linens

[Jim-and-Joan0]

We have a cottage on Cape Cod and have done agency-managed weekly summer rentals, and are now using AirBnB. The customary practice for weekly rentals was to NOT include linens and towels. Our AirBnB clients seem mixed on bringing their own vs. having us provide them. We want to capture the cost of having the laundry expense and wear and tear. So the question is, how to best provide the option for linens? Seems like the options would be to charge it against a security deposit if folks use it, or just build it into the cleaning fee. Thanks for your suggestions.

[Julie131]

Try and have at least two sets of sheets for each bedroom and just fold the cost into the cost of the rental.  

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

You can't use the security deposit in that way.

Personally I think most people would prefer not to have the bother of bringing linens with them - so why not build it into your nightly/weekly price and offer it to all guests. That way there is no misunderstanding and no messing around with amended offers, etc

[Lisa40]

Cape Cod is in a world of its own with the linens. It is the only place that I have ever travelled that generally does not provide them. My family flies to Cape Cod annually and each year I search and search for a place that provides linens. I can't imagine packing a suitcase with enough towels and sheets to accommodate my family of five. Baggage fees alone would be $50 round trip. Plus, I may not have the sheets to fit your bed sizes. My vote is for you to provide the linens and up your nightly rate. Most of the laundromats on the Cape offer a vacation rental linen service where they wash and fold for a reasonable price.

[Annette33]

Lovely place you got! 🙂

I fully echo @Lisa40's remarks about providing linens: I simply will not stuff extra linen into my suitcase once I fly and then get a rental car...

how do you like this idea:

provide lines, but stagger your pricing, like keep the price where it is for 2, which includes linens on the bed in the master bedroom ( simply lock the other bed room dorrs??) , then increase, according to how many bedrooms will be used, and leave those accessible, while locking the ones not to be used. That gives you control and prevents unpleasant surprises.

That takes some finagling in your listing, but it can be done, and just speaking for myself, traveling  as a couple, we would appreciate not to have to pay the augmented price you will have to charge for 6...so if the price goes too high, I will bypass your lodging though I like it very much.

You have clearly identified the "no linen" situation in your listing, and I only learned from Lisa that that is what people on Cape Cod do. Not knowing that, it seemed a bit strange to me, and I imagine to quite a few other people as well.

One more thing you might want to pay attention to:

in contrast to your clear directive in writing about not providing linens, when I first clicked on your amenities, I saw that there you have essentials (linens and towels are considered essentials by Airbnb) listed as being provided, so that confused me a bit, and perhaps some other people will skip the write up and go straight to your amenities list...

[Karen-and-Will0]

We rent a single family home in the beach town of Ocean City, Maryland and I had the same struggles with sheets and towels. With all agent managed places it is customary for guests to bring their own linens. Many Airbnb listings also say bring your own sheets and towels. However, when I thought about it I realized I might have an advantage over other listings if I provided them. I bought two sets for each bed and then I ask prospective guests when they request to book if they will be bringing their own or if they would prefer to use ours. So far ALL five bookings have desired to have sheets and towels provided by us. To cover the cost I included it in the cleaning fee and increased the daily cost slightly.
Hope this info helps.

[Dan-And-Melissa0]

My wife and I would not stay anywhere that we have to provide our linens, or towels. We had no idea there is a place that typically requires this.

we provide all necessary items, including linens and towels, and even brand new ones at that. Laundry time is busy after each guest leaves and we have approx 3 sets of everything.  It's a small added expense to give our guests a great experience, and some extra time spent washing/drying. 

We we would highly recommend including all basic necessities and, as the previous poster mentioned, increase your price slightly, and cleaning fee slightly to incur these items!

[Anastacia0]

we stay at a place in NH, ON the lake and we always have bring our own linens. The spot is high demand ON the lake, and cheaper bc we do a lot of stuff ourselves. I have friends that Always bring their own linens to stay in HOTELS. my sister, whom traveled a lot, always brought her OWN towel in a carry on! Many people do it.

[Andrea678]

We have a large CC house (sleeps 12), that is managed by a local property mgr in the weekly (Sat-Sat) rental tradition. She does not provide linens or towels, but we offer them now for a nominal price (sheets, bath towels, and the all important beach towels).  Guests appreciate that. Half our guests come from New England and are used to bringing their own linens, and half are traveling long distances, so need the assistance. We like to keep the cleaning cost to a minimum so that is why we offer it as a additional service. One other tip: we stock our garage with beach toys for kids, beach chairs, umbrellas, etc. Most guests are good about leaving them for the next group. It is an extra cost to us, and most of the gear is worn out by the end of the summer, but it is a nice touch for a group not to have to go to the expensive beach store and by the gear for just a week.

[Silvana5]

I have a place in Cape Cod.  I charge extra for linen abd towels if they want the service as well as providing a list of local services where they can rent it from.  Locals are used to vacationing this way and appreciate the savings.  All have a choice this way.