Charge additional cleaning fee for bad odor?

Lazlaboo, as I said I stopped communicating on this forum myself for the same reason.
Eventually he can start talking to few of his buddies and or to himself on this forum.

He is rude, and he is a bully. Hope he is using different language with his guest.

  1. Bowls of baking soda (like Arm & Hammer) set arouind the house will absorbe bad odors.
  2. You can also sprinkle it on the carpets. There are specially made carpet odor eliminating products. Make sure it is just baking soda however–no need for perfumed products (unsafe). (See the documentary “STINK!” 80, 000 chemicals in house hold products–only 300 tested for safety)
  3. Use baking soda in the wash to get rid of smells–add a cup to the wash water.
  4. Use baking soda + water to wash off all surfaces…rinse afterwords.
    Re CLEAN BEDDING::
    1… I just learned to :TRIPLE SHEET a bed. This way in stead of a duvet cover PLUS top and bottom sheets, you use only 3 sheets total. The duvet is like two sheets sewn together --costs more to wash and dry. Go to YOUTUBE for instructions on triple sheeting…then wash all three each time. (Use a blanket instead of a duvet/comforter.)
    2… Use pillow protectors, AND a pillow case or if you don’;t ave pillow protectors, use TWO pillow cases per pillow each time to keep the pillow clean. Air out the pillows (without the protectors) in the sun as often as you can. Turning them once during the airing out so they get sun on them. Alternately, wash the pillows now and then. Throw out pillows after a year. (unless you can wash them.
    3… Use common sense when it comes to cleaning. Cleaning is about maintaining a healthy environment for you guests. Every now and then do a deep cleaning of everything…(every 2-3 months depending on frequency of guests). that means sanitizing EVERY surface. I use hydrogen peroxide, vinegar solution, and lemon juice for various parts of the house. I do not use bleach except in extreme circumstances–very toxic to breathe. Look up natural ways to clean on the internet,

Be safe, be clean–do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

Bob, it is not what you say, but it is how you say it. Leave the personal insults out. Stick to the subject. You have valid points but you are also wrong at times.

You should not see drop in your business if you are doing things right, bottom line. Unfortunately the market is over saturated with the New Host, and only the best will survive. Airbnb will not go away and that is the fact. Ueber has struggles to, but both concepts are still new.

State your point without adding personal insults.

I have fewer request this year as well, but so do Hotels in my area. As with any other business few will drop out and few will survive. Just give your opinion and do what you think is right. Airbnb is not the only one experiencing drop in business. Be creative, come with ideas how to gap the slow time that we all are experiencing, and come with the new ideas how to improve what you already have.

We all have different ideas what works and does not, and what we like and do not like, but ultimately is in this case your Guest, who will recommend your place to their friends and associates. Leave it at that.

Have a prosperous 2016.

Bob, If you are doing great, than what is it to you how Airbnb is doing. In my opinion Airbnb is doing just fine.
It is a new concept and Airbnb is still the number 1 in what it has to offer. They have legal challenges like city ordinance that wants to banish Vacation rental in Residential neighborhoods, Renters that are trying to make money by renting out their place on Airbnb. Didn’t you reed that Airbnb, and I don’t remember exactly, are to sign a contract or they already have signed, with three major Rental Apartments Corporations, which will raise rents and, reduce number of available apartments. They are consistently going after new Host. I have at least ten new host in my little neighborhood. If you have ten Hamburger places on a small street, you know what happens. Competition, prices go down, and eventually some will close doors.
We have a new mayor who is not looking fondly on Vacation Rental that was just elected. Many cities are trying to ban Vacation rental. We have a short season and when it is cold back East our business booms. We have cold spell in California now, so our business cools down.

Host that are not doing things right will eventually drop out. Hotels and motels that turn in to a slump, close down. Those that offer superior service or product survive. Bottom Line.

You see you are not the only one who reeds, and I do not like calling anyone Idiot or any other name, as I don’t want to be called eighter.

This should be a safe place and this guy Billy needs a lesson in manners. He is being a bully. Hmmm Billy the Bully!
In response to your actual issue and not bully, I mean Billy, and his silly antics…
Create a welcome letter that outlines your expectations for the kitchen, including your directions on cleaning up after meals and not cooking fish. Indicate that extra time spent cleaning by u will result in a $.

Well she might be able to claim on the deposit for steam cleaning. Bad odors are a hard thing to prove. But I did it. Mine was clearly smoke damage so the guests admitted it and I got $100 out of them. The room still smelled smoky for the next guest and I was mortified and ready to refund her deposit. But she didn’t seem to notice and wrote me my best review ever! The smell eventually went away except for the (dare I say it) BEDDING… which I did have to replace. Gave the old bedding to my son who didn’t smell smoke after it it had been washed at least three or four times!

Oh and on the subject of Air. It’s up and down or hit or miss. Sometimes it’s busy, sometimes it isn’t. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.

“You can never go wrong by exceeding a guests expectations.” - Very true. But it’s important to me that guests are aware of the going exceptionally above and beyond like you do.

I would never leave a coverlet that had hand lotion scent, slimy sun tan lotion, nothing like that. Since I made a note in my house rules of how linens and towels are to be respected I saw a 180 degree turn around that went from guests staining everything with makeup, to hardly anything I need to spray to remove stains before washing. I used to spend 20 minutes trying to pre-treat stains between towels and bedding and now it is hardly any time. Now I am not saying that doesn’t mean a coverlet needs to be washed, but I truly do believe that guests in the United States do not assume a top cover is washed every two days in between every single guest.

A snot nosed kid could be sitting on the couch sneezing and wiping his hands to pick up all of his snot and wiping it off on the couch where others will lay their head. The same with all the throw blankets I provide. There is just no way I am going to wash 6 extra throw blankets in each turnover just in case someone sneezed and coughed all over it.

