I am reaching out to the Community for a bit of advice (and maybe just some support).
I have 1-br apartment underneath my house which I just started to host through AirBNB. I live in a popular area of Portland and am pretty booked up for next few months. I have hosted my first 5 guests so far and 3 of them have not been pleasant experiences:
1. Three 20-something girls from CA (3 nights). They were a bit noisy, but nice and communicative. However, the amount of cologne, fragrances and other scents they were generously applying was so overwhelming, it wafted throughout the entire house and even upstairs to the 3rd floor. It took me 2 days (and lots of laundry) to air out the apartment and get the fragrance smell out of the sofa pillows and bed linens.
2. Couple from Oregon (1 night): The girl is an AirBNB host herself. Very communicative and nice. However, when I went to clean the apartment, the bedroom looked like a murder had taken place. It took 6 loads of laundry to wash the blood, personal lubricant (and whatever else) out of the sheets, pillow cases, mattress pads, comforters and pillows. It took bit of work to get the hand-prints off the walls as well.
3. Two 20-something guys from San Francisco (3 nights): Very non communicative. In my welcome letter, I asked them when they were going to arrive and if they needed the second bed set up, no response. I was on my porch when they walked out the other day and said "hello", no response. They managed to set off the fire alarm burning a pizza in the oven the other night. They were also extremely noisy during their entire stay. On their last night, around 11:30p, I had to go downstairs, bang on the door and ask them to quiet down. When they opened the door, I noticed there were 5 people in the apartment (my rules clearly state, quiet hours after 10p and no parties). On checkout, they totally trashed the apartment. Fortunately, they didn't break or steal anything. However, It took me 3 hours to clean the place (when it usually takes me 45 minutes), delaying the check-in for my next guest.
Lately, I have been asking myself these questions:
1. Am I cut out to be a chamber-maid? (Oh and btw, I have a completely newfound respect for housekeepers and domestic cleaning people who have to deal with this kind of stuff on a daily basis).
2. Is it worth the $35 cleaning fee if I have to wash and dry 6+ loads of laundry for each check-in?
3. Am I just too old and curmudgeoney to deal with noise in my house from strangers?
Thoughts, advice, or just words of encouragement strongly needed 🙂
Matt
Group
