Kitchen access?

Kitchen access?

After careful consideration we decided not to include use of the kitchen for our listing, this is reflected in our listing price. Our listing also does not include the kitchen in the ammenities and states that the guests have access to the bedroom and bathroom. I am generally a flexible and easy going person. The problem is that out of my last 7 guests 4 have asked to use the kitchen or fridge. It is clearly becoming a very consistent issue and soon it will be 5 out of 9 guests. My last guest didn't ask to use the kitchen, they just used it, and whatever they ate had a very strong and lingering odor. I had one guest simply ask for ice for their lunchbox, which was completely fine. The problem is that people tend to assume that I am going to be ok with them using the kitchen once they arrive and I believe that when I say no it is hurting my feedback. I have a 4 star rating top to bottom from a guest when I initially started hosting, I was upset but you can't make everybody happy. All my other feedback has been 5 stars with the exception of one that rated me 5 stars on everything and 4 stars for overall experience(... how does that make sense?). My only reasoning is that this is due to the kitchen issue. Today I have added the following notation to my listing under guest access:

 

"Guest bedroom and bathroom. Please be mindful that we don't offer the use of the kitchen as a part of our listing. We do supply some water bottles in the room for your convenience."

 

Do you think it's worded delicately enough? Should I add it to my house rules as well? I feel like maybe my listing isn't clear enough, or people just don't take the time to read the listing. Should I just increase the price of my listing and include use of the kitchen? What are your suggestions and experiences? I have one more guest checking-in who assumed that the use of the kitchen was included and, unfortunately, I somehow missed responding quickly and decided to make a one time exception. 

 

I apologize for the long winded post. Here are the reasons we originally decided not to include access to the kitchen. Are we being unreasonable?:

 

1. We work from home and our kitchen, work area, and livingroom is open concept. We thought that having guests coming in and out of our work area to access the kitchen would be disruptive and possibly uncomfortable for all parties.

 

2. We used to have roommates that did not clean up after themselves, lost our kitchen utensils (Idk how they managed that) and damaged our pots, pans, and appliances. My listing is competatively priced without access to the kitchen. If I were to allow guests to use the kitchen I feel I would have to raise the price for the extra work I would do cleaning and to budget for possible damage to my appliances.

 

3. We have a small kitchen and we use it multiple times daily.

 

4. We felt like it like it would be a little invasive to have strangers helping themselves to our kitchen. We also read about some guests helping themselves to the host's food, which seemed odd, and we just didn't want to potentially deal with that.

 

5. There are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops nearby, within a one mile radius.

 

6. All the furniture and bedding is relatively new, purchased not more than 6 months ago. I would prefer if guests didn't eat or drink in the bedroom to prevent potential stains, damage to the furniture, and criters. We do think allowing access to the kitchen would probably increase the likelyhood of guests eating in their room. We thought a no food in the bedroom rule was being too strict and "nit picky" so I actually allow for them to eat in their room, I just prefer that they don't. I also provide bottles of water because they don't have kitchen access and we all need to stay hydrated. I ultimately want my guests to feel comfortable.

 

7. Our guests tend to be short term guests and feel that for that reason access to the kitchen was not necessary. Our listing limits stays to 2 weeks because we do not want to have a situation were a guest ends up over staying and then obtains renter's rights. It also allows us to host our friends and family, who mostly live out of state and visit often. While we have been extremely lucky and have only hosted overall wonderful guests so far, we also thought it would reduce the time period we would potentially have to deal with any negative guest/host experience.

 

8. We always keep the house tidy and clean. I have a 5 star cleanliness rating. The guest's bedroom and bathroom are always spotless. Our kitchen is our personal space and because we use it so often it would be difficult to keep it spotless all the time. I would feel obligated to clean it to a higher standard then currently suits me. (Ex. I don't mind keeping a dirty cup in the sink for a few hours until I clean up after dinner but never allow dishes to pile up. I also like to let my dishes air dry on a drying mat or allow a dirty dish to soak for 30 minutes to an hour, when necessary. I would not do any that if a guest were permitted to use the kitchen because  I think it would be rude on my part and when I had roommates they took that as an invitation for me to constantly clean up after them.)

102 Replies 102
Karen108
Level 2
Feltham, United Kingdom

...and there’s me thinking I was being over sensitive about my kitchen!  I hate people cooking in my kitchen... some guests love to play ‘house’ by using everything in the kitchen and as I don’t trust anyone to clean up as well as me, I get really twitchy when someone asks to use it  😞 t’s smelly and messy and quite frankly, Air bnb is so much cheaper than a hotel so guests should be charged extra for use of the kitchen. I had a long term guest who used to bake cakes every weekend... for her friends!!  In  the end I asked her politely to stop and to only cook for herself. I’ve had others who love to try out new recipes and think it’s great fun... but it’s not fun when guests use your kitchen more than you do... it’s all wear and tear. So I’m thinking of putting a stop to it. I also charge for use of the washer to guests who stay less than 3 days and i got rid of my dryer after a guest fully dried her jeans from wet!! 

Julie4
Level 6
Brighton, United Kingdom

You have to set your rules so it works for you. If you’re not happy and it affects hoe you live in your home let’s face it you won’t be able to maintain it. I had a guest who decided to help herself to my lunchbox which I use for work she used it for a week without asking and the kid is broken now. She clearly took the p….

