What should a guest do before they leave re: cleaning/tidying?

Answered!
Jill41
Level 1
Hove, United Kingdom

What should a guest do before they leave re: cleaning/tidying?

I have just had a guest who left unwashed crockery, one of the toilets was disgusting, wet towels everywhere, duvets on floor, gas hob thick with grease and dirty greasy kitchen surfaces. I wrote a neutral review saying they were friendly and communicated well before the hosting. I choose to let him know privately that I was surprised at how the apartment was left but made it friendly and offering understanding if there had been a problem but I got this back

 

'Did you really expect us to clean the house before leaving? I think you don't even know what kind of service you are offering. Airbnb is about renting your house as a Hotel, It is not like couch surfing, where people do it for free. I paid more than 400 € for only 3 nights in your old apartment and after that amount of money, that is almost a robbery for the quality of the flat, you are cheeky enough to tell me about the cleaning? You are charging almost a half monthly salary for only 3 nights, you must be able to clean it after all. We didn't break anything, but as you should understand like when I go to a hotel I don't care about tidying or cleaning, because I don't have to do it. .....the house full of boxes everywhere, and the bathrooms were pretty dirty when we came in. So please, stop saying bull**bleep**, take your money that you probably don't even pay taxes for that and this business is totally under the table and don't text me again. I will tell you again just to make it clear, when you pay such a crazy amount of money for a renting, you don't have to clean after being in the house, you must take care like we did and don't break anything.'

 

The apartment is professionally cleaned in between each guest and the bathrooms are spotless so he has lied about that. I don't charge a cleaning fee. There are no boxes laying around and there is no smell - so my question is this - how should a guest be expected to leave a rental? Everyone else who has stayed has said the apartment is really clean and have left it fine. I expect to have to clean but not this level, am I expecting too much from my guests? 

 

He left me a great review.

 

Thanks for any advice so i can put it on my hosting:)

1 Best Answer
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi everyone,

 

Airbnb has Ground Rules for guests, which details the reasonable cleaning a guest should do when staying in a Hosts listing. You can see more here: Ground rules for guests

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines 

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202 Replies 202
Kamil138
Level 2
New York, NY

AirBnb very often is used to replace hotel service. Guests expect not to clean after themselves . Also if somebody is travelling for vacation he does not want to waste his time doing it - or he might not have time for that. Some people just do not want to do it and would prefer to pay for it. On top of that if place is highly priced (especially with cleaning fee) then it is expected that cleaning is included. Hosts should just assume that they clean the place and put the price accordingly.

 

Also I think that expecting guests to clean after themselves is bad for AirBnb. There are people who do not want to clean and rather pay for it. They would prefer not to use AirBnb.

 

I think that if hosts expects guests to clean after themselves, then they should clearly state that in the listing and remind them before check-in.

AirBnb could think of special option in the listing to make this clear.

I've only had about 1 guest in 50 who didn't leave their space reasonably clean and tidy, without any instruction to that effect, and some left it super-clean. That's what responsible, respectful adults do. Washing your dirty dishes, throwing garbage in the bins provided rather than dropping it on the floor or leaving it on the counter, hanging one's wet towel up instead of dropping it on the floor to mildew,  are all just part of life as a adult, not "a waste of time".

 

If they want to leave a mess behind them for a hotel maid to clean up, then they should book a hotel, not someone's home.

 

@Kamil138

Neaki3
Level 2
Fort Collins, CO

Paying customers should not have to clean. As long as property has not been broken everything should be fine. End of story

Geri26
Level 10
Adelaide, Australia

@Neaki3  and hosts dont have to accept people in their properties who dont want to tidy up after themselves.  What goes around, comes around.....

@Neaki3  If you don't feel you should be respectful enough not to leave the place a mess (I'm not talking about heavy duty cleaning, that's the host's job) , just because you didn't break anything, I can assure you that you aren't suited to booking an Airbnb.

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

@Neaki3 

 

How long have you been in this business?

 

If all you're worried about is whether there's damage, it seems to suggest that you either haven't been subjected to irresponsible guests (ostensibly, suggesting you haven't been doing this for very long) , or you are a "hands off" owner who outsources all of that. 

 

There are costs to unconscientious, uncaring guests. One of the many is the slow, steady deterioration of your property from repeated trashing. What's a scratch or a stain? Somebody stains your towels or bedding?... leaves an onion to rot under the sink? Spills a beer on the carpet? Small things, right? Not really "damage"... 

 

Until it happens 20 times... Then you either find yourself delivering a lower quality accommodation (leading to lesser reviews and making the competition look better, even leading to lower revenues)... 

 

...or you need to start fixing, replacing, and upgrading things to compete, and regain lost revenues. And that costs money. 

 

The best solution is to not attract the undesirable guests who deteriorate your product in the first place. And that means keeping standards up and... Prices as well. 

 

Aspiring to attract a better quality of guest isn't petty or "classist". It's just good business.

