How often do you change towels and bed linen?

[Cathy369]

Hi fellow hosts!

i change all bed linen and towels between guests. If a guest is staying for, say three weeks, how often would you change the bed linen and towels?

if it’s not a personal question, how often do you change your own bed linen and towels?!

thanks

Cathy

[Rowena29]

Hi @Cathy369 

this is an issue I struggle with a little myself.

Personally I think once a week is more than reasonable for a linen change ( that 's also what I tend to do in our own home. My teenage sons are a different story!)

HOWEVER my listing is a complete house with a washing machine and dryer and lines - ie plenty of opportunity for guests to launder themselves.

And then I think do I really WANT guests to launder themselves? ( visions of stained sheets not being treated and then permanently stained)

I don't say anything specifically about this in my listing.

So what I tend to do, for stays of more than 7 days, is to leave out one extra lot of bedding per bed.

I then ask the guest if they'd like me to change over the linens for them, or would they prefer to do it themselves? So far most want to do it themselves ( but I don't ask them to wash the dirty stuff - although some have)

So far I haven't charged for changing myself - I regard it as quite a good way of keeping tabs on what's happening - but a lot of hosts DO charge extra.

INtellectually I agree with this, but in reality I know I'd struggle to ask for more money.

A few years back my very first airbnb stay was a 4 bedroom townhouse in LOndon. We stayed 16 nights.

There was a washer, but no dryer. And being London it rained pretty constantly

the host had made no mention of linen change and being my first stay, it didn't occur to me until about day 5 or day 6.  There was absolutely no way I could have  dried 4 lots of queen size linens in the townhouse. I suppose I could have gone to a laundromat.  It wasn't a massive problem - it was the middle of winter, but I do remember thinking it was a bit slack of the host not to have anticipated and dealt with it. I didn't feel comfortable asking once I was 6 days into the stay.

I didn't leave a review because we were travelling and had poor internet access, and I would never have marked her down because of it, but it DID niggle me a bit.

Whatever you decide I think the most important thing is that you are very clear about it in your listing description. Some guests won't read it of course, but at least you can point it out to them if it's there..

Hope this helps

Regards

[Cathy369]

Thanks Rowena

I ask because I have a guest here for three weeks on a very reduced nightly rate (£32.50 instead of £45). I was intending to change the sheets after one week but she stripped the bed after four nights! She’s a late middle aged single lady so I thought this was excessive. 

Laundering a duvet set costs me £10, or washing and ironing it myself takes a lot of time. 

I’m going to specify in my listings that bedding will be changed weekly, and that if the guest requires more there will be an additional £15 laundry charge.

reasonable?

Regards

Cathy

[Helen3]

Say in your description for long term guests that you have a weekly clean and linen change and that this is charged at XXX a week in addition to their discounted weekly rate @Cathy369 

[Cathy369]

That’s a good idea. Thanks @Helen3 

[Helen3]

Sorry should have said should also be in your house rules, and you do this by creating a special offer for long term guests.

[Melanie33]

Our listing is a room in our home and I change the bed linen on day 5 and the towels after 3 days if our guests are longer term.