towels

[Lynn-and-Dan0]

Hello,

I've just hosted my first guest and she ruined all my towels. Four of the six towels that were left out for her are ruined by large, obvious bleached areas. What should I do?

[Keith0]

Lousy start, sorry. The good news is most guests will treat your things with respect.

What to do.... 

Some hosts would chalk it up to cost of business.

Some would take pictures. Make a claim to Airbnb. Mention it in the review. 

Probably should mention it in the review either way. 

[Luke14]

Me being a brand new host myself, my first guest is currently staying two weeks.  My approach would be to give her the opportunity to make it right by asking her to reimburse you for your towels, then and only then would an appropriate review be warranted.

[Anne138]

Starting with communications with the guest does seem like a good idea. Take photos too. 

I have not run into this with airbnb guests (yet) but have with personal guests. Turns out common acne treatments can bleach towels and pillow cases. So it is possible it was inadvertent.

[Louise43]

Ask her to reimburse you, if she does not let her know that you will post the issue on her review. This way when others view her profile it will show.

[Dede0]

@Lynn-and-Dan0 Not addressing your specific situation, which others have seemed to have done quite well, but related to another towel issue... We use mostly white towels (our overall design scheme is white, white, white) and a problem we've had is lots of faint gray/brown stains on the towels. It's been hard to figure out the cause, but our latest theory is a combo of odd hair-products and/or makeup removal. To deal with the latter, we've started providing facial-cleansing towelettes and posting a folding card on the bathroom sink asking that guests use the towelettes to remove makeup, mustache dye, etc, etc. Guests ARE using the towelettes, and the stain situation seems to be reduced, so maybe we're on to at least half a solution.

[Roger17]

That is exactly what I do, all white and make-up remover towelettes.  Works well.  I agree with everyone else also and would ask the guests to reimburse for the nice towels.  Best of luck, Roger

[Cynthia149]

Excellent idea.  I'm new to hosting and so far I've been very lucky with my guests and the towels.  I bought eggshell and I've had no streaks but I only have two sets and they will eventually fray or get thin.  Right now I'm looking for a place to purchase hotel quality towels online.  Any suggestions?  

I went in on this hosting venture thinking I probably would not get many guests and boy am I surprised.  I've been bombarded.  Apparently I'm at the exact halfway point between San Francisco and Yosemite so I'm getting visitors from China, France, Japan, Czech Republic all wanting to visit Yosemite.  I am really enjoying this but I need more towels!

Cindy

[DiAnna14]

@Cynthia149 - I get my towels from Costco, they are white hospitality towels.  Works great! 

[Ed-and-Hugh0]

@Lynn-and-Dan0 Now you know why they always use white towels in hotels...easy to bleach out any stain.

[Sandra126]

My first accommodation place I had I bought light blue towels for. I mistakenly thought it would be easier to keep clean than white. In the first month they were all ruined, as whatever skin products people use will remove the dye. When you wash the towel, the dye washes out too. So WHITE is the only way to go! I also provide makeup remover, and I know that guests use it since it needs replacing occasionally. I do facewashers in a darker colour as well as white, hoping for heavy makeup to end up on those instead of the white ones. Sometimes works, sometimes not.

Good luck. I wouldn't charge the guest, I would just get new ones. If there's an IKEA near you, they do great quality towels at a low price.

[Andrée2]

Of course you will use the Resolution Center and charge them! If you start deciding to eat the price of the property damage that is caused by your guests, you will burn out of this business very quickly. Besides, it will often turn itself around where the guest is very gracious and provides apologies with the compensation which allows you the opportunity to write them an even better, more sincere review that they will benefit from and be encouraged to "do the right thing" again in their travelling future. 

I like grey towels and there is no bleach to be found in my listing space. I have it in my house rules that bleach is not allowed to be used on any of my textiles also : )

P.S. I had guests come and stay once when I had just purchased new, very nice sheets. Apparently, he takes pride in getting "ink" in every city he visits. What an awful surprise! They did pay for the damages and were quite embarrassed. Hopefully he has learned to travel with his own sheets...

[Sandra126]

No need for bleach, the kind of soak you use for nappies will do fine... Just in case of stains.

[Andy204]

Same thing just happened to us. Did you get a resolution?