Ana1136
Level 10
Ohrid, Macedonia (FYROM)

@Karen108 I agree but just out of curiosity, how are you supposed to dry your jeans? I always dry them from wet 🙂 


@Karen108 wrote:

...and there’s me thinking I was being over sensitive about my kitchen!  I hate people cooking in my kitchen... some guests love to play ‘house’ by using everything in the kitchen and as I don’t trust anyone to clean up as well as me, I get really twitchy when someone asks to use it  😞 t’s smelly and messy and quite frankly, Air bnb is so much cheaper than a hotel so guests should be charged extra for use of the kitchen.


Then why do you offer use of the kitchen as part of your listing? Just remove that amenity if it makes you twitchy. It almost feels like you want the advantages of offering a kitchen, but don't really want your guests to use the kitchen. 

I don't do AirBnB any longer. I sold the listing at the peak of the market (:), but it was like the idea of taking over someone else's house for a third of the price of any hotel or motel became the new 'normal' for many people. I really liked having guests when AirBnB first started. They were polite and considerate and treated it as if they were staying at a friend's place. My last guest turned up while I was doing an online Uni assessment after I'd told him NOT to arrive at that time. He texted me several times while I was trying to pass an exam! That was the last straw.

Elizabeth1390
Level 2
Fort Walton Beach, FL

I'm fairly new and I thought I was easy going as a host, but I've found if you give most guests an inch, they will take a mile. I offer the use of the kitchen, but I no longer let guests wash the dishes after I found food still on plates and pans. I ask them to rinse their dishes and leave them in the sink. I would rather take care of them and ensure everything is clean (I use the dishwasher, but guests just fill it willy nilly). I hate sounding like a control freak, but when I tell guests they can do a load of laundry or make A meal, the next thing I know, my laundry room is being used 24/7 and the guests are in the kitchen using every pan cooking at 9 PM. This is my first season as a host and I'm going to take a little break and revisit my listing and my rules. I've had some terrific people, but I've had too many who (for $35/rm) seem to expect manicured shrubs, fresh towels daily, and free run of my entire home. Those people have made it harder than I ever thought it could be. 

Julie1570
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

I also don’t include my kitchen in the listing but I’m not sure ppl read all the blurb, and a couple of guests have turned up with takeaways as an alternative and stunk the house out. So when guests book with me now I send them the following message

 

Please note that kitchen facilities are not available for guests and no hot food such as takeaways is allowed in rooms for obvious reasons, but snacks are allowed and there is a kettle with tea and coffee in your room

the only problem I see with the message is that some people think that pizza and chicken wings are a type snack

Mel131
Level 4
Peterborough, United Kingdom

I'm considering removing the kitchen use from my listing.  Most guests eat out but we've had a few that wanted to use our kitchen.  We were fine with guests storing food in the fridge, and making a microwave meal, but this soon escalated to stir frys, and using the oven and hob.  One guest left all her dirty dishes and baking trays (with welded on food) for me to clean up... We also have another guest that would wait for us to start preparing a meal, and he'd want to use the kitchen at the same time.

 

We've also had to request that if guests are preparing meals in the kitchen, to not eat them in the bedrooms after a very nice bedspread was ruined with grease from the guest's dinner plate.

Zak0
Level 2
Port St. Lucie, FL

I hope you filed a security deposit claim for the bedspread, I have a $300 deposit requirement, I a guest ruin my carpet with a slide of pizza, some guest do not know the meaning of no food in the room is.

WOW I HAVE THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM !!! 

Lisa5118
Level 1
Morgan Hill, CA

I have  the use of the kitchen due to most of my guests being long-term, at least 1 month or longer. I have recently set a time range from 5am-9:30pm due to kitchen being a part of my living room which is my space. I have supplied a kitchenette, with microwave, water bottles, coffee Ke r I g, coffee, separate guest bathroom, a large refrigerator in garage for guests, iron, washer-dryer. Pool/hot tub, and kitchen privileges. I provide sheets and all bedding, bath and beach tiles, blow dryer, shampoo/conditioner, hand soap, wag clothes, Q-tips, toothbrush, snacks, and a small toothpaste. I also pay a housekeeper to clean my home once a month so guests do not clean. I have recently increased my price since I think I am supplying too much for what I charge. If my guests do not like that kitchen privileges close at 9:30pm, oh well. This is my home and due to the open floor plan in kitchen/living area I need to have the rest of the evening to myself. Am I being unreasonable? 

Zak0
Level 2
Port St. Lucie, FL

Hello, Just like many, I do not offer the use of the kitchen due to religious food restrictions, we just offer the use of small appliances, tea kettle, coffee maker, toaster, microwave, and the bottom shelf in the refrigerator I stayed all of these on my house rules and the disclaimers we also have a laminated pamphlet that I read to the guest when they check-in, lately I had to remind the guest to read the rules and disclaimers when they email a request, I have has two guest who instant booked without reading the whole page and wanted to cancel afterward, unfortunately for them, Airbnb has very strict policies for long term booking cancellations, I been thinking on adding a small coffee bar station in the rooms with a small fridge but haven't found any ideas or comment on that.