Help! Throw up! Insight please!

[Natalie456]

We just started Airbnb in October and (knock on wood) have had greats guests. We just hosted 2 couples over the weekend and went to clean up and there is vomit in the bathroom on the wall and baseboards. It’s more splatter like the original mess was cleared up but that was leftover. We’ve never experienced this before. Do we charge the deposit for the extra clean up? It’s goibg to take some extra for our cleaners as that’s not in our original contract. Do I say something to the guest outside of the review and in the review?! Since we are so new at this, it’s hard to know what to do! Any help is greatly appreciated. We’ve never had to request the damage deposit either...?!

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Natalie456

If it looks like they tried to clean it up, then I would say I would accept it as one of the risks of doing business (if they were good guests all round). Some guests will leave the place cleaner than they found it and some won't be so tidy. It's all about the overall balance.

Personally I would review them and in private feedback just say that it would have been better if they had told you someone was ill. 

[Natalie456]

Appreciate the feedback! Upon further clean up, we found tobacco in the hot tub, along with beer bottle tops. The hot tub has to be drained, cleaned and refilled. Luckily we didn’t have guests checking in until the next day. Since I am new to this, any suggestions on that? Also, I messaged the guest to ask if there were any other surprises (politely) and no response. Am I correct, too, in that if they do not give a review, they will not see mine, either? Thanks again! Truly appreciate it!

[Gordon0]

+1 to what @Gerry-And-Rashid0 said. Sometimes you’ve gotta clean up people’s puke. 

[Pete28]

Atleast they didn't get so drunk that they urinated over the carpet..

[Mark116]

Its gross, it has only happened to us 1x in 3 years.  We also debated sending some kind of private message like 'we hope whomever was ill is feeling better' but we decided against it.  

My guess is that airbnb will not approve any money for 'damages' since it can be cleaned or for an extra costs of cleaning, they will say, again, this is my guess, that this is normal 'wear and tear' so I would not advise you try to get any $$, you can knock them in the review for cleanliness though and if you wish, mention that the listing took extra time to clean.

[Helen3]

I have a slightly different take. If you throw up (in most cases drink induced) you clear it up or at the very least mention it.

If you do neither and it costs more in terms of cleaning I would mention it in the review. I would also consider passing the additional cost on. 

[Rebecca181]

I once had guests check out and found blood spatters everywhere imaginable -Long story, I will spare you the details. Happened my first week hosting, too. Let's just say that I'm glad my partner is a chemist and that I've worked in hospitals and we had gloves and masks handy, and loads of bleach. Oh, and of course, our next guests were arriving just 4 hours later. 

Airbnb did cover the costs of our ruined linens and spa robes, and I notified them that one of both of these guests might have tuberculosis (heard lots of hacking coughing - would explain the blood). I made it clear in the review they were not suitable for a hotel environment. I think it was @Branka0&Silva who suggested I write 'only suitable for hospital environment' - I still laugh about that suggestion to this day. 

So hang in there. These types of things occur infrequently, and like others say, it is part of being a host and dealing with humans, who are not always inclined to share about their more unseemly doings when messing up someone elses home.

[Natalie456]

Appreciate the feedback! Upon further clean up, we found tobacco in the hot tub, along with beer bottle tops. The hot tub had to be drained, cleaned and refilled. Luckily we didn’t have guests checking in until the next day. Since I am new to this, any suggestions on that? Also, I messaged the guest to ask if there were any other surprises (politely) and no response. Am I correct, too, in that if they do not give a review, they will not see mine, either? Thanks again! Truly appreciate it!

[Mark116]

@Natalie456  Not exactly.  The reviews are public either 1) when both guest and hosts have left a review or 2) after 14 days.  If only one party leaves a review it will be public at the 14 day point.  

[Suzanne302]

@Natalie456

As others have said, it's really just the cost of doing business and if it was just vomit splatter, that's pretty minor in the scheme of things! I would not mention in the public review, but you could let them know in the private feedback you would have appreciated a "heads up". Perhaps they thought they had gotten it all. And perhaps they were embarrassed. Absolutely gross, but at least they tried to clean it up!

And you don't drain and clean the hot tub between guests anyway? That is something I would do even if it means charging extra. I'm not sure I'd want to get in a hot tub not knowing how many people had been in there before me, chemicals or no chemicals! I used to rent a house with a hot tub over the holidays each year and this was standard practice. I was happy to pay for it!

As for reviews, this is how they work:

Host and guest each have 14 days to leave a review. You cannot see each other's review until you've both written one. So if you write a review within the timeframe, your guest will not see it until they write one of their own, and vice versa.

If you leave a review and your guest does not, your review becomes public after 14 days. Your guest can respond to your review, but cannot write one of their own. If your guest leaves a review and you do not, the guest's review of you becomes public after 14 days. You can respond to the review, but you cannot leave a review for the guest.