Why do people move things or furniture? THERE IS AN AWESOME REASON USUALLY!

[K-R67]

My favorite reason for moving around a couple of pieces of furniture is the view. I want to wake up and look directly out onto the ocean.  

My second favorite reason for moving around a couple of pieces of furniture is the proximity of the bed and the view of the fireplace.

My third favorite reason for moving around a couple of pieces of furniture is the proximity of the dining table/desk and the view directly out onto the ocean and the proximity to the fireplace. All the things I'm paying several hundred dollars a night to see that a host should really just do for me before I even get there if I want.. Talk about up tight, disrespectful and unprofessional.  I read one where one stated it was "disrespectful" to the owner's taste or something--WTF? I'm paying to borrow your view.  The view you can't afford either or the view you just want other people to pay for for you. It should be immaculately (as reasonably possible) cleaned--older things are just old sometimes not dirty--dirty is just dam dirty. The cleaning bill is expensive and not one word should be said about putting things back where they go by the hosts staff, they need to do an inventory anyway. DO NOT EVER RENT FROM THOSE KINDS OF HOSTS, **

**[Some content changed/removed inline with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Robin4 · Accepted solution]

@K-R67 

Sorry, I wish I knew you name, it feels so impersonal responding to numerals.

That said, I understand entirely what you are saying! The host has set their listing up for a certain internal ambiance.....they want it to look at its best in the listing description because that is what attract future bookings, and that may conflict with some of the aspects the listing has to offer from your point of view!

You may wish to drag that comfortable recliner chair across the room to make the most of that view. But in doing so you scratch that floating floor the host spent a grand or more installing to provide a nice looking space for guests. Do you think that is fair and the host should just suck up that damage for the next guest to criticise in the review system.

K-R67 you don't understand the lengths some of us go to in attempting to provide a nice experience for our guests.

I understand you may be paying a couple of hundred dollars a night for the convenience. We hosts are paying a couple of hundred dollars a night to maintain that standard that you will in a flash mark us down for if it does not meet yours because of damage previous guests have done by moving things around to suit themselves.

Hosting is a hard gig, every guest is different with a  conflicting idea of what is acceptable and what is not.

I host in an 80 year old converted garage, there are cracks in the floor and the walls, I am all the time attending to maintenance items. But no listing will be cleaner than what I offer! We go to extraordinary length to make sure the bed linens have ironed creases in them for every guest. The floors are vacuumed and mopped, the chrome fittings are spotlessly clean, no guest will ever find a cobweb or an unattached human hair in my cottage. But having said that, although over 820 Airbnb reviews my rating average is 4.94 out of a possible 5 my lowest rating is for 'cleanliness'. Despite what you say K-R67 some guests do associate old with dirty.....and no matter what lengths we go to, there is nothing we can do about that!

However, I don't have an endless swimmer outside the door, or a manicured 18 hole golf course through a gate in the back fence but, guests beat a path to my listing. In 2024 we had a total of 18 vacant nights. From the 1st October last year to the end of January this year we have a total of 3 vacant night.......

We hosts do not expect you as the guest to prepare for the next guest. We don't expect you to wash the bed linens, clean the floors, wash down the shower alcove, take out the trash, restock the fridge with eggs and bacon, fruit juice, milk,  water, a cheese plate and a bottle of wine, check that all the lights and the smoke alarm function properly, remake the bed with fresh linens, supply fresh bath towels. This is what my $20 cleaning fee covers.

We just expect you to return the properties fitting to the condition and position you found them in when you entered.

And if that is expecting too much perhaps you are a guest that we would rather have look elsewhere.

Cheers.......Rob.

