Is there any list of extra smelling food products forbidden for guests to bring into Apt.?

[Olga464]

Like  Surstromming sweddish smelling herring, or cooking  extra smelly sorts of fish in the apartment

( i know that after such cooking if you have a lot of textile, everything needs to be washed)

and so on?

Do you have some limits for some products to cook inside the apartment? How do you guests react to such limitations?

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Olga464

There isn't a tick list on the site of what foods are acceptable or not. However you can state what foods are not to be brought into the appartment, or cooked in the kitchen.

For example some vegan or vegetarian hosts, who allow guests to use the kitchen, state that no meat products can be cooked.

It's up to you - has it been a problem for you?

[Olga464]

The problem is when you, for example, have your storage for towels and sheets near the kitchen and guests cooks something smelly, all your textile will be smeeling like a vomit. So, you have to dry or keep your textile far away from the kitchen. So, in daily rent business the motility of the client whould be precalculated by each single step. And as for my experience, I always build up Apartment, which are having doors for each single sector. No open  space at all. For daily life practice it's much more practical. 

[Olga464]

Nori sheets under  heat treatment are having horrible smell also (speaking of vegans). Some use them as spicies. 

[Julie143]

Do you have an extractor fan in the kitchen? It would help. Of course, the guests have to actually use it. I’ve found that certain aromatics, like garlic and onions, and spices, like turmeric, linger in the air when they are fried in oil at high heat. It’s almost as if the odors get trapped in tiny particles of oil and cling to everything.

In my house manual I do ask guests use the fan and/or open a window, if they are cooking spicy foods or frying. It’s an entire house rental, so I’m not there to know if they follow the instructions.

Also, my maximum stay is 7 days. It seems people on short visits are less likely to do elaborate cooking.

One way to discourage heavy kitchen use without seeming like you are restricting guests or lacking hospitality is to *encourage* eating in restaurants.

I have a local guidebook with many, detailed restaurant recommendations in all price ranges. It’s both embedded in the online listing and printed out on the kitchen table. I even have some menus for nearby restaurants that offer takeout and delivery.

[Olga464]

Not everyone wanna open the window when it's  too frozen outside.

[Robin4]

@Olga464

Hi Olga, when you host you have to accept that along with guests will come their personal habits!

Some will have outrageous body odor, some will be smokers, some will have unpleasant cooking habits....this is all a part of hosting, and you have to accept that. You can compile a list of do's and don'ts, what you will allow and what you won't but, all that will do is get guests offside!

I have an extensive library in my listing cottage...well over 1,000 books, some of them dating back 120 years or more! It is a fact of life, books smell musty and air fresheners will only mask that mustiness smell for a short amount of time. To get around this, and the odd smoker, and the allergy sufferer, and the odd outrageous condiment cook.....I have put in a ducted Hepa ironising air filtration unit which runs all the time and keeps the listing cottage smelling clean and fresh.

These filters are not expensive Olga and you will find it will pay for itself in no time with good reviews and a lot less hassles on your part trying to make your listing habitable for the next guest!

Cheers.....Rob

[Olga464]

Depends on how much you charge per night.  If the price is low, easier not to allow guests to cook at all.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Olga464

as  I see you rent a room in your home. You can limit your kitchen use..... or You can forbid kitchen use and put a small refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker in the guest room ... or you can allow your guests to use the kitchen but politely ask them not to cook smelly and spicy food, fry fish etc...  You could forbid such food by your house rules but if your guest breaks this rule you are practically helpless, can't do anything.

We rent entire apartments with a kitchen and in 2,5 y. of hosting and 500 groups of guests we faced this problem 3 times -  with kosher, Indian and Chinese cuisine. We kept windows open for few hours, changed the bedding etc... but the smell persisted for days. We had to apologize our next guests and gave them air fresheners.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

... ps...

 @Julie143 suggested, and we do the same - prepare a list of restaurant recommendations for your guests: Indian, Asian, fast food, fish restaurants, pizzas etc.... you are in the city center so there are probably a lot of restaurants all around your neighborhood 🙂

[Olga464]

As for a room case scenario, doesn't work in our reality of the prices. In eastern europe, as practice shows, its better to forbid everything on a paper. As 80%  of the clients do not have money for restaurants and wanna save, which turns into **sh...iii....**ting all over the place. So, basically, no matter how clever you are on putting your list of restaurants or cheapper spots to eat, the only thing better to allow is only sleeping inside the house. 

[Olga464]

I rent half of one of the oldest guest houses in Europe ). As I am a co-owner.  On a long term. But I also rent a room on airbnb to make experiments with motility of daily rent client. ))))

[Olga464]

I have huge trouble with russian young girls sponsored by some unknown sponsors, who somehow do not give them enough to go to Monaco. Just closer local countries. So, their healthy smelly lifestyle costs a lot in terms of buying cleaners for the house. As they save on restaurants and cafes and invest into lip injections in closer abroad countries+renting a room. Not even the entire apartment. I think, somebody who is 20 y.o. now (in 2019) and after asian food flow may be a "smell trouble" client, no matter where he/she is coming from. As everything is globalized for a moment.

[Julie143]

My curiosity is getting the better of me. What are “healthy, smelly lifestyles”?

Have you tried putting little bowls of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) around the place? 

Another thing that works are the natural air fresher which are bags filled with activated charcoal. These actually absorb odors, rather than cover them like spray air fresheners.

[Olga464]

No, I  like minimalism and silence, no extra stuff, especially bags with refresheners... I just describe on 10 pages the penalties for each single step of the guest in my place. Works much better. And somehow I am a superhost. I think people like extra control. And then thay are so thankful to finally leave my apartment. I give them the renewed feeling of life with help of my "prison" style of hosting.