I’ve had several issues with scents including the guest that his heretofore known as The Aqua Velva Man. His cologne was so strong that I could smell him from several feet away before he even entered my guesthouse. And when they left it was as though he fogged the suite with it. When that happened a 2nd time I initiated a fragrance policy. This is on the door to the guesthouse as well as in the house rules. “FRAGRANCES - Use scents sparingly, if at all - includes sprays, perfumes, lotions, strongly scented bathroom products or anything that leaves a lingering scent.” You could also add “Candles and flames of any kind are not permitted.” It was all I could do to tolerate being in the space after they left. And making it reasonable for the the next guests was impossible even with fans and extensive surface cleaning. Thankfully they didn’t care. Why should anyone be allowed to put guests or hosts in this position?
We had a nurse from Poland who had lived in London and then Alabama and loved our condo, but she was here for almost 3 months and burned sage and incense heavily throughout the place. It took months to get the scent out. Luckily, most scents you can only smell the first couple minutes you walk in the door and they your nose acclimates and can no longer smell it, but still. The problem with longer short-term rental guests is they tend to think of it as a long-term rental, which is definitely not the same.
Yay! That’s interesting. I am highly allergic to washing powders etc so in my airbnb cottage, I try to make sure everything is hypoallergenic. Just had a couple stay with a three month old baby, so I was happy about that decision.
Yes! I have a rule stating no scented anything. I also have a rule about no open flames of any kind. And of course, no smoking anything, no vaping either.
Vaping isn’t burning anything. There is no fire involved. It is water vapor, not smoke, produced electronically, it can’t catch anything on fire.
Not saying a host shouldn’t ban vaping if they choose to, but it isn’t any fire hazard, so if you tell guests they can’t burn anything, that doesn’t cover vaping.
I just reopened a week ago and have had 3 stays already. Last night I had my first hard core stoner. I mean the smell of weed from the minute they walked in to the moment he walked out with an unlighted blunt between his lips. And the food, my god…What they wasted and left was enough to feed me all week, I wonder how much they consumed?
I have another booking tonight so hopefully the weed smell will be gone by the time they arrive.
We know that vape is not smoke. We specify smoking & vaping also because vaping smell disturbs guests with allergies.
I get that. I was just making the point that if hosts say no smoking anything and no burning anything, a guest could legitimately say they didn’t break any rules by vaping, unless “no vaping” is specifically stated.
UPDATE: well stinky candle man left (8 day stay). There were multiple issues with the guy, but my take was that he was just kind of clueless and bumbling, not outright malevolent. He had the TV blaring all night almost every night, but come to find out he’s pretty severely deaf. He had those darned candles going round the clock and yes, he was in fact smoking pot and trying to cover the stench. He managed to spill a full pot of coffee on a brand new white terry robe (mostly washed out with pre-treatment so I’m letting that one go since he wrote a note of apology) He was over an hour late checking out, despite my nice little message 2 hours in advance reminding him of checkout routine.
I mentioned these issues in his review, as well as noting that he’s very friendly and affable and made a good effort to clean the apartment before he left (he’s not good at cleaning, but you could tell he tried to wipe the puddle of maple syrup off the face of the cabinets, for example). And I said I wouldn’t host him again. Because I just don’t want to deal with his level of annoying neediness ever again.
He gave us a rave review about how nice we are, how kind, how accommodating, how friendly, and warm. How we are the very best airbnb he’s ever stayed in, and how much he enjoyed hiking the hundreds of miles of trails that are so close to our property (which he never ventured on, so far as we could tell.)
And he promptly tried to book for 10 days in Sept.
Hah! He’s blocked. I know it’s privilege to refuse to host a paying guest, and I’m glad I can do it, because cleaning and laundering and scrubbing and airing out everything was a lot of work.
Oh, I agree so much. The worst ever.
The most nauseating cooking smell to me was when I was a kid and we’d go to NY every few years to visit my dad’s family. My grandma there cooked things in cheap margarine and the smell of it would gag me so bad I’d have to go outside.
I do the same. I’ve had guests that other hosts might say were okay or (even good) but I know what I typically get so why should I host someone again that’s not a desirable guest?
The guest who stayed last night smoked weed (in a not legal state) non stop in the room and left the room messy with food (as I posted above). It could be much worse: no sex stains, no blood, puke or hair dye, they weren’t noisy, didn’t run the AC all night, etc. But clean up was more work and worrying the smell would linger just wasn’t worth it.
Greek boyfriend in graduate school microwaving liver in his dorm room