Dish cleaning when you offer use of the kitchen...

[Crystal-and-Dan0]

Ok ... It's in my house rules I tell it to them when they get here and I am showing them around...

You can use the kitchen, but put the dishes in the dishwasher and I said it to run in the middle of the night. I get up very early in the morning and put the clean dishes away so it is available to put your dirty dishes in the next day...

How can you nicely say... I'm not doing your dishes! Clean up after yourself grown up!

[Rachel177]

A few of my guests (mainly from Asian countries) have been a bit wary about using the dishwasher because they are not very common for them so they prefer to wash them up themselves & leave them in the dry rack.

And I've come across a some guests (of all ages & nationalities) who just think that it's my job as host to clean up after them. They get a gentle reminder to re-read the house manual, particularly about leaving the kitchen clean and tidy ( I do this through airbnb messaging so there is a record of it and also face to face). If they continue to be slobs I have to grit my teeth and suck it up but I leave an honest review & mark them down on cleaniness.

[Kath9]

@Crystal-and-Dan0, you do seem to have more than your fair share of messy guests! Maybe it's because you have more than one party of guests at a time so some people think that no one will know who left the dirty dishes! I'm just wondering where the dirty dishes are coming from given that the kitchen is not available for use (according to your listing anyway - above you've said that they can use the kitchen). Maybe you need to rethink the kitchen use - I no longer let guests use stove/oven due to excessive use in the past Anyway, that's up to you, but as @Rachel177 said, all you can really do is mark them down for cleanliness in your review. I would also explain to them that you have other guests staying so it's important that they clean up after themselves.

[Crystal-and-Dan0]

@Kath9

So I just changed the kitchen use. I decided today when I came home to dirty dishes in the sink and trash in the common space living room, that just don't want to deal with that anymore. Given my last two guests, this is just not something I want to have to contend with at this moment. Last night, at that time, I only had one guest, so he knows quite well that is only him that could have possibly done it. What is a little more irritating is that I gave him a friendly tour through the house and reiterated the house rules which are listed on the Airbnb listing as well as in my house guidebook which I show each guest as soon as they walk in the door.  And there are friendly little laminated cards stating the most important things (to me) in the guest spaces. There is one that distinctly says clean up after yourself, and there is one in the common bath that says, please keep all your personal items including toiletries in your room. When he got here yesterday, I specifically explained that all he had to do was put them in the dishwasher. I explained that I will start the dishwasher on a timer to go off in the middle of the night and unload all of the clean dishes before I leave the house, which is very early in the morning. Please don't leave dirty dishes out because I have other guests coming. Simple and easy... I know this is a learning process. and for the most part all of the experiences have been good. No part of that equals leave a sink full of dirty dishes and dirty dishes and trash laying around the common area living room. This is just too bad ones in a row... I guess I'm just frustrated... I explained to him that I had another guest yesterday as well as one coming today... so he knew he would be sharing that restroom and he still left q-tips, face lotion on the countertop his towel hanging in the bathroom and a dirty wash rag and razor and shaving cream inside the shower... ??? I'm just frustrated...

[Kath9]

@Crystal-and-Dan0, I feel for you, I really do. Maybe you're just having a bad run. I just had enough one evening after night after night of people cooking for hours in the kitchen, with no consideration that maybe I, too, would like to cook dinner for myself. I simply had assumed when I said that "the kitchen is available for simple meal preparation" that people would do just that - but alas, no, they saw it as an opportunity to spend the entire evening cooking (not just for that evening, but for the days ahead), burning my pots and my benchtop, spattering grease everywhere and using my expensive local, organic, extra virgin olive oil and condiments. So, like you, I've now modified my listing so that the oven/stove are no longer available for use. You will learn over time what works and what doesn't.

As for your current guest, sounds like he's a particularly bad one - review him honestly and maybe he'll learn. They won't all be like that I promise.

[Crystal-and-Dan0]

@Kath9

Thank you for the kind support.

That's exactly why I changed my listing to say the kitchen is not available. I think I am just frustrated because this is the second guest in a row that has seriously disappointed me. I thought I had put some thought into the listing description just try and say a couple of things that were important to me. I'm definitely not going to give up. and I'm perfectly willing to make it through their learning process. Additionally, I plan to continue reading the community boards where experience host like yourself list the 'best of' ideas and take those to heart. I have already put into place a few of the suggestions that some of the experience guests use. It's awesome that there is this community support board. I think it would be even more frustrating without the guidance and suggestions from successful hosts.

Thanks again!

[Renee471]

I sure understand the frustration. We have a small refrigerator and it is filled with four big bottles of juice and various other food. I cannot buy groceries anymore.  I had one guest eat my salmon and all my rice. Spilled all over the floor and about 2 cups of burnt rice was thrown in the sink.

