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Thanks for that feedback @jaquo. I do have 2 of everything which is handy for same-day changeovers (which is rare because it’s our family vacation home so I build in time for our use too).
If I have the time, though, I like to launder the sheets, partly dry them and then put the bottom sheet on the bed damp. By the time it’s dry there are next to no wrinkles, then I put on the top sheet damp and, same thing, by the time it’s dry there are no wrinkles on it either. I don’t have to fold each set as a bonus. ;o) When I’m making lots of beds/lots of laundry the timing works out really well.
I can certainly see how 3 sets would be handy if you had lots of back-to-back rentals, though.
And the duvet idea is worth considering. However, since we have a wooden house in the woods I’d miss the charm of the lodge quilts.
I see what you mean - I imagine they are lovely. You can still use the quilts over the duvets and if you don’t want to launder them every time (but I most certainly would!) then during the house tour, explain to the guests that they are for décor reasons only and you’d like the guests to remove them before going to bed. Maybe even supply something like a luggage rack where they can place them overnight. Would that work?
The stripping of beds bothers me for all the reasons CanadianHost listed and makes so much sense.
Its the matching up of items for beds, etc
For me all the duvet covers and all pillow shams, cases get laundered. They are all lightweight and fast drying thankfully.
I line dry everything except the bottom sheet and the duvet cover. This means the towels, beach towels, dish towels, pillow cases, shower curtain, shower liner, cushion covers, face flannels, napkins etc.
Once I’ve got that lot onto the line, there’s no room for the sheet and duvet cover.
I’m also a “care-free” live-in host. To prevent my life turning into chaos, I do have a set of house rules - although I’d call them common sense.
Irrespective of having the house rules in writing, occasionally we still have guests who disregard them. For example, we ask guests not to take food to the upper level where the bedrooms are and the floors carpeted. Irrespective of this, our last guest decided to eat all of her meals in her room. Often out of fear of a bad review, I suck it up. Sometimes I will raise it with them, if it is important to me. Most times I count the days until they leave!
Despite living in my home, we still experience guests stealing from us… a fan, cds, my eau de toilette etc…
I chose the bleachsafe brand because they are supposed to retain their color even if a guest uses products like ProActive, etc. With regular colored towels those products will bleach the black color out of the towels.
Jaquo, I have the same routine as you and as I host up to five people I frequently have 5 bed changes so that is a lot of laundry and having 3 sets of everything makes life much easier.
yes you have to have house rules. I ask guests to close windows and doors before they depart and I’ve come home numerous times to windows left open in the rain or the heat of summer.
Be concise and clear and firm.
Thank you to whoever reactivated this; some brilliant tips inside, particularly the pic of the box of face flannels rolled up.
A funny story: we had a group of two American couples a few weeks back, one of whom is a Superhost. Lovely people, great fun and a 5* review. As they were saying farewell, the younger woman complimented me on the L’Oreal make up remover wipes I leave for guests. This led to myself and Superhost discussing least wanted problems, including make up on towels, sopping wet towels left on the floor or on the bed, hair in plugholes. To be fair, I had never yet had a problem with make up on towels. Going upstairs after they left, guess what? Sopping wet towels on the floor, covered in make up. His wife must have been mortified.
A less funny story: we now have a plumbing problem throughout the house (three bathrooms and kitchen; sinks blocked, drains blocked) which has come to light over the weekend. We now have to have the whole lot prodded and rodded. I can only assume that someone, probably those here for a week, has flushed face wipes down the loo. Ho hum.
If you are running a vacation rental on earth (and we assume you are if you’re perusing this site), you rent to human beings, who are messy, clumsy, and oftentimes completely unconcerned about your property. They are on vacation, and want to relax, not clean and certainly not worry about whether they can eat on the couch or in the bed (and they will). This means that there will always be “that renter” who leaves destruction and nasty messes behind. After we had about 200 guests, we looked back at the times we had to do extra cleaning and replacements and saw a pattern emerge. Our unscientific analysis showed that about 1 in 10 guests are going to cost you more in cleaning and about 2 in 15 are going to break and/or damage a few things.
As previously established, guests are human and will often make messes if left unsupervised (like on vacation). White towels and sheets are the only way to go. Sigh. Unwilling to compromise further than the color, I did some testing of various towels that were soft and absorbent, yet held up to bleaching and lots of washes and [Link removed- admin) are the ones I like best. I replace a washcloth or 2 about every 3rd or 4th rental and a bath and/or hand towel about every 5 to 6 rentals. My cost is about $4.82 to replace a towel (I am averaging the cost per towel from the set linked above) and I have 4 “replacement” sets on hand at all times to pull from when needed. This is in addition to the 1 back up set per unit. We added $5 into our cleaning fee for all rentals so we are completely covered with room to spare. Since we allow pets, we also have an additional pet fee that covers the inevitable additional mess that comes with the fur. Since I am expecting these costs and have charged accordingly I can let my guests enjoy their vacations and I can cheerfully let go of a damaged towel or two (or even three, seriously, it is a towel!) All my stained sheets and towels go to a local animal shelter - a great way to help out and re-purpose the discards.
The best make-up remover I’ve ever found is Avon’s Moisture Effective Eye Makeup Remover Lotion. You rub a bit on your eyes, rinse it off, wash your face with soap & water or special cleanser, then blot dry with a towel. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why I still find mascara on my white towels, but it’s gotten MUCH better since I started offering the rolled purple handtowels for makeup removal (thanks to advice on this thread). I have gotten accustomed to letting all the stained white towels soak in OxyClean before letting the washer start its cycle.
I use white towels at home and I’m lazy when it comes to make up removal. I wash my face in the shower twice with face wash and then dry/wipe my face with my white bath towel and there is residual make up that comes off. Depending on white towel washing day the towels might sit with the stain for a few days. I wash on 30 deg C and use Vanish Gold for whites (Australia) and I have had my towels for 3 years and not one has a stain. I do agree that the vacation rental towels and everything in the rental gets worn out a lot faster.
Wow you are brave! We’re on-site hosts too and I’ve used IB since just a month or two after we began and have not had issues at all with it. But then many of our guests are first-timers so they couldn’t book IB…I’m wondering if I change it will it boost bookings that much. I might have to try changing it now
but to avoid all of that I use only black towels too as many people mentioned