Kitchen and Laundry usage

[Janice151]

I am wondering what hosts that allow people to use their kitchen recommend for verbiage on what is expected.

I have current guests - 2 people for 3 nights - who have taken over my kitchen.  They are pleasant girls, but they have enough food for 2 weeks and it seems excessive.  

I have some people who use the kitchen, but I don't think they go overboard.  Am I being silly?  Since it has happened twice in two years do I just suck it up and be happy it doesn't happen more often?

Also laundry.  I say that laundry is available, but I don't think that should mean that you can clean all of your cloths so that you don't have to do laundry at home.  If you need to clean a few things fine, but 4 loads of laundry seems like a lot for a week for 2 people.

I am interested to hear what other people experience.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Janice151

I tell my guests specifically that kitchen use allowed means I will let them use 1 shelf of my fridge and light cooking (such as pasta, eggs, omelette) which means prep+cook time under 30 mins is allowed but no oven use. Laundry is only for guests staying more than 1 week, limited to 1 load per week.  I include these terms specifically in my house rules so there is no misunderstanding and to manage expectations. I always feel it is best to be as specific as possible with guests. 

[Robert-And-Nancy0 · Accepted solution]

@Janice151  I do not have issue with the kitchen as our guests have their own mini kitchen but the laundry has been in issue for us.  Like @Jessica-and-Henry0 we put restrictions on it in our House Rules.  A guest who is staying 5 days or more can do 1 load of laundry per day on or after the 5th day.  We make the excuse that our water waste is a septic system and that is what it can tolerate.  I never thought that we would need to do this until we had the twenty-something guest who thought that a pair of underwear, cami and 1 tee shirt was considered a "load of laundry".  Also the guests  who have been traveling and arrive with 7+ days of dirty clothes and wash all of them.  The worst and final straw was the Mom who arrived as our guest to visit her two daughters in college and DID THEIR LAUNDRY HERE!!!   

We have it in house rules and then again posted in the laundry room with directions on how to use the W & D.  It has worked well and have only had a few request to use it which we usually will allow.  

[Alain311]

Hi Janice, 

I actually have the same interrogations as you! heres what I do and think.

FOOD:

My house rules allows guests to use 1 shelf in my fridge and ask them to not leave food on my kitchen counter. fish or smelly food are not allowed.

Regarding the amount of food, I never had to say anything, most of the time it's really little. So in your case I'd say let it go, you didn't had a rule against the amount of food, say somethig if you start to question sanitary problems.

LAUNDRY

I'm currently having a guest who is doing a countless number of laudry, she's kinda washing and drying each piece of clothe individually, She makes 2 washing per clothe, one without and one with detergant. Friday night untill 1 am and saturday morning from 7 am.... the washing machine and dryer are against my bedroom wall...

Anyway as I dont have any rules against that I will just suck it up and be thankfull it's just a one time thing.

But I like the Jessica and Henry idea of retricting the amount of loundry allowed per week. I'd be a little less strict, sometimes people (including me) travel with few clothes, stay in different places and need a washing machine even if they only stay 1 day. Maybe we could allow 1 washing for each 3 day spent in the listing and charge a little fee for extra laundry usage

[Paul154]

"Light cooking allowed (Microwaving, boiling). Frying and its mess discouraged"

 "Light Kitchen use allowed conditionally at the discretion of host"

"Kitchen usage curtailed if abused" 

Unfortunately, no matter how you word it, you may ruffle feathers. Once after checkin, I had a guest who seemed clean and specifically asked about kitchen procedure. She immediately fried food and left splatter everywhere.  I pulled her stove/oven rights. Even though I gave them back after a mature discussion, she retaliated in her review.

The best method to limit kitchen problems is design. Pull your stove/oven and large common refrigerator. Have small reefers in individual bedrooms. Out of sight/out of mind 

[Janice151]

Great suggestions

I will certainly add this info to my house rules, it is so long already.

[David126]

I do not allow access to kitchen or laundry, learned the hard way.

Remeber that any restrictions are there to back up you enforcing them, do not assume they will be read or obeyed.

