How much laundry do you do?

[Huma0]

Since I started hosting guests in my house almost a year ago, I have probably done more laundry than I have in the rest of my life! I try to make sure the that the beds are as nicely dressed as possible with crease free linens (don't judge by the photos on the listings as these were taken before hosting, when I still had housemates in the rooms) and so I spend hours each week ironing.

But how much is enough? I just got a review from some lovely guests who stayed with me for nine days. Their review was positive, but the only negative they mentioned was that there was limited laundry because it was high season and I was hosting in three rooms. They saw me constantly washing and ironing, so they knew that I was super busy doing that, but I guess felt that theirs could have been done more often.

I offer all guests staying more than a week a mid stay clean, i.e. clean the room, change the bed linens and supply fresh towels, although if they ask for more clean towels outside of this, they get them (and occasionally you get guests who want fresh towels every day, which I think is a bit too much, but I comply). I rarely get guests who stay more than ten days, so I haven't figured out any fixed frequency for those, but play it by ear.

So, for example, these guests were staying nine nights and I changed their linens half way through, e.g. on day 4/5. Do you think they should have got fresh bedlinens more often? I would think more often than that would be fine in a hotel, but I'm not sure I can cope with it!

[Marie21]

Personally i dont do any laundry in the apartment my cleaner take or myself all linen to launderette and we pick up the next time we have guests but we do it after each 2nd stay unless long stay guests

It is extremily hard for me to wash dry and iron as all take very long time specially the drying and i have washer dryer in 1

I never offer any linen change if less than a week or from 8 days. But i leave always in wardrobe set of bed linen if guests wish to changes themself and many extra towels

when i have guests staying longer i offerr free 2hours cleaning but most of the time they decline only single male business traveller usually asked for the cleaning for longer usually 2weeks or 3-4 weeks stay

Laundry is very time consuming and expensive

Last year during Sales at Argos i equped each flat with steam Iron which help with ironing. I iron a lot when i am around but if not the cleaner does it i asked them to iron 3/4 set per hour and to focus on pillow and bed linen corner 

[Huma0]

@Marie21, so if you had guests staying 9 or 10 days, you would do one linen change for them? I thought that was pretty normal, but my recent guests obviously didn't think so!

That sounds like a good idea to have extra bed linen in the wardrobe. I have done that for long-term guests, but I mean the ones staying for a few months. I provide them with everything but they need to change their own beds if they are staying that long.

I do find that folding up ironed bed linen after ironing kind of defeats the purpose though as you just end up with lots of folds in place of the creases! When I had a cleaner, I got her to iron the bedlinen but she would always then fold it into tiny parcels with sharp creases and it just didn't look good. Although it can be pretty stressful, I usually try to iron it right before I make up the bed so that it is both crease and fold free.

[Huma0]

@Marie21 also, how much do you pay for having your linen laundered and do they iron it or just wash and dry? I'm pretty sure in London that would work out super expensive, especially as I have many guests who just stay two nights.

[Natasha-And-Dale0]

Ironing????? Oh my that's incredible. Stop ironing and if a few wrinkles bother you switch to microfiber wrinkle free sheets....

[Annette103]

What in the world are you ironing? Sheets? I've not ironed a single thing since we started hosting and I use 100% cotton sheets. Yes, they may be a little wrinkled, but I fold them as soon as they come out of the dryer, and then I don't worry about it. Maybe it's a different expectation in the US? I haven't had any complaints about our sheets and actually had a guest specifically comment about how nice our sheets are.

I know what you mean about laundry though! I've done more laundry than I ever thought possible (and I raised 3 daughters who played sports, etc, so I know laundry!) since we started hosting in June. We have completed 10 guest stays so far. I've purchased extra sheet sets, bedspreads, towels, blankets, mattress pads, etc. so that I don't have to worry about getting laundry done quickly when we have a quick turnaround in the unit, but the laundry is still massive. I think your offer to change bed linens at the 4-5 day mark is appropriate. I wouldn't change that. You are right that more frequent linen changes (including clean towels daily) is more of a hotel expectation. Just make sure you are clear in your listing that linen changes will be offered every 4-5 days for guests with longer stays, or something like that. We haven't had any guests stay longer than 3 days at this point, but I've stated in my house manual that if guests stay longer than a week I will coordinate cleaning and linen changes with them. As for towels, I set out a clean set of towels for each guest (bath sheet, bath towel, hand towel, and washcloth) and have extras in the linen cabinet if needed. No one has used all the towels I've set out yet. We also have a pool, and I provide pool towels in the camper for guests to use, so I have all those to wash as well. 

