Do you allow guest to do laundry at your property?

[Farwa-and-Raza0]

Since laundry room is right infront of our guest suite, we use to allow our guests to do laundry. However, it was such a pain to find articles of clothings forgotten in the washer stinking, forgotton lighters in the dryer or sand from the beach, and not to mention loads and loads of lint. We had one guest stay one night with us who did 6 loads of laundry!

I still have people constantly asking if they can use the laundry (even though its clearly written in the house rules NO LAUNDRY). Please help

[Miloud0]

Salute @Nadia0,  

We offer our guests to do a laundary at our house. But, it is also depend on guest question, cause : 

There is  a guest who tell you directly, i want to wash some clothes, do you have a laundary ? or can i use a laundary? for me i tell yes, so a guest uses it . One guest used the laundary at our house.

And some times, a guest could tell you, when ask about a laundary, for example : Is there a laundary service near here? i tell(also) yes, and i go with a guest to show the place. One guest used a laundary service near us.

The first one is a clear question, which i like, cause i know clearly a guest need. 

And the second one, it could be unclear question, some times, but for me i do not know cause i reply on a guest question. And also i know that there are some people, whom like to use laundary service outside home, however they have a washing machine.

@Nadia0, my small experience, which i have with the guests, show me that the guests need, also, to feel free when they want to ask, clearly, about amenites the hosts offer at home.  

Thank you so much for your like about this question,you reminded me, for that i decide :  

To apologise to one of my guest, who oses a laundary service outside home, however we have(But really i do not know). 

 To think about making a big letter hanging in the bedroom wall and write in it as " Please feel free if you want to use anything at home" 

Thanks, 

Miloud

[Jan209]

I write specifically on my listing that if a Guest t is to stay a week, then I assume they will want to wash about twice and after that there is a charge. I then list off the local laundromats costs and tell them it has very large washers and dryers and that it's only a 5 minute drive.

I have had one Guest recently who washed every day and now she has booked to return. 

She wil be staying 15 days, so she will potentially wash a lot. 

No sign of offering to pay for extra washing last time.

  So I am going to put up a sign in laundry with an honesty box. Plus reiterate with her the fees for extra washing.

TRouble is when they stay often they often think they have special priveliges . One reason I take bookings for max or 12 days! She saw calendar  was free tho and asked to stay longer. Dilemma, but I agreed. 

[Gregory87]

My house structure allows me to exert control of the laundry.  I live in a duplex and rent out the other side for Airbnb guests.  There are two basements (one for each side) with a common stairway and I have machines on each side.  

Guests are allowed to use the laundry (on their side) free of charge, but expected to check with me first.  There are doors for each basement area, so my side is kept locked and those machines remain for my personal use.  

On the guest side, I provide a basket, detergent, and bleach for the guests with the following disclaimer:  "The guest assumes all risks when using the equipment. The host will not accept responsibility for stained, damaged, or ruined items."

Should a guest abuse the privilege, I just lock their side and the matter is closed!  So far, I haven't had any problems.  Usually, only guests staying about a week or longer inquire about using the facilities.

[Fred13]

"Do you allow guest to do laundry at your property?" Yes we do. We provide them with one of those old-word washing boards and a bar of soap to do their own laundry during their stay. I wonder why so few take advantage of our island 'washing machine'. 😞

 

[Victoria567]

Hahaha.....the last time I saw one of these was in a museum.....I did not know they still existed😉

[Fred13]

They still in use along the rivers of Belize @Victoria567. I know, such scenes are usually now only in history books.

[Jan209]

haha! love it!

[Huma0]

A few hosts have mentioned that the cost of a load is minimal, so why not? Well, for me, there are numerous reasons.

- Firstly, there is an environmental cost. Can I justify the energy and water useage when a guest puts on a two hour plus cycle to wash two t-shirts? No. I even had someone who insisted it took 3 hours to dry a load and refused to put the washer or dryer on anything but the maximum cycles and he did several loads a week. From my experience, most people don't give a fig about the environment, even if they claim that they do.

- Then there are the guests that leave stuff in their pockets (coins, plastic items, metal bottle tops etc.), break the door by forcing it open when the machine is still going, etc. etc.. My warranty doesn't cover stupidity.

- I host rooms in my own house and I need both the machine and drying racks to be free most of the time as I am constantly doing laundry. The last thing I need is for it to be tied up all day by the guy who does the 2.5 hour wash cycle and the 3 hour dry cycle.

