Cleaning rating from guest

[Brian686]

I have come across an interesting comment in the private feedback from a recent guest who stayed for 7 days. As is often the case, the issues are raised at the time of the stay, despite the guests being asked to let us know if there is an issue. We have professional cleaners come in to do the change over cleans and there work is then inspected by a cleaning supervisor who signs off that the property is ready for the next guests. This is a process used by our onsite managers and one that works well.

The property was clean at the time of the guests checking in and there are brooms and a vacuum cleaner in the property for guests to use during the guests stay as there is no daily servicing of the property during a guest stay. In the private feedback, the guest made comment that the floor was dirty during their stay and whilst not a 'deal breaker' - their words, they rated the cleanliness and accuracy lower than the other criteria. Given that the property is on an island and surrounded by sand that is easily transported inside if guests dont wipe their feet on the mat at the door, it is very likely that the cleanliness issue is actually the guests own doing. To what extent should hosts be penalised on cleanliness when the property is clean at the start of the booking and the guests through their own actions, bring dirt/sand etc inside and then fail to sweep or vaccum?

[Ava30]

Hi @Brian686, 

I so sympathize with your issue on this. Hosts should not be penalized in anyway because a guest can’t be bothered to clean up after themselves. But the fact remains that we are.  I had some guests that stayed for a week while they were doing some research in the local sand dunes and regularly brought sand back with them. In their private review they said the whole house needed vacuuming.  Well of course it did, they tracked sand all over it. (First Time AirBnB users as well)  they were not the only ones that graded me down on cleanliness when it was their own doing, but they were the first so they stand out. Fortunately it has only happened a couple of times.  If it had happened much more than that I might’ve thought there was some validity to it.

 The other thing that gets on my nerves is when they knock you down on the cleanliness rating for things that have nothing to do with whether the house is clean or not.   And example of this would be somebody saw a couple of ants in the bathroom.  We are in rainforest country. Everybody in our area has issues with ants at one time or another coming in the house generally looking for water during the dry season. All the guest had to do was let me know and we would’ve taken care of it. It wasn’t even a whole trail of ants it was just a couple of random ants. <sigh>

There is nothing we can do about it after the fact. It’s frustrating, it’s annoying, and at times it’s even maddening.  My listing clearly states there is no ongoing housekeeping while they are in residence. But yet somehow it is our fault when they don’t clean up after themselves. I do have cleaning equipment available if they need it.  It just simply isn’t our fault if they do not choose to use it. I wish I knew a way to prevent this low grade when it’s in their doing, but I have no idea how to stop it. 

[Ben551]

Hi @Brian686 - unfortunately what you describe is one of the common aspects of running an accomodation business.  Some guests are out to complain about something, so if it wasn't this it would likely be something else.  My advice is to roll with the punches and accept that it's part of business. 

There have been even worse stories on this forum, about guests who check-in, immediately use the bathroom, take a photograph of the unflushed toilet then (on the last day of their stay) they send the pictures to Airbnb customer support saying "look how disgusting the place was" and wrangle a full refund.  Some people are just... undeserving to occupy the same air space as the rest of us.

In all cases when it comes to guests, just take what you can learn from their feedback (if negative) and if you can't identify any improvements... move on.

[Sudsrung0]

I have a sign on the wall right outside the front door and as we live on an island also I know what happens, it goes like this,

"Hey guys have a great time down the beach today?"

Please be so kind to wash all the sand of you before you enter the villa

Hose pipe to the left on the wall

Cheers,

Never had a problem with it

[Brian686]

@Sudsrung0  I have the hose beside the door but didn’t think of a sign to go with it. I might have to change that.