Review/cleaning after long term stay

[Sandra570]

I just had my first long stay guest - a young fellow and his new wife. They booked our apartment for one month. I offered them the option of a cleaning service (reasonable cost) during their stay which they declined saying that they were "clean people and wouldn't require that." I left lots of cleaning supplies, vaccuum, mop, duster, paper towels, sprays, cleaners etc. Extra towels and bed linens were provided as well. I also had (past tense) many plants which I asked if they would be okay watering which they said they would. Fast forward to the end of the month...

No complaints with anything except that the plants were all dead (obviously not been watered once) and I'm sure they did not lift one finger all month to clean any surface. Dust on everything. Pots and pans, other cooking ware, and small appliances were all literally dumped in drawers and mixed up. All drawers had to be emptied and cleaned (crumbs etc). Fridge needed to be cleaned. Oven as well which is brand new and I left them information on how to do a quick steam clean on the oven - not done. Chips and popcorn in the furniture, rugs, and inside coffee table. Bathroom had not been cleaned. Toilet was gross. Small carpet with big red stains. One towel ruined. One glass missing. I decided not to claim any of the small damages - just not worth it - but I was in a panic because I had another guest arriving that afternoon and was not sure I would get everything cleaned in time. It took a good five hours to take everything apart and deep clean.

My question. I know better now and have made changes for future long term requests but since there was nothing in writing about cleaning expectations other than the verbal agreement, what can I put in my review? I was thinking of being positive about everything except their cleanliness (maybe a 3?) but am having trouble finding the right wording for the review. I'm sure if they had stayed for one or two nights, this would not have been a problem. But I would definitely not host them again long term without a strict agreement in place.

Advice for review?

Thanks...

Sandra

[Katina1]

I encourage you to create an honest review.  (At least as far as the stars and thumbs down go) 
Your guest weren't clean, as promised or take good care of your place as promised (rules, communication cleanliness). That's 0-1 star in those areas.

As a host I rely on you/ my fellow hosts to tell me what guests are like, a negative review blocks them from instant book. Which is helpful to me. 

The format may ask you to write a reason why when you give a low star but you can leave it blank or keep the note neutral. Guests don't see the specific star ratings or who submitted them.

I almost never leave negative reviews but recently I simply wrote 'I cannot reccommend this guest." 

As your fellow host, please let me know who is staying with me.

[Sandra570]

Thanks for your response, Katina. I totally agree with everything you are saying. My conundrum is wondering if I am partially responsible given that maybe I was not completely clear in my expectations with a longer stay? If I had it in my rules (which I do now), I would have no hesitation but somehow feel a bit like maybe I should have made myself clearer.

Sandra

[Sandra570]

How is this?

Name and his new wife booked our loft for a one month stay. They were very pleasant, easy to communicate with, and were respectful of other residents living in the building. Our only concern was the amount of cleaning that needed to be done after their stay despite being offered a cleaning service as well as left with supplies to maintain cleanliness on their own. I’m sure this would not be an issue with a short term stay but was a problem with a guest arriving the same day they checked out.

[Linda108]

@Sandra570  I agree with your self critique.  I never count on any guest having the same standard of clean as I do.  Of course given the choice of paying extra fee for cleaning and thinking they are clean guests, most would opt to see themselves as clean.   I also do not allow check in on the same day as the check out.  That can cause a huge stress.  Even great guests that are short term can have an accident that requires time to fix.  Care for plants...I live in the space and had to stop leaving live plants in the guest room because the guests like to leave the blinds closed  and plants had no light.

As to the review, keep it short - "Lovely young couple to host however, cleanliness expectations were not met."  You could send a private message stating more details if you think appropriate, especially if you think they would get better as guests.

[Sandra570]

Thanks Linda.

I like the brevity of your review much better. I will definitely consider using your comment.

I did have anxiety for the whole month knowing that I had a guest already booked to come in right after them. Not much I could do about that but cross my fingers.

My plants... Well, I should have taken them out but they said watering would not be a problem.

Live and learn, I guess.

Sandra 🙂

[Susie5]

@Sandra570@Linda108, I'm not sure I'd term the experience you had as "lovely"-- they caused you to have a lot of extra work, they let your plants die (how hard is it to throw water on a plant once a week?) -- in short, they were NOT lovely!  I wouldn't want them, for example.... they were cheap and didn't want to pay for cleaning, they caused you a month's worth of anxiety, and left you with a mess and a bunch of dead plants.  Not lovely at all! 

One thing I would say is you could put in your house rules that for longer stays, you will be checking in once a week to make sure everything is OK - you could find out that your plants were dying, the place was a mess, and make them either clean up or accept the cost of a cleaning service.

[Sandra570]

Thanks Susie.

Seriously, the conversation on this thread (back and forth) is the same one I have been having in my head since this couple checked out. They were a lovely couple, the cleaning experience definitely wasn't (and my plants would back me on that). I want to write a review that reflects that without sounding petty.

