Stained linens

[Thea-and--Keith0]

Other hosts.... please advise.  

Guests stayed for almost two weeks.  Unfortunately, they stained a minimum of 6 different towels (kitchen, face, bath), a set of king sheets and my comforter.  They were given a linen change after 6 days.  I didn’t even document the stains from the first linen change.  

I just threw the towels away but now they have stained the comforter with an ink pen and the king sheet with some body fluid that I am struggling to get rid of.  

Cost of business or request reimbursement?

[Huma0]

And @Lizzie, the problem with the ones that don't lose the stains after washing, yes they could be dedicated make up towels, but they just look dirty and grubby. You can't really present a guest with that. Some people swear by dark coloured or even black ones (I guess that's why most hair salons use black towels), but I find that those are harder to get stains out of. They just end up with bleach marks on them and look worse. At least with the white ones, you can give them a good dose of stain remover.

[Natasha45]

@Huma0 - I have two dark blue wash clothes rolled up in a fancy silver basket on my sink. It has really cut down on the staining of my white washclothes! 

[Huma0]

@Natasha45glad the dark washcloths are working out. I tried blue ones, but they also got stained and trying stain removers on them only left bleach marks, but I'll be using the washing up liquid on coloured fabrics from now on. Maybe I should have gone for dark blue ones as mine are quite light.

[Carrie415]

Eeewww how gross! I wish I took photos of makeup stained washcloths after hosting a weekend couple. Even though I provided makeup remover cloths I found 2 washcloths with perfect black eyes and tan color and red lips. Like I could have put googly eyes and made a puppet. I bought grey washcloths. @Huma0

[Stephanie1933]

@Huma0 That is awful! How could someone leave a facecloth in that state and not offer to replace it?!

[Tina80]

We found buying these dark colored wash clothes with the words makeup on them ( hint hint ) saved us tons of money on stained linens and towels . They are also cheaper than disposable makeup removers . 

[Kenneth12]

@Tina0 Can you post a link to that product on Amazon?

[Becky165]

Thanks, @Thea-and--Keith0 @Tina80 @Huma0 @Mel101 @Linda-And-Richard0 the make up wipes are a great idea. My first thought was if they didn’t want to use a wash cloth, would they use a makeup wipe? But it’s worth a try and certainly an inexpensive solution! I’ll try the stain removal suggestions also, presently I use  a product that has never let me down until this event. 

Thanks for the tips. Happy hosting! 

[Huma0]

@Beck0y (still haivng problems tagging), I'm giving the make up wipes a try (so far no one has used them but it's only been a few days) and will report back. Recent guests didn't wear make up, but left blood stains instead!

[Lisa-And-Amanda1]

I have had that too. you can send a money request but my guest (0 reviews) I just arguing why she has to pay me. never apologized either by the way. 

[Ned-And-Laura0]

We have lost a few pillow cases to wet hair that has hair dye in it.  In your case I would have said something after I saw the sheets and politely asked them to take care not to stain the next set of sheets.  But I think its just part of doing business.  Although you mentioned ink...did they draw on the sheets or did a pen just leak?  I would buy cheap white linens and just bleach the heck out of them and replace what won't come out.

[Wendy117]

I think it is the cost of doing business. After my third group from the UK ruined my bed linen with fake tan (took me ages to work out what it was as when questioned they were unable to tell me what it could be), I was told that because they do not get much sun there, they like to fake tan before they go to the beach here in Australia so they dont look too pale. They put it on and leave on overnight so that kills the bed linen. I now use less costly Ikea bed linen so am no longer devastated when  have to throw it out.

[Huma0]

By the way, I was out shopping yesterday and saw some super cute hand towels with embroidered make up slogans and pictures in the corner. I wish I had taken photos but you're not really allowed to do that in stores. I really considered buying them, but they were actually too nice to have ruined (and I bet theat would have happened with the first guests who got their hands or mucky faces on them) and not cheap enough to be disposible.

[Kenneth12]

Hi @Thea-and--Keith0,

This is frustrating,  but I think,  mostly a cost of doing business.  The question is,  how to keep the cost down?

I started out with linens in the $75-100+ plus range,  shopping around to try to match the quality at high-end hotels.

The problem?   At least in my experience,  they get stained rather quickly.   (I'll try Huma's Oxi suggestion;  Shout! doesn't seem to do it-- and there's the issue that most of our laundry gets done by a service,  so it's hard to catch).

At this point I've moved to $30-40 synthetics from Amazon (which,  frankly,  I'd never use for myself),  in relatively dark colors.  If you're losing a set in 1 of 10 stays,   that's at least not so bad.

Perhaps on the high end,   you could use very darks and dye occasionally.   Beyond my free time availability at this point.

In the situation you outline,   where multiple things were damaged,   I might have bothered with a claim-- but as others note,  ABB hardly makes it easy for hosts,  alas.   

It's always possible your guest has a medical or neurological problem,   which makes them more likely to to leave a pen open or the like-- part of being a good host,  as well,  is serving individuals across the spectrum,  courteously and graciously.

(Even my current difficult/problematic guest).

Otherwise,  I'd really like to hear any other suggestions,  which might keep the loss rate on linens down.

[Karina-Каринa0]

I have two solutions:

1. USE ONLY WHITE. You can use chlorine, bleach and other hard chemicals to remove stains. That is why cooks, hospital workers and laboratory personnel use white clothes. You can give it a harsh bleach in hot water.

2. TELL THE CUSTOMER YOUR SHEETS HAVE BEEN THOROUGHLY WASHED. When a guest arrives, I show them around and show things they need to know. One of the things I say is that I wash all towels in 95C celcius (almost boiling) and that they are ultra clean. I apologise, that if there are some stains, it is waterproof makeup which is impossible to wash away. Guests nodd and no more stains....