 They washed clothes all night and all day. I use to provide detergent but after these guests using half a bottle of pods I dont provide it anymore.  They even left their drugs on the counter.  These guests were local and I think they might have been homeless drug addicts. As for dishes. Most guests wash them and leave them to dry. I usually wait until they leave and put them in the dishwasher due to covid.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Crystal-and-Dan0

I had kind of the opposite problem - the majority of my western guests have absolutely no idea how to wash dishes or a mug by hand using a sponge!!!! Many times we'd end up having to re-do all the dishes again because food bits were stuck on the dishes and there was soap residue or grease on the bowls and coffee stains on the mugs.

At least we only have one guest at a time, but I completely understand your frustration.

And since we're kinda on the topic....... why is it that most western guests seem to just sweep all the crumbs from the table onto the floor when they clear the table???

We haven't reached a point where we want to limit kitchen use.....but still~~~~ Henry and I always wonder what their kitchen/room at home is like 🙂 The more we host the more it is clear that the definition of CLEAN is really really different.

[Crystal-and-Dan0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0

I agree... My version of clean maybe different than that of others.

I'm pretty sure I've just decided that no one's going to get to use my kitchen anymore. That's just not something I want to deal with... I do this and I work, and I don't want to come home from work to a sink full of dirty dishes. It makes it not worth it to do this for me. I guess this whole experience is as I said I learning process, deciding which things are important to you and making sure the guests know those few things.

[Kath9]

@Jessica-and-Henry0, wow, I have no idea why! I'm Western and I wouldn't do that! I don't think it matters where you're from, failing to wash dishes properly or sweeping crumbs onto the floor is simply poor form. Again, the old kitchen use - it causes a lot more problems than it's worth.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Kath9 @Crystal-and-Dan0

Henry and I know (in our heads) that the stuff that bugs us are probably more about the individual person rather than culture or nationality but when one is irritated, it's hard to see reason 🙂

We have noticed that by the time they check out, most of our guests seem to do a better job of cleaning up after themselves compared to when they first came (except for one particular guest who seem completely oblivious till the end despite several reminders) Even though it may not be at the level we prefer........Henry and I still appreciate that an effort is made by most of our guests!

In terms of kitchen use..... this is what I have in my description and except for the occasional unsatisfactory clean up, we haven't had any problems yet.

Refrigerator is shared, guest shelf is assigned.

Bowls, plates, cups, utensils, pots and pans available. Please clean up after use.

Kitchen is available to heat up or prepare simple meals such as eggs/omelette, single serving of pasta/noodles, salad or a sandwich (Please keep prep+cook time to about 30 mins or less).

[Huma0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0actually, I don't think you are generalising about this, at least when it comes to British people (and maybe some other Western nationalities share this trait). They have a totally ineffective way of washing dishes.

I grew up in the UK, but my family is Asian, so I was taught to wash dishes completely differently to the British technique, which we happen to find disgusting. Most nationalities, including other Europeans, are horrified when they encounter it!

Here's how it goes:

- Fill the sink (or a washing up bowl) with hot, soapy water.

- Wash all your dishes in that same water, no matter how dirty it gets.

- Most likely don't rinse the dishes, just put them on the drainer with soap, grease and bits of food intact or, even better, dry them off with a grubby tea towel teeming with bacteria.

- Use the dishes again and repeat.

Now, if you are doing this properly, you are supposed to first wash the glasses, then cutlery, then plates and bowls and last pots and pans, so that the dirtier, greasier things go in the water last. I don't care. I still think it is DISGUSTING.

Apologies if I have offended any fellow Brits, but I have watched people wash up like this here all my life, but have never witnessed this in any other country.

[Huma0]

Sorry, I forgot one (optional) step:

- Leave the scourers/sponges and washing up gloves in a wet pile in the bottom of the sink and the soggy tea towel scrunched up on a counter, so they all develop a nice mouldy smell.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Huma0

I haven't had any british guests yet~~~ but you've explained more or less what we've observed from all our European guests. I knew enough to tell guests that we don't use tea towels to dry dishes - to please rinse them with CLEAN water and set them to dry on the rack. Henry and I soon realized that "rinse with clean water" can have very different meanings 🙂 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

ahh.. kitchen... 😞

we bought short term property from the previous owner and the kitchen was already there. It is arround 2,5 m long with 4 cook tops. It is small for US standards but big for short term rental where the average stay is just 2 days and all kinds of restaurants near by. And it seems it attracts groups who likes to cook . I noticed Indian and Asian guests cook a lot despite many Asian and Indian restaurants in the city. Unfortunatelly they use strong spices so the smell stay for days after their departure.

If I would change the kitchen I would buy a kitchenette with just 1 fridge/freezer combo ( not 2 separate appliances) with just 2 induction cooktops and without the oven for sure.

I've seen Ikea has great kitchen fronts where fingerprints are not visible.

For now we unplugged the oven and left a note "out of order" in it. We don't have time to scrub the oven between guests.

One idea for all of you who have guests in your own house where you live and don't want to allow kitchen use - maybe you coud turn off the fuse conected with the stove when you are not cooking?