Different expectations.

[Christina583]

So I had a guest just leave and say my unit was  unsuitable to them.  

Npw I have a cute homey unit that I rent out for about 70-75 a night. It’s not ritzy bit it’s cozy.  They thought the sheets were not clean, they were, just may have had a stain.

the stove had a small section of dirt that I may have missed cleaning. 

But they freaked out out when I had extra toiletries in the medicine cabinet( toothbrush). It was not used. I leave toiletries for people if they need them.

They didn’t like that there was bread and leftover things in the refrigerator. Not leftover boxes or anything just drinks and condiments.

people leave things and the next guest gets to use items etc.

i think they were expecting a hotel experience.

im a super host and this has never happened to me before.

crazy.

Anyone else?

[Paul1255]

Hey @Christina583 your listing looks really sweet.

Sounds like a difficult situation. I know from my personal experience if something is off cleaning-wise then guests then feel that the whole listing isn't clean- even if it is.

If there is a stain on the bedding, if there's some dirt on the stove they might question your overall standards. It has happened to me too!

I know for myself, I don't expect a hotel when I travel with airbnb but I expect the listing to look like the pictures- and the stove in your kitchen pic is sparkling and immaculate.

I'm sure it's great to have dry, non-perishable goods for guests when they come- I like having salt, pepper, seasonings, oil etc when I travel, but I wouldn't want bread or perishable items left from previous guests- again this might not give the best impression to guests checking-in, but this is just me!

But all our guests are different! You'd think extra toiletries, if sealed and unused would be seen as a positive thing- but who knows.

Don't let it get you down. If there is something you can learn from this guest experience, that can only be a positive thing.

Paul 🙂

[Robin4]

@Christina583

@Paul1255 has pretty much summed it up! There is an inherent mistrust on the part of guests where a hosts property is concerned. They are all of the opinion that it has probably not been professionally cleaned and they will look for the odd hair lurking in the bed linens, or wrapped around the shower drain! They will wonder if the dishes were washed with hot water and detergent....after all the last guest probably did them in a hurry before they ran out the door! They will search for cobwebs and god forbid they ever found a cockroach...they would pack their bags and be gone!

After every guest I wash everything on the bedding down to (and including) the mattress protector (I have 3) , I wash the pillow protectors and put new ones on after 10 washings and I wash the quilt cover (Doona cover). Most hotels don't wash the bed cover from one year to the next....I wash mine after every guest....I never expect a guest to sleep on anyone elses dribble! The linens must be crisply ironed to prove to the guest this bed has been prepared for just them, not someone else!

You must never present linens with a stain on them Christina, you must make sure that mixer tap at the sink does not have so much as a finger print on it.........

Never present guests with something that a previous guest has used....half a roll of toilet paper, a half used container of milk, or open cheeses or biscuits.  If you do you will have to expect to be penalised!

Christina, circumstances will conspire to beat you. I had a guest who marked me down and said I needed to sack my cleaner....and I go to so much trouble where cleanliness is concerned. This guest said his wife dropped an earing under the bed. She got on her hands and knees to search under the bed and guess what she found....a used childs nappy the previous guest threw under the bed and which I did not find during the cleaning process!!

We are behind the eight ball....we have to prove that we are cleaner than a hotel, guests just don't automatically accept it!

Cheers......Rob

[Krystal16]

@Robin4

I have been penalized myself on what is found under the bed, I understand now why so many hotels have the mattress on built up boxes so there is no area under the bed that guests might "happen" to look under.

[Sarah977]

@Krystal16   I never understand what's so hard about cleaning under the bed and why so many people seem to miss that when cleaning. If you're vacuuming the room, why wouldn't you vacuum under the bed? Enlighten me.

I'm lucky in that I only host solo travelers in a single bed. It's a not too heavy wooden frame, and the mattress is foam, so I can just turn the bed on its side, and vacuum the underside of the bed and the floor, and wash the floor (tiled). I totally get it that many beds are heavy and this can't be done. But it seems like some kind of gliders could be put under the bed legs so the bed could be slid aside, that area cleaned, then slide it back in place.

A couple I know, lets call them Ellen and David, his old college buddy came to visit with his wife, who my friends had never met. These visitors were house guests there for a week or two (not paying guests). The visiting wife got settled in the guest room, and when she came downstairs, proceeded to tell my friend that she should fire her maid and get someone else, because there were dust bunnies under the bed. My friends were taken aback that someone who just arrived and was a house guest in a virtual stranger's home would be immediately looking under the bed to inspect the cleanliness. They basically ignored her comments, but a few days later when David was driving somewhere with this couple, and Ellen wasn't with them, the woman started ranting again about how the maids here aren't any good, how she would never pay someone like that, etc etc. as well as a whole litany of other complaints. My friend had had enough, turned to her and said, " How dare you. You know Ellen has just been through breast cancer and a radical mastectomy. She was on chemo and radiation, was super sick, and was laid up for months. Yet I never once heard her complain, not once. If I hear one more complaint from you about anything, you can go find a hotel."

