This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
I’m a newb, hosting only since Thanksgiving 2015 - some 4 weeks now. Have had An Iraqi, Brazilians, Indian’s, Chinese and a dude from Long Island. All but the LI guy have an allergy to turning off my kitchen light. I have a 1440 sq ft townhouse so it’s not like a huge place where you twaddle all about forgetting where you just were. The kitchen is right by their room, 3 steps. I don’t get it.
And while I’m kvetching, it’s 11:40 pm and I’ve just had to give my first “ssshhhh” to the young “visiting scholar” at Harvard University from China husband-wife. (Both are PhD’s). Their 5 yr old daughter is tromping all over the tile floor living room whilst eating a bowl of cereal, and the inside door to the garage is ajar cus they’ve been doing laundry for over two hours. They are a one night booking! Apparently they just left Orlando, heading for Key West, and stopped in Miami for their re-charge of laundry and cooking. Don’t get me started on their bring their own cookware, food, spices etc etc etc.
I was also having trouble with guests leaving porch lights on. Two very bright ones, and one right under my bedroom which would keep me awake, while the other one would shine into the neighbors’ houses. It’s very very easy to do and very easy to forget. I would show them, remind them, put it in the house rules and yet they would still do it.
Finally, I just realized the simple solution was to remove the bulb from one light fixture, and put a 10-watt bulb in the other. Problem solved. I know you can’t do that with your kitchen light… but what about leaving some low-watt ambient lights around the area so that at least the area can still be lit. Perhaps then they wouldn’t touch the light.
I hear you on the professors… I have had professors before and they’ve been among my most airheaded guests. You might try to refine your house rules to make sure people are not doing these things. For example, No laundry unless you are booked for 7 days or more. You don’t have to allow anything but light cooking either. (define what that is… warming things up, etc.) Quiet time 10PM, all kids in bed by___(are you sure you really want to allow kids? They are not a great fit with most Airbnbs.)
Take charge! It’s YOUR house! don’t let the guests run amok!
I wonder why you made an assumption, Billy Bob? I do have not only led night lights in their room, the kitchen and their bathroom. … But also a soft 25 watt budior lamp I’m the living room adjacent to their room. It lights the path to both kitchen and bathroom. There is no darkness at all as I leave it on 24 hrs a day.
In th case of these Chinese scholar husband/wife, I think it’s either they don’t give a snap about my home or they have significant cultural differences . Their level of disrespect for my home was embarrassing: 11.30 pm the 5 year old is standing in my living rom eating a bowl of cereal, walking around with her fathers floppy shoes making lots of noise. Garage door is open so heat from dryer is warming up the house. I’m in Miami where it’s already an 86 degree winter. And all lights are on, their French doors wide open and tv blaring.
How could they not know the time? Once I gently asked them to quiet down, it all stopped. I guess this is just par for this type of business. I should make no assumptions anyone and always explains rules upon arrival.
Yes, as I replied to Bob, I’ve got all sorts of ambient lighting. That’s why I don’t think it’s a need for more light. I think it’s a lazy thing. I also realize I need to take your suggestions:
Explain what light cooking is.
Time limits for laundry, quiet time etc.
And change my check out to 11am, instead of 12 noon.
I guess this is how I learn. I don’t want to get burned out after only 4 weeks -
I leave a cute notepad and pen for jotting down info. They left one page where the girl had been doodling but the whole pad is gone. And they didn’t tidy up much, and they left every door and light on that they used. Including the front door. Wide open when they went to load their car. It is seriously 85 degrees out.
I went through all of these myself.,
When I had several occurrences of people traveling for a month and then book 1 night in my house and did 5 loads of laundry, I put in my rules: laundry ONLY if staying 5 days or longer, 2 loads max.
Yesterday I had 2 guests who wanted immediately in a morning to do laundry.,I referred them to my rules, and said if they want to do laundry it can not be free, but 5$ for cycle. They had no problem wit it, did a load, put 5$ on a table.