I try not to stress about the laundry and cleaning but it can be a chore. I've got the cleaning down to about an hour and a half, more or less depending on the number of guests and number of beds they've used, but the laundry takes a little longer so I usually have that going in the evenings while I'm doing other things in my home that is on the same property. I keep the laundry for the Airbnb unit separate from ours bc we have a cat in our home and I don't want to mix in any potential allergens for our Airbnb guests. 

[Huma0]

Hi @Annette103 thanks for the feedback and insight. In general, it's good to hear from the other hosts who have responded so far that chaning the linens after 4-5 days seems sufficient. Maybe these particular guests were just used to hotels, so found it a bit unusual.

I'm not sure if by 'sheets' you are referring to bed linen in general, but no, I don't iron the actual sheets. I tend to use fitted ones and found ironing them a bit of a waste of time. However, I do iron all the duvet covers + the pillow cases, which means 1 x duvet cover and 4 x pillow cases every time I make up a bed.

I have a washer/dryer combo and while it dries perfectly efficiently, things come out very crumpled. @Jann3 therefore, like you, I line dry duvet covers and pillow cases (weather permitting) and only use the dryer for the towels and sheets. Still, they are not crease free and yes, the creases fall out if you put them straight on the bed after ironing, but not if you fold them up and store them away in a cupboard.

Maybe it's my perfectionsist (read pedantic) side coming out, but crumpled linens just don't do it for me. I know we are not running hotels, but the bed is one thing I try to get to hotel, or at least guest house standard, as the bed is usually the largest thing in the room and really makes a difference on the wow factor if you dress it nicely. The guest might not notice whether you've ironed it or not consicously, but I think it definitely makes an impression subconsicously.

I think it does depend on where you're staying though. If I was renting a place right by the beach, I wouldn't care as much what the room looked like, but the majority of my guests book because the house looks 'pretty', not for its proximity to a beach. Having pristine, crease free linens fits with the overall look they are expecting.

[Annette76]

We've been renting beach houses for family getaways for 20+ years. Usually the rentals run Saturday to Saturday. The houses come with freshly made beds and usually the equivalent of 2 bath towels per person for the week( we always bring our own beach towels as is common practice). 

We have never expected a change of sheets, and if we did I would expect that the homeowner would not be doing it! These are whole homes, so have always had a washer dryer at our disposal. We will occasionally wash and dry a load of towels. But with a crowd of kids at the beach that's a given. Your post has given me something to think about, for full week rentals I will offer a change of towels halfway through, but not a sheet change. If they ask I'll drop off a set but they can change the bed themselves. Sorry but my cleaning will all be done by me and only allows for once per turnover. 

Also, I tend to use jersey sheets, or those that are supposed to look rumpled so no ironing of bedding at my place! 

[Huma0]

Thanks for your reply @Annette76. Yes I also thought one turnover was enough for short term guests. I'm happy to do more for long-term, and I can see why people might want fresh towels more often, but a linen change more than every 4-5 days? I think that would be too much.

I also recently bought a jersey fitted sheet and it does work much better. I can chuck it in the dryer, where 100% cottons come out crumpled, then quickly put it on the bed crease free, but I've yet to try jersey duvet covers/pillow cases. I do like my posh Designers Guild bedding sets!

[Jann3]

Well @Huma0, I am one of those people that *love* ironed sheets.

I first found out about them during the run of the tv show "Desperate Housewives"...and tried it. I'll never go back for my personal sheets (600tc)! Now, having said that, for my guests I find that if I wash them and hang them out all day, the wind irons them for me. There's something -- when you hang the sheet the right direction (threads going from top of clothesline to bottom) -- that allows the wind to "iron" the sheet for you. I'm gonna carry this on when I host. 

I am not gonna leave sheets for the guests to change. I will let them know - upon checkin - that for long-term guests a "linen-swap" can be done every 5-7 days. I will also leave an extra set of towels in the locked pantry (with the extra sheets)...and allow them to swap the same way. I don't want to offer up my linens for a guest to take with them. If they don't like this policy, they can stay elsewhere. I will put this in the listing: "Long term guests can ask for linen exchange every 5-7 days." Anything more frequent in a state that just got out of drought is extremely wasteful and I will not allow that.

