Guests help themselves to more than intended

[Jacqueline58]

I rent a whole cabin, provide my guests with organic, fair trade coffee ($12/lb) and a variety of teas. I also offer a variety of 3 different kinds of face soap.

The last guest didn't stay long enough to drink a pound of coffee but took the whole pound when she left. She also took all the soaps and all the teas.  Has tis happened to you and do you have any suggestions how to avoid guests walking off with more than their "share"?

[Marzena4]

It happened once to me, @Jacqueline58, and since that time I have always been leaving only a share, be it coffee, tea, towels, bedlinen. The only thing I left in full package is now shower gel for men, but guess what - I glued the cap to the bottle (it has a pump) so that nobody left with the whole quarter of a litre.

[Sharon346]

Hi Jacqueline,

Actually I have been wondering the

same thing.  However we currently have our first guests in our guest suite right now.

I provided a pound of fresh regular coffee

and decaf for coffee pot and also a large basket of special coffees, teas, and cocoas for a Kuerig.  Then in bathroom also

left a basket of special items too

many to use up so It will be interesting to see if they get taken.  I will let you know with a follow up when they checkout next week.

[Jacqueline58]

When I first hosted, I provided coffee, tea, bagels, cream cheese, yogurts, single serve hot/cold cereals. All were costly but guests commented how much they appreciated. Six months in, I'm thinking this food is expensive and after cleaning supplies, toilet paper, etc, Im not even making minimum wage cleaning and washing. So, along comes a guest who takes everything: all the cereals, all the yogurts, all the tea and coffee--so, I stopped offering food except maybe a few oranges and coffee, tea. Now, taking a whole pound of coffee just seems rude to me. 

[Jacqueline58]

I've been hosting fir 2 years, occupied almost all the time. I stopped supplying shampoo, toiletries, except soap, because people will take everything...you'll have 3 guests not use anything and then the next guest will clean you out. Sometimes it is hard not to lose faith in humanity. This guest not only took the whole pound of coffee, she took an electric razor a returning guest had left and I put in the back of the vaniety. She denied it but I know she is a little thief! 

[Mark26]

"you'll have 3 guests not use anything and then the next guest will clean you out. "

It all balances out.

[Robin4]

@Mark26.....Top comment Mark, it all balances out, that's what l find.

Cheers.....Rob

[Sandra126]

the next person will leave you something. Box of chocolates, bottle of wine.

[Huma0]

I don't generally have this problem, I think because I host in my own home. 

I provide coffee, sugar and a range of different teas etc. for guests. However, all of these are in decorative cannisters or jars by the kettle, rather than the original packets, so no one has taken them away. I've even had guests use a bit of filter coffee and then replace it with a whole bag!

I supply some travel size toiletries, razors, toothbrushes etc. in the bedrooms, which guests are welcome to take if they want (some do, some don't) but only one of each thing in each bedroom. Then, in the bathroom, I have full size bottles of shower gel, shampoo etc. labelled for guest use.

When I show them around, I tell them they are welcome to use these things but to please not help themselves to other food/drink/toiletries as they might belong to my housemate or another guest. This has worked 99% of the time.

I think in a whole unit though guests tend to think any consumables are theirs for the taking. Even though it seems rude to me to take the whole bag of coffee, they might not see it that way!

@Jacqueline58Do you do a welcome tour when your guests arrive, or leave them any instructions? If so, perhaps you could politely say something like, please help yourself to tea, coffee etc. but I'd be grateful if you didn't take it away with you.

[Mark26]

"Has tis happened to you and do you have any suggestions how to avoid guests walking off with more than their "share"?"

Stop counting, and just do what you do.  Be a Gracious Host and stock the items your know will make your guests feel appreciated.  Some will use everything. Some will take everything. Some won't use anything at all.

I stock essentially the same items.  Our guests are here for a few days to a few weeks.  When guests leave I'll find a half bag of coffee in the cupboard. No bag in the cupboard. Or an unopened bag in the cupboard. Sometimes I need to replace a few bags of tea in the tea container. Sometimes none have been used. Sometimes a guest has taken them all.  It doesn't matter.  Those are some of the things we stock for guests.  They are consumables.  They are a cost of doing business.  I'm not going to leave a partially used bag of coffee for the next guest.  The next guest gets an unopened bag.  That partially used bag goes into my kitchen, and quite frankly... I don't like having a bunch of opened, half used bags of coffee sitting around getting stale.  I like to open my own damned bag of coffee, and I prefer to grind my own beans. 

The words "Fair Trade" on a bag of coffee means nothing to me in the cup, and I doubt it makes my guests feel any better to see those words on the bag either.  If the price you're paying ($12 a bag) is what's bothering you, stop buying it.  When guests check in they find we've stock a fresh unopened bag of Starbucks in the cupboard for them. Sometimes it's Verona, sometimes it's French Roast, and sometimes it's House Blend.  But it's always Ground Coffee.  It's Ground, because we realize that most people don't want to mess with grinding their own beans. That, and we won't have to deal with the mess left behind by people who can't figure it out. (I'm amazed at the number of fully grown adults who have asked me how to make coffee. "We use instant at home")   We had a couple check out last week who had been with us for two weeks. When we went in to clean we found an unopened bag of Starbucks Coffee in the cupboard, but it was Whole Bean.  I took it back to my own kitchen, and put a fresh bag of ground coffee in the guests kitchen.  I call that a Fair Trade.

[Jacqueline58]

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[Mark26]

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[RayLynne0]

I really appreciated your knowledge and advice.....Thank you and please keep posting. Many of of us are very kind and authentic and appreciate fellow hosts!

[Robin4]

@Jacqueline58

Hi Jacqueline, great to see you here on the forum and I hope that, like happened to me, the people here can help you and be of benefit to your hosting.

I would just ask one thing Jac. We are all here to share our ideas, and the forum has grown over the three years that I have been here because....everyone brings something to the table of discussion.

We will all talk or advise with regard to experiences or knowledge we have gained, much of it from here on the CC.

@Mark26 has been a wonderful contributor to this forum for the past 18 months, I don't always agree with what he says, and I am sure he does not always agree with what I say.....but we respect each others right to say it.

If you don't agree with something another contributor has said, that's great, that is the wonderful thing about life, we all have a different point of view. I have made a 'goose' of myself more times throughout this life than I have had 'hot feeds' but l still have a right to do it.

If Mark's opinion does not fit with your hosting plan, please don't abuse him for it, you did after all come here asking advice on how to handle a situation....and Mark just gave you his.

I look forward to some great contributions from you Jacqueline just as I do from others here.

But please......Lets not beat each other up hey!

Cheers.....Rob

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Mark26 I do the same and I’ll put some unfair trade coffee in a fair trade bag in a second when I’m consolidating open bags. 

“Don’t sweat the small stuff”.

if I had a fit every time some beatle juice guest took more than they were supposed too, I’d jump off the tallest building in town tomorrow. 

It’s about “home training”, two cubes of sugar and don’t slurp it!

You don’t fill your pockets with loot. This isn’t “Oliver twist”, good Lord.

Guest that do that are “low budget” and hopefully I can set my rates where they don’t think they have to “clean me out” to get there money’s worth. 

Good Luck!

’You know it’s hard for a Host’

@Mark26 waters down his coffee, I read his reviews. Lol