[K-R67]

Hi @Robin4, I am Kimberly. I think we've gotten way off on the wrong foot here. I am upset that you would assume that we(I) are(am) the type of renter(s) that would go in your house and destroy your floors. I hope everyone had photographs of the condition of the property if or when these kinds of things might have occurred.  I was a private duty nurse for some years and once rented a house for one of my patients. We stayed 2 weeks, just her and me. I had looked high and low for a beach house rental (700 to 2000 per day here in the states) that was easily accessible for both of us. I stayed in the downstairs bedroom and requested that one of the beds from upstairs or downstairs be placed in the living room next to the fireplace and overlooking the ocean. I also requested that all the extra dining table chairs be placed in a unused portion of the house (it was a 3 level beach house with an open concept living/dining/kitchen we were only using 1) and the table moved closer to the window to act as a dining/desk area for the both of us to sit at throughout the day. The only other thing they moved over was one of the couches. One of realtor's sounded much like you--he thought i was nuts but another was quite happy to accommodate the two of us and got paid. I'm not sure what the rant was about cleanliness and old or not being maintained--i was just commenting on someone else's comments--and I said, old is just old and does not mean it is unclean, dirty is just dirty.  Was that some review of your place? I don't have any idea about your place in Australia. It sounds like a BnB. Rentals don't usually come with food, juice, cheese plates or wine, and the cleaning fee is certainly not 20.00 for anywhere here. I believe even years ago, it was 79.00 for the cleaning company now I'm sure that's gone up too. We were in fact responsible for taking the trash out and stuff too. And, yes, I had to maintain the cleanliness of the house for that 2 weeks--floors, etc. My point was that as I renter if i have a special request and it is humanly possible the rental company should do everything they can to accommodate us, and yes, i expect the place to have been well cleaned--we are paying for that. If you are putting in all that work for 20.00, it's no wonder your place rented 350 nights a year.  Sorry, if we just misunderstood one another. The realtor we ended up renting from was even nice enough to have the cleaning company place a mattress cover on the mattress for when we arrived, I had bought two for it and figured i'd have to put it on. Not all beach renters are college students or families.

[Robin4]

@K-R67 

Hi Kimberly, yeah you are right, you can't generalise, every situation is different.

It's a bit like cleaning up, I tell my guests not to tidy up, just check-out with your belongings and leave the work to me. I don't want to have to second guess what a guest might have done, or not done. As good as you might be with your care of the hosts property Kim, the next guest won't give a da*n, and that is what leads to damage claims.

Sure I will work with my guests, if they have a special requirement I will do my best to accommodate it......after all we hosts strive for great reviews because that is where our future business comes from. 

Even to trivial things, I instruct my guests to leave the dishes, glasses on the benchtop so I can put anything they have used through the dishwasher. That way I know the next guest is not going to pull a glass out of the cupboard only to find a lipstick stain on it!

I do run a B&B and I do love the interaction I have with my guests and I try to provide the best experience within the limitations of what my property offers.....

I didn't mean to be critical of you per se Kim, but on a forum like this we have to talk in generalities, I have no doubt through your clarification you are a fine guest, but as a host I do need to offer a hosts perspective on things a guest might not have considered.

Sorry if I misunderstood you.

Cheers.........Rob.

[Inna22]

@K-R67 I have a cleaning crew and it is not their job to move the furniture back after you moved it. It is heavy and it is not in their job description. They do not have time for it. If you choose to move something- move it back. Some hosts may not have a permanent cleaning crew and might not even know that the things did not go back where they belonged.

You obviously think you know better than hosts so they way you do it is the right way. That is a very narrow minded point of view. 

There can be a multitude of reasons for the lay out- better flow of the house, easier to clean, cover the flaws, reach the outlets.

This is clearly an important topic to you- you even did a bit of "yelling" with all caps. Perhaps looking at pictures and making an informed booking decision that would make sense for you instead of booking what does not and then making the host conform to your taste. 

You can also consider putting things back, just like you are expected to not leave any other major clean up for the host (I assume you do not?) and then make a private comment. Guests give me constructive feedback all the time. Right now you are making an anonymous post (no picture no name) on what is mainly a host community and accusing us of doing things incorrectly. That is not constructive.

It is in my house rules to put any furniture back you choose to move. About once a year I arrive to a house for a turn over to find a couch shoved through a narrow hallway or chairs all on different floors. I then have to scramble to hire movers and that cost is well above any cleaning fee my guests pay.

Judging by your overall attitude (insults about hosts not being able to afford the view themselves, curse abbreviations), I am thinking you are not my type of guest anyway so I am hoping you will see my house rules and move on. 

Good luck in your travels. Enjoy the view!