Also for those people that think ironing then folding defeats the purpose; when you put the ironed sheets on the bed they flatten within minutes...especially under the weight of the quilt, etc.

[Huma0]

@Jann3 I just replied above my reason for not wanting to fold linens after ironing and that I also line dry as much of them as possible. They do have less creases than if I shoved them in the dryer but they are still not like nicely ironing ones!

Good to hear though that everyone is concurring that a more frequent linen change would be unusual. I could understand if it had been very hot, sweaty weather, but it has been unseasonably cold in London since mid-July. These guests weren't grubby either. When I changed their linens, they were actually much cleaner than most guests leave them. Maybe they just wanted more towels, which I would have gave them if they asked.

My worry is that if I leave a pile of extra towels in the rooms, guests will just use them all whether they need them or not, just because they are there.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Huma0

I change my sheets every 2~3 weeks. My personal sheets as well as for guests who stay longer than a week. I know a lot of people say weekly changes are the norm (and I've had people react with "EWWW~~~ GROSS!!!!"  when they heard I change my sheets every 2~3 weeks, but personally, I've never felt the need to change my sheets more often, unless I was sick and sweated all over my sheets.

I shower in the evening, and I never wear what I wear while I lounge around the house to bed. Also, I "air" my bedding every couple days and have a "RAYCOP" vacuum for beds&bedding. I tell my long-term guests that I change bedding every 2~3 weeks and that I will "air" the bedding every couple days, but if they need or want a change before I mention it, they can tell me and I'll get the sheets changed within a day or two. I haven't had any takers yet!

I just really hate going to bed with the day's sweat and grime on me and I refuse to sleep in clothes that might have crumbs from my late night snack on them. I think different habits lead to different needs - so let's not judge 🙂 

On a more personal note, I hate ironing so I always buy non-iron clothes 🙂 Ironing bed sheets is unimaginable!!! I guess I'm just really lazy......... LOL! But I don't mind laundry that much - since the washer does most of the hard work. Towels, I leave out 2 bath + 3 hand towels staring out, and based on what ends up in the laundry basket, I provide replacements as needed. 

But truth be told, I'm glad Henry is more organized than I am and feel very lucky that he likes to clean when he has a problem he needs to think through. I don't think I would have been able to handle hosting alone - and I have a single guest room for a single guest!!! But then again, I can barely take care of myself a lot of the time - I would live off chips, boiled egges and instant noodles and would always be rummaging thru my drawers looking for something (where did I put that bl**dy thing!) all the time 🙂 

I am really in awe of everyone who has multiple listings and hosts multiple guests at a time!!! 

[Huma0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 I guess it depends on each person's habits, but I change my own bed linens every 1-2 weeks. I wouldn't think of changing them every four days or more often than that. It's just not necessary. I understand that a paying guest might want them changed more often, which is why I offer a change after 4-5 days for longer-term guests, but more than that? Really?

It's only a stress because I have three rooms on the go with back to back bookings (a lot of two nighters back to back recently as well) and I do everything myself, and I mean EVERYTHING, on top of a demanding day job. So, when guests expect fresh linens every two or three days or a full set of fresh towels everyday, it's simply not feasible for me.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Huma0

My 2 long-term guests stayed with me for 4 months and 5 weeks respectively.... and (I think) they were expecting a temporary home environment rather than an alternative to hotel so I guess expectations would be extremely different 🙂 For those 2 guests specifically, I was being compared to dorms, guest houses or home stays. 

I seriously don't know how you do it.... a full time job and 3 guest rooms!!! 

[Marie21]

@Huma0

I paid between 20-22euro after 2 stays for a 2bed /2bathroom so that mean 4/5 sets of bed linen in average mulitples 8/9 XL bath towels + 2 Hands Towels + 2 bathmat + kitchen towels

Double bed ironing is 4euro/each and king 5euro + 1 eur each pillow

But i dont used them anymore for ironing as too expensive just used they wash, dry and fold 

When u deal with multiple listing he becomes necessary to use the laundrerette otherwise hard to get a good result with back to back booking