I have very long, thick, black hair and I shed like crazy too. I’m constantly gathering my own hair when I’m at other people’s homes (like when I’m just over for a few hours hanging out). I use a tissue to gather my hair off the bathroom floor - what else would someone need?
A tissue works fine in a pinch. It’s not really a solution for three weeks when dust etc also starts to build up. To keep things clean to my preferred standard I need access to a dustpan and brush at the very least.
I believe it’s a hosts overall responsibility to keep the areas clean and my responsibility to do minor things like rinse the bath out after use or collect a load of hair that I’ve just shed by the mirror. But to illustrate my point; even if I rinse the bath out daily after a shower, if it’s not cleaned at all during that period it will get grimy. The same goes for the floor, the fact I collect my hair that’s fallen out after I brush it doesn’t do much to address general dirt buildup.
Why do people do this!?! My husband still does it and I’ve told him not to!
Because they don’t know that cast iron will rust when soaked in water. I would say cast iron is really a foodies domain and those without knowledge may think it’s simply a heavy pan and therefore can be treated the same as stainless steel.
That’s interesting to me. We’ve asked guests if they’d like us to come in to clean when they stay a long time. Most who have stayed longer than a few days want to live in the room like it’s their own, but they accept a change of sheets and towels. I’m going to think about this some more.
I do not share a bathroom with my guests, and I don’t “freshen” it during a stay. If their stay happens to be during a regular full house cleaning, then the bathroom gets cleaned. Otherwise it is up to guests to clean to their own standards during their stay. I have cleaners, clothes, sponges, towels etc for them in the bath so they have the tools that they would need.
If we were sharing a bath, then I would probably feel that I should wipe down the sink, vanity, and toilet daily, leaving major scrubbing for turnovers. One of the many reasons, I would not want to share a bathroom with my guests.
Yes I’d agree with this if you’re not sharing. In the case I mentioned I was sharing with a family of 5 (three little kids) and two other Airbnb guests. The bathroom got grungy very quickly and I’m in no hurry to repeat the experience.
My husband also does it even though I’ve issued threats to get him to stop. He’s a germaphobe. No matter how many times I tell him that heat is far more effective at killing germs than water he is nervous about pans that don’t get washed in water. He’s not alone. There’s been a lot of backlash to the Department of Agriculture’s directive to not wash raw chicken before cooking it.
If you’re doing fine with your cleanliness reviews I see no reason to change the way you do things; it’s just how I do it in my place and what makes me feel comfortable.
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My stance is that you bought the space in the condition of what it is when you first arrived, and that no ongoing cleaning is explicitly guaranteed. I would include this in my welcome message if it seems to be a point of contention.
But I do think it should be clean upon arrival.
To answer your later questions, I do not share my space so there’s a lot more mental distance between my guests and me. They do make requests on occasion, but starting this year the response is “I’m sorry that’s not possible.”, every single time. It’s made me a lot happier, but let’s see if it bites me in the butt.
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I got dinged on dust once that had fallen between the time they came and the time they left.
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That happened to me recently. We had a couple stay eight nights. We asked repeatedly if they’d like us to clean the guest room. Each time they declined. The private cleanliness feedback said, “Your guest suggested that your space could be cleaner in the following areas: dust.” I emailed to ask where they saw dust as we would like to know of any places we were missing when we cleaned. This was the response, “It wasn’t super dusty on top of the furniture or anything like that just the floor itself was a little dusty in some spots but that was probably from us moving the bed around.”
Oh no…just no… so unfair!!!
I agree, but what can I do. They gave me five stars for overall experience, so it could have been worse. They are from a more humid environment (Hawaii) so they might not have realized how fast dust collects in an arid environment. During summer I have to dust the tops of the furniture every day.
Hawaii has just as much dust or more than LA!!! Maybe because our leeward coasts are drier… I have to dust the apartment after every guest. There is new dust after three or four days!!! It’s crazy,
Ah, I assumed that there would be less dust. We had a guest who’d moved from Portland, OR to Joshua Tree, CA. He was surprised at how often he had to dust. He told me that in Oregon he only had to dust once a month.
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I’ve never replied to a guest’s private feedback, is that something you do often?
My guests who used the laundry in the middle of the night finally reviewed me, gave me 3 stars overall and claimed my house wasn’t clean - but in the private review they just said it was dusty… And I’d like to know where. But maybe I don’t. 
I’m leaning towards not pursuing it because there’s nothing more i can honestly do. I’m at my cleaning limit.
I’ve had 3 hard guests in a row, and I know if I can get a happy, easy going guest soon i will be back to loving this. (*for me, hard is when people act nervous or reticent, but then don’t tell me how I can make it better when i ask. Especially when it’s my cat who makes therm nervous. My cat who is all over my listing. And because all the guests were from cultures very different from mine, I can’t tell if the shyness is specific to our situation and there’s a problem, or if they’re just quiet and trying to stay out of my hair)
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Don’t take it to heart too much. I’ve had three (and in fact one) star reviews because of things mentioned in the listing. It really sounds to me like you’re doing all you can, and that you care. That for me is the important thing - you can’t please everyone. I’m a cleaning freak who cleans daily and I still don’t get consistent 5 star reviews for cleanliness…some can’t tell the difference between new and clean.
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I’ve worked in restaurants for years. The idea of washing raw chicken is disgusting. I wouldn’t want to risk splashing that water on something else. Some people’s ideas of “clean” worry me. I have worked in chicken restaurants for 10 years and cooked chicken myself at home and never even thought to “wash” the chicken before cooking it…
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Thank you! I know I’m not a neat freak, which is why I take guest comments seriously -i want them to be comfortable. If they aren’t, i want to know why.
My house is almost 100 years old, there will be dust. (Even the tree in our front yard “sneezes” pine needles on the regular. My neighbour calls it The Messy Tree.)