This is for hosts who have had guests bleed on (or ejaculate on, or whatever) their linens. We've had this problem, and handle it in a straightforward way. More on that below, including sample text (NB: You need to have a security deposit in place, and handle it the day of incident or checkout). However, since we seem to feel differently about this than other hosts do, we wanted to share our thoughts and possibly encourage new hosts with the same problem.
Someone else's period (or nosebleed, or shart, or ejaculation) is NOT your problem. Practically speaking, a guest may refuse to be responsible for her or himself, and may rob you of your time or money (kind've making it your problem). However, you do not need to feel like you're being unreasonable because you don't want to scrub someone else's fluids out of your linens. If you're a female host, you can reject your bloody guest's request for solidarity and still be a feminist - she's stealing from you, and telling you to be OK with it because of your gender; that's not gender progress. If you're a male host, you probably haven't heard this one - and you don't need to excuse this type of damage where you wouldn't excuse skid marks. Period blood isn't morally dirty and taboo, it's just a bodily fluid that stains, so you don't need to feel awkward asking your guest to reimburse you. A gendered argument for the host just accepting these costs, where other types of damage are more readily reimbursed, is totally retrogressive.
So basically, just because a very small minority of guests who cause stains (a small number already) steal your time or money by refusing to be responsible for themselves, doesn't mean you're crazy for not wanting to scrub out their stains. If you're willing to do it, by all means, but the first time this happened, we called Airbnb Superhost Support to ask for advice, and they seemed **horrified** by the idea that we would do anything but burn blood-stained sheets.
TLDR: Don't treat women and men differently - have a security deposit, demonstrate clear boundaries, and ask guests to honor them.
HOW TO REVIEW THE BLEEDER: With great civility and honesty.
If the damage is reimbursed graciously, "We had a small issue with a stain, but Lady Guest was completely gracious about reimbursing us for the cost. Since we understand that these things happen, and given how politely she handled the whole thing, we'd certainly recommend her to other hosts."
If the guest refuses, "While Grotesque Bleeding Guest seemed like a cool person, I cannot recommend that other Hosts welcome her into their homes. She refused to reimburse us for the sheets that she ruined, after agreeing at the time of booking to approve documented charges for damage to our security deposit. This is a great breach of the trust we have in the Airbnb community, so we hope other Hosts will be able to avoid the same problems that we had with Grotesque Guest."
NOTE: Airbnb's algorithms seem to give us more InstantBookings when we give fewer guests the dreaded Thumbs Down, so we started reserving the thumbs down for the most truly egregious guests and save most feedback for the comments.
STEPS FOR MAKING THIS EASIER IN THE FUTURE (again, you need to have a security deposit on your listing before the guest books)
1. We always include a note in our welcome message that if linens are stained, they'll be charged against the security deposit.
2. We send the guest a message telling her/him:
"Hi, thanks again for staying with us! It looks like there are some stains on the sheets, and for everyone's health and safety, stained sheets need to be disposed of. Luckily, Airbnb's security deposit system makes it easy to add the replacement cost to your booking after we provide documentation. We've had this happen a few times, and guests are always gracious in handling it. If you'll approve the security deposit charges when we submit them, we'll be all set. Thanks again, and all the best!"
3. Photograph stains (including tag if possible/relevant - our sheets are Ralph Lauren, so that tag makes a difference) 🙂
4. Submit a security deposit claim ("Request Damages" or "Resolve an Issue" button I think) including photos, a polite note, and a link to the replacement cost online or a photo of the receipt.
Airbnb does not make it very clear, but guests do not appear to be compelled to approve the charges. We once had a guest refuse to pay for the sheets, and we ended up making a claim to Airbnb, which paid us 80% of the cost, and then we experienced a serious drop in bookings for that listing (only for the one of 2 identical listings for which we submitted the claim to Airbnb). We do NOT recommend submitting this type of claim, just in case Airbnb is penalizing hosts who pursue claims for damages that the guests refuse to pay.
