"Plus" host refused to provide cleaning materials & expect me to wait 8 hours for a repair

[Netta5]

I'm using Airbnb nonstop and I love it. Recently I encounter an uncomfortable experience and I would like to hear your opinion please. Just to note, it's Airbnb plus and I assumed it should be better, but I was wrong. Unfortunately, I booked this place for one month so I can't leave 😞

I arrived at the Airbnb, there were some dysfunctions, I took pictures of them but I thought that I can handle with them, just for the worst-case scenario, and told the host about some of them.

On the first night, I planned to use the dishwasher after I cooked and I noticed that the door cannot be closed because there's an accumulation of calcium beneath (I guess because of the time of the quarantine there were no guests here). In the morning after I send a message to the host, he responded after 6 hours that he'll invite a repairman for the day after that will come between 10:00-14:00. 

I was uncomfortable with that because the host itself told me he didn't come to welcome me because of the COVID-9 issues, and anyway all the time he sent his friend to check things because he's not in the city (So he lied apparently).

On the day after I ruined my plans for the morning and I was waiting. At 13:00 while I was waiting he wrote to me that the repairman canceled so he wants to invite him for the day after in the afternoon (also with a time-frame of 4 hours). He told me that I don't have to be in the apartment but I told him that I don't feel comfortable with that because I want to make sure that his friend and the repairman are using masks and also there's no place here to lock my stuff so I'm a bit concern. 

Anyway, the host wasn't nice at all, he all the time repeated that it's not his fault and when he sent me the message at 13:00 he wrote me "at least you were waiting only 3 hours, and not 4" like he has no respect to my time at all. All the time I tried to contact Airbnb and they replayed after 2 days and were not responsive and feel like they don't care at all. But I wanted to have a dishwasher so I wanted to give it another chance maybe, but then I realized that there is not even one cleaning material in the apartment and thought that of course there's a chance that the repairman or his friend would like to use the toilet and it won't be humane not to let them. So I asked the "Plus" host and he told me that "honestly" he gave me a monthly discount so he doesn't think he should provide me any cleaning materials. I tried to explain to him that it's also for his good to maintain the apartment but he refused. Besides, he sent me a message and wrote that he thinks that it was a "mystery" what happened to the dishwasher because the cleaning team told him they cleaned it but luckily I had a pic I took 1.5 hours after I arrived showed clearly that the door of the dishwasher is open and that there's an accumulation of salt beneath. 

In all my last Airbnbs there were cleaning materials even if it was not written in the amenities. I was surprised that he refused to provide me and more surprised that Airbnb told me that he shouldn't provide me because it wasn't written in the amenities. I saw articles of Airbnb where they wrote clearly that the host should provide cleaning materials because of the COVID-9 situation.

In the meanwhile, I wash the dishes by hand and count my days until check out 😞

I'm doing all I can to be a polite & clean guest, the only reason I want cleaning materials is that I care for the place I stay in and I want to keep it nice & clean.

I'm very disappointed with Airbnb that they don't try to help to find another place. The behavior of the host makes me feel uncomfortable staying here. I understand that people can have financial problems but I don't think that I ask something that isn't basic. I really want to leave 😞

Thanks,

Netta

[Huma0]

@Emilia42 

I think it really depends on the guest (and probably the location too: I live on a busy road so dust does get in). I give long-term guests the option of having their rooms cleaned for a small fee or doing it themselves. I find that, although the male guests usually go for the first option, the female guests prefer to do it themselves.

Whether they then do it or not is another matter! People have very differing ideas of 'clean'. True, vacuuming (and mopping even more so) are not that common, but some do keep their rooms very tidy and vacuum from time to time, whereas many do no cleaning at all.

Does the floor take longer to clean when they haven't done it? Well, yes, quite often. The latter type of guest usually leaves small bits and pieces, like coins, bobby pins etc. on the floor which have to be collected before you can vacuum. One guest did not do any cleaning in her room for months and it took me two days to get the room 'check in ready' for the next guest.

We're just talking about the bedrooms here, as it's a shared house. I can handle the idea of a bedroom not being vacuumed for a month, but areas like the kitchen and bathrooms where people are dropping crumbs and tiny bits of food and shedding hair? No, definitely not. My kitchen/diner and entrance hall get vacuumed at least every two days, if not every day, but maybe I am a bit obsessive about that.

I get your point that most guests are not actually going to use the vacuum cleaner, but I would think that a small broom and dustpan in the kitchen would be essential for long stays.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

I get it. While it's not a problem now to find these kinds of products here, for several weeks after the pandemic was announced, the cleaning aisles of the supermarkets were bare. 