Can you just imagine what kind of Airbnb guest this woman would be?

[Christina583]

I always catch the stuff under the bed or in between the sheets but how is it that the guests don’t.

as a traveler I check everything.

[Susan151]

@Sarah977. I am going to guess that David and his college buddy are no longer really buddies. I mean they still send Christmas cards to each other to have the veneer of friendship, but it goes no farther. I hope that Ellen continues to regain her strength and that she remains cancer-free. When sick, I highly recommend naming the dust bunnies and considering them to be pets. Occassional feeding is optional.

[Sarah977]

@Susan151   Barbara Kingsolver, an author I love has a book of essays and one is on housekeeping. She said she's not much of a housekeeper and said she doesn't have dust bunnies, she has dust buffalos.

[Sarah977]

@Susan151   Barbara Kingsolver, an author I love, has a book of essays and one is on housekeeping. She said she's not much of a housekeeper and that she doesn't have dust bunnies, she has dust buffalos.

[Ange2]

@Sarah977    A big thumbs up for Barbara Kingsolver, I love her novels too.

[Robin4]

@Krystal16

In my situation it is not as simple as @Sarah977 makes it sound! The underside of my bed is a mass of cables, motors and things that stick out and down from everywhere. There are 6 electric motors in the bed. plus a power board for lights, electric blankets and wall heater. Vaccuming in the normal sense of the word is not practical, although I do skirt around the deges of it!.

The way I get around this, I have made up a long duster which I pass around under the bed but this nappy got stuck to one of castor wheel/feet and....yes, my fault for not getting down on hands and knees and checking, but Sarah, if you had to clean under my bed you would better understand that it is far removed from waving a vaccum wand around under a single bed.

Krystal, I would like to box in the sides to prevent this sort of thing from happening but it is not practical because various sections of the bed electrically raise and vibrate with the massage function.....Just not possible I am afraid but, yes, your point is taken!

Cheers......Rob

[Sarah977]

@Robin4  Ah yes, that does sound like a big hassle with all the cords and such. And some of us are of an age where getting down on hands and knees to clean under the bed isn't exactly easy anymore. I did live in a rental here for 3 years where the bed was upstairs under a thatched, A-frame roof and the King size bed took up almost the whole space.. There was no headroom to walk around the bed at all- to clean under the bed,I had to lay on my stomach on the floor at the foot of the bed and reach under with a broom. Needless to say, it didn't get done all that often. 

I have a rather lengthy story about what I found under there one day- I'll PM you with it. You could probably use a few laughs right now while fuming over your missing payments and lack of company accountability.

[Jennifer1351]

@Robin0  Do you do all this yourself? I have developed some tendonitous from all the ironing, cleaning, preparing. It's getting to be too much. 

[Huma0]

@Christina583I agree with the other hosts that cleanliness is super important and that there shouldn't be stains on the bedlinens or dirt on the stove. However, I can see your listing has 5 stars for cleanliness and many of your reviews mention how clean it is, so it's hard to imagine that it was at a level to make guests want to leave!

As for the other stuff, do you check in your guests and give them a welcome tour? If not, how do you communicate info about what is available to them in the listing? The reason I ask is because I think that some of these problems might be solved with communication, e.g. letting the guests know that there are condiments or drinks for them to use in the fridge if they need them.

My situation is a bit different because I am a live in host and I have more than one guest room in my house. It's not possible to strip away all evidence of other guests (especially as some of my guests are long-term), nor of myself!

So, in the fridge, I have all the condiments in the shelves in the door. Some guests are glad to have those available and certainly no one has ever complained about it. What is really important though is that the shelf I provide in the fridge for each guest is always empty and sparkling clean.

For the toiletries, because the toothbrush was in the bathroom and I assume unwrapped, they assumed it was used. Telling them that there are fresh toiletries for their use there might avoid this misunderstanding, but it would be easier if the toothbrushes were still packaged so it was more obvious that they are new.

I have full sized, refillable bottles of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner in the bathrooms labelled for guest use (and let the guests know they can use them). As for things like toothbrushes, razors bars of soap etc. for individual guest use, I arrange these on a little tray or dish in the guest's room. The soap is always packaged, but even if the other items aren't, it makes it obvious that those items have been put there (nicely arranged) especially for their use, not left behind by others.

Hope that helps!

[TracieandJason0]

@Christina583 Your listing has tons of great reviews! I would just take this situation as an anomaly. Nothing can ever be perfect and there's always going to be that one guest who is just unreasonable or cannot be pleased. Although their criticism is unfair, perhaps try to see if there is any bit of truth to it, take it as a challenge and improve where you can. That way this will be a slightly more positive experience on your end and can actually help your listing be even better than it already is!