Guests cooking really smelly food

[Marian106]

I had some guests that stayed for 8 days and made my apartment really smell . They would not allow us to go into the unit to clean and replace towels and linen as we usually do for longer stays. The door and windows were never opened and they hardly went out . It is an open plan apartment and we just cannot seem to get the smell out and I have 1 day allocated for airing the unit and cleaning between guests.We have put everything out in the sun sprayed ,sanitised and  aired the unit and the smell just lingers. The next guests have now complained about the smell. I am quite desperate. Hoping some one can advise me on how to get rid of this smell.

[Loni56]

@Marian106 isto realmente e muito desagradável

aqui temos alguns produtos de limpeza tira odor

seria bom se conseguir,Marian. iria te ajudar!

@Loni56 

[Clara116]

@Marian106  If you can get to the stores and buy a large bottle of cheap white vinegar....put in several bowls.. place the bowls all around and also in a cook pot ..on the stove put some in a pan NO lid /with water and vinegar (2 parts vinegar/l part water and get it to heat up almost boiling and turn off.....within 30 mins. the smells will be absorbed and should be no smell. It has worked for me every time in our small cottage....with fishy curry smells.....any smells, its like magic......don't try to mask the smells with sprays or such, it doesn't work. Good luck, Clara

[Marian106]

Great Thank you Clara will definitely try that 

[Colleen253]

@Marian106 “They would not allow us to go into the unit to clean and replace towels and linen”

Don’t let guests call the shots. Make it clear in your listing and house rules that a mid stay quick clean is mandatory for stays over ‘x’ amount of days.  And make sure guests are aware of that, since many don’t read the listing or rules. If they don’t agree, they don’t have to book. Bit of a red flag anyway.

I have a small ozone machine which has proven helpful on a few occasions. Air and clean the unit, then run the ozone machine after you’re done. 

[Anonymous]

@Marian106  I think @Clara116 's suggestion about the vinegar is a good one. But it does make things complicated if the next guests are already in the house. You could offer to try a deodorizing treatment during a scheduled time when they're out of the house, but that relies on them being more comfortable with the host entering the space than the last guests were. If they're genuinely inconsolable about the odor, you could at least offer a booking alteration to advance their checkout date and let them move elsewhere. At least that way, if they leave a critical review, it will only be about a temporary problem and not a list of other faults they found out of anger. 

Regarding the interim cleaning - as @Colleen253 says, you do have the right to make it mandatory, but it's only kosher if that's stated explicitly in your House Rules. Some hosts have restrictions around what kinds of cooking can be done (e.g. no deep frying or always use the extractor fan) but you can't anticipate every possible stinky thing or any other time-consuming issues (damage, etc), so it might be easier in the long run to increase the buffer time between bookings. 

[Marian106]

Thank you so much for your suggestions /advice Andrew.

[Mark116]

@Marian106  some hosts swear by ozone machines, which are not that expensive, but they do require I believe a day of the unit being empty after the machine was used.

[Susan6049]

Thoughts on charging an extra cleaning fee?