garbage

Aimee2
Level 1
West Sand Lake, New York, United States

garbage

I just had a guest (8 people total in the group) spend 3 nights at my house.  I had spoken to him prior to arrival about access to the house, the thermostats for the heat and directions.  I left a guest binder at the house with additional information- contact numbers,   key code to access the house, information about the garbage (that there is no garbage service at the house and there would be a deduction from the security deposit if an excess amount of garbage is left), info about what not to flush down the toilet (since it's septic) and local info (grocery store, ski mountains). 

The guest left 11 bags of garbage out in the rain, which I had to take to the town store and pay $55 to dispose of.  I contacted him to let him know the cost and that I would be charging the security deposit for the $55 per the information left in the guest binder.  Now he is saying that he never reads the guest binders and I should have told him  "explicitly"  about the garbage and he is threatening to give me a bad review.  In addition, they also left garbage on the bedroom floors, the bathroom floor had a puddle in front of the shower, there was a ball of hair from a hairbrush thrown behind a dresser, the bathmats were all wet, I had to rewash greasy dishes and move a couch back into place. 

Any thoughts about how to handle the garbage situation?  I'm new to airbnb and don't want a bad review.  

13 Replies 13
Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Firstly, don't be blackmailed by a guest. Chances are he's going to leave you a dodgy review now anyway. Just leave your own honest review and try and keep it emotion-free. 

X left x bags of rubbish and [enter some local spiel about why this isn't the done thing] this meant a trip to the dump and a $x cost. This could have easily have been avoided if x had taken a look at the very clear instructions in the manual etc.


Shirley1
Level 5
Somerset, WI

As an owner I'd be emotionally frustated enough to bill for the cost of the garbage. I'd also expect a rebuttal on actually getting paid. It's a toss up at this point if that's worth the trouble.

 

However: removing garbage from the premises to me, as host or guest, is part of the cleaning fee. 

 

I'd update your house rules to let guests know they can expect a charge for excessive garbage. Perhaps you can give an example over x bags or pounds of trash will cost y.

 

When I have a larger group staying more than a short weekend, I make sure to tell them to let me know when the bin is full and I'll get rid of it asap. 

We stayed in a cabin where the owner was not local, for about the same rate you charged, and we were expected to take our garbage with us (with a security deposit and cleaning fee). This was our one and only experience dealing with garbage like this. 

 

Having a rural property and garbage sitting out to attract critters is the last thing you want and guests leaving garbage laying around could create more headaches for you. 

Clare0
Level 10
Templeton, CA

Hi @Aimee2, I complete relate to trash issues as I don't have trash pick up either being out in the countryside.  That said, you made the typical newbie mistake by not having: 

1.) Definitive House Rules that say what guests can and cannot do in your home.  Your guest was somewhat right when he said he didn't know about the trash issue.  Had you posted your requirements in the House Rules, it would have been in black and white on his itinerary and he wouldn't have had an excuse.  Other things to consider in House Rules: Smoking? Pets? Babies? Parties? Extra guests beyond your maximum? Can't remember, but do you have a minimum night's stay?

2.) You need a security deposit since your house accomodates so many guests.  Go to your dashboard on the Help section and ask  about Security Deposits.  You say that excess trash costs will be deducted from the security deposit but you don't have one. 

As far as reviews go, you have no control over what he writes.  Neither of you can see the other's review until you both have responded within 14 days.  After 14 days even if one hasn't reviewed the other, whichever review has bee written will be posted.  When you write your review of him keep in mind future hosts will be reading and using your review to evaluate accepting this guest.  Would you have him back? Just a short, professional, 2 sentence evaluation is enough.  The garbage?  To the outside observer, it was partly your mistake by not highlighting it. I'd let it go and learn from it. 

Hope this help and I hope you have a very prosperous 2016 on Airbnb!

My situation is different with our garbage service.  We have garbage pickup, however, the City has recently stopped collecting for buildings with over 4 dwelling units.  So now, we have to hire a private collector.   I am new to AirBnB, so I am learning the ropes.  I am posting because I just wanted to mention that, in spite of the cleaning issues, they did collect and bag their garbage at the very least.  I thought that was good.  As far as disposal charges, I think you need to make it clear that your area does not have garbage disposal and any disposal would cost such-and-such amount.  This should be stated up front as part of the deal.  

Ed-and-Hugh0
Level 10
Miami, FL

Extortion attempts should be reported to Airbnb and your local police. It's against Airbnb policy and against the law. It sounds like you'll probably want to have a service to provide general upkeep such as picking up garbage on a schedule. It's not really reasonable to ask guests to take garbage to town.

So I am starting at an Airbnb in Toronto. A Studio for 9 nights, owner refused to process trash until I left. Garbage started smelling the room after the first couple of nights even though we bag the trash and put in garbage can. After I asked owner I loss complete communication as if I was bothering him. There has to be a policy. Please advice.

@Daniel1666 the handling of trash is very specific to the listing you stay in, so there is no overall Airbnb policy about the handling of trash.