Same with kitchen. I hang in there for a long time keep on allowing kitchen until I got fed up. Now my kitchen is only good for warming up, toasts, coffee and tea.
Also, consider not to allow children. I personally think that when people bring such small children into someone’s shared home is very inconsiderate. We all know that kids make lots of noise in any time of the day.,
Of course it’s cheaper to rent a shared room instead of the whole house and disturb peace and quiet of hosts, but really, this is what parents should be doing: renting a separate space. Or hotel.
I think shared house situation is not suitable at all for families with tiny kids, any way you look at it.
There have been many posts on here regarding Chinese and other ethnicities (who want to cook their own foods) taking over the kitchen and cooking for endless hours. Yana gave some really good advice, as she attracts a lot of international like you do - and she finally said “Enough is enough!”
I also do not believe young children are appropriate for shared homes on Airbnb. Do you charge per person or just once price for the room? If the guests are not paying extra for their children, then it is just costing you money out of your pocket if you are having to provide extra bedding, etc. for parents to make beds on the floor for the kids. Then the kids have to be bathed, etc.
It’s very inconsiderate for them to allow a child to walk around and eat all over your house, making noise late at night. The stories on here just amaze me. For some reason some of these guests have the impression that if they paid money that they can treat the place like a crappy motel room.
My partner greets guests upon arrival for a tour of the house when they arrive. The guests are renting the entire house for themselves. I always ask later if the kids were running wild or they stayed with the parents during the tour. It usually gives me an idea of what to expect when I go to clean. What surprises me is how often he says the kids were running all around the house while he is giving the parents a tour. I understand the kids may have been riding around for hours in the car. But my parents would never, never, never, ever have allowed us to run around someone’s house (no matter how much was paid) with the owner standing right there. We would have been told to sit on the couch and stay there or just walk around in the driveway till the owner was finished.
I wish I could give you an idea about the kitchen light
Yes, I am going to adjust my rules regarding kids. I did have a $10 extra requirement but being new, I did not enforce it. Of course, the husband worked me on that in his first email saying his daughter was “small” and would sleep with them. I assumed an infant under 1. My bad for assuming.
I had a 24 days old newborn 2 weeks ago who cried only when hungry or gassy. Her 20 year old mommy was on it immediately. She and the baby’s grandma were here and they were excellent guests. Who would’ve thought an infant and 2 adults here for 5 nights would be so quiet and respectful. Though, they too, had a love relationship with my kitchen light.
She’s “small” - lol. So I guess small people don’t use the bathroom and flush the toilet, don’t take bathes, don’t eat. Oh let me guess…they didn’t wash the daughter’s clothes because “small” people wear dirty clothes only.
Whenever I clean after small kids I know I know there will be small fingerprints all over the windows.
I looked at their feedback and see I was the 5th bnb stop on their trek from Boston to Miami so NO wonder they did their laundry at my home. Lucky me. Yes, her small fingerprints seemed to walk off with my note pad. lol.
I feel a bit better as the Indian engineers who left yesterday gave me a glowing 5 star review. Noting they loved my home made cookies that I left on their night table. Ah, it’s a Merry Christmas after all.
What is your minimum night stay? I couldn’t imagine you making any money on a one night stay if guests did a bunch of loads of laundry, using your detergent (assuming you provide it) - esp. after you spent an entire day cleaning.
I’m not sure how many hours you spend cleaning and doing laundry for one turnover, but considering you build the cleaning cost into your rates (and block off a calendar day just to clean), surely you must require several night minimum in order to recoup 6-8 hrs. of cleaning/laundry.
Probably because your guests are not the in-and-out kind like most of us host. Yours are no doubt planning long holidays by the beach and of course, in those circumstances in a self-contained unit, a W&D are expected. If you are in someone’s home for one night and doing laundry for hours and hours and let your kid run around late at night and leave all the doors open, I would say that’s really rude behavior, However, Lady C needs to set some boundaries immediately. Not cool or acceptable!
