Advice with regards to W/D in studio or not?

Jann3
Level 10
Santa Rosa, CA

Advice with regards to W/D in studio or not?

Hi all. I have a studio (above garage) we'll be putting on market in August. We are next door (literally 10 ft away) and have wonderful brand new HUGE (4.7cu ft) washer & (9cu ft) dryer in our home. (yes, I bought them knowing I would want to wash large comforters!)

The studio has hookup for W/D in a 59"w closet .. but among other things that's A LOT of storage room in a studio (even hidden in closet) to waste with a W/D if other hosts here think it is unecessary. (We thought about putting dresser in that space in the studio instead...)

What say you all? I *could* get a combo washer/dryer - like common in EU. Would take up 1/2 space but take 3x's as long to dry. *OR* I could offer our in-house w/d for use of long term guests. I just personally don't think expense and SPACE contstraints of studio apt are a good fit for a w/d inside the unit. 

What say you, hosts?

6 Replies 6
Annette76
Level 10
Cherry Log, GA

I'm renting out a loft apartment over a garage as well. I'm putting a stacking washer dryer in a 44 inch wide closet. The leftover space to the side of the W/D will be used for a cabinet to store an ironing board and iron, detergent, broom, vacuum and cleaning supplies. I want everything right there to make clean up easier. I will wash the big items in my big unit in my house. I will put a lock on the supply cabinet as I've read many instances where renters have helped themselves to supplies. I will leave them a pod or two for laundry but that is it. As I'm also 20ft away they can ask me if they need anything else. With 59" you have enough space to create a nice little utility space. IMG_0740.PNG

@Jann3

 

Regarding the W/D, I think it would depend on whether you end up hosting mostly short-term or long-term guests. For guests staying less than 3~4 nights, laundry is probably not a must, but if you end up having more long-term guests staying more than a week, then laundry would be important to have. Also, if you have long-term guests, will you handle laundry of the towels and bedding yourself, or would you want guests to launder towels and bedding and re-use thru out their stay? 

 

If you don't want guests in your personal space using your W/D, then another option could be to have a large laundry basket and for long-term guests, offer to do one or two loads for them per week for free and factor this into your cost, or for a price. (Dump in washer + tumble dry and give it back to guest, no fluff & fold). Or just provide information about the nearest laundromat. After hosting for a while if you do get a lot of requests or inquiries about laundry, you could consider putting in a small washer only (and have drying racks instead of a dryer) - as a way of kind of hinting that you don't expect guests to need to launder anything more than the basic t-shirts, underwear, jeans and socks. 

 

I mostly host long-term guests and I have a washing machine only (and have drying racks). I provide detergent and fabric softener, and I only let guests staying longer than 1 week to use the washer. I have factored all of this into my nightly price 🙂 I didn't know I'd have so many long-term guests, so I've had to make some adjustments to my house rules as I continue to host to find the right balance between what guests need/want and what I'm comfortable providing. 

 

Happy hosting~! 

 

 

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

I had somebody wanted to book for a night and all they were interested in was washer/dryer.

 

Did occur that if they had lots to do the room would be a freebie.

 

Main thing if you offer it make sure it is costed in your rates.

David
Farah1
Level 10
Seattle, WA

@Jann3 

I live above the 1BR unit that I rent out as an entire unit on Airbnb. The unit doesn't have W/D because of some considerations:
1. I have W/D in my house, I don't think it's necessary to buy a separate one for the 1BR unit
2. There are some discussions in the forum where guests don't really understand how to use it, might break it, etc. I don't really want to think/deal with this
3. With having it in the unit, I cannot control who and how often they use it. I currently offer "laundry service". Guests who stay for 5 nights or more (I don't want guests who only stay for 1 night use the laundry) can have 1 load/week of laundry. Prior arrangement is required and it's only available from 10am-4pm. I provide hamper in the apartment, when they want the laundry to be done, they put the dirty laundry in the hamper. I pick it up, do the wash/dry, I hand them back the clean laundry unfold.

So, it's personal preference. How do you want to get it done (if you're interested to do it for them since you live nearby or give access to the laundry room in your house with prior arrangement when needed), are you ok with 1 night/2 nights guests use the laundry, etc.

So far, I only have 2 guests asked for the laundry service. One guest stayed for 17 nights and the other one was for 6 nights. When I did the laundry for the 17 nights guests, he also put the dirty sheets and towel in the hamper and I trade him with the clean one.

Kate157
Level 10
SF, CA

@Jann3 If I have a longer term guest, I do offer laundry (the W/D is inside the finished garage, just a door away from the guest apartment. I usually lock this door, as most of my guests are 2 to 4 nights. When I did offer laundry privilege to one and all when I first started, I quickly got discouraged by people arriving with large bags full of dirty laundry. As San Francisco was in a drought situation for a few years, all this water being used was upsetting. I stopped allowing laundry, except for those here longer than a week. So, if I were you, I would hesitate to put the laundry in the guest space. I'm sure they would appreciate it, but you will have no control at all over how it is used (or abused). If it were me, I would locate the W/D somewhere you can oversee the usage.

Jillie1
Level 10
Harrogate, United Kingdom

I've provided both a washer and tumble dryer free of charge up to now and I must say, I've been disappointed about how people abuse them and beginning to regret it!  In fact, it has prompted me to take the facility off my listing.  I hadn't had the tumble dryer long when I had some guests who left buttons, coins, chewing gum, paperclips & all sorts in their pockets which I found in the filter.  It was a wonder it still worked?!  They put it on late at night and left it on "refresh" which was still going in the morning!  (I then put a small note up to use between certain time).   I have just had a couple of guests who this morning have been washing/drying for nearly 6 hours and I noticed they had it all going 2 days earlier.  A clanking noise, big temperature rise & hot burning smell was wafting up the staircase to my flat when I opened the door so I went to investigate (laundry room located between flats) to find a couple of small items of over-cooked and nearly singed pair of knickers in it!   I had left a clothes horse out and it was warm enough to dry in a couple of hours.  My bills aside, don't people ever consider the planet?!  For this reason, I'm taking the facility off my listing and utterly fed up!