Am I the only 1 who doesnt COOK for guests?!

[Dee9]

Heres a portion of my ad for a single room rental:

"Clean simple carpeted room, single firm bed, full closet. Safe peaceful community on private bay (free beach pass). Bike/parking/jog friendly. WIFI. Shared bath. Lite use of Kitchen. W/D use for guests staying 5+nites. NO TV. Near Hamptons/Outlets/Food. Coffee/tea available 24/7. To-go breakfast bag can be provided day of departure. No cleaning fee or deposit.

Hi, Im Diane! I do my best to offer a quiet, clean, safe, attractive environment, walking distance to the bay, in a central location, for a simple stay at the most economical price! My airbnb is probably best suited for guests who have plans while they are visiting. If youre looking for a clean, safe, quiet, comfortable place to sleep, shower, change, have a cup of coffee/tea with your Wifi before heading out for the days activities - without being smothered by your host - this is perfect."

I dont supply cooked meals. A brown bag (to go) breakfast consists of something like muffin/fruit/granolabar/juice. Coffee/tea/water bottles 24/7.

I work full time. My price is only $50 a night, centrally located to the Hamptons. I dont have alot of interaction with my guests as I like to give them (and me) their privacy & personal space.

But I see alot of you cook meals for them.

[Lyndsey2]

I don't cook at all, although the space I have set up is private and separated from my own living space. I do leave some granola bars, instant oatmeal, tea, flavored seltzer, and a coffee maker .

[Karen77]

I fix a simple hot breakfast because I enjoy extending that hospitality.  

[Terry23]

I don't cook for my guests, they can use my kitchen and have coffee, tea etc available. Keep it simple.

[Robin4]

@Terry23 Possibly sounds a bit 'off' but the decision to cook or not I sum up once I meet the guests! Some of them just want to do their own thing and be left to it....and that's great! Some want to find out more about you....some (like me) love good conversation. If they have a nice feel about them, I more often than not, tell them we have a habit of having a cheese plate and a wine or two about 5.00 and are welcome to join us.....and if that leads to a meal....well great. And I can tell you, I have never had the situation where they turn up empty handed...they always want to contribute! In a lot of instances you can guage what guests will be like by the message conversations you have before they arrive and in some instances this will govern what I may decide to cook on a specific evening. As I have said on another thread, I now frequently do a 'Salmon Wellington' with cream cheese, Dill, Leak and parsely because it is easy to prepare in advance, it sure gets the 'wows' and invariably gets the 5 star reviews.

Terry, it's a personal thing, I love my cooking and the extra preparation and cost for cooking for an extra couple of mouths is very minimal.

I would not expect that a lot would do it but.....it's just my thing....cheers......Rob

[Martha77]

I don't cook for guest. I did provide breakfast on weekends when I first started but the majority of the time my guest wouldn't eat any so I wasted all that food. When my guest check-in I inform them they are welcome to  help themselves to coffee, tea, water and they can use the kitchen equipment but ask they clean  up after themselves and to label their OWN food with labels provided. I love to cook and bake so normally I'll provide home made banana, blueberry, or apple muffins/bread solely for them. I let them know they can take it when them when they leave. If they are personable and kind and I'm making food when they are around than I offer to share but not always. I'm always baking something up or testing recipes and I'll leave some out with a note and ask for feedback if they want sample. I've had guest during Thanksgiving and informed me they would be cooking a thanksgiving meal, we agreed it was silly to cook two of the same meal separately and that we'd cook together and eat together to celebrate the holiday.  Again, not everyone is wants to eat with their host and thats fine. I've only had one guest who took it upon themselves to help themselves to all the food in my kitchen when I wasn't around. When I caught them they told me it was just a little and I was making too much of it, plus it was going to spoil if I didn't eat it and that I was horrible person for being wasteful. I reminded them that it was violating house rules and that even if it was wasteful it wasn't their place to judge my eating and purchasing habits. Honestly, because of this incident I never offered any food to my guest. Its one thing to offer and be hospitiable and its another to be disrepected in my own home.  

[Ashley55]

I don't cook for my guests. I provided bagels, English muffins, fruit, yogurt, granola, spreads for 2 months and no one ate it! I did have 1 person eat 1 bagel. It was too much stress to have all fresh food that no one was eating!

[David126]

I have a Keurig, fruit is I have it.

[Lisa239]

Hi, Im in Canada! Lisa

I definitely dont cook for guests 😄

 I do not even include bag lunch..

For long term guests ,I do offer some supper if we have extra. For short stay guests I offer coffee, local fruit in season and stuff like water and ice.. 

I also work and want independent guests..

I was good with this also as a guest 😄

Lisa

[Dee9]

good to know re: being a guest

[Julie18]

Hi Diane

In the beginning I did do some breakfast cooking. I always have coffee and tea and guests can bring juice pop beer wine. But I stopped offering ANY use of my kitchen at all and my listing states the space is suitable for guests who are active and busy (ie skiing alllll day) 

Ive been burned too many times with the whole kitchen issue. It just seems to NEVER work when I say yes. Lingering food smells, hours upon hours using my kitchen, borrowing my food, breaking my kitchen items.....its all happened to me. I figure if you can afford a ski holiday then you can afford to eat out as you are paying 50% of the cost of a hotel and 75% less for airbnb in this resort than others......

You have to draw the line on personal space 

[Robin4]

@Julie18......I don't under any circumstances offer guests my kitchen! There is no way I want my beloved Tefal frypan looking like a coal scuttle! All the food in my pantry rifled through....and having to deal with their mess afterwards!

But I do love my cooking and if we do get off on a good footing I enjoy providing a quick nice easy to prepare meal. I detail one I do in another part of this thread. Guests love it and so do I.

But, I don't even want them walking into my kitchen let alone touch anything in it!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Dede0]

@Dee9 Very few hosts prepare any food for guests. To make that clear, we spell it out in our House Rules.

Because of the name of the company, some guests (mostly those from Europe and Asia) might assume that some sort of breakfast is provided, so we make it clear that it's not. (Our apt is so separate from the main house that we often never even cross paths with guests. We do leave coffee beans and a grinder in the apt, but that's it as far as food goes.)

[Karen-and-Brian0]

From my understanding of the municipal bylaws where we are, preparing a cooked breakfast for guests would require obtaining a Bed and Breakfast license; and in order to do that, among other things, a Health Inspector has to come out & ensure the property is all up to code for the preparation of food similar to what is required of a restaurant (sterilizing dishwasher, temperature controlled food storage etc. etc). Lots of hoops to jump through. @Dee9, your brown bag breakfast very neatly sidesteps all the hassle. Well done! 

[Andrea9]

My bnb is the Bed-No-Breakfast kind, but I have a very little fridge in the room with some water bottles.

Theres an electric water kettle with all kinds of teas and a Nespresso machine.

But then my neighborhood has several lovely cafes.

Wouldn't have time for preparing breakfast, esp. with all the special allergy needs out there.

Plus, offering a proper breakfast requires a special licence here too.