Fragrance Free Filter

Susan612
Level 8
United States

Fragrance Free Filter

Hello I am looking for hosts that would like a fragrance free filter added to the accessibility filters. And yes for those who might not know fragrance  a disabling for some and acknowledged as such under ADA definition.

 

32 Replies 32

I disagree and most of the time...fragrance free people complain after finding the evidence like me...drawers full of plug ins and candles or an air freshener pump in in each room...it has to be something that has been used constantly for weeks and months for us to have an issue. Hosts could advice not to use those things like hosts now advice for no smoking...why do they do the smoking...because it is a health issue and a safety hazard. Same with frarances. 

Rachael316
Level 3
Albany, NY

As much as I love condescending men and ableism, @Susan612 is absolutely correct in saying this would benefit a large number of people. I think the way to do this, since there is no legal definition of the word fragrance-free at this time, is for airbnb to work with the community of folks with sensitivities to come up with a list of acceptable products for laundry, cleaning, etc. and have the hosts who apply that filter to their listing be required to only use the products off that list. Then at least the folks booking those stays would know what to expect and could plan ahead to best accommodate their disability further. 

Whether hosts choose to utilize these accessibility features and make their homes accessible to them is up to them, however, there's a very large community of people who would be interested who are likely all willing to pay more for spaces that won't make them physically ill. Multiple international studies show that 30% of the population has at least some sensitivity to fragrances, including folks with MCS, migraines, mast cell diseases, asthma, people undergoing chemotherapy, and those who are pregnant. 

Jean5718
Level 3
Salt Lake City, UT

I have MCS.  I have successfully stayed in two locations.  I have failed at six locations.  I did ask about fragrance free linen, no air freshener and fragrance free cleaning products.  It completely sucks when you ask are told it's fragrance free and you have to turn around and drive home.  I have had to drive for 20 hours, after getting blasted with fragrance. Also,  paid thousands of non-refundable dollars for the torture.  There definitely needs to be a fragrance free search option and some recourse for the renter.  I would travel often and everywhere if I could trust the owners to be honest.

@Jean5718   I'm confused.   Your own experience seems to suggest that 'fragrance free' is extremely subjective.  Multiple hosts have told you their space was fragrance free and yet it was not satisfactory for your needs. 

Yes, that is what they have said.  I don't think it's confusing when there are lavender trash bags, scented candles, plug-in air fresheners.  Scented things are fragrant and trigger an autoimmune reaction, fragrance free does not.  I have dilegently asked and clarified, then straight up lied to about it.

@Jean5718   I seriously doubt the hosts deliberately lied to you with the intention that you'd get sick, drive back home, and give them a bad review. Maybe they genuinely thought they were accommodating your needs but misunderstood your condition and the full extent of your sensitivities (as most people without MCS tend to do). Or, maybe the cleaning staff misunderstood the altered changeover instructions (also happens all the time, especially when language barriers are involved). 

 

If you want a "fragrance-free" filter, all it takes to activate it is a host clicking a tickbox. So what you get is a lot more hosts seeming to offer that without knowing what it means. I really don't see how that would be helpful to you.

Making the tickbox checked would require more from hosts than just clicking a box. They would be taken to an extra page that has a community-approved checklist that includes:

- no scented candles

- no plug-in or spray air fresheners, no "scent sticks"

- a positive list of cleaning, disinfection and laundry products, only products from that list can be used

- no dish soaps , except products from a positive list

- no toilet bowl freshener

- no soaps, shampoos etc. in the bathroom except possibly products from a positive list (almost all fragrance-sensitive people travel with their own body care products)

 

The page would ask hosts to commit to playing by these rules, and further educate them that the issue is of a medical nature, and that violating these rules can cause disabling symptoms to guests.

 

No, it wouldn't be perfect. Properties could still have smells from previous guests. But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. The checkbox, with detailed information and education attached as I describe here, would be a HUGE improvement for fragrance free travelers.

 

Hosts who find all this too burdensome, to unworkable, would be free to simply not activate the box.

