How to handle extremely messy guests - stained linens/towels etc

[Emily882]

We just had guests that checked out - 2 people who stayed for 4 days - that left our guest house extremely messy. We just started hosting in the Spring and this is our first experience of this kind. Curious to how other hosts handle situations like these. First off the house was left with a strong off putting odor - maybe something they cooked - which I can get over. Then there were stains on everything - towels, sheets, quilt, blankets...basically every textile in the house. Some of the stains looked like blood, but could be makeup not sure. We also ask our guests to do their dishes before leaving and I found dishes put away dirty - lipstick on a glass - so everything had to be re-washed. There was also hair and debris everywhere and it appeared someone had shaved their body hair in the living room. We even found clumps of hair (from a razor) in the shared front yard. We took some pictures but not extensive as we just needed the house to get cleaned before the next guests. Would you charge the guest for extra cleaning? Or simply leave the extra cleaning needed as part of the guest review? Thanks in advance for your input!

[Sarah977]

@Tim2882  I don't know that it's worth risking a revenge review over a ruined sheet. Replacing bedding and towels is sort of part and parcel of hosting, although it seems these guests made you a lot of extra work. 

Personally I wouldn't charge for this, but I would send the guest a private message after  the review period is over telling them how much time it took you to remove all their fake tan stains, and how much you had to throw away, and suggest they bring their own sheets and towels to future stays if they can't be respectful enough not to leave fake tan stains all over everything.

And be sure to mention the extra cleaning time it took and damages in the review.

One thing you might consider is raising your nightly price by just a few dollars, which shouldn't affect your bookings, and setting that extra money aside in a separate fund to cover things like this. It can make it less irritating if you've planned financially for small inevitable repairs and replacements.

[Tim2882]

Yes I know what you mean, it's a bit of a dilemma as we all just want to do the right thing.  The guests have already written their review for us but we cannot see the review until we write theirs.

Agree regarding the price, we had similar advice from another local host to pitch the nightly rate, so to attract different clientele but also helps to covers any problems like this as well.

Thanks again @Sarah977, your advice is much appreciated  🙂 

[Sarah977]

@Tim2882  You should always wait until the reviews are published before sending any private message admonishing a guest. They can still amend their review for 48 hrs after submitting it if you haven't submitted a review.

Whatever a guest might say in their review is immaterial to the review you leave. Reviews aren't meant to  be tit for tat, they should always be an honest accounting of your experience, then you have no cause for regret.

Even if you write a review that is critical of the guest's behavior, because they deserved that, and you see they left you a great review, don't ever feel bad about that. Reviews aren't meant to be a mutual admiration society.

Sometimes a host leaves a great review for non-problematic guests, only to see that the guest has left a review full of complaints. Then the host says they wish they could change their review. But that's a childish attitude- if you've been honest, there's no reason to take it back- it's meant to be a review of the stay itself, not revenge for what happened afterwards.

[Elzara0]

I had similar situation,  not only they trashed the place,  also they stole all my blankets,  towels, robes, cleaning supplies, even took batteries from remote control. I immediately contacted to police with filed report and contacted to guests. Airnb did not suspended those guests (JOSH WALKER, from Roseburg Oregon). In fact they charged me back $355 for they false stay. Very disappointed with Airnb case worker. 

[Tim2882]

Sorry to hear that @Elzara0, I would of expected more from AirBnB 😞  Sometimes it makes you wonder why we do this, as its a lot of effort to get things nice for these guests to come and stay.  I think we just have to put it down to a learning experience and try and move on, as there are nice guests out there, we have just been unlucky 😞