Should I complain about a guest? And what Airbnb would do.

[Florin32]

Hello everyone. I'v been host a nice, modern apartment in the heart of Transylvania (Romania) for the past 2 month now. Im very happy with Airbnb, and even though sometimes it gets tricky cause im mostly busy, and also with one night guest, I can say that im a happy host. 

Most of my guests were really nice and considerate people, and I've been trying to deliver, so i have a 100% 5 star rating,  but like one week ago I had 3 guys from Spain staying just one night. Communication was lets say fair, and they seemed ok. They check out themselves, and when I went to th apartment for the turnover I had the horrible surprise to find my apartment all messed up. Now I know they are my guest, but I see it as a home sharing platform, one that people should be considerate of the property they are in.  These guys had all my pillows and linens on the floor , towels wet and crowded in one corner of the bathroom, food in the night stand and above all, the most disgusting thing, toilet was really dirty of fecal matter, keep in mind that the toilet brush is in hand reach.  I dont ask for cleaning fee, cause I think is just taking money for nothing out from the guest, in the condition that they would at least make an efforte to leave the apartment in a nice way. Now I ask you, what would you do? I have pics and everything, should I write to Airbnb and ask for a minimum compensation? 

[Sarah977]

@Chastity3  You said you didn't understand the point of not charging a separate cleaning fee. I was just mentioning a reason why some hosts don't.

[Chastity3]

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@Sarah977 I was really interested in his. There are copious reasons why hosts choose to charge cleaning fees or not. I appreciate you sharing some of those angles.

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[Harold75]

@Chastity3    You're suffering from new host syndrome     I like that!  Good description! 

[Linnea-Or-David0]

@Florin32 I really think you should call Airbnb and have your review of your guests removed.  That review is awful!!! Sure they maybe are a bit untidy... but geez. Worst guests ever?  Really?  You're in for a rude awakening if you think your place was left that messy... you just wait... you haven't even seen messy yet.  Seriously, that review is very damaging to their future bookings.

[Gordon0]

I, for one, could well do without seeing this horrid photo ever time I open up the forum. Do everyone a favour, @Florin32, and delete the pic, please.  

[Rachel0]

@Florin32 I agree with @Gordon0 about the photo.  It is nasty and unnecessary.  If you can't cope with this sort of situation perhaps you should reconsider whether you want to continue hosting.  In the meantime, thank you SO much for making me choke on my coffee which I was enjoying until I saw this.

[Sarah977]

@Lizzie  The OP was grossed out by the toilet. Any chance you could remove that photo so we all don't have to look at that everytime this thread comes up? It really didn't require a visual.

[Harold75]

@Gordon  @Sarah977   I agree with all and everyone else here.  PLEASE REMOVE the photo.  You know the one.  Thank you in advance. 

[Suzanne302]

@Florin32  I'll echo what other hosts have said...Based on the photos these guests were not bad at all! As @Chastity3  mentioned, you are either in the host learning curve, or maybe not cut out to be a host (I mean no disrespect at all by that! Just saying as a host you have to be a little more laid back about things. Some people are okay with that, some not.)

When some hosts first start out, they have pretty high expectations of guests and one little thing out of place seems like an insult. But then you realize these things are perfectly normal and very rarely do guests leave your space exactly as you presented it to them. That's unrealistic to expect.

As a host I expect the room to look "lived in" after a guest leaves. Pillows out of place, sheets crumpled up, towels on the bathroom floor, and an empty water bottle on the night stand? Not an issue.

[Helen350]

Yep @Florin32  @Suzanne302 - I reckon about half my guests leave the beds made neatly on departure, & the other half leave an unmade bed.... Not an issue, so long as bedding clean, i.e. no curry/ketchup etc.! I think it's the guests newer to Airbnb who leave the bed as they got out of it... they probably don't realise the differences between Airbnb & a hotel, or have not yet learnt to tout for 5 stars by leaving the room gorgeous! And they may think, What's the point of making the bed when the host will strip it anyway? (Which is why I'm not bothered by an unmade bed!

The toilet stain is Oh So Minor! Now I recently wrote a bad review for someone who left my SHARED bathroom  toilet in a state 100+ times worse than your photo. I mentioned it because of inconsideration for others. (The guest transgressed in other ways too, the filthy loo was the final straw.)

[Sarah977]

@Helen350  I've started telling the guests not to bother to strip the bed, which some of them did, because a couple of times I found an item of their clothing that they missed wrapped up in the bedding. I actually prefer that they just leave the bed unmade so I can check for stains that might have to be dealt with ASAP, and as I live in the tropics, where bedding can get covered in bug poop or dust in the dry season within a day or two, and as I don't do back-to-back bookings, I generally just leave the used bedding on the bed until I'm ready to prepare the room for the next guest. 

[Rowena29]

@Sarah977, @Helen350 

I couldn't agree with you more @Sarah977 

I absolutely HATE it when guests strip beds for me or - even worse - do a load of washing to be helpful.

I"ve lost count of the number of stained items that can't be saved, or need  a huge amount of extra time and effort because the stain has "set" because a guest was being helpful and considerate and did a load of washing for me.  (It's so frustrating, because they  really are trying to be thoughtful so you can't even complain)

I couldn't care less if a bed is unmade - i'm just going to strip it anyway! Sheets still on beds gives me a great opportunity to scan for stains - apply stain remover, soak if necessary and THEN launder.

Like everyone else @Florin32  I really do think you have over reacted here. I'd be very happy with these guests and I can't see anything disrespectful about their behaviour. I don't even think they've been unduly messy. God help you if you get a family group with young children or people who are genuinely inconsiderate or worse. For example my second guests were elderly and used my high quality bath towels as incontinence pads - I had a steaming mess of 10 towels in the laundry tub  awaiting me after they checked out. The rest of the house was pristine however. My teenage sons routinely leave our toilet is a much worse state than  what' depicted in your photo. You just deal with it. OUTSIDE the toilet is cause for complaint.

A few things you might want to consider: in my house rules which I leave out for guests to read I state " I don't charge a cleaning fee, therefore I expect you to leave things clean and tidy" and go on to stipulate what I mean by that ( fridge  and bins emptied,  kitchen benches wiped down etc etc).  Of course I'm still charging a cleaning fee REALLY, the cleaning fee is factored into a 2 night stay and then I discount for stays longer than that - it's purely psychological.   

Something which I found very very useful when I first started hosting. was to comprehensively read the listings and house rules of experienced hosts - anybody who posts regularly in these forums is worth a look. there's always something to learn. I still do it.

Just my thoughts.  But I do think you are going to be continuously disappointed if you expect your accomodation to be left extremely neat and tidy.   (I also think your review was pretty unfair.)

Good luck!