I can testify some hosts do really LIE. That is my experience. They think we will not notice or we might but we will loose the money and move on or they do not plain believe some people have real health conditions because that as I have found also in public forums.

Yes. I was even told by a host that Gain is fragrance free or it scents goes away after minutes...when Gain lasts weeks and it is with Tide some of the most highly fragranced products in the market with a special technology to last up to 3 months mininum. I ask if they use.....x...x...and x...and they tell me no. When I ask what they use then...they say exactly what they just told me they do not...or we show up and we find all the plug ins in a drawer still stinking...and then they confess they were just removed the day before I came...when I told them I don;t book places were plug ins have been used and they promise me there were never used...This is what Jean means and you loose the money and have no place to be plus you might feel so sick from driving plus the chemical reaction to all of this. 

@Jean5718 Likely these same hosts who told you the property was "fragrance-free" would be the same ones who are checking a box within the listing indicating it is "fragrance-free." Do you really think that they are "lying" to you? I would bet that when they don't have sensitivities themselves, they don't know what scent free entails beyond using Free & Clear laundry detergent.

I messaged the hosts and asked very directly.  I also did a follow-up message.  I did not get any refunds.

That is indeed the experience of many of us who are MCS and/or fragrance-sensitive. I get a sense that the people who keep flippantly rejecting our requests for support from Airb&B on this do not really understand what it can be like to have a reaction to fragrances in a space.

 

It can feel like you're literally dying. Your throat and chest are tight. It feels like you're suffocating. Your heart is racing. Your eyes are burning. Your limbs are tingling. Your skin may feel like it's on fire. Your head is pounding, pulsing, throbbing. Sleep is totally impossible. It feels like you need to go to an ER NOW. Except you don't need an ER, you just need clean air that doesn't make you sick.

 

That is what this "wellness" feature that makes people "more relaxed" and "feel at ease"  and "lifts their spirit" does to anywhere from 10% to 30% of the population.

 

Dear hosts who are not fragrance-sensitive: try to feel some empathy and try to understand how important this is for us. This is not even in the same ballpark as all the trivial luxuries that AirB&B currently officially supports via checkboxes. It's a basic survival type thing, something like having heat in a place in the Alaskan winter, or air conditioning in the Phoenix summer.  

 

It needs a solution that works for everyone. We are not going to stop raising this issue.

 

Seamus28
Level 1
Durham, NC

Wow! The gaslighting in these comments to OP is ridiculous. Although there is not fragrance-free filter for Airbnb I have a google "hack" that works pretty well.

1) In the google search field type " airbnb.com: " adding the colon will tell google to only search airbnb.com I use this feature for a lot of websites. very useful.

2) then after the colon, type "fragrance free" in quotes.  The quotes will look for those 2 words together. 

3) then type where you want to go. 

 

Ex) airbnb.com: "fragrance free" alaska

4) Then search the listing description for "fragrance" using Command F / CTRL F

Monica107
Level 3
Chicago, IL

I have olfactory nerve-brain damage.  Those synthetic fragrances are highly toxic to my brain. I get very sick. Away from them I'm a normal healthy person. I struggle to travel with this condition. Many hosts say they can accommodate me and they lie when providing info requested so I can make a healthy decision for me just for the money.  Clean has no smell!!  For me clean is to pass my finger, cotton, white paper and not have black or dark marks. We need fragrance free places!!!  30% of americans react badly to them and they are harmful in the long run to EVERYONE even if the doctors will never match a health condition with them. There are so many cheap cleaning products and ways out there.to clean and disinfect .that are fragrance free!!! many cheaper than they products everyone seems to be using and they are approved by CDC/EPA/FDA and state health departments approved!!! Please hosts change and join the fragrance free..We are great humble guests who will treat your place as the most precious thing due to we appreciating your place in a matter no other guest can appreciate. We will value your effort of making a rental toxic free and for sure we do not smoke and will not damage your place. 

Carisa13
Level 1
Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA

Plug-in air fresheners give me instant migraines and my 6yr old has breathing issues… even after they’ve been unplugged for more than 24 hours.  These things should be banned or at least require to be noted.