@Sarah977 thank you for saying this. I literally had a little flashback, no exaggeration, when I read the part in the OP about entering the space when the guests were out.
@Sheryil0, I don't think you have ill intentions in popping in and tidying up but unless it's in your listing that you do so, it's a passive-aggressive boundary violation, a violation of privacy. I say this not to judge you but to tell you how it feels in the receiving end if you're not aware.
I didn't leave her a bad review, but I had a host with sticky boundaries like this. She showed me an occupied unit I was interested in while a guest was out, though I kept telling I'd rather wait, and folded my laundry (and underwear) and brought it to me when I asked her to just call out when the dryer was finished and I'd come get it myself. I had to kindly remind her going forward to just call out, don't do it again. One day at the end of the stay I went out, and I left my laptop open in front of the door with the video recording and a note next to the screen that said it was a violation of my privacy to enter when I wasn't there and thank you for understanding. When I returned, she happened to be outside. She smiled and kissed my cheek, but her eyes were on fire! Unfortunately, the recording stopped a couple minutes after I left, or I would have contacted Airbnb, let alone given a bad review. I didn't know how to speak up for myself then, and I loved the space so I put up with small things -- and they are simultaneously small and big -- but now I would say exactly what I said here. She was very, very nice and helpful, but niceness combined with crossing boundaries isn't really nice. It's nice aggression.
Now every Airbnb I stay in, when I go out, I leave a strap I cut from a tank top tucked in the door jamb. I'll know if it was disturbed, and it gives pause to anyone who would think it's okay to enter in my absence. In two years of long-term stays, no one has.
