washing sheets and towels after hosting

Yara1
Level 1
New York, NY

washing sheets and towels after hosting

Dear Community, I am new to this. Is it normal to ask guests when they leave to strip the beds and leave sheets and towels on the machine? Do you ask them to wash and dry them or just leave them for the host to wash and dry afterwards?

35 Replies 35
Corey3
Level 2
Vancouver, Canada

IMO if you are charging a cleaning fee, then the guests shouldn't have to do any of that. Most guests would feel rightly put out having to clean after having paid for it to be done. If you have no cleaning fee, I'd emphasize that stripping beds or whatever cleaning you want done is a house rule, but be prepared to have people not do it. Personally, I'd just charge a cleaning fee and do it myself.

Most people don't go on vacation expecting to clean bedsheets.

For standard NYC Airbnb apartment rentals, I agree with Corey's comment 100%. And honestly, cleaning fee or no cleaning fee, keep it mind also that it would only take you 2-10 minutes max to strip all of the sheets & collect all towels in the house (depending on number of rooms), which is basically nothing, so having a guest do it doesn't really save you any time--and, as Corey said, it's a task that no one traveling wants to do and may leave them with a bad taste.

 

Think about it: if the very last thing a guest has to do before you leaving your apartment is strip the sheets, the negativity of the experience could be the tiny bit to compel him or her to give you 4 stars instead of 5 when they get the "Review Your Host" email a few hours later.

 

The only instance where I think this could maybe be acceptable is with more "vacation home" bookings where such practice is more common -- when a guest books a house for a vacation house on the beach or in the woods for a week or more and there's a bit more of an expectation that they clean up after themselves. But even then, I'd avoid the sheet stripping just because it's an activity that kinda sucks to do.

 

cheers,

Ben

 

 

 

If your charging cleaning fee then guest shouldn’t, do that ..they rent your space for leisure , work or business it’s very inconvenience on my opinion .

Jennifer140
Level 1
Philadelphia, PA

I just ask them to stip the beds and leave the sheets by the washer

Allison2
Level 10
Traverse City, MI

I don't ask my guests to strip the bed or clean for a couple of reasons:

 

1) It only takes a couple minutes to strip the beds & gives me a chance to look for damage, bed bugs, or other issues. (if there ever  IS a bedbug issue, it's not made worse by transporting infested linens)

 

2) Nobody likes cleaning at the end of their vacation & it can inconvenience them (if they're supposed to do a full load of wash/dry, but need to leave the house by 8am, they have to get up at 6:30 to start laundry? Yuck.)

 

3) I'm better able to manage laundry than they are: They didn't notice a stain I could have treated & now it's set. They started laundry at an inconvenient time, and it sat wet for several hours and now smells musty. I'm going to have to re-wash it before drying anyway.

 

You can ask them to strip the beds if you'd like, but asking them to do laundry (IMO) is too much and is likely to cause other problems.

I agree! I am a new host and I am gratful to other hosts for sharing their insite and expierence.

Thanks so much,

Anna-Leigh

Mike262
Level 2
Key West, FL

I host on boats that are anchored out in the harbor, some will ask about sheets and bringing in trash.  The ones that do ask always are a little happier when I say 'you don't have to do any of that, I handle it all'.

 

I host roughly 150 people a month so many times will wash 2 sets at once, plus you don't have to work about a pillow case or something getting missed.

Wendy-and-Frank0
Level 10
Stonington, CT

Do not ask this of your guests.

 

 

It's downright tacky!

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Yara1

some of our guests do that but we don't like it because while stripping it by myself I can easier see stains and treat them before washing

Rachael26
Level 10
Murphy, NC

 

@Yara1

I can't think of a good reason to ask your guests to do this - it has all sorts of benefits to do it yourself. The main benefit is that your guests will love it - which should lead to better reviews. Just make sure you mention it to them in a subtle way if you get the chance - something like - 'Oh and don't worry about stripping the beds before you check out - I take care of it all so just leave them to me.'

Best Wishes.

 

 

@Wendy-and-Frank0

gently does it Wendy 😉 - and of course I agree!

But I have seen several listings that charge a cleaning fee AND request garbage removal, bed stripped of linens and dishes put in dishwasher. And they wonder why they only get mediocre reviews!

@Rachael26, I'm working on "gentle".

 

Not doing well with that.

 

Blaming the blizzard.  😛

@Wendy-and-Frank0

Yes, the blizzard! Well stay warm. here is our state bird toughing it out. Sweet huh!

 

Cardinal snow 2 March 2013.JPG

@Rachael26

Well, my checkout instructions ask guests to tidy up their trash (it's right outside the front door -- I just really don't want to see/know what they ate, drank, did in the bathroom...) and put dirty dishes in the dishwasher (cause this is where they belong, not piled up on the counter...) and to please leave bedding & towels on beds and on towel hooks (bc nothing is ickier than a smoldering pile of wet towels & id rather check for stains & problems on sheets before they go in wash. )

And I do charge a setup fee (cleaning) and I do have stellar reviews. But I typically host 8 guests at a time so maybe slightly different from a two person listing. 

@Kelly149

I totally get that and I would say your checkout suggestions are spot on. In my comment to Wendy (who knows I was referring to some of the cabins in the mountain area that I live) I mentioned several listings that insist on taking guests the garbage with you when you leave, starting the washing machine with a load of the bed sheets/linen, as well as the dishwasher.... and still charge a $90 cleaning fee. Empty half the time with mediocre reviews..... (mainly because of the garbage dump being over 10 miles away!).

Nothing personal meant!

 

Best Wishes.