Cooking smells

[Roz]

I have a studio with a kitchenette.  Among other small appliances, I supply an electric fry pan. A guest who has booked to stay in Jan spoecifically asked if it would be OK to cook "light meals". I thought it was an odd question, seeing as the facilities are all detailed in the listing. Why would I supply a kitchette they werent allowed to use? So it got me thinking that perhaps they had been told off previously for smelly cooking??

Does anyone have rules about cooking in a seperate self contained space? (I dont mean shared kitchens).

Did anyone start out supplying cooking facilities and then remove them?

I want my listing to appeal to guests staying more than 1-2 nights, but I dont want to discover I have brougt on a whole new set of issues! Keen to hear about other hosts experiences in this regard.

[Marit Anne]

Looking at your listing, I believe the potential guest is concerned about the kitchenette being adequate for his needs.  

My idea of a kitchenette has one or two hotplates and a sink, some pots and pans and a coffee machine.  

Cleaning after a long term guest may take longer anyway, so simply leave a coulpe of days at the end to get rid of any smells; that being cooking smells or other.

[Roz]

@Marit You raise an interesting point about kitchenette definitions. When I read yours I thought, that just sounds like a kitchen without an oven! So I went back to my listing and made it very clear exactly what I was providing etc, to avoid any confusion. Then I went to Wikipedia and found this... "In some motel and hotel rooms, small apartments, college dormitories, or office buildings, a kitchenette usually consists of a small refrigerator, a microwave oven or hotplate, and, less frequently, a sink. " Anyhow, as "luck" would have it that particular guest changed their booking 3 times and after proving quite hard work proceeded to cancel, so hopefully I'm not dealing with any bad cooking smells next month!

[Eileen]

@Roz I just posted about this myself...if you're like me and have back to back guests, this indeed may be why they are asking about the cooking. They may say something along the lines of  "Well, we did ask about this..." if you complain when in fact they weren't actually being direct. Honestly, I would wonder too, especially if you've given a detailed description of the kitchen. 

I'm in a bit of a quandary about this myself since I've had it happen that incoming guests have complained about the smell. If you can, when you meet them, maybe ask them what they were planning on cooking and ask them not to cook anything aromatic during their last 24 hours? You could ask if their cooking is "spicy" for example.  I'm actually thinking of putting a little note up in my kitchen to this effect. I don't have a through breeze in my condo and so smells are hard to move, even with a good ventilation system. My last guests, who just left this afternoon, clearly made fish right before they left. My cleaner came in and right away commented on the smell. I'm wondering whether or not to mention their "aromatic" cooking in their review. The fact is that incoming guests can review us down on this issue, so it's important. 

[Roz]

@Eileen yes I think a note could work (or maybe just worthy of mention in the accomodation info sheet I leave on the desk). It's hard to do it in person, because donyou choose to do it for everyone, or for people you "think" might be aromatic cooks (LOL) or based on their length of stay ??? 

[Eileen]

Actually, I'm going to go with a note...I've been trying to figure out how to do this diplomatically and really, just leaving a note for everyone means not one group is going to be offended. It's hard to do this without inadvertently insulting someone's culture, but the fact is that some cooking smells are hard on incoming guests. 

I've got a full kitchen and it's well stocked, which means it's an attractive feature of the rental, but I'm going to ask that for the last 24 hours that guests be mindful of cooking smells. I think that's fair. 

[Marit Anne]

@Eileen

Very fair. And I suppose those last guests asked for a late check-out in order to make lunch.  Next time you have such a request, say ok, but no cooking please. 

[Branka & Silvia]

Smell of cooking, smoking, diarrea, smelly shoes..... no problem, we have windows :)

[Eileen]

I have had guests make comments on the odour and this after spraying Febreze on the furniture, leaving bowls of vinegar and other bowls of baking soda out--AND leaving the windows open for hours. Maybe you just haven't had guests who cook extremely aromatic food. 

[Branka & Silvia]

@Eileen o yes, we had [guests] and their food smells.. well... strange to us :) 

But, what I want to say - cooking smell is not the only smell we have to handle when our guests leave. It is not a problem after short stay of few days but after few weeks ...

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[Marit Anne]

@Branka & Silvia

Middle Eastern and North African - that is peanuts.  Wait till you have had someone cooking Indian food for weeks on end. Unless you have a super efficient extractor fan, the smell will penetrate carpets and curtains and furniture and even the bedding if the weather is hot and sweaty.

[Branka & Silvia]

@Marit Anne after your comment I suddenly became very happy that Zagreb is a transit destination :))) 

[Teresa]

So how do you handle that as a host. My last guests permeated my whole house, including matresses with the aroma of Indian cooking. I've been doing laundry for 7 hours now, washing all the bed linens, including quilts, pillows and matress covers. I have febreezed every curtain and apholstered piece of furniture, ran fans with the windows open and my house still smells. How do you review such and guest, and do you make a house rule about cooking?

[Shanna]

I just went to my airbnb  house and had the same experience.  I think I am going to make a rule that there is no cooking of aromic smells and or the use of oils.  Which has also happended...  took weeks to get the oils smells out!

[Elizabeth]

I just had a horrible experience with Indian foods.  Can you post no aromatic cooking without it being discrimatory?