Bed making

[Sue548]

Hello fellow airbnb hosts! I live in a tourist town, and my guests usually stay for a weekend/mini holiday to visit the attractions here in Wells, Somerset. With that in mind, should I make (not change) up their bed if they leave it unmade, while they're out for the day? I haven't done so far, but it crossed my mind that as they are 'on holiday' it might be a nice touch? I've not received any complaints so far, but wondered what people's thoughts were generally?

Thanks, Sue.

[Rowena29]

@Sue548 

I wouldn't even consider it personally.  First of all, you potentially could get into all sorts of trouble with violation of privacy, being accused of messing with a guests stuff etc etc.

And it sort of goes against the spirit of airbnb   IMO.  teh vast majority of guests know not to expect it, why on earth make more work for yourself.  I think it really blurs the line also of airbnb vs hotel.

Other hosts may think differently

Regards

[Sue548]

Cool, thanks for your thoughts. Considering I've been hosting for 3 years and this is the first time it's crossed my mind, I think I'll leave as is. With regards the mention of privacy, they share, with me, my tiny 2 bed flat. Some leave the door open, and if they leave their unwashed mug from the hot drinks station in their room on the side in my kitchen I'll wash it up and pop it back in their room. I also top up any drinks sachets they've used. Never had any complaints regarding violation of privacy. It's a friendly and trusting space.

[Rowena29 · Accepted solution]

@Sue548 

I'm sure it IS a friendly and trusting space and I'm sure you're a great host.  The thing is, you only need ONE rogue guest to make a complaint about violation of privacy and you'll potentially be put through the mill.

One host here posted fairly recently - a hot water system had broken down in the listing. He was a susperhost of over 3 years standing  He messaged the guests - asked if he could come and have a look. They agreed. They were home. He entered the listing and fixed the problem.  After they checked out he awoke the next morning to discover all his future bookings cancelled and his listing suspended while he was under investigation. Airbnb wouldn't  say what for. They didn't contact him prior to delisting him.  They are ruthless when it comes to this sort of thing.  Most likely it will be sorted and he will be reinstated - but only after weeks and weeks of waiting, being uninformed, trying to discuss things with an unresponsive CS.      I agree that your style of hosting is less likely to attract this kind of guest - but as I said, it only takes ONE.

[Sue548]

Thanks so much for taking to time to reply so thoroughly. All noted! 🙂

[Leslie766]

We recently had guests who were working while staying with us, gone every day for most of the day. They also booked for four nights and since we have lots of plants and warm weather, I asked that we be able to come by mid-stay to water OUTSIDE ONLY. We also had a bed for sale that was stored in the garage and I asked if we had an interested buyer if we could show them the bed. The garage is not accessible by guests, and I assured her we would not enter the house, just go in and out of the garage to show the bed. If that was an inconvenience I urged her to tell me, otherwise I would love to sell it. They had the benefit of being the first to sleep on the brand-new bed that replaced it. Her review surprised me that said her paranoid work mate set up "tape traps" to see if things were disturbed or that the house had been entered. They claimed we had been in the house!! We had not, but I saw that the sliding door to a bedroom was left unlocked so it really creeped me out to think that someone had come in and out of the house. In my response to her review I said "We would NEVER enter a home unless we had their permission but if it was an emergency we might have to. There was no emergency and we did not enter the house. She removed the negative review after thinking about it being too harsh and maybe her roommate was in error. What I learned is that I should not bother guests AT ALL, even if they seem agreeable. I can sell the bed on my time, not theirs. I don't want our plants to die, but most of them are replaceable. I find that hanging baskets and pots with flowers brighten the place and make it feel like home, so I will probably still ask to be allowed to stop by at their convenience to water. 

[Lyn3]

Hi @Sue548 @Rowena29 

I absolutely agree with Rowena's thoughts.  Do not enter your guests' space when they are out.

If they feel like leaving their beds unmade whilst on holiday, just accept that and leave the beds unmade.  All good 😊

[Lisa723]

@Sue548 @Rowena29 @Lyn3 

I previously offered a space with no dishwasher and collected guests’ dirty dishes when they were out, and I did once get a privacy violation complaint on that in a review. So now I wouldn’t enter any guest space without explicit prior agreement, except in a clear emergency.

[Sue548]

Thanks Lisa.

[Sarah977]

@Sue548  Not only is it a bad idea to enter the guest space when they are out, it's really not wise to give Airbnb guests the idea that an Airbnb host is like a hotel maid who'll tidy up after them, make their bed, etc. That will lead them to expect it in their future bookings. You might naturally think of it as a "nice touch" but it's likely to instead be construed as something expected.

[Sue548]

Thanks Sarah. Valid point.