 

I would say that if you were unhappy with how the host provides trash services for the guest, then you should write about it in your review. This will warn future guests about the trash problem you encountered. If the trash issue causes the host to lose business, then hopefully the host will improve how they handle the trash.

 

That, if anything, is how Airbnb expects things to be fixed: guests complain either directly or in reviews, and the host has to improve the problem or lose customers.

 

Job0
Level 1
Toronto, Canada

My Guest left five bags of garbage, despite specific instructions on the garbage pick up schedule of our city (Toronto). What do I do? Charge him for it and have somebody pick it up (A private junk collector perhaps?) Any feedback is very welcome,

 

job

Tatjana13
Level 2
Baška Voda, Croatia

In my opinion, if someone wants to have such kind of servise as emptying garbage cans and keeping room or apartment tidy, he should go to hotel and pay higher price. Noone expects the guests to wash windows, to wash and iron bed linens. But to leave apartment so dirty, with bags of rubbish and unwashed dishes, to say at leaast it is not right. I would extra charge it too.

Darva1
Level 3
Hillsborough, CA

I have the same issue with my country place. There is no trash collection. My parents live on the property in another house, and we keep our trash to a minimum, burning what can be burned, composting what can be composted, recycling what can be recycled, and making 3 or 4 dump runs a year - $45 for each trip.  Our recent guests left more trash in five days than we have in 3 months. They left so much trash we will have to pay someone to haul it away, as we don't have a vehicle large enough to hold it all. Otherwise they were delightful - the house was left clean, and they took the trash outside - where by the time I came home from town racoons and skunks had gotten into it - what a mess! 

I definitely learned from this. I changed our rules to specify that trash needs to be sorted into what can be burned and left in the burning barrel, what can be recycled and left in the recycle bag, and that any more than two 40 gallon bags of trash must be taken away upon departure. I can't think of another option, except charging a fee for garbage removal. The same guests are coming back for another long weekend, and I"ll be sure to point out the changes to them, but I'd love to find another option. 

Looking for ideas to ameliate the trash situation... in the country, it can really be a problem - and one I didn't anticipate. 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

if your guests recycle all they can - glass, paper, cardboard, foil, tin, paper, plastic etc and compost food  there should be very little waste that needs to be disposed of.

 

We don't burn rubbish here in the UK so not sure what sort of rubbish you would be burning.

 

I would just have a separate bin outside of the accommodation for trash that can't be recycled or composted or burnt and then get it collected when it gets full or do a run to your local waste amenity.

 

Over here because we recycle so much and have separate collections for food waste we only have rubbish collected every two weeks and even then i rarely have more than two bags of rubbish to put in the bin. I struggle to understand how your guest could have accumulated 11 bags of rubbish over a few days.

We burn cardboard and paper in rural areas in the States where there is no trash or recycling service. A lot of our food comes in cardboard boxes, and since the kitchen is nice and there are no good restaurants nearby, our last guests did a lot of cooking. They were our first, and we just hadn't thought the garbage thing through at all . . . until we got home from town (about a 45 minute drive) and found 2 full bins - too full to put the lids on - several bags on the ground around the bins, and garbage everywhere from the cats, raccoons, and a skunk, who had torn into the bags. 

We don't - at the moment - have a way to haul away more trash than will fit in the trunk of a car. They left 12-15 40-gallon kitchen bags.  I had left 3 empty garbage cans in the house (plastic, paper, and garbage), as well as three extra bags, and they used all of those and bought another box of trash bags.

They did put their glass and plastic bottles in the provided recycle container, but the garbage and paper were mixed, and overwhelming. We had to get someone to haul the two full bins, plus what was around them, to the dump, but it cost $140 to have that done - and that's more than our cleaning fee. 

They were perfect guests - all three of them - who left the house very clean, and followed all our house rules. They did a lot of cooking. The countertop was full of boxes of food while they were here. They left some boxes of drinks, and a rice cooker they had either broiught or purchased.  They probably went through around 40-50 grocery sacks in the week they were here, and none of the recycling except glass and plastic bottles was separated out, so cardboard six pack holders and boxes of dry-goods were mixed in with cooking and table scraps and liquid, which made it hard to separate out further, and impossible to burn anything (as we only burn "clean.") . 

 

Mom is talking about getting a trailer, so we can haul things to the dump when there's more than just our garbage.... The fee is $45 if you haul it yourself, and perhaps most guests will not leave so much? So far we've only had one group - we're new to this - so I guess we will provide three bins - recycling, burning, and garbage, and see what happens with our next visitors. 

Thank you for your imput. Perhaps this first stay was an outlier....! 

Jeremy-And-Shilo0
Level 2
Ottawa, Canada

Hi everyone,

 

We struggled with the same issue around what to do with garbage collection. Wondering if any of you would be interested in a paid weekly garbage collection service? This would eliminate the burden placed on the guests, and to remove garbage hanging around for days or weeks on end. 

The service would be around $150 /month. 

 

I appreciate any feedback you can provide.

thanks

Jeremy