Spills on rugs & couch

[John-Henry0]

How does a host handle it when a guests spills, but doesn’t let the host know? I have had at least 4 coffee spills in the past year. NO ONE has ever reached out to me to let me know. One guest even tried to hide it and pretended to not know anything about it! How can you hide a spill when the whole house smells like coffee?!? 
I have to bust my butt to work to get the stain out. 
And if I can’t get it out the next guests dings me on cleanliness!

[Sarah977]

@John-Henry0  Removable, washable slipcovers on upholstered furniture makes things easier, and it looks in your photo gallery like you do have them on many pieces. 

Do you ask guests to please not walk around or sit on couches with food or drink? 

I don't know why you would get so many clumsy guests, but of course people do spill things and many won't mention it.

[Colleen253]

@John-Henry0 I have a request in my house guide to 'please let me know before checkout if accidents happen, issues arise' etc. Helps a bit, but there will always be 'that guest'. Annoying, but the only recourse you have is your review of them.

[John-Henry0]

I do have that written in my letter that I place on the table, right next to the keys and guidebook. But I guess I need to change the verbiage to say as soon as an accident occurs to let me know.

One guest spilled a whole cup of coffee the first night she was there. She had a 12 stay! Needless to say the rug was ruined. I did ask her to pay for the special overnight freight on the new rug. And she did.

[John-Henry0]

Yes I agree on the review part. 
Frankly anytime I don’t give a stellar review, the guests respond back in amazement, justifying at how hard they worked to make sure the house was clean. 
I am also seeing that only good reviews are being given by hosts so as to not hurt anyone’s feelings.

But that is defeating the purpose of the review. I find that guests have no problem knocking me down in their review of my house.

[Sarah977]

@John-Henry0  Yes, this business of leaving "nice" reviews for guests who caused damage or left a mess is really aggravating. It's not being nice, it's lying!  Lying to other hosts, how rude is that. 

What I really hate is when hosts say they left low star ratings, because the guest can't see them, but a nice, or non-committal written review. For one thing, hosts who do not use IB are not privy to see star ratings of guests- we rely on  the written reviews. And to rate poorly and review well is just cowardly and dishonest. 

If hosts are such wimps that they are too scared or squirmy about leaving an honest review, better to leave no review at all.