I will follow the suggestions of the good folks here and limit laundry to those here 4 days or more. I will also ask in advance about their desire to cook. I learn from every faux paux so it will all pay off eventually.
I have a large queen down comforter that I have been washing after every guest. It takes at least 2-3 dryer cycles to dry, that big ol’ heifer. I shan’t do that again. I notice people like to sleep on top of it thus the sheets don’t get slept on but as the comforter does, it needs to be washed.
I hate top sheets, too, by the way. I don’t use them cus they get all fussy whilst sleeping. I just use a lightweight comforter. So, with the guest room, I am using a top sheet but not tucked in. Just laying like a comforter, and of course, a comforter on top.
I wonder if I am committing bad bedding etiquette. What would Martha Stewart say?
By the way, I have a stain on the white cotton comforter that I cannot remove. Any ideas on how to remove it, or camouflage it? I can’t tell what it is, chocolate maybe?
Yes, many of us are learning these things the hard way. I’m thankful we have experienced hosts on this forum to help us out!
But, I have to say, I’ve had kids many times, and have never had a problem. They were much more polite and quiet than many older people. I DO, however, charge full price for each child - it says on my listing - “we welcome kids, but every child is a person and MUST be included in the guest count”.
Different people want different things, I just had to give my vote for saying ‘yes’ to kids if it fits your set up. I have three children myself. I even provide toys and children’s books in the room.
But wow, doing laundry to that late…but I have to say, we had a roommate who was clueless like that, really annoying, but the funny thing is, when we would do something that I thought would be disruptive to her late at night, or whatever, I would say “gee, sorry we were so loud last night” (or whatever) she always looked at me confused and couldn’t understand what I was talking about. A number of times we’ve had guests and our family had something going on that was loud, and I was feeling horrible about it, but the guests seem to not notice at all. So some people just don’t get bothered by noise and commotion, so, they wouldn’t realize that some people (LIKE ME!) are bothered by it.
One of my first guests ever was a true Norwegian mountain man. He rigged me up an awesome clothesline with his high-tech climbing rope, tightly knotted like only an experienced climber would know how to do and it’s been there ever since. Perfect place for guests to hang their beach towels!
I’m not sure about in Florida, but in Hawaii stuff dries instantly. Using a dryer is energy inefficient when we have the rays of the sun.
Don’t ask THEIR preferences… GIVE your own! Never ask them… What kind of cooking do you want to do? TELL THEM… this is the kind of cooking you will do!
For example,
Light cooking only. This means warming, toasting, using the microwave and making coffee,
Or whatever.
Be clear and remember guests are like my kindergarten students. You need to make your expectations of the kind of behavior you want from them ABUNDANTLY CLEAR. If I ask my students, “Wanna do some math?” What do you think their answer will be? I don’t ask.
No… I TELL them. “It’s math time, please turn to page 237 and get a pencil out.”
If I’m not strict with expectations, I have a day from hell!
Have you tried boiling water? White is not a good color choice for a vacation rental.
As far as laundry…no you do not need to limit it to 4 days or more…there is no hard set rule. Do you provide laundry detergent? You can let guests stay one night but charge them $5 per load or whatever you think is fair. I rent out a whole home and guests have access to the washer/dryer but I do not provide laundry detergent for them. I provide everything esle like toilet paper, dishwasher detergent, dish soap, shampoo, etc.
My last two sets of guests are staying an entire week. I am fairly certain they will want to get all of their family’s laundry done before returning home with having to deal with unpacking, etc. So, yes they are welcome to do as many loads and run up the electricity - they pay a nice price for that. But I’ll be damned if I am going to pay for their detergent. They can go to the grocery store and purchase it themselves.
If your guests are sleeping on top of the comforter (I know cultures vary) - what are they using as a blanket to cover themselves with??? It sounds like you would be better off offering duvets
I don’t ask.