse by cooking curry without ventilation. It’s been days with diffusers running and still the overpowering smell of spice. At a loss of what to do. 

[Mr33]

So sorry for you. I've just had the same, I'm new to Airbnb, rented my place for a month. . Lovely people. But

Place now strong curry/spices smell.

Oh gee ,what a job I've had, everything has been stripped , bleached, washed, cleaned, removed, or binned.

Still a heavy smell.. so a professional company coming in.

Not sure how I can stop this in the future..

Regards

[Chris11461]

We welcome ALL people to our rental but this has got to stop.  I don't care if you're red, white, black, brown, purple, pink, atheist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or whatever.  I'm always thinking about keeping my current guest happy and also thinking about my NEXT guest to make sure they are "WOWED" when they enter the door.  And if that guest walks into my home and smells a pungent odor from the previous guest we have a big  problem.  The problem ISN'T with someone's ethnicity, it is with COMMON SENSE AND COURTESY!  I love curry and many other spicy foods and have made them in my own home only to wake up the next day disgusted with the off odor.   And OFF ODORS take time to be resolved.  When the next guest walks through the door later that day or 3 days later and wants a refund what do you do?  We as hosts can't afford to spend $ on an ozone machine and wipe down and clean every square inch of our home including walls, ceiling, curtains, drapes, doors, baseboards, furniture, ceiling fans, (you get the point) after each guest!     If I did my cleaning fee would be $497.00....   We as Airbnb hosts have a tight turn around and don't have the luxury of time for an odor to dissipate, it has to be cleaned as soon as the guest leaves so that it's ready for the next guest.

So is this about race, HELL NO!!!!!!!!!  IT'S ABOUT COMMON SENSE AND COURTESY OF THE FACT THAT YOU ARE RENTING A SPACE FROM SOMEONE KNOWING THAT SOMEONE ELSE WILL BE RENTING THAT SPACE.......   I will be placing a very PC statement in our house rules that state. 

"Any pungent odor left in the home that requires a deep clean will result  in an additional cleaning fee of  not more than $250.00."

[Robert1909]

Hear, hear! That's an awesome coping mechanism. We have had the same issues. Like you, don't care what nationality, color, religion, sex, creed, etc you are - be respectful of other people's homes. Even if you don't really care about the next guest walking through our door, we do! We want everyone to feel good about staying there. My mom used to tell me growing up that I could swing my arms as high as I wanted until I hit someone else. That was the litmus test. Don't infringe upon the upcoming guest. 

I've worked with this type of clientele for years and they will tell you that the only way they'll cook curry in their own homes is if they 1. have direct vent outside above the stove or 2. have a "dirty kitchen" outside that is properly ventilated. So, if they do this for their homes, why would it be so strange for us to request the same in our homes? 

Thanks! I like your wording on the fee. Clearly communicates to both types of guests - those swinging their arms too high and those afraid of getting hit by arms swinging too high. 

[Sonya81]

WOW! This has been the MOST helpful thread! I'm SO stressed right now, waiting for this next guest, because my last guest cooked some Curry-type food. They were here ONE (1) night, and I've spent the last THREE (3) days/nights cleaning and trying to otherwise get that SMELL out of my space!!

In fact, I have a small statue of a wolf up there, and they had COVERED it with paper towel, so, I guess I'm still clueless on hosting, but these people must have known this smell would be bad.

The aforementioned "Any pungent odor..." statement would help me make up for any bad reviews I may get as a result of this SMELL...

I've had a friend come over and "test-sniff", and she says she doesn't smell anything (I scrubbed EVERYTHING, top to bottom, washed furniture coverings, all that, and I can STILL smell the odor). Man, that was a lot of work... I pray my new guest is happy with my space... But I sure got me some new ideas for the next time on how to deal with those ODORS...

Thank you all!

[Andrea-and-Francis0]

We don't allow cooking with strong smelling foods such as curry or fish as our guest turnover doesn't allow time to properly remove the smell & we personally don't like the smell coming up our vents into our home so we made it a house rule. 

[Susie255]

How did you word the rule? “No curry or fish to be prepared inside the house?”

I’m just wondering since my entire rental smells like strong curry and I have more guests arriving in 2 days. How do I prevent this from happening without sounding discriminatory?

[Deniz82]

Hi Guys,

Hoping you can provide some feedback or guidance. I have recently checked out an Indian family that i accommodated for 2 months. The apartment smells of curry and strong spices, and the cleanliness of the apartment was concerning. After checking in my new guests a few days ago, today they want to vacate immediately with a full refund because they cant stand the smell in the apartment. It has sunk into all the furniture, beds, etc. I am beyond embarrassed as i feel responsible. I have lost a $1000 booking because of the curry smell from previous guests. Can anyone help, i am thinking to back charge all costs to the Indian family for replacement of carpet and additional cleaning costs???

[Mark116]

@Deniz82  I doubt you can recoup any money from the earlier guests since those claims have to be filed before a new guest arrives.  But, the carpet probably only needs deep cleaning with an enzyme cleaner, same for the apartment, everything will need to be aired out and cleaned, walls washed w/vinegar, floors washed, all the bedding and any fabric items washed or steam cleaned.  My guess is, this will do the trick. In future, for long term stays  you might want to offer a 'light cleaning' every couple of weeks to prevent things getting out of hand in terms of mess. 

[Rachael267]

Hi Deniz, 

I had the very same situation.

Even deep cleaning everything did not remove the smell.

The pungent smell lasted for 6 months (I don't even fry food so it made me feel nauseous every morning)...

I love all people and don't like to discriminate, but I have to think of other guests and myself as well. 

[Michelle1709]

If you need to get rid of the smell fast, you can take a small pot, put in either coffee grounds or loose tea, and smoke on the stove. When the coffee / tea starts to smoke, take it off of the stove and go room by room, corner to corner allowing the smoke to envelop the room. I like the smell of earl grey and jasmine tea best.

you can deodorise surfaces with baking soda.

[Michelle1709]

Oh and I also have a bay tree. I dry the leaves and burn those too. They smell gorgeous....