Hi everyone! I’m a new host and am currently hosting my first (unrelated) guests: 2 rooms in a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment. As the title suggests, one of the guests uses way too much cologne that my entire apartment reeks from its stench. I mean, a little cologne, I can understand, but I can smell the guy before he enters the apartment. My problem now is that the smell is giving me migraine headaches and I’m afraid my other guest may not appreciate the smell of cheap cologne permeating throughout the entire apartment. Is there anything I can do to get rid of the stench? I’ve opened windows, I’ve put out a bowl full of baking soda, I’ve tried a bowl of vinegar… nothing seems to get rid of the cologne smell. I’m afraid of getting a bad review because of this… Any advice from more seasoned hosts? Thanks to everyone in advance!
Just have a word with him and approach in a humorous friendly way.
One the things that new hosts often have a problem with is dealing face to face with their guests about issues. Maybe this is because we are more accustomed to dealing with people on our phones these days.
But it’s an essential skill for a host to develop. I don’t want to sound negative but there’ll more than likely be times when you have to speak to guests about ways in which they are breaking your house rules, such as being noisy, and it has to be tackled head on. As @Helsi says, just have a word with him pleasantly but firmly. Plus, as you are sensitive to smells, you might want to add to your house rules that strong colognes or other odours are not allowed.
Thanks for your responses. I’d already talked to the guest. The problem is the smell, even after he’s gone. I don’t have carpets (all hardwood floors), but I just can’t get the smell out of my place and much less the room he used. I’ve washed and cleaned everything, but the smell just won’t go away. Does anyone know what to do in this situation?
Nature’s miracle works for cat pee, maybe it will work for perfume? (That’s for soft furnishings, anyway)
I avoid febreeze but it can be magic.
Communicating with your other guest might ease both your minds. You can ask them if they’re tolerating it fine or if it’s a problem for them - letting a guest know you acknowledge a problem and are taking steps to rectify it usually helps the situation.
I think you can steam clean hardwood floors… wiping walls with Clorox might help with invisible residue… combating it with other strong smells (orange or lemon scented cleaning products) might help… Or make it worse. Oh, the excitement of hosting!
@Alia_Gee
Thank you so much for your advice!!! I will definitely try everything you suggested.
Fortunately, my other guest is the perfect guest… couldn’t ask for anyone better.
Fingers crossed that something works! I don’t understand people who practically bathe in perfume/cologne… 
@Pamplemousse are you able to air out the room? Open a window and put a fan in the window that points out the window. It will suck the fragrant air out and unscented air from the rest of the apartment in.
Put open boxes with baking soda in each corner . Baking soda absorbs the smell . You will se it will become different color in few hours .
This all reminds me of when I got a new Mazda RX7 car with real leather seats many years ago. It was low and sporty and right off the showroom floor.
I only had it a week when one of the bosses asked if I would mind giving him a ride home since it was raining. He lived about 10 min. away and I said “sure”. He was tall and he had to scrunch down and squeeze into the front seat. The effort apparently caused him to let out a big fart. I was mortified when he said, “There!..that ought to get rid of that new-car smell.”
And it did.
One of my house rules has to do with the house being “scent free”, and it’s worked!
I learned the hard way by having some (usually guys) show up reeking of the most putrid cologne that hung in the air for days after they left.
You’ll need to wipe down all the door knobs and anywhere else he’s touched. I use the following cleaning mixture. It’s non toxic, and it won’t erase the smell but will definitely help break down the oils that are holding the odor:
In a spray bottle put: 1 or 2 cups of white vinegar, 1/2 cup of isopropyl alcohol, 1 or 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. Top it off with water.
I love RX7s!
I read somewhere that if you peel an onion, then half it and put it in the room with the pong it will absorb the odour after a couple of hours. I’ve no idea if it would work but I’ve filed it away in the hosting section of my brain…
(You’ve got me on the “pong” as well. Did the “ping” fall off somewhere? Will the room smell of onion?)
I’m being English again. 
Sorry, that’s not going to cut the mustard, falling on your being English…what’s a pong? (Barring that, let me take a look at your file folders on hosting.)
From some website or other:
pong
NOUN
British
informal
A strong, unpleasant smell.
‘corked wine has a powerful pong’
This makes no sense… you put the onion and the pong in a room to remove odor? You used this as a NOUN!
Only because the dictionaries do,
‘the pong’ isnt any different from ‘the smell’.
A) You can remove the smell by leaving half an onion in the room.
B) You can remove the pong by leaving half an onion in the room.
Assuming of course the above sentence structure isn’t entirely British.