What should a guest do before they leave re: cleaning/tidying?

Answered!
Jill41
Level 1
Hove, United Kingdom

What should a guest do before they leave re: cleaning/tidying?

I have just had a guest who left unwashed crockery, one of the toilets was disgusting, wet towels everywhere, duvets on floor, gas hob thick with grease and dirty greasy kitchen surfaces. I wrote a neutral review saying they were friendly and communicated well before the hosting. I choose to let him know privately that I was surprised at how the apartment was left but made it friendly and offering understanding if there had been a problem but I got this back

 

'Did you really expect us to clean the house before leaving? I think you don't even know what kind of service you are offering. Airbnb is about renting your house as a Hotel, It is not like couch surfing, where people do it for free. I paid more than 400 € for only 3 nights in your old apartment and after that amount of money, that is almost a robbery for the quality of the flat, you are cheeky enough to tell me about the cleaning? You are charging almost a half monthly salary for only 3 nights, you must be able to clean it after all. We didn't break anything, but as you should understand like when I go to a hotel I don't care about tidying or cleaning, because I don't have to do it. .....the house full of boxes everywhere, and the bathrooms were pretty dirty when we came in. So please, stop saying bull**bleep**, take your money that you probably don't even pay taxes for that and this business is totally under the table and don't text me again. I will tell you again just to make it clear, when you pay such a crazy amount of money for a renting, you don't have to clean after being in the house, you must take care like we did and don't break anything.'

 

The apartment is professionally cleaned in between each guest and the bathrooms are spotless so he has lied about that. I don't charge a cleaning fee. There are no boxes laying around and there is no smell - so my question is this - how should a guest be expected to leave a rental? Everyone else who has stayed has said the apartment is really clean and have left it fine. I expect to have to clean but not this level, am I expecting too much from my guests? 

 

He left me a great review.

 

Thanks for any advice so i can put it on my hosting:)

1 Best Answer
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi everyone,

 

Airbnb has Ground Rules for guests, which details the reasonable cleaning a guest should do when staying in a Hosts listing. You can see more here: Ground rules for guests

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

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Please follow the Community Guidelines 

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202 Replies 202
MariaCecilia22
Level 4
Los Angeles, CA

@Ashley850  as a home owner/host I think you did above and beyond especially with that cleaning fee charge, that's a bit much. Wish all my guests are just like you. 

I had the unfortunate experience of renting my home to our last guests. Guests left our home in such  bad shape to the point that the cleaning crew wants to terminate cleaning our home. As a host, I do not expect my guests to clean , such as mop the floor, sweep, or wash the bedding  but I do expect them to put the dirty towels they used in the wash and turn it on,  rinse their dirty plates and put in the dishwasher and take their trash with them. I have a thorough instruction as what needs to be done before check out. I also mention everything and anything on my listing so there are no surprises.  Others find my listing description including house rules long winded but I would rather have thorough house rules so that the guests will have a choice of booking my home or not. I feel that if my house rules are too much for the guest then my home is not the right home for them to rent. But even with my thorough house rules and guest agreeing to it, they don't  always adhere to them, like our last guest.

 

When I say "please leave the house in the condition you found it", doesn't mean do everything that the cleaning crew  did to prepare our home for the guests. It just means, clean after yourself (if you spill something wipe it down).If you use the dishes rinse them and put in the dishwasher. If your child take out a toy or a board game put it back when done. 

Just because guests pay for cleaning fee, this does not give them the right to leave your home in a terrible condition. Leaving your child's puke all over the bathroom is not okay for the host to clean up. Leaving old spoiled milk/cereal bowls, dirty pots and pans and trash all over the house is not okay. 

In short , put yourself in the person shoes who will be cleaning up your mess. Are you going to be okay  cleaning up someone's puke?

 

After this last guest experience, future guests can no longer book my home automatically. They will need approval from me first.  I am hoping this will deter those who are incapable of following my house rules.  

