Hosting

[Jenifer74]

Help..just starting hosting this year and with Covid and flu I bleach everything. I’m having people say the house was not clean. With cleaning I change plug-ins bleach floor wash everything with bleach. I steam clean floors after stays. Not quite sure what else to do. 

[Anonymous]

@Jenifer74   I think the best thing to do is pay more attention to the feedback from your guests, try to take it in objectively, and avoid getting defensive about it. The last one left some very detailed comments on the cleanliness (dust on ceiling fan, animal hair on the bedding, unpleasant odor, cockroaches) so it's not a mystery why those guests perceived your place as unclean despite your prolific use of bleach.

Being in a humid place like Savannah, some mustiness is hard to avoid - mold is always hiding out of sight. A lot of hosts recommend Damp-Rid for that. But the combination of bleach, Pine-Sol, and plug-in air fresheners sounds like overkill at best, and a toxic assault on the nose. The smell of bleach in particular doesn't scream "clean" so much as "just hosed down a murder scene." Maybe switch out the chemistry set for non-toxic and odorless cleaning products, prioritize good air quality over flagrant fragrance.

It's OK to mention unavoidable visitors like palmetto bugs in the Health & Safety disclosures. People from other climates just don't know how to handle them. You've put an incredible amount of effort into filling your home with really fun and unique features and obviously most of your guests really love it, so a really good deep-clean followed by a few tweaks to the changeover routine should be enough to  get those ratings back up.

[Mark116]

@Jenifer74   The last guest was obviously a poor match, and with so few reviews its hard to say if you have a cleanliness issue in reality or not.  But things like hair on pillows and a musty smell will definitely put a fair amount of people off.  The palmetto bugs are truly hideous, and people who don't live in a sub/tropical area are going to be freaked out by them, all you can do there is get out in front of it and put a line or two in the listing that palemetto bugs are endemic to your area, etc. etc.

I agree with @Anonymous  to nix the plug ins, they usually have a chemical type smell.  I am a huge fan of linen spray, though not everyone is, and I use lavender or lemon verbena linen spray a few hours before guests come.

Good luck.