Review/cleaning after long term stay

[Sandra570]

I just had my first long stay guest - a young fellow and his new wife. They booked our apartment for one month. I offered them the option of a cleaning service (reasonable cost) during their stay which they declined saying that they were "clean people and wouldn't require that." I left lots of cleaning supplies, vaccuum, mop, duster, paper towels, sprays, cleaners etc. Extra towels and bed linens were provided as well. I also had (past tense) many plants which I asked if they would be okay watering which they said they would. Fast forward to the end of the month...

No complaints with anything except that the plants were all dead (obviously not been watered once) and I'm sure they did not lift one finger all month to clean any surface. Dust on everything. Pots and pans, other cooking ware, and small appliances were all literally dumped in drawers and mixed up. All drawers had to be emptied and cleaned (crumbs etc). Fridge needed to be cleaned. Oven as well which is brand new and I left them information on how to do a quick steam clean on the oven - not done. Chips and popcorn in the furniture, rugs, and inside coffee table. Bathroom had not been cleaned. Toilet was gross. Small carpet with big red stains. One towel ruined. One glass missing. I decided not to claim any of the small damages - just not worth it - but I was in a panic because I had another guest arriving that afternoon and was not sure I would get everything cleaned in time. It took a good five hours to take everything apart and deep clean.

My question. I know better now and have made changes for future long term requests but since there was nothing in writing about cleaning expectations other than the verbal agreement, what can I put in my review? I was thinking of being positive about everything except their cleanliness (maybe a 3?) but am having trouble finding the right wording for the review. I'm sure if they had stayed for one or two nights, this would not have been a problem. But I would definitely not host them again long term without a strict agreement in place.

Advice for review?

Thanks...

Sandra

[Sume1]

Hi all. I am writing in as a guest with a question, since all of you are experienced hosts. So I booked a long term stay. I make it a point to check house rules every time as I like leaving the apartment as I found it. In this case, the house rules did not mention any cleaning. Now, my host says that in long stays she takes turn in cleaning with the host. Which also I am fine with as she has become a friend and I do not want her to do all the work alone. But she explained to me what all has to be cleaned - it involves deep cleaning and cleaning to make the apartment cleaner than I found it. She lives in the apartment too. I always do my dishes and I swept and mopped the floor of my room and the common spaces. But she want me to brush the carpet in the staircase of the building (the stairs leading to her floor) and sweep and clean that too. Rinse decorative spaces kept near the main door. Take out oil stains in the kitchen - where I have not even used the kitchen much and I found it with oil stains. Deep clean the bathroom - drains and shower tiles. She doesn’t have a change of bed linen and I had to wash it to keep my allergy at bay. For washing she prefers me to use the shortest cycle (15 minutes) and says my clothes would be fine but I am afraid it would spoil my clothes. She doesn’t want me to use the kettle much and light use the kitchen as anything I break I will have to replace. The point is all this was not mentioned in the house rules. And of course I have paid cleaning fees and am paying more than the market rate for such a room. Which is fine as it is airbnb and I am not a flat mate but a guest. I have become friends with her. So my question is that should I be doing all that cleaning? I would like to help out as otherwise she has to do it all by herself as she can’t afford a cleaner (or so it seems). But can she expect me to do all this stuff? And how do I maintain my stance without being rude?

[Sarah977]

@Sume1  I see you're in a tricky situation. What's tricky about it is that you say you've become friends with this woman. Nothing wrong with feeling like friends especially in a long term stay, but.... 

This woman is treating you like an unpaid servant. A slave. There is no way that a paying guest should be expected to spend time deep cleaning this woman's house. It's outrageous, really. A good guest cleans up their own messes of course, takes care of their own laundry, bedding and towels ( if that was the arrangement you agreed to, which should have been mentioned in the house rules), maybe do some little extra thing if you're there long term if you feel like it, just to be nice. But honestly, she has a lot of nerve to ask you to do these things and if she actually mentioned it in the house rules, no one would book with her.

And she doesn't even have a change of bedding for you? She sounds like an incredible cheapskate.

If you hadn't said you were friends, I'd advise you to tell her in no uncertain terms that you paid for your stay, including a cleaning fee and that if she expects you to be her unpaid maid, you'll contact Airbnb to tell them this.

I'm not sure why you feel like friends with her,as she doesn't seem to be being particularly friendly to you- she won't let you hardly use the kitchen, even though you are there long-term, threatens that you'll have to pay if you break anything, even though you haven't broken anything, hasn't provided you with a change of bedding, yet wants you to wash the sheets for 15 minutes, max. and wants you to spend what sounds like hours a week cleaning her house for her. Sounds like she should be paying you.

But since you didn't kibosh this the moment she informed you of her non-mentioned in house rules requirements, I really can't think of how you could approach this without it turning into a bad scene. I hope some other hosts can advise you here.

[Sume1]

Thanks a lot for your comments Sara. Yes she is really cheap - even in her own style of life but that is her business and maybe she is short of money. I just wanted to be nice and she ended up making use of the fact. Anyway - what I did was what is common courtesy - am not going to do any more and let’s see if she brings it up. And am going to mention it in the review as well in a neutral way @- whatever is fact, nothing more or less.