Basic amenities policy restricts renting out off-grid

[Carl-Erik0]

The new policy that requires new towels and bed linens is essentially restricting me from renting out my relatively popular off-grid cabin.

I think this is a big mistake on Airbnb's part, as it's the most popular cabin for miles, even though others have a much higher standard. This means, people accept and want this basic experience!

Now, I don't know what to do. I have invested in making upgrades like solar panels and wind generators, and suddenly AirBnB makes a policy change that makes renting it out impossible. This place is an hour's hike into the wilderness, in addition to being 90 minutes from the nearest bigger city, so I can't hire anyone to clean the place and change linens between each stay. All bigger items also need to be transported in the wintertime using a snow mobile. Not exactly a Miami beach house ... yet still exactly what some people crave, as it's extremely rare to be able to rent places like this in a protected outback. So people bring linens and small towels themselves. Everything else is provided for.

I have complained, but received no feedback... What should I do? I don't wish to lie to anyone.

[LandD0]

Why don’t you leave a decent supply of towels and sheets so each guest can make their own bed.

When they leave they can put them in a large wash basket and then you could ask a group of guests to bring it to somewhere you could collect.

You can remove cleaning fees and give the guests that return the towels and sheets a free night ...

[Carl-Erik0]

Thank you for a good suggestion, and one I have thought casually about too, but practically it's not so easy to accomplish:

1. This isn't Australia, so temperatures inside of the cabin when not heated is between -15 degrees celcius (Winter) and +10 degrees celsius (Summer). That means moist towels won't dry when put in a wash basket and will start to reek once left for a few days ... bed linens will probably be fine if put in another (dry!) basket.
2. I live a 135 minute drive away, so it's not so easy to pick up stuff to wash, as well as there being a high risk of guests not going past where I live when returning (we use a key box to avoid this).
3. This wash basket gets voluminous and relatively heavy quickly (at least 2kg/person per stay), so in the Summer time it's very unlikely that I'll be able to transport this out on my back. That means I can only transport this out between December and March (when there is sufficient, hard-packed snow for using a snow mobile - which gets expensive: 100 USD per transport).

It's absolutely worth considering though ... but I think it would need some adjustments to be practical

1. Buy a bunch of really cheap towels (1$/piece) and bedding (20$).
2. Two wash baskets - one for each category. These are emptied twice a year (Jan 1/April 1). Alternatively just burn them.
3. Since towels are cheap, I can just buy new ones to replace the ones that have been ruined ...

What really irks me is that the most probable solution is so environmentally unfriendly, pushing for buying stuff I don't need. Today people bring their own and take it with them back. Making cotton is about the least unfriendly thing one can do (1 pair of denim jeans takes up to 14.000 litres of water), so this really bugs me.

I just really wish AirBnB would make reverse this decision, or make special provisions for "different" rental objects/categories like this.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Carl-Erik0

From your reviews it seems most of your guests up till now have been Norwegians - they understand the concept and know the score.  Foreign tourists I suppose would be a little more challenging, but as long as you are up front at the time of the booking, I think you can go on as before.  With such an unusual setting, you would need to explain a lot anyway, particularly to foreign visitors.

Could you perhaps accept sleeping bags and offer bedliners (lakenposer), offer to refund part of the cleaning fee tor those bringing their own gear ?

Perhaps an idea to list your place under the "unique home" category ?

Describe it as a mountain lodge/wilderness cabin in the heading so that guests may get the picture at first glance ?

[Carl-Erik0]

@Marit-Anne0, I wish that was true, but AirBnB change has gone from 'should provide essentials' to 'must provide essentials'. And as you can see from the screen dumps below I can risk being removed for not complying with these standards.

From Basic Requirements for hosts:

> We ask all hosts to meet five basic requirements for each listing: Provide essential amenities ...

And by clicking on the Progress link, I get to the dashboard where I find this

I also remember seeing something about these policy changes taking effect in July 2018.

