Need suggestions on how to discuss cleanliness with guest

[M199]

Hi Community,

I need suggestions how to politely tell a guest that her stay was not clean as expected.  Currently, we are in lockdown.  I made a 1 time exception and allowed the booking. The guest was a single person 1st dose vaccinated.  Overall a wonderful caring person with a lot of photographic talent and a lot in common.  My mistake, but I was willing to give a break and let her bring her cat and dog, I am pet friendly.

After the guest left today, I went in to do a cleanup.   My place was filthy, dried cat food on the floor, pet urine on the duvet, sticky spill on floor in front of fridge.  Never cleaned up cat litter, fridge had had sticky spills. Didn't even bother to sweep up or wipe down bathroom. I'm  betting you all get the picture.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to let politely but strongly let this guest know how  absolutely disgusted I am and try to enlighten for future hosts? The guest is otherwise a wonderful, caring, thoughtful person.

[Kelly149]

@M199 what's done is done, so I don't know that I personally care about hurting someone's feelings, particularly when they didn't mind leaving me kitty litter to deal with, but one thing that says what it needs to without actually calling them out is:

"this guest required more cleanup than typical ABB guests"

so, you haven't exactly said they're a slob (they are) but just that in an ABB expectations are higher

[M199]

@Kelly149 

Thank you for your input😊  Maybe better to  just send a subtle message.

[Sarah977]

@M199  Was this a young person who simply isn't aware of how to clean up, or a full-on adult. If the latter, she's just a slob who didn't care what she left you to clean up, and nothing you say is going to change that.

If you feel this woman could learn to be a better guest in the future and clean up properly, then I would just send her a private message saying that you found her to be a lovely person, but that you were shocked at the mess that was left and you feel quite disrespected.

Left it filthy with cat urine on the duvet? I  don't quite understand why you want to be so nice to her- she certainly didn't consider being nice to you. And just because someone is personally sweet doesn't mean they make suitable guests.

Please don't shy away from leaving an honest review and low cleanliness rating.

[Laura2592]

@M199 Yes, as @Kelly149 said, keeping it simple is the best way for this to go. I would say something in the review like:

"So and so was friendly and I enjoyed getting to know her. Cleanup took longer than normal and some house rules around pets were not followed. Communication overall was pleasant. This guest is not one we can welcome back due to the additional effort involved in turnover but we wish her the best."

If she gets huffy, make sure you have photos of all the mess. I had a guest who got very angry at a neutral review and after sending photos of the things the cleaners had to deal with, I never heard from her again. If you do not wish to host her in the future, mark her less than 3 stars in all 3 categories and hit "I would not host again."

We are also pet friendly and its honestly RARE that we have an accident on bedding or towels. Guests who are good pet owners do not travel with animals who are nervous and destructive in new spaces. Not all pets are suited to travel. This guest seems to lack self-awareness not only about her own level of cleanliness, but also the temperaments of her pets. 

[M199]

@Laura2592, @Sarah977, @Kelly149 

Thank you all for your input.  I will take it to heart and PM the guest.

Have a wonderful day!

[Amy76]

I'm a big supporter of Honest, forthright reviews of guests to help my fellow hosts. If you had this much trouble with her & her public review doesn't mention it then other hosts will most likely have worse experiences with her. These are not the type of guests AIRBNB is designed for. Best of luck.