We can never sanitize every single item in an entire home. Just look at restaurants…they wipe off the menus with dirty rags once in the morning, then by lunch time all the guest’s have menus that have been handled by who knows how many people. The ketchup bottle is not wiped down in between every single guest. And even if it is, that rag is dirty because the restaurant owners feel that each server should only have access to one rag for their shift.

I would never ever allow a guest to sleep with anything that I wouldn’t sleep on. Or that I wouldn’t allow my mother or grandmother to sleep on. But unless you are going to wash all upholsterly in the home, and every single dish and silverware, something is going to be unsantized.

But I do commend that you go above and beyond and if I were doing everything that you do I would be certain to be receiving credit for it. Because I know my guests would never know that I spent extra hours and costs washing their coverlets, shower liner, etc. and I would leave one of those things you see in hotels on the bed that says “you can be guaranteed your coverlet is washed in between each and every guest.” You need to be receiving credit for all you do. I have no desire to tack on extra hours in between each reservation for something that no one will even acknowledge or notice.

Well, you wash it but no hotel does the same. Many comforters and bed covers are only dry cleaned like mine. I have 1 night guests 80%, it unrealistic to wash or dry clean my comforters after each guest . Hotels do it periodically, like may be once a month, if so. Have you ever seen a cleaning crew in hotels taking off ALL the bedding for wash? If you walk into the room while cleaning people are still there, you will see covers are still there at the foot of the bed, and all the sheet are packed for wash.

Or expects. well said

Thats very true:) I think we need to learn how to be patient and stop panicking. I went from total emptyness to crazy busyness over night:)

They say that many hotels only wash comforters 4 times a year. That surprises me because surely a guest must have spilled food or something on it before every 3 months. Unless the comforter is patterned so that people do not notice the makeup smears and stains.

I have heard of owners that go the entire 12 week summer season with 12 differently weekly groups and they do not wash in between. Again, I find it hard to believe that no one spilled anything that a housekeeper didn’t notice within that amount of time. But again, I know many property managers require printed bedding. I hope the reason is because if the stain doesn’t come out, it will just blend in. I hope the reason is not to hide the stains and it doesn’t get washed.

Yes Yana - if I spent hours washing extra loads of laundry and guests just assume my coverlets were used by last guest…all I did was waste a bunch of time and money and guest was perfectly okay assuming coverlet wasn’t washed.

I also couldn’t imagine the amount of wear and tear on the washer/dryer and on the coverlets themselves. I don’t have one of those giant washer/dryer so the king coverlet fills up the entire thing to the max.

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I could receive a terrible smackdown from the peanut gallery for saying this, but I just made up a guest bed with a comforter that had been turned over from the departing guest. Left it in the sun for several hours and it’s fine.

Billy Bob - you put a curse on me didn’t you? Do you have super powers when you get dressed in your cape and speedo, and turn that back pack vacuum on? - Kidding!

I couldn’t believe it. I had my turnover today. And nothing was overly messy or anythiing for 4 guests staying a week over Christmas. Plus it rained the entire time so i think they spent more time inside than if it was sunny skies.

But before they arrived one coverlet had been washed and I did wash the shower liner the day they arrived. I won’t mention the last time it was washed…but it was washed the day they arrived.

So today I had to wash both coverlets. One looked like a smidge of wine or coffee that came out. The other I think someone ate sugar coated stuff in bed. So I’m huffing and puffing away. And what do you know…at 1:30 I notice there are huge black smears on the shower curtain liner and the shower curtain. I mean HUGE and just had no idea what it could be.

Well my partner left work to help me finish up since 5 hrs. is not enough for me alone to get the entire place ready with the deck and grill, and all. He put them in the sink with woolite and got most of it out. I think it will all come out…but time was crunching away. But he mentioned maybe someone dyed their hair…what do you think? And then brushed their head against the liner and curtain? None of the towels had dye on them.

So then he goes down to the main waterfall to check on the pump. His four wheeler breaks down…I was outside for a second and heard someone call my name. But then I didn’t see his 4 wheeler outside and thought I must have imagined it.

Well he had to climb the huge steep hill with 4 rolls of paper towels and the other shit he had in the 4 wheeler. His shoes are caked in mud. But I suppose it was a god send because during his trek he said he saw the septic pump pipe (I don’t know what I am talking about here) filling up with dirt and would have never known.

And guess what…I was going to put up a brand new shower curtain liner for last guests and it was ripped straight out of the bag. That’s when I decided to just wash the other one.

So looks like I really need three sets of coverlets, sheets, curtain liners, towels, kitchen dish cloths, dish drying towels, etc. And at least one back up shower curtain…phew! And what if the washer/dryer were to break down…then I would really be up Shit’s creek.

Time to go shopping!

Oh Lordy! This is just a day in the life of the AirBnB Hostess! :slight_smile: I just had guests depart this morning and suddenly received a booking request for tonight. I was honest with the guest before accepting, telling them they’d have to work on water conservation with us because my rain tank was low (due to the excess use of the Christmas guests) and waited and waited to hear, and deciding to clean the apartment because in all likelihood they would still book as it was last minute. As soon as I finished cleaning, I got the message they wanted me to decline. So being the nice guy (girl) I am I did decline so they would not get hit with any fee.

I could have accepted and then told them about the need for ultra conservation this weekend when they got here but I didn’t think that was fair. I won’t be able to get a water delivery until Monday and I wanted to be honest. So I lost the booking.

Win some and lose some.

After this happened, now I really do have time to wash the comforter and mattress pad after all. :wink: But I’m not sure I will as I have to take all the guest laundry out to do at my sister’s!

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