Wondering how to address this…or just let it go. A newbie and her partner stayed in our suite last night. They left the suite tidy and checked out early. We have not experienced any real damage previous to this so wondering how to address it. I only have one unit, I vacuum and wash the floors and baseboards after every guest so I know this is from this booking. Do I have pictures of the floor prior to prove the scratch is new, no, and not going after them monetarily. Do I put it in a public review, do i contact them privately to mention it or do I let it go? Thanks for the advice.
A scratch? Wood floors on a rental. You need to come to a better understanding about the realities of this business before going any further.
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Without seeing the scratch I’d say it’s “wear and tear” and part of the business. If it looks like it was done on purpose or malice that warrants different consideration.
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I too have wooden floors and ocassionally I will see scratches that I fill in with furniture wax pens that I purchased on Amazon. I also started using area rugs and runners.
As KKC mentioned, Aibnb will see it as wear and tear. Your guests will probably deny it as well. Best to move forward and think of ways to protect your floors from future guests.
The runner and area rugs that I purchased are washable. I think they have helped protect the flooring from guests wheeling their luggage. Those wheels are killers on wood floors.
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Let it go unless you think it’s malicious.
I have hardwood floors throughout my entire home. And area rugs, like @Ritz3 . It’s normal wear and tear and use the Amazon filler pens if it’s bad. I’ve never had anyone maliciously harm the floors and often folks with wheelie bags will carry them through the great room.
Rude. Seriously, they have a home that has wood floors - as to many of the hosts here. Not helpful to the questions.
Wear and tear, get area rugs and if, like me, you have a home share, help them with the luggage.
Good luck! 
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I have old pine floors in the rental. I ask guests to remove their shoes and leave in the entryway.
I think it’s helpful for the floors and the stuff that get tracked in.
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I have to agree with Reggie - I might have worded it differently but …
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Without pictures you have no way to say anything and even though I videotape my suite prior to each booking I don’t video tape the floors.
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Cost of doing business - soiled towels, linens, scratch floors, etc. I’m sorry but you really can’t expect Airbnber’s to treat your floors they way you do. It really is the reality of running a STR.
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Aye, everything sounds differently after a cup of coffee. Did wanted to drive the point home - hard woods/nice place do not mix easily. No shoes is helpful no doubt, so are rugs but eeek tough to enforce either or both successfully.
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Hardwoods will last over 100 years and you really can’t do better than that. The only real problem that arises is that some people don’t want their floors to look like they’ve been walked on, you know, like floors.
But they are also easy to repair and easy to do re-do for that “not ever walked on” look that some people like.
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All considered wear and tear: Scratches, dings on the hardwood floor, marks and scrapes on the baseboards, and even a cracked large bathroom tile, which I filled in with a fancy tile repair kit that let you mix colors. Luckily the tiles are large and matte so it’s not noticeable Did they drop a bowling ball? I’ll never know.
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Hey everyone, i have not said anything, just asking for advice. I ask people to remove their shoes and most do I feel. I don’t think this was done purposefully as I stated and I am not looking to contact airbnb. I was wondering if I should even mention it to the guests or like I said, just let it go like “Elsa”! I am not unrealistic, well perhaps I am…I am new to this and we have a brand new home and the gouge in the floor was a bit off putting. I am reluctant to use a bunch of area rugs aside from the one in front of the door as we are a wheel chair accessible suite and rugs can be a danger to the elderly (trip and fall ect). I am very careful how I word things on this forum as it can be kinda brutal. Thanks for advice.
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I understand your reluctance to use area rugs. I had an area that was constantly dinged up from a chair and made worse by some peeling on the floor occasionally. It wasn’t beautiful, but I bought a wood grain look chair protector from an office store and put it in that area. It has served us well.
I wouldn’t mention the scratch.
Why? I just don’t think the guests would get it, wouldn’t understand/remember what they might have done to cause it. They’ll feel bad about you, the stay, and really nothing will be accomplished.
IF you knew that they wore shoes or had a child playing with something on the floors, that would be one thing. I might know that because I live downstairs. I can hear the shoes. When I do, I immediately text: “Shoes.” [In fact our House manual says that they can play the TV as loud as they want but if they walk in shoes, we’ll hear every step. (Probably too far?)]
I agree with the idea getting runners to avoid gashes by wheelies in travel bags. Many people don’t know about this. Until it happened to me I didn’t know either.
So, I think you need to accept this. Educate about shoes, how they often contain grit. Get runners. Learn the Serenity prayer. Let it go.
You can roll up the runners and area rug if you know a handicapped guest will be arriving. Otherwise, leave them out for other guests that might have luggage with wheels.
I have also seen on Amazon little signs that say “shoes off, please”. Maybe you can place one by the door as a friendly reminder, especially if your floors are pine. High heels on pine floors are destructive.
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Let it go. As others have said, it’s wear and tear and I doubt that a guest who left the place tidy would cause deliberate damage.
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I was thinking quite similar. I understand that people don’t like their places to look damaged, but floors are for walking on and I don’t quite get the concept of expecting them to look like they were just installed yesterday forever.
It’s like when people get all upset because someone put a scratch or ding in their car bumper. That’s what bumpers are for, right? So the bumper gets dinged instead of the body of the car.
People spend a lot of money getting some fancy paint job done on their walls, to make them look like some old Tuscan wall. Or “distress” furniture so it looks old, and like it has had layers of old worn paint. Yet they get a scratch on the floor and are upset. Real homes look like people live there, not like some brand new show home. It’s called character.
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Attachment (to stuff among other things) causes suffering. It’s an old idea but it seems truer all the time to me.
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I know this too well KKC. Two months after we bought Thunder Lake Lodge it burnt to the ground and we lost everything! We now have a beautiful new home but I get what you are saying. Truth
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Is it a scratch or a gouge? Big difference. Scratch? Wear and tear, just like marks on the wall. Gouge? I’d message the guests and ask them what happened.
I have a friend who lost everything including all family heirlooms in the Bastrop TX fire a few years ago so I understand the pain, and the resilience it takes to carry on.
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