I share a kitchen with my guests. They can't keep it clean. What to do?

[Claudia1669]

Hi all. I have been hosting for 1 year, and almost none of my guests has been able to clean the stove and kitchen counters after cooking.

1. I have signs in front of the stove to use a damp sponge to remove food spills every time after cooking.

2. It's in my house manual.  

3. It's printed in their room.  

4. It's in the email I send them before check in.

5.  I say something once, and then I tolerate it and clean it myself, several times a day depending on who is cooking.

I do not have unreasonable expectations: they just do not bother, and the stove is always caked with grease/food spills.  Imagine throwing a tablespoon of coffee or tomato sauce on your stove.  Unless I do something, it's often like that.  But, I am getting resentful that I am basically a maid cleaning up after them twice a day or more.  And resentful that if I insist they will leave me a bad review.

I cannot raise the price because as it is it is high and it is almost the same price as renting.  It is very tempting to tell them that there is no kitchen use, but I live 5 miles from the nearest store in a semi-rural area.

Any suggestion?

[Anonymous]

@Claudia1669 You have a very nice property that would still be excellent value even if you didn't offer use of your kitchen. So you could experiment with removing it as an amenity outright, and seeing what impact that has on business.

This approach is best accompanied by a short Maximum Stay,  as guests spending more than a few days in a semi-rural location may quickly tire of the local restaurants. Also, the fact that "no chemicals" is mentioned roughly 28,382 times in your listing would suggest that you're concentrating on the organic market, which might not be compatible with the nearby dining options.

If space permits, you could consider installing a kitchenette exclusively for guest use. Plenty of people are happy with just having a way to make coffee and mini fridge for cold stuff, perhaps a toaster oven or hotplate for more substantial stuff. 

If you're finding yourself feeling resentful of the people you're sharing your home with for any reason, that's the biggest sign that you're in the wrong market. It's not unreasonable to expect people to clean up after themselves properly, but honestly it sounds like sharing a kitchen with strangers is just not for you.

[Claudia1669]

Excellent, thank you!!!

[Sarah977]

@Claudia1669  Maybe change the wording in your listing, your house manual, and also re-iterated in a message when they book, to say that there is kitchen access if they are respectful to clean up after themselves- that guests will forfeit kitchen privileges if they do not wash their dishes, and wipe the counters, eating table and stove top when done cooking and eating.

Either that, or resign yourself to keeping the kitchen clean as part of your hosting job, instead of resenting it.

I also share my kitchen with guests, but I only host 1 guest at a time, and luckily they have all been respectful.

[Lisa723]

@Claudia1669 when I find the same problem repeating itself I conclude that I am not going to change guests’ behavior so I have to change something else. In your shoes I would either eliminate kitchen use or come to grips with cleaning up after guests and charge enough to not resent it.

[Claudia1669]

Yes! Thank you!

[Katrina79]

@Claudia1669 I also have a large space that I list on Airbnb that is part of my home. Early on in my hosting adventure I decided sharing a kitchen is not for me! For this reason most guests book for less than a week at a time. I’ve included a mini fridge, coffee maker, and microwave in the guest space. I provide a water jug and some glasses and coffee mugs, and a small coffee/tea bar. Every now and then I have a guest that seems to naturally fit into our home and is welcome to use/share the kitchen alongside my family. I have met some wonderful and interesting people from all over the world and it’s been great fun cooking together! For me it is best to only offer kitchen use when I feel comfortable after having met my guest. My listing does not include kitchen use but sometimes it happens! 

[Claudia1669]

I never considered NOT sharing the kitchen with guests, especially because I live far from restaurants.  But, that would solve my main problem.  Thanks all!

[Cormac0]

@Lisa723 

Maintain your own standards and they may get the message like Pavlov's dog.

Classical Conditioning (Pavlov) Classical conditioning is a reflexive or automatic type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.

[Claudia1669]

Every time they actually do clean, drop $100? 🙂