 

What is a reasonable cleaning fee? I try to book on Airbnb and the price for the night is good but the cleaning fee is half the total cost. It deters me because I clean after myself and the hosts never waive it or reduce the amount. I always leave the house in the shape I saw it and I also never use their linens. 

Hi,

Please don't think I'm being rude here  

 

"but I do expect them to put the dirty towels they used in the wash and turn it on" is (in my opinion) a ridiculous expectation.  You want your guests to do laundry on their holiday/vacation?


"I have a thorough instruction as what needs to be done before check out".   I hate being told to put out the trash, take sheets off the beds and put them somewhere.  Please know that as a guest this is a terrible experience and was a host I would never leave a list of instructions like that for my guests.
Good guests will leave the place in good condition and if you get horrible people like you clearly have they won't pay attention to 
your list anyway.

Oh and my sympathy for this last guest of yours and I hope I don't experience this.

 

Your rule book would solicit a bad review from me even although I'm a complete clean-freak!

"please leave the house in the condition you found it" is more than sufficient in my opinion.

 

good for you.

Mark1340
Level 4
London, United Kingdom

It's an old post but very interesting to read.

We're certainly not at the premium side of the market and we do charge £45 for a cleaning fee which seems okay to me for a 3 bedroom house.

As a very experienced guest travelling all around Europe and the US using Airbnb I always leave the place as close to how I found it as possible.  I wouldn't be bleaching the toilets and scrubbing surfaces but a quick wipe down of the kitchen take no time at all and it's respectful.  For me that wouldn't matter how much I'd paid but I can see that being the case for some.  Liberals, don't slap me for saying this but there is also cultural aspect to this too.

As a brand new host I now need to set my own bar on what's considered the proper way to leave our home.  Guests are often on holiday at our place, it's a tourist town so I want them to enjoy themselves so we'll see if I become a hard-ass or a soft-touch.

Kristine186
Level 2
Snow Camp, NC

I have found this thread very interesting and helpful.

During a recent stay our "host" left my sister and I with one roll of TP for 5 nights. His response is, "We're not a hotel." No soap in the hand soap dispenser (no other soap on premises) and a Nescafe machine, but only 5 pods.  He asked us to vacuum, do all dishes, leave sheets, all bed linens and towels in the bathroom, take out the trash. I did it all. Then he proceeded to give ME a bad review. Is there something I'm not understanding? When he asked me to clean should I have scrubbed the bathroom top to bottom? Is that what's expected? 

@Kristine186  This host was unreasonable as far as the toilet paper and soap. Washing your dirty dishes, and cleaning up after yourself (not heavy-duty cleaning) is something all respectful adults should do, because an Airbnb host isn't a personal maid. Taking out your trash and dealing with the linens is something a lot of hosts request, especially if it's a budget-priced place or there is no cleaning fee charged.

Did the host mention any of this in his listing info? Does he say in his listing and under the amenities section that he provides toilet paper and soap? Airbnb hosts aren't required to provide anything other than what they say they do, and even if those things seem really basic (it seems incredibly cheap and unhospitable not to give guests TP and soap, IMO) if the host doesn't say they provide something, you can't expect it. Guests need to read everything in the ad thoroughly.

If the host says he provides something and doesn't, or doesn't mention in his ad what the expectations are re cleaning, you should mention all that in the review and it would fall under "accuracy" in the star ratings. But always make sure you haven't just missed reading all of the listing info before downgrading a host for something they never said they provided or finding that you're expected to do cleaning that actually was mentioned in the listing info.

What is the rule? If they charge a large amount for a cleaning fee, does the guest clean? 

I’ve asked multiple times to waive or reduce the cleaning fee because I bring my own sheets and fold the hosts and put them away. I take my trash with me. We wash all the dishes and place them back. Essentially we leave the place like we saw it and we leave it ready for the next guest, but I keep getting charge a lot for the cleaning and my family and I clean the whole day before leaving. So I’m confused.