Guests asking for enmities that would only be offered at a hotel.

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Joy253
Level 2
McGregor, IA

Guests asking for enmities that would only be offered at a hotel.

I am a I Super Host and have been for a very long time. 

 

I have guests at the present time that it seems think they are at a hotel.  I left 4 wash clothes and 11 towels for 4 people staying 3 nights.  The said they needed more wash clothes.  I brought them 3 more (all I had).  Now they say they expect to have 2 per guests x's 3 nights which equals 24 wash cloths. 

 

I let them know this is not a hotel with unlimited linen service and if they wanted to wash them themselves that there is a laundry mat 2 doors down and they could wash them them themselves.  This is their 1st Airbnb experience and  I expect a poor review from them.  I'm very upset and would appreciate some feed back from fellow hosts.

 

Thank You

 

1 Best Answer
Sally221
Level 10
Berkeley, CA

I 'm guilty of that too- changing out the dish towels every day & sometimes twice- I wouldn't do it so frequently if  my family would stop drying their hands on the towel meant for dishes (I'm a beast about food safety)

I also dislike washcloths, especially as those same family members- I'm talking about YOU Tom & Lucy- will leave washcloths festering on their shower floor, icky!  I buy inexpensive washcloths for guests & then downgrade them to family member use, then they become mopping rags before their final incarnation as shop rags. I love the Japanese thin scrubby sheets for my personal use- a quick rinse before hanging up to dry and they never ever smell & are practically indestructible..

I'm procrastinating at this moment -about to write a rare negative review- does "Better suited for a hotel" still raise a red flag?

A couple with teen daughter & dogsbody husband's sister- they ate won ton soup on the beds- had to wash the comforters inside the duvets and both layers of mattress protectors, they did laundry in the bathroom and  festooned the room with the fireplace with hanging clothing, left the house with the gas fire on and broke a piece of art by using it as a laundry hanger- yikes! I don't think they meant to be jerks but I don't want them back or inflicting themselves on fellow hosts.

I'm so grateful they were an outlier! Right before them we hosted heroes of Tianmen Square & right after, a sports legend who walked across the country to raise money for first responders (he was outed by his friend, he's a modest hero) Sally

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36 Replies 36

@Sean433  Washcloths, aka face cloths are, in my own usage and experience, used for washing one's face. Women seem to use them more often than men. 

I don't understand what you mean by the last guests could have used it to wash their butt. Someone could use a hand towel or a bath towel to wash or dry their butt, also. Presumably when one leaves fresh towels, etc. for their guests, those things have been washed and are now clean.

It's like saying you wouldn't eat off a freshly washed plate because the last person who used it might have actually licked it.

Reading some of these host experiences is an eye opener.

 

Do you also pre-allocate toilet paper per person and limit times they can flush the toilet or shower?

 

@Jenny607  I have no problem with sarcasm, I'm quite a sarcastic person myself. But your sarcastic comment here seems to me to be a reflection of privilege. Not everyone is lucky enough to live somewhere the water comes gushing out of the mains 24/7.  Of course I wouldn't allocate a certain amount of toilet paper, but I do indeed ask my guests to be conservative with water, as I receive about 3000 liters of water in any given week. It is only sent down the main to my area once every 5-7 days and I have storage tanks and pumps.

That water conservation awareness includes not just letting the water run when you're brushing your teeth or washing dishs, and refraining from flushing the toilet every time you just have a pee. As I just host a private room in my home, and the guest (I only host 1 at a time) has their own private bathroom, no one has to look at anyone else's pee in the bowl, and not one of my guests, in almost 3 years of hosting, has found this to be in any way strange or disgusting, as the majority of them have been quite environmentally aware people and some tell me they do the same at home. The Mexican nationals understand it easily- many of them are used to living where they don't get water every day.

Even if I didn't have limited water, I happen to think that flushing the toilet every time you have a little tinkle is a horrific waste of water and one of these days, with the way things are going on this planet, it will likely be considered a criminal act.

Of course I don't stand outside the guest's bathroom and listen to make sure they're not flushing a lot or showering excessively. I just make a reasonable request and as my guests have been reasonable people, they haven't minded getting on board at all.

 

Sherry114
Level 3
Taupo, New Zealand

Yep, I’ve had guests who expected 5 star hotel service for an Air BnB ie. constantly making demands for extra items.  Even one family who wanted me to replace their coffee cups because their three year old son didn’t like the ones that had been provided.

 

You do what is logical and provide a professional response to their feedback .

 

 

Cheryl389
Level 7
Keyport, NJ

I get this problem a lot. I offer so much more than people would get at hotels for so much less, but they always expect something beyond what is a part of the listing. Two people have given me bad reviews because they thought I should have a second bathroom. Where would you like me to stick one?

@Cheryl389  What, you mean you're not willing to close down your listing for a couple of months, bust out some walls and spend $30,000 building an addition so the guests can enjoy having their own bathroom? I can't imagine why not. I mean, if it leads to better reviews..... 

The next time a guest complains about that, the response could be "That's a great idea. I've been suggesting a $500 donation from all guests who'd prefer a private bathroom so I can make that happèn ASAP."

Yeah, I know. I think I'd have to rent this about 3,000 more times to afford that.