 

Luckily I keep quite a mammoth stock of product under the sink as I tend to bulk buy when it's on offer, but don't get me started about toilet paper. Although I keep a reasonably large stock of that too, I had three long-term guests staying at the time and so we did almost run out. One guest even brought some back from her trip to Scotland. It was that desperate!

However, if we're just talking about cleaning product/equipment in general (rather than items that are currently scarce due to COVID-19), I find it unlikely that many guests would steal that. I am a live in host so I never have items stolen. Damages, yes plenty, but not theft.

As several hosts had mentioned on this thread and on others that they don't keep cleaning product in their Airbnbs for fear of it being stolen, I asked a few times if they actually had experienced this, but none answered so I am guessing the answer is no. Is it not then a bit paranoid and, where does one draw the line? Do we stop providing towels, plates, cutlery, in case a guest steals them? And honestly, how many guests are going to try to squeeze a mop and bucket into their suitcase?

[Huma0]

I've only had one related 'incident', which actually made me laugh more than anything else. During the toilet paper crisis mentioned above, I did notice the girls seemed to be going through it faster than normal. Then, when one guest left, I realised she had been hoarding some of it in her room. She handed it back to me saying she had been able to buy some at the pharmacy (I had told them it was the only place I had been able to find it at the time - at double price!) but that was not the case as I could see that it was the stuff that I normally get from the supermarket. So, she had decided to take it from the bathroom and hide it in case we ran out. So much for solidarity!

[Emilia42]

@Huma0 I think that my biggest thing is that my apartments are set up like hotel rooms. I used to work in a hotel and for a time in housekeeping. So I have lug around my "maid's cart" to each of my three listings (they are across the street from one another so it's not too bad) and then I have a "maid's closet" within my own space where I stockpile all my supplies. Like a hotel room, I don't leave any extra supplies in the space. Whatever I leave I lose access to for the duration of the guest's stay. And there are many things that I do not have three of. I expect the guest to reach out to me like they would reach out to a front desk if they need anything. But I am very receptive to requests (unlike the OPs host.) 

[Huma0]

@Emilia42 

That sounds like a sensible set up. If the guests have the ability to request something, that's fair enough.

Of course, like you say, the OP's host was not like that. When she reached out to him, she was told she couldn't have cleaning materials because she had got the room at a low price. The fact that it was a Plus listing made this seem even worse.

I don't really care if Airbnb are scrapping Plus or not as others have argued. I don't see how that's relevant to this case. If a host is still advertising their listing under that banner, with all the spiel about how the listing will have all the amenities that you have at home and that the host will go above and beyond, that is what the guest was sold and that should be honoured. Personally, I realised ages ago that Plus was a bit of a con, but I can why it might not appear that way to a guest who doesn't spend ages reading threads on the CC.

[Sarah977]

@Emilia42  So if a guest broke a glass at 1AM, they'd just have to avoid stepping on all the shards of broken glass until the morning when they could call you, or wake you up by calling you at 1AM? 

I don't think it's necessary to leave a entire array of cleaning equipment, but some basics like a broom and a dustpan, a cleaning cloth and a bottle of cleanser in case they need that stuff doesn't seem like a big deal- I'd certainly want that if I were a guest.

[Emilia42]

@Sarah977 There is a broom and dustpan. But it also doesn't seem like a big deal to use a washcloth to maneuver the glass into a small pile at 1 am and let the host know about it in the morning. It also doesn't seem like a big deal to buy a bottle of spray cleaner when out getting groceries for the week. But I'm just too flexible I guess. 

[Sarah977]

@Netta5  I'm glad you found yourself a better place. But FYI, the Airbnb rep, as so often happens, told you what he thought you wanted to hear or was misinformed. Nowhere is it stated that cleaning supplies are a  requirement for hosts to provide.

[Christie137]

I have your answer -go stay at a hotel! Guests are so rude because you have no clue the costs hosts have to be pay to operate an Airbnb . You get an entire house probably for a low price to accommodate probably more than 4 people. Maybe do a comparison in price staying in a hotel as it may be more cost effective for you . Hosts try to provide as many supplies as possible but to keep your rate as low as possible these extras will require the host to charge more. Not to mention hosts are charged the same tax and fees as a large hotel so the host makes even less when some people rely on this as their livelihood. A good host tries to provide the basics but is not required to and washing dishes isn’t the end of the world but it would have been nice for the host give a small credit but you as a guest should expect nothing more. It’s unfortunate with guests who hold this against the host and give low rating because they didn’t provide enough toilet paper etc. . Guests are rated too, and the more you complain unless it’s major May lead Airbnb to eventually deny you because there were so many complaints about you as a guest.