[Michael956]

I allow full kitchen and laundry use for all guests.  Guests almost never abuse either, and the very rare guest who does do too much laundry or monopolizes the kitchen is so infrequent that it's not enough of a problem to stop offering these amenities.  

[Jennifer828]

I have two Airbnb rooms in my house and my guests are usually just one-nighters who come to sleep, shower and be on their way. I charge $23/night, $7 for each person after 2. So I'm not rolling in dough here.
I do not offer laundry services, mostly because our dryer is a little iffy.
My wifi isn't fabulous but will be after I get my new computer working properly. And I say so on my profile. 
But I don't really like people using my kitchen. They're always clean and neat, but it's just a little awkward. On my profile, I do not offer it.
Would you charge more if people want to use your kitchen? If so, how much? How much for laundry?

[Janice151]

It is not an issue of using the kitchen, I offer coffee and tea as well as a shelf in the refrigerator and a shelf in the pantry.   The issue with these guest was they took over my kitchen making a very involved meal, they used a good amount of oil, spices, and storage containers.  They were there there 3 nights and took up more than there alotted space.  It was just excessive.  I will be using some working from some of the other hosts to make this more clear.

[Melinda12]

I have had to polietly let guests know that they are being disruptive, which is very hard for me to do.  I also recently encourted abuses with my washer/dryer, one guest did 11 loads, seriously must have saved every dirty item, plus their friends clothes.  REALLY UPSET ME!  Two years hosting and in last few months excessive abuses in kitchen and with washer/dryer.  I removed my laundry as a feature and told guests microwave, toaster and coffee maker is the only thing allowed.

[Anna2062]

I so feel you, very well said!! I have a guest now who must have an eating disorder. She is in my kitchen cooking and making a mess every 2 hours! She asked to stay longer and I am only counting down the moments until she leaves!

[Yadira22]

Hello All,

hope you are all well.

Within my family home we have a small fridge within the guest’s room which allows them to store their food. In our other flat we have a fridge which is separated by room. 

Kitchen use is not restricted as we can appreciate from personal experience how difficult eating out everyday can be from dietary requirements, allergies and so forth. But we do of course encourage our guests to go out- London has such a great foodie vibe to it- this is done primarily during check in. We ask them if they plan to cook here, under the disguise of “do you know how to use an induction cooker? As to show you...”. 

Regarding laundry I would say only 1% of our guests have been crazy. We had a lady arrive into our flat and before even checking in properly she put a load in 🙈. Everyday she would wash at least three loads and the worst part was she would wash, notice that it was as not as “dry as possible” and re-rinse it... vicious cycle which stopped for once she realised what she did. It was never drained enough as a load was literally her outfit for that day. 

To discourage her we used to do small things, firstly take the drying racks away, then the clothes conditioner, finally the detergent. 

We thought that with drying rack being taken away would do the trick no... on one occasion she washed only underwear and placed them in the kitchen/dinning room heater- which is a communal area. We were obviously not impressed and quite frankly annoyed as it’s not very discreet on her end or a pleasant sight. Hince the casual need to remove certain consumables over several days. if all else fails we pretend that the washing machine is broken but we did not need to resort to this. Our plan worked, primarily because guests like this are not keen on spending and the idea of buying product to do her own clothes was completely out of the question. 

Now we ask our guests if they plan to wash their clothes and make clear our expectations. Polite but to the point. We also casually discourage use of the machine by hiding the drying racks in our storage room. And as most guests don’t ask we simply keep it there and if they do once again we explain to them our expectations on the matter. We have only once been marked down on this matter but the guest did not asked and went to the , literately downstairs to our flat. We did not ask as she was staying for three nights only and then flying out. 

I hope this helps and I really do wish you all the best of luck with your guests and hosting and I hope this helped a little. 

Have a beautiful day!

Yadira 🙂

[Marsha142]

I have 4 people currently and they started laundry after 2 hours there and in 5 days have done 23 hours of laundry- 10-12 loads. I’m not sure how to handle this. It stinks when people take advantage.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Marsha142 it sounds like it is time to tell them to have a day off so you can do your laundry!