The big lesson learned for me was to add cleaning expectations for long term stays to my house rules so there will be no confusion over what is being agreed to. I also put in that any cleaning beyond the regular two hours that I would expect to do after a short stay would be claimed from the damage deposit. If this coupe had kept up with regular cleaning, there would not have been a problem. It's an easy space to look after.

Sandra 🙂

[Gordon0]

It's a tough one, especially as you appear to charge a cleaning fee, as that gives some folk carte blanche to think 'oh well, I've paid for cleaning'. I suppose the other thing to rememeber is that you could have had six (or more) sets of guests in the same period of time, and that would have meant a whole load of cleaning. As for the plants, very few guests care a fraction of what you do about your stuff. 

Give them crappy guests a crappy review and move on. You'll have a whole load of better guests to follow.

Great listing btw.  

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Sandra570

I host mostly long-term guests and my listing is a private room in my home so it makes keeping an eye on things easier, but I suggest you include that for any guests staying longer than 1 week, you (host) will enter the house once a week (day and time to be agreed on with guest separately) to do complimentary vacuum of the house, check to make sure all lights/appliances/facilities are in order, and water plants - and that this is a must. Build this into your room rate or adjust your weekly/monthly discounts and don't mention additional cleaning costs. (cheap people rarely pay others to clean their own homes and opt to learn to live with their mess, why would they want to pay for someone to clean someone else's home??)

In my case, even for long-term guests, I provide all basic amenities throughout their stay as well as clean towels and regular bedding changes. I state that I will need to enter the guest room when they are out to do these things. I usually don't touch or move any of the guest's personal items. A couple times, I had to change the sheets but the guest left books and laptop on the bed. I messaged and asked if  they mind if I moved them so that I could change the sheets and that if they didn't want me to move the items I could change the sheets later. I usually tell guests the day before that I will be changing sheets "tommorow or the day after" which is basically code for tidy up so I can do the housekeeping stuff 🙂 I've found that all of my guests to date have been happy to have me change the sheets and vacuum the floor and under the bed for them while they are out.

One thing I learned (even before I became a host) is..... you can't MAKE people clean up or do things the way you want. Your definition of "clean" and someone elses can be totally different so instead of stressing about how other people don't know how to vacuum or wash the dishes properly, it's just better to do it the way you know it should be done. This lesson I learned from a friend I lived with briefly 🙂

Also after long-term guests leave, I've found it's best to have a day or two between for a "deep-clean". No matter how clean and tidy guests are and even with weekly upkeep. Hope this helps~

[Marie82]

@Sandra570

I guess it is a learning process

but i always provide free cleaning for guests who book more than 2 weeks as he help me to keep an eyes not only on the apartment but the state they are leaving in. I prefer to paid the cleaner from my own earning. After a very bad experience at the start of my hosting experience i always offer free cleaning so drama and if during that process anything need repair i can plan it no bad surprise at the end 

But i am glad to hear no damage on the property as that the most important for me and they were good to ur neighbours 

[Marzena4]

@Sandra570 The main problem of global hosting/travelling is not only cross-cultural differences, but also the extent to which people's common sense may vary. 

Hosting means acquiring a lot of knowledge, the more you can sense upon meeting a guest, the safer for you - you might even predict their behaviour. And be careful with some smiling pleasant guests - you give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

[Sandra570]

Thank you for everyone's input. This is the first time I have needed to consider writing a less than stellar review for a guest. I've learned a lot from this experience and realize that not everyone will have the same standards of cleanliness that maybe I do and that communication/expectations need to be absolutely clear and up front.

Given that everything other than the overall cleanliness was more than satisfactory with this long term stay, I decided to not be critical in the public review but I did give a low star rating for cleanliness. Had this been a short term stay, there wouldn't have been any issues. I would have them back again.

My understanding is that as hosts, many of us can now view the star ratings of potential guests which will finally give those stars some actual value. I read somewhere that viewing the star ratings is being rolled out to everyone with Instant Booking turned on? I know that this is another topic, so I will either continue the search for this information on the forum or post the question by itself.

Thanks again for all of the feedback...

Sandra 🙂

[Sandra570]

So true, Marzena! I have learned so much since becoming a host!

Sandra 🙂

[Sandra570]

Just an added note...

I found that the stars DO NOT show up for guests when I look on my laptop but I can see them on my iPhone by clicking on the person's profile photo on the calendar. You see their overall rating and then by clicking on that, you see stars for the other areas - cleanliness etc. Not sure why but my guy shows up with 5 stars for cleanliness even though he has only used Airbnb two times. Glitch?

Sandra

*I know the topic has now changed so I won't write any more here but just wanted to follow up with my previous post about indicating less than perfect cleanliness with a low star rating.