He addresses this in the post just above yours:
Iām surprised at your pushback response to the guest and that this situation is even perceived as a dilemma. As a host, being a gracious host and giving the customer the benefit of the doubt in general is an essential part of the service you are providing. And itās especially easy when it costs you nothing at all.
Whether your maid made a mistake or not is irrelevant. Iād simply give guests extra linen just because they asked.
If they soiled the linen and are pretending the bed wasnāt made at all by hiding the sheets, thatās a strange risk to take unless they know that you personally didnāt make the bed, do they?. It sounds far fetched to think that they soiled the sheets so bad, like maybe menstruated all over it (happened with a young girl guest of mine once), and were so embarrassed that they just stole the sheets and complained. Even so, Iād laugh it off and write it off as a business expense. Sheets do have to be thrown away anyway after a certain number of uses if youād like them looking nice.
I use them in my part of the house, on my bed, on dog beds, friends that crash on the sofa, etc.
Its a dilemma because I live 60 plus miles away from my listing. I would have to drive that far to replace the sheets. My cohost was not available either. The relevance of it is that lying makes me and my housekeeper look incompetent. It makes me question a lot of things especially since I do not live close to my listing. A guest lying to receive extra sheets is very questionable. She didnāt have to lie. It would have taken the pressure off me while I find a way to get her the extra sheets that she requested for without feeling the need to rush off 60 plus miles away. Itās not about the cost of the extra sheets (we have extra sheets anyway) its the principle of it.
I was also worried about how this would look from an Airbnb CS seeing that I omitted " to dress a bed" before a guest checked in. Would it be a ding for me and my listing??
I know this is a long thread to read through, but it seems the guest was, in fact, lying. The missing sheet was found wadded up and stuffed behind the mattress on another bed. Not something the cleaner would have done.
Ah ok, I can understand then. I myself live ~90 miles away half the week and the other half in the same building, so something like this would get me quite stressed as a host.
I donāt think Airbnb CS or anyone there cares at all unless the guest actually complains and seeks resolution through them, so donāt stress that. Your overall review rating is all that matters for anything, and that is largely correlated with how satisfied you make the guest feel (irrespective of whether they are being reasonable).
Iām curious what exactly she spilled or hurled or excreted that she couldnāt stand sleeping on the original sheets and needed a mop?
Yass!!! Itās so stressful to miss one thing albeit how tiny!! Sometimes I over think the consequences in the event that the guest complains about it. I am always on my toes which makes me do everything that I can to avoid any complains. You can imagine how mortified I was when I received the photo of the unmade bed. Only to find that it was all a lie.
The sheet was not significantly stained when I found it. I do not even think that the guest was physically present at the listing. She might have made the booking for her family member. That might explain why they decided to hide away the sheets for it to eventually be found instead of completely throwing it away to affirm her claim. Either way, for reasons best known to her, she had to her lie.
I have grown to almost expect anything from guests including someone who made a 2 weeks reservation and has not showed up after 1 week. The house is still as I left it. No cancelation and no word!! Nada. I have made attempts to reach out to this guest on several occassions and medium but he has not made any replies whatsoever. I hope he is OK!! Itās a lot of money to spend and not show up!! But hey, I am not complaining.
Not exactly. Entitled, demanding guests tend to leave bad reviews no matter how far over the host bends. In fact, those types view generosity and kowtowing to their demands as weakness and it just encourages them to continue in that vein.
EXACTLY!! Couldnāt have said it better
I am waiting to put in my sonlast minute review on this guest.
I hear you and donāt think we disagree, which is why I qualified my comment with ācorrelatedā and ālargelyā. I donāt see how it helps the review to make the guest feel unsatisfied just to show you wonāt kowtow to their unreasonableness. Perhaps what you are trying to say is that it doesnāt matter whether or not you make unreasonable guests feel satisfied, and I can agree with that.
It isnāt just guests. Itās a personality type weāve probably all run into at some point in our lives. They intimidate others into getting their way.
The interesting thing about these types is that they are so used to people being afraid to cross them that when someone stands up to them firmly- āOh, we donāt provide daily towel changes. That isnāt offered in our listing informationā, they will often be taken aback that you didnāt scurry around trying to accommodate them and stop acting so entitled.
They have no respect for those who do their bidding, nor do they appreciate it, but they do respect those who they canāt cow.
from an Airbnb CS seeing that I omitted " to dress a bed" before a guest checked in. Would it be a ding for me and my listing??
Dependsāif extra sheets are available, the guest can make their own bed and apologies and a small appreciation rebate offered. Not ideal but doesnāt keep the guest from staying.
My market is odd. Many guests are accustomed to bringing their own linens for several reasons. Other rentals charge for a linen service, who drops off a bag of linens & often the sheets arenāt very nice & not enough towels. Rather than pay for the service guests can bring their own. Making your own bed is common unless it is a hotel.
After reading all of this I just took out spare sheets from the locked linen cabinet and put in the dresser drawers in all the rooms.
RR
Lolā¦that was me 2 weeks ago!! I made sure itās in all the drawers including blankets, towels, etc.
Iāve always left spare sheets & towels in an open closet. That way, one guest was able to take care of redoing the bed due to menstrual stains, and inform me, rather than uncomfortably having to contact me and ask for more linens. All I had to say was, āNo worries, it happens, Iām expert at stain removal, and thanks for telling me.ā
People can do embarrassing things when theyāre on vacation. I leave a couple extra towels and a set of extra sheets for them and let them know itās fine if they want to freshen up their linens during their stay. They almost never take me up on it. I also keep a box of Kleenex on the night stand.
āNo worries, it happens, Iām expert at stain removal, and thanks for telling me.ā
Nice, as a guest, Iād be terrified of creating stains on whites and particularly embarrassed of menstrual ones, but yours is just the kind of host response that would put me back at ease.
Is making whooopy forbidden as well ?
A stupid question since that is not also posted in the House Rules. Good luck with that if it wereā¦
Iāve stayed in places with rules and notes posted all over the place ā¦ basically I ignore them because Iām going to treat a hostās place like Iād want them to treat mine.
Iād hate to have some people treat my house like they treat their ownā¦itās kind of scary sometimes how disrespectful people are to even their own stuff due to being lazyā¦or whatever other reason.