Neaki3
Level 2
Fort Collins, CO

See you guys are getting this all wrong. it's not about being respectful or disrespectful. You're thinking that everybody in the world shares your same values and beliefs and well guess what, we don't. I study culture and many different cultures are different and many people think differently. I have had to clean up after many many people in my time as I have worked for many different places. Do I think it's disgusting the way that some people have left their cabin, hotel, room, or home? Yes I do. I remember having to clean a cabin once and there was throw up all over the toilet, dishes piled in a sink, and they even turned over the furniture. When I asked my boss if this was acceptable she said yes because nothing was broken. But I never complained about it because it was my job. As my boss at the YMCA told me, a lot of people go on vacation and they don't want to clean. I have to admit, I have never left even a hotel messy because that's just my personality and I know how hard housekeepers and people who rent their properties out have to work. However, that's the way I was raised. But I don't think it's disrespectful if people go on vacation and don't want to clean. As long as nothing is ruined there shouldn't be a problem. I don't understand what you don't get about that. If you don't want to accept the risks, don't rent your home it's that easy. I know in my experience being a renter, I will never choose an Airbnb again. Well at least a private room. In fact, I am moving out of my Airbnb today and I got a hotel. As a renter, I think Airbnb is too much drama, like this conversation. I have been on vacation for a week and I have had a host tell me what to do every single day like I'm a child. 

@Neaki3  In my case, I am not getting paid to clean up other people's personal mess and in fact, all of my guests have left their bedroom and bathroom basically clean and tidy, and cleaned up after themselves in the kitchen they share with me. That's all I expect. 

 

I only had one couple leave a mess- 50 pieces of wadded up toilet paper under the bed, cookie wrappers and half empty beer cans, other garbage in the floor, wet towels wadded up and mildewing, clothes they didn't want, etc. It would have taken them 5 or 10 minutes to tidy up, but they didn't. That just feels disrespectful to me as a host. 

 

I don't charge a cleaning fee. Shall I start doing that so that all guests pay more because one or two can't be bothered to leave the space decent?

 

I do sympathize with guests not wanting to have the host nitpick about everything. Hosts who want to micromanage every little thing a guest does, and have no tolerance for the fact that not everyone does things the same way they do, really aren't suited to home-sharing.

I too had never charged cleaning fees, bc I thought AirBnB worked on the premise of "leave it as you found it".  I was usually pleased and joked to myself while I did the laundry (bedding, towels, etc) polished the kitchen and baths and vacuumed, "guess they didn't come" :).  the "clean-up/turn-over" described above, I expected to do, and built that into my fee structure, because in my mind, offering guest the house in Ship-Shape order would encourage them to leave it that way.  Of course there were exceptions over the 1o years we've hosted, - some that, as you put it, inconsiderately and full of entitlement, left their "personal mess" -  in those cases  I would follow up asking for a portion of their deposit.   few ever took issue with my request\

Neaki3
Level 2
Fort Collins, CO

By the way, I don't know why it says I am in Fort Collins Colorado because I am in Spain. 

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

I think this thread is an illustration that you can forget the earthy, people-friendly image that Airbnb portrays, and assume that it's just another booking platform. A transactional business. 

 

You can assume that at least some number of guests will be conscientious and respectful, but it's never guaranteed. In fact, it seems in the past few years, there's certainly been a shift toward entitlement and lack of any responsibility. And for hosts, there's always costs associated with that behaviour. 

 

 

If nothing else, one thing Airbnb is really good at, is generating bookings. It has very broad market reach and has become extremely guest-friendly, which of course, attracts a lot of guests. And that means bookings. 

 

So, leverage what Airbnb is best at...to your advantage.

 

Given that as the pandemic wanes, the bookings will certainly increase, we should all be aware that it's ever-increasingly becoming a seller's market (at least on Airbnb). By design. 

 

And that means you can probably raise prices to compensate for the costs of declining guest quality, while still staying well booked.

 

You may receive fewer enquiries, but there's always another one in the queue... thanks to Airbnb. And frankly, our experience is that those that pay more tend to be the least problematic. So perhaps that's another plus. 

 

It was great while it lasted, but unfortunately, today it's descended into just another transactional business. So, we have to run it like one, while attempting to retain as much "earthy humanism" as we still can. Despite Airbnb. 

Hubert168
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

This is a helpful thread. During my last stay, I didn’t get a chance to properly clean up because I was in a rush. Bad weather caused changes to my plans. We left some dishes in the sink, counters could have been better cleaned and boxes for the recycling. I mentioned my haste to the host and apologized for not cleaning up properly. Left a $20 tip on top of the $100 cleaning fee we were charged. When the review came in, it stated that we left “a big mess” especially in the kitchen. This paints a bad picture of me as the guest and other hosts will assume that the entire place was messy when it was only the kitchen that was not properly tidied. I was constantly in touch with the host and would’ve had no problem discussing additional cleaning charges. Under usual circumstances I would not have left dishes.

I guess my question here really is what is the point of charging a cleaning fee if you expect guests to be squeaky clean? And then not be specific in your review of the guest? Now hosts will think I’m going to trash their house! 

@Hubert168  Well, I guess you could have done most of the clean-up the evening before, so there were only a few breakfast dishes to deal with before check-out.

 

That said, it sounds like you tried to make it right with the host and personally, had you apologized, explained, and left $20, I certainly wouldn't have mentioned any of the mess in the review.

 

You can leave a response to a review, you know. In this case I would. I'd say something like "We were aware we were leaving an untidy kitchen, which we have never done before. The weather was turning bad and we had to drive out asap while we were still able to. I apologized to this host, explained why we left it like that, and also left $20 for the extra clean-up. I'm sorry she saw fit to not take this into consideration when writing the review, making it sound as if we were simply irresponsible and disrespectful, which wasn't the case."

 

That response will appear on your review page and be read by future hosts. The way a guest responds to what they feel is an unfair review can make all the difference in the weight a host gives to a review. A measured, factual response, neither defensive nor aggressive, can help tremendously in countering an unfair review.

Hubert168
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

Thank you for your response. I wasn’t aware I could leave a reply to a review. I will look into it.