I am new to this, only having hosted 3 sets of guests so far. The first two were fabulous. The latest - not so great. They cooked on my new gas range, using too much grease and caused the pans to become scorched, and the range was a total mess. The issue is that they used my brand new white towels and washcloths to clean up their mess. I had dish towels but they didn’t use them! I have since learned that they were college kids on spring break, and they consumed massive amounts of alcohol. Is it petty to submit a damage claim for the towels? I have tried and tried but they the black stains do not wash out.
Have they already left a review? Your chances of a negative review increase exponentially if you submit a damage claim. I would consider it a cost of doing business, you can leave a negative review if they were bad guests. Buy cheap towels, they will get damaged.
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Thanks for the advice. Being new I never thought of that. What can I do about my first two families that were awesome, sent thank you emails stating they loved their stay, but have yet to submit a review?
Single broken glass, stained dish towel… just part of the game. We found it was better to raise our rate a few dollars to cover this kind of stuff that deal with constantly having to make claims on tiny stuff. Then… when something Big happens (we had someone break a TV) Air knows you don’t make lots of claims.
If it has not been 14 days from check out you could message them and ask they leave a review. Say you are new and would love to get some reviews of your place.
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Had a guest checked out yesterday that ruined 2 hand towels and a washcloth. I bought the towels on sale at Costco. They were $13 for either: 6 bath towels, 12 hand towels or 24 wash cloths, so not even $3 out of my pocket. From normal guests, you have to expect a broken glass, a missing spoon, a stained towel, ripped sheet, etc. I even had a guest pull a towel bar off the wall requiring paint and drywall repair and didn’t charge them for it even though they volunteered to pay.
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You guys are a great help, than you!
Maybe the issue is raucous teens on March break consuming vast quantities of alcohol. In which case, I’d be asking more questions. Does your listing include “no parties”?
@Brian_R170 with the last one, I personally disagree because I wouldn’t know how to reattach a towel rod. I’d have to call someone who will give me a hefty bill just for showing up. I wouldn’t want to absorb all these costs that involve me calling someone to fix stuff.
for missing spoons, towels etc I learned my lesson too. Not too expensive (IKEA for example) and I put a lock on the supply closet after some “guests” stole me best embroidered towels and used every single bedsheet I had in there.
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I’m wondering how, and why you didn’t realise that beforehand?
The problem with your question is that hosts differ enormously on this matter. personally. i think that mess (burned pans and a greasy stove) is to be expected from time to time - we really can’t expect guests to be perfect. Towels and washcloths are cheap and they too will need replacing every so often. So to me, yes, you’re picky. Other hosts here would be outraged by my answer 
If you’re going to try to claim for every mess, every damaged towel, then you’re going to cause yourself stress. Be sure that your price is high enough for you to be able to write these things off as the cost of doing business and make sure that your insurance policy covers you for any larger damages. That way, you’ll sleep far better at night and enjoy hosting 
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I agree, I should’ve qualified that I did all the work myself for about $2 and maybe 2 hours of my time.
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Teen? Alchohol? Obviously that is speculation but would fall under illegal (depending on country etc) soo… just leave low stars for cleanliness and warn future hosts. Towels are cheap and not worth anyones frustration unfortunately. Unless every single one is ruined or stolen- I wouldnt bother.
I would just write it off on my taxes and buy new towels that are not white. I like dark colors because guests will stain them but it’s not very noticeable if towels are dark. Give them one star for cleanliness.