So, the solution I have come to (and this is stated on the listing) is that the washer/dryer is for use by long-term guests only and those I try to 'train' to use the machine properly. For anyone staying less than a week, I will wash and dry and fold their laundry but they need to pay. I only charge £3 per load, which is nothing considering it would cost twice as much to do it themselves at the local laundrette, before you consider detergent, softener etc. The charge is more to prevent guests from abusing this facility. It's funny how many guests suddenly don't need to do laundry after all, once they realise it isn't free.

I understand completely that guests staying a while will need to wash their clothes, and I have no problem with that, but I resent those who take advantage, e.g. arrive with a suitcase full of dirty laundry and expect to do it here for free because they were previously staying somewhere where they had to pay. No, sorry. A hotel doesn't provide free laundry, so why should I when I am charging considerably less?

[Victoria567]

Hello @Huma0

Once you charge then £5 per washing machine load and a further £5 for a drying load, the novelty will wear off!

I supervise them loading the machine and emptying their pockets and I set the machines myself as I bought my washing mashing brand new last year.

I offer the paid service to stop guests using up all the hot water supply in my home as they used the shower in continually to wash their laundry.

Then drying their laundry with the hairdrier in the bedroom.

Last year a guest set up a laundry operation approaching an industrial scale!

Emptied my huge hot water tank and drained 2 huge cold water reservoir tanks.....cost £200 from the plumber and no water for nearly 2 days.

[Huma0]

@Victoria567

I thought some of my guests were bad in this area but yours really take the biscuit. I don't think anyone has tried to dry their clothes here using a hairdryer, but then some guests do have them going for a long time, so maybe that was what they were really doing!

[Jan209]

i had someone try to dry their laundry by placing it near Airconditioner and turning it on! Naughty! & wasteful. ( i know this not cos I looked but because it was a moderate temperature day no way would you need aircon. PLus I am now psychic re what Guests are up to!! ...lol) Naughty. 

I told her there is a clothes airer and if she places this in Laundry overnight with clothes on, then the heat from the water heater will dry the clothes.

She got the hint.    And probably thought, how did she know? 

[Victoria567]

Hi @ Huma

Sadly I wish they were drying their short locks of hair, instead of bringing the national grid to a standstill...hahaha!

Let’s say, just to be politically correct and not to stereotype anyone....

Huge trucks the height of the trunk owner, wearing surgical masks despite being in an area of outstanding air cleanliness as we have lichens growing on our trees which ARE an accurate quality of clean air and lack of air pollution........My lips are sealed!🤐

[Irene640]

Hello Victoria,

I started hosting just 10 days ago and already had all of that. My guests used the shower for their massive washing, blowdrier to dry the staff and curtain rod as a drying rack. All the house smelt with detergents. I text them to stop this midnight laundry and remind about quiet hours (as it is a private room in my house). They tried to assure me that they are taking shower using the soap I provided. Lol… I have an allergy to detergents so I couldn’t confuse that scent with anything else 😊 The process took them around 2 hours.

Next day the same story, and what is strange - they were back around 8 PM but started their laundry around midnight again.

My reminder to them that I do offer washer/drier for free didn’t work. Texted them finally that I give up and please stop this noise. They waited for half an hour and then continued washing.

Still cannot understand why they did their laundry in a such a strange way😊

What I am trying to say with this story that even free washer/drier service cannot guarantee you that people won't do some strange things.

Now I am thinking to add to my House rules something like: Please do not use shower to wash your clothes and hair drier to dry it. Also, I think I should mention that a curtain rod is not a good idea to use it as a drying rack and demonstrate their clothes collections to a neighborhood.

But I am not sure if it will work as it seems that people do not read the rules, it also probably sounds offensive. So I don’t know what to do. Does anybody have a solution?

[Victoria567]

Hi @Farwa-and-Raza0

Have a fee per load of washing for your washing machine and another fee per load for your drier, clear.y stated in your listing as you will get the cheapskates using it for free.

Also after thus months experience of 2 girls refusing to pay my fee, I will now ask for the fee upfront and only when paid does the machine go on.

I give them a receipt for payment.

You ask the guest to load the washing machine so you don’t touch their clothes and ask them is 30 degrees or cold walk is suitable.

You do NOT show them how to use the machine, you set it and you out in the detergent in case they break your machine.

Set it for an hour long wash when cycle finished get guest to remove wet laundry and ask them to load the drier.

Again do not show them how to use the drier, you set the time on it after asking if anything will shrink before they use the drier.

I had to introduce paid laundry facility to stop guests washing laundry under the shower then hanging wet laundry all over my radiators and marking my newly decorated walls.

[Catherine232]

Yes. Most people are great, but a minority are a huge pita. They do laundry continuously for the entire period of their stay. This most typically occurs when folks have been on a long holiday, camping or doing rural explorations, and then stay with us just before leaving the country.