With regards to your other comments, you are totally right, but I have had several foreign guests. And especially Germans are very keen on the "wild outdoors" experience. I have only had one misbooking so far, and after that one I ask all guests to verify that they understand what they are getting into 🙂

[Carl-Erik0]

Btw, the refund tips by both you and @LandD0 is a good one, and can help keep the volume and work down, so thanks for that.

[Alexey0]

This is not at all unusual in Norway when even some hotels charge for bed linen and the majority of tourists bring their own sheets. For the last five years I had issues with foreign tourists not reading my welcome messages and catched by surprise may be three times. Now, I improved the communication and it never happens. But now AirBnb decided that they know better. Literally, this would mean that most of the Norwegian hosts will be out of AitBnb. I pay $20 to rent one set of linen from a local supplier. My apartment accommodates up to 10 people and the bigger one - up to 16 people. Imagine, one night at the smaller apartment costs $100 and adding $20 per person for linen will make it $300, how would guests like it? This makes absolutely no sense.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Carl-Erik0

For some peculiar reason, I do not get the "opportunities" feature in my listings yet, not under progress and not anywhere else.  Just a "coming soon" square regarding the new collections.  

We may list a tent, so then I suppose we need to provide the campers with air beds and down duvets ? It does not make much sense !

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Carl-Erik0 you can tell you do provide linens and towels...  but then explain in text that guests have to come and pick it up / drop it off at your place on their way to / from the cabin 🙂

You can also say they will get x € back when they drop it off to your place after their stay or xx€ back if they bring thir own linens and towels.

So the wolf is fed and all sheeps are saved 🙂

[Ange2]

Carl-Erik  beautiful place, looks so peaceful.   @ Branka & Slyvia  is a great idea.   Another is buying eco-friendly bio-degradable/recyclable towels,  they are relatively cheap. I have taken them to the Amazon, they worked out very well. There are also bed-sheets of sorts.  You can wash them and reuse or just leave them to degrade naturally.  As people have the habit and the option to bring their own, you may only need enough to 'have' them. http://www.easydry.com.au/products/white-full-size-gym-towels/

[Lawrene0]

Carl-Erik, my place is off-grid, too, and I have been as worried as you about the mandatory essentials. I thought, until this weekend, that it would be okay to tick the essentials amenity and then offer "backup" linens that could be picked up if needed, as others are suggesting. Sorry to say that is not necessarily the case. This weekend I was a guest in an Airbnb listing (urban and not off-grid), and when I was reviewing, one of the screens had yes and no buttons beside Did you get sheets? Was there a towel per person? Was there a pillow per person? Was soap provided? Was there sufficient toilet paper?

Each of these needed to be answered before I could get to the next screen. 

So we might be okay if we offer backup essentials, but we will have to be VERY clear to our guests that they had that option and refused it. Unpleasant as it is, we might have to remind them directly that "yes" is the right answer to those questions. I am sad that the system is making guests, who we know don't always read, and who often cannot find, say, blankets in a closet, into inspectors. 

Adding linens adds only a 2km round trip hike to my own cleaning routine, so I have done it. You are not so lucky. Will you let us know whether you find a solution? There are so many wonderful places like yours that this platform will lose if there is none.

[Letti0]

@Lawrence0 My guest that did a late check out today reviewed me before she left. She mentioned how odd she thought it was to be asked about these things in a review. I told her it was the first I heard of it. So, even the guest think asking about toilet paper, sheets, pillows, etc. is strange lol. 

[Ange2]

 I still can't tag people!   

Leticia  It is odd,  even bizarre. I guess this is the easy and cheap way for Airbnb to start checking that listings are doing as they mandate, rely on guests to report back!  Guests word against the host. It is rather creepy.

[Carl-Erik0]

I will let you know, but until then I'll have to resort to the "swing by my place 150km away for towels and linens, should you need them, and remember to bring them back".

[Mariann4]

It is rather convenient that this guy closes for bookings before July 1st... 😄 Maybe this is the solution @Carl-Erik0? No furniture at all...?

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/23606896

Mariann 🙂