Going to keep things short and simple Nov 1st : I cancelled ...
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Going to keep things short and simple Nov 1st : I cancelled a 100% refundable reservation (Paid via bank ACH). Refund e-mail ...
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Just curious if you guys have had any of this: couple arrives for weekend getaway - drove 4hrs. and obviously brought their things plus some cleaning products. (I have light switches labeled and many guests really like and express this.)
They left a HUGE spray bottle of cleaner with BLEACH - I don't mind guests being extra clean - but my cottage is sparkling, super clean (I clean it myself) and I'm totally into the gloves, masks and many days between guests - as community leader, I even tell the guests that I have to maintain the highest of standards, as a reassurance. Obviously they sprayed the light switches - which I have labeled - but for sure the bleach has wiped out a lot of the lettering. I've read that some folks have sprayed door locks/remotes and they have been destroyed by some super strong products. The kicker for me is: I offer hand sanitizer in every room - good sized pump bottles, gloves at the front door and Lysol wipes. Also, in the bathroom are Microban, Odoban, Lysol spray cleaner, Bathroom spray foam stuff. Also, I make my own sink cleaner with essential oils/baking soda for those wanting a lovely option from the toxic overload. Just curious if you have any such guests - also, noticed they aren't taking as many snack/products - all individually packed/wrapped. The days of Covid are indeed different days.
...just wish they had sprayed the nastiness left on the toilet seat - folks will surprise ya every time. 🙂
Curious about other hosts odd experiences - not a complaint, just what occurred from this stay.
happy hosting - happy travels.......soon, I hope!
@Clara116 I had a couple like this at the end of last October. They stayed for a week with not a single word of communication. When they left, the small apartment was covered in bleach. A thick film all over the floors. They ruined a duvet cover with bleach marks when they crawled into bed with bleach all over their feet. When they left, they opened all the windows for airflow in 40-degree temperatures. This doesn't really bother me but at least tell me of this approach so I would know to shut the window before nightfall.
@Emilia42 Right, I'm with you.....let me know so we can be prepared or act on it.
@Clara116 Talking about cleanliness. A couple arrives, the 'huffy' wife with a Marie Antoniette air of superiority states as an opening salvo - "I hope this place is thoroughly clean".
The husband after a minute of looking around says - "You can learn from these people what clean is". An instant atmosphere of hate between 'Marie' and my clean-freak Mrs. arises; the husband and I started laughing which made things even worse.
@Fred13 thanks.....that's too funny. Some moments are treasures, aren't they? Gotta love the rich blend of ppl and who they are, or wish they were, or better yet, think they are!
I had a guest like this over the holidays. Left us a beautiful thank you note but gave us a 4 on cleanliness (one of 2 we have had overall) and said it was because we did not provide her with her own individual bleach spray bottle and she had to go out and buy her own. We had bathroom cleaner with bleach available but I guess she wanted the full-strength stuff she could spray on everything. She ruined some sheets and towels with her spraying. We had stayed immediately before her, so I can attest that the place got a double dose of cleaning and disinfecting prior. If that wasn't good enough, I really don't know that I could have satisfied her.
Even in the best of times there are people who are obsessed with cleanliness to a degree that is not reasonable or healthy. I stayed in an Airbnb recently where the switches were labeled and it was a nice touch. I thought about doing it at our place. For the time being, I might remove labels as switches are a target for mad bleachers. Maybe when there is less fear of contagion from surfaces (which has never been shown to be a real threat in the first place) you can put them back.
A host on another forum who also travels a lot as a guest posted that she brings a black light with her and inspects the whole place with the black light when she arrives. Hope she never books with me- I'm confident she wouldn't find any objectionable areas, but I wouldn't want a guest with that level of OCD and distrust.
@Sarah977 You know my continuing imaginary disclaimer - "If you suffer from X, Y, Z - Don't book with us". Remind me on the next version to add - OCD. Thanks. 🙂
@Sarah977 we do try to be as gracious as humanly possible, but mental health issues are not something we are set up to deal with. Nor are we set up to provide appropriate accommodations for those who suffer from certain physical ailments. I think every host needs to know their limitations.
this reminds me that I always hope that pics of a converted barn with old concrete floors and OSB wood walls puts off the "give me a hospital" types and any white glovers would quickly get a splinter anyway. And I'd bet $$ that lady's makeup brushes were covered in years' worth of grime, they wore their shoes in the house, and brought along suitcases that have seen the world and the boot of the car. People are strange
As much as I've spoken on this subject here, I actually have only had about three guests who displayed this type of behavior. The first was a woman some two years ago who brought her own vacuum cleaner, pulled our beds away from the wall, and wound up bending the bed frame pushing it back. She then complained that the mattress wasn't sitting right on the frame, which of course it wasn't because it was bent. We fixed it, but she said it wasn't sitting on the frame perfectly, yet her son talked her off the ledge and said to let it be. She admitted later she was OCD and had hotel like expectations for AirBNB but left a really nice review.
The second woman, not too long ago, I wrote about in another thread and drew a lot of fire from people who thought I was being vindictive towards her. The issue there was she was living in AirBNBs and, while she left a non-descript public review saying the stay was fine, gave three stars and sent private feedback slamming the house saying it was filthy. She also had made comments during her stay with me that she was highly critical of AirBNBs and had left the previous AirBNB a bad review because their dishes were not washed up to restaurant standards. She thankfully didn't say anything about our kitchen but admitted to pulling furniture away from walls in the bedrooms and claimed our bathroom was covered in grime and that she had used gloves to check on the tiles and behind pipes, etc. We inspected every area she mentioned and could find no evidence of what she talking about, except for one area which yes had not been dusted (it was behind a shelf in a corner of a public hallway). AirBNB actually changed her review from 3 stars to 4 after I called about it, since there was some evidence she might have been scrutinizing the house as part of a plan to ask for a refund.
The third woman just stayed with me recently and her comments actually led me to this question. She left halfway through her stay for unknown reasons but then sent several messages about how she owned a cleaning company and had (like the second woman) taken gloves to baseboards, corners, and behind furniture. She was especially critical of our bathroom, which made no sense since the day she arrived it had been deep cleaned by our housekeeper using industrial chemicals and, when I inspected it just 20 minutes before this guest's arrive, the bathroom was spotless and sparkling.
In all of these cases, I took their feedback seriously and investigated what they were telling me. One would think we might have problem with cleanliness, but three people out of 200 I guess I can live with. A common denominator with all of these cases (and I'm not being stereotypical, I'm just saying what it is) is that the guests were younger 20s-30s Caucasian women and, with the exception of the woman who had her son with her, they also were staying alone in the house and had experienced issues in other AirBNBs with cleanliness as well.
At present, I just don't take it personally since we are literally doing as much as possible with cleaning our rooms and 98% of the other guests have complimented us on how clean everything is.