How many towels do you leave for guests?

[Jenny]

Hello everyone!

Today, I’m here to discuss towels.

They come in all shapes and sizes, some are soft and fluffy, some are rough and worn, and the bathing experience would be pretty uncomfortable without them.  Unless you like air drying!

As we all know, guests come in all shapes and sizes too, and they all have individual needs and expectations when they book a listing. Some might bring their own towels, but others might prefer the convenience of having towels provided at the listing. After all, they’re bulky and take up valuable packing space.

I’m curious to know if you leave towels out for your guests!  How many?  What kind?  If you don’t provide towels for your guests, feel free to chime in and let us know more!

I’m looking forward to hearing your answers!

Jenny

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Jenny 

In most Korean homes, use of large fluffy bath towels is rare.... probably because of limited storage space, plus dryers are not yet a common household appliance so laundry is air-dried on racks. During our humid summers, large thick towels don't dry well, but frequent showers are a must, so most people (including Henry and myself) will use several small towels rather than one large big towel. 

Since we hosted only foreigner guests, we decided to get a few bath towels and provided 1 bath + 2 hand towels per week - this always seemed to be enough. We preferred not to leave a lot of extras out so only 1 extra hand towel in the bathroom cabinet, but instead, we let our guests know that they could always ask for more towels if needed. 

[Jenny]

I often prefer an air dried towel myself @Jessica-and-Henry0! I live in Scotland where we hang out our washing all year round, unless it's snowing or raining!  Saves on bills and I love the smell of freshly line-dried fabric.

Do many of your guests ask for the extra towels?

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Jenny 

Only guests with long hair seemed to need an extra towel every once in a while 😃 For most, what we provided always seemed to be sufficient~ 

I've recently started looking into a full body dryer for my own personal use. I keep a small box fan next to the bathroom all year round and Henry thinks it's time to upgrade 😂

https://www.rollingstone.com/product-recommendations/lifestyle/ozwind-body-dryer-review-1146283/

[Jenny]

Oh wow!  Today I learned about the existence of the body dryer!  Thanks @Jessica-and-Henry0 - one of these would be amazing for the summer months here.  Not that Scotland has a very long summer, but it's so cold for the rest of the time that when it gets very hot, I never feel prepared!

If you end up buying one of these I'd love to hear your feedback!

[Ana2038]

@Jenny , my listing is set up more for short stays.  We provide each guest their own bath towel, hand towel and face towel and one bath mat. Our towels are white (yikes) but I also provide fragrance free individually wrapped make up remover towelettes. Just recently, we added a towel warmer which guests absolutely love. At times, the towels aren’t used, (guest bring their own), but regardless of use, we always wash the towels and bedding (bedspread, sheets etc….) after every stay. 

If we get someone staying longer, we do offer fresh towels/linens during their stay.

[Mariann4]

I leave one bath towel and one face clotch per guest. For stays for four or more nights I leave two towels. The bathroom is shared and I change the hand towel once a day when having guests. More often if needed/many guests.

Laundry is extremely resource demanding and I don't want to contribute to excessive usage of water and energy. Washing linen that has been slept in for one night is already extremely wasteful and reducing laundry is necessary. If towels are left out, they will be used. I don't want to encourage such usage. I also see this from many European guests: families tend to share towels with their kids and tell me which towels have not been used (everything left out gets washed anyways). Many don't shower every day. And except from one European group everyone knows to hang their towel to dry after use.

Others expect free reign on my towels. But when I tell them to hang them they often thank me for learning them to be more conscious about energy saving. Of course I don't deny them towels. I have plenty. I just nicely hang my own towel to dry when I understand that they are oblivious and careless, speak around it and they are learning something new.

I also don't have a dryer. Everything is air drying on a rack, over doors (duvet covers and stretchy sheets) and chairs in my shared home when it's raining. Which it does between 230 and 280 days every year here... And I won't hang all this when having guests. They get the tidy home-version.

But on the good days I have i big drying rack in the garden. So I try to dry all the Airbnb fabric in the sun, giving me actual laundry-days. 😊

[Z-2]

@Jenny we only have one house provide towels (one set of bath towels per guest). On other houses, we provide sheets/bedding only. The towels are not expensive and we can always buy them. But providing  towels make the turn over time much longer. If the cleaner take home wash them, it is not always reliable as in that particular location, labor is hard to find. The cleaner will clean at least 2 or 3 houses (as I know, some even take 4 or more houses) on weekend. Even like that, we always have extra clean sheets in our owners closet for cleaner in case they don’t have enough time to wash all on time). The guests can rent/buy them themselves.

[Michelle1851]

@Jenny 

I provide 

2 bath towels, a basket of washcloths, 2 hand towels, makeup wipes, terry robes, and spa hair towels per person. 

The secret to not having everything be used are the spa hair towels. By providing the slightly smaller yet quick drying hair  towel, guests aren’t using both large bath towels. I put a little note next to the towels explaining “ to twist and flip.”

[Trude0]

I leave loads of bath towels, hand towels and face cloths - baskets of them. And I host max 2 people, and short stays (typically 3 nights).

I think it feels a bit luxurious to many - even if they don’t use them all. 

I used to tumble dry them to make them softer - but that is definitely not an option anymore, for all of the obvious reasons. 

[Dimitar27]

3 for every guest is OK.

Small (hands/face), middle (hair) and big (body).

About the color...it will be good if the colors are different for every guest. No necessary, but works well.