Guests Cleanliness & Tipping

[Brandy47]

Hey everyone, So i am the "innkeeper" for a home that I do not own, I "host" it for a company that owns it. I do the check in communications, bookings, check out and am on call during their stay, as well as thier house cleaner. As of late we have had the following issues: we started charging a $75  cleaning fee to offset the cost to the company, and we reduced for the summer the # of nights to minimum of 2 nights vs 3 which inturn lowers the cost. Anyway, we seem to be having issues with guest cleanliness. Everything from piles of food and crackers on the floor, to trash not in bags & sat on teh trash can so the animals get into it (even though thetrash can has a lid), to dirty dihes with inches of grease left behind. We leave an envelope that talks about gratuity for the innkeeper efforts etc. How do we 1. get the guests to at least not leave the house like a pig sty 2. leave a tip or gratuity if they decide to have an excessive amount of trash and cleaning that needs to be done. I understand the not tipping the "host" but I am the house keeper. We also utilize the house for wedding guests in season and because we as a company not thorugh Airbnb hold $500 security they tend to make sure all the rules are followed. Is it the cleaning fee that they think they leave the house however, or is there verbiage I can include in the check out procedures that helps with this?

[Robin4]

@Brandy47 

Brandy, once upon a time Airbnb was used by young people who wanted a cheap alternative to the expense of a hotel. They were delighted with what this alternative offered and the platform flourished.

As Airbnb became better known an ever increasing component of the hotel market got to know about Airbnb and decided to try them them out.....had to be pretty good if so many people are using them! 

Most of these more recent Airbnb guests are in the older age bracket where they are not appreciative of the accommodation alternative that Airbnb offers, they expect that it is going to be an alternative to their past hotel accommodation business. They bring with them this set of expectations without understanding how STR platforms work. Their upper expectation of any stay is The Ritz and anything else they stay at will be down-rated accordingly!

Young guests will leave a listing fairly much as they found it and be appreciative of what they got.

Older guests will feel the need to tell the host where the property lacked, needed improvement....and they will always expect to just walk out and leave the place a pig sty because.....that's what they have always done with complete annonymity in a hotel!

Brandy, older guests are joining Airbnb at a faster rate than young guests....so strap yourself in and be prepared to do more for less....I am sorry but that's the way it is!.

Cheers........Rob

[Brandy47]

It’s actually all my young guests that are leaving the messes. Like they had a two day binge & one even mentioned when i brought up following check our rules that “didn’t we pay a cleaning fee”

[Sarah977]

@Robin4  That is not my experience at all. I've hosted guests from the ages of 20-70. The cleanliness of guests has had nothing to do with their age at all. I've been lucky in that almost all my guests leave the space quite clean and tidy. The biggest messes were in fact left by young people, but most did leave it clean. And no one, including the older guests, has made any comments on what was lacking or needed improvement.

@Brandy47  I think a tip jar would be offensive and I don't believe that the messy guests will leave a tip acknowledging their messiness. People are either clean or they are not. The clean people don't even have to make an effort to clean up after themselves, because they keep it clean the whole time they stay- they don't like living in a mess. About all you can do is leave a page in the house manual that makes it clear what the cleaning fee covers and what guests are expected to do in terms of cleaning up after themselves. If you get mostly piggy guests, that's a drag, for sure, but hopefully you get some who leave the place clean and it balances out?

[Ana1136]

@Brandy47 I don't think guests are going to tip. They are paying for their stay and they don't feel the need to pay extra. If you feel like you deserve bigger salary ask for a raise. If you feel like cleaning costs more than your cleaning fee, raise the fee. Guests will ignore the envelope or they will feel pressured into leaving a tip which will be insignificant to your income but will frustrate them as I am sure they will feel like they've already paid enough. Plus I am sure you have guests from all over the world and the tipping culture isn't the same everywhere. 

[Brandy47]

It’s the mentality of leaving it a big mess is ok.... ty for the advice.... all my guests are all American thus far. 

[Helen350]

@Brandy47 You may have hit the problem! In my 250 or so hostings, I've only hosted 4-6 Americans (depending on whether a Brit living in USA & American living in Scotland are American or not!) From them I got 2-4 Five stars, 1 Four stars, & 1 deeply disatisfied complainer! - Small sample I know! But as I've often noticed on here, US hosts seem to get all manner of problem guests which we in the UK & mainland Europe are blessed to have avoided. Well behaved & gracious.

I tend to agree with @Robin4 that younger guests seem more satisfied & just grateful for a cheap room, whereas those who obviously expected more, & turn their nose up at my basic, lived in house with shared facilities are older people.

Then again, perhaps almost all my guests are gracious because it's a private room in my own home? I guess it's natural to expect more of a hotel standard in a whole place, that is not someone's annex....

But even so, I think it's reasonable to issue guests with a note that your place is NOT a hotel, with hotel service, & that they are expected to leave it clean & tidy.

[Beth80]

@Brandy47 

Once you added the cleaning fee it changed the way people think.

Cleaning fee?? I'll make sure you have something to clean! I will not clean if I'm also going to pay a cleaning fee.  And they certainly aren't going to tip.

Making sure the house rules clearly defined what is  expected of them when they check out helps some. 

We stayed at a place that in bold letters said " if house is not left in above stated condition you will be charged an additional cleaning fee of $$. " 

Not that we wouldn't have done the things on her list but we made sure and did a few extras also.

[Brandy47]

Now to convince the owners, bc it simply becoming a “I don’t care let’s leave the place trashed” kind of mentality. Thank you for the advice. It’s appreciated. I feel like if you’re going to leave more trash behind then compensate for the extra work. Thx again, super helpful

[Gordon0]

Please God, let's not Americanise Airbnb with tips/gratuities! It's enough to make my heart sink and the one thing that really rattles me when I visit America.  

[Brandy47]

No comment is needed if it’s not constructive. Thank you.

[Helen350]

We like a laugh on here as well! - Bit of mutual bonding......

@Gordon0 - I think I've had 3 solo guests leave a £10 tip (for a £20 room)..... A lovely young American man, a Czech lady, and a SCOTSMAN! 😄

[Inna22]

@Brandy47 

I send my departure expectations to the guests in my welcome message (which are not very high). In the same message, I offer to pay extra to not have to move a finger. Many take me up on that offer. This is basically your tip. To the guests it is not very much and they are happy to not have a burden of doing anything.

[Anonymous]

@Brandy47  I also don't recommend requesting tips. As far as the guest is concerned, you are the host, even though you don't own the property.

Instead, you might consider adding a couple of basics to your House Rules and posting a visible "check-out checklist" on the door. There's nothing wrong with asking for a few basics:  remove and seal all trash, wash the dishes. Guests are likelier to meet your expectations when you communicate them. Also, it might help to tell them you'll be doing the checkout in person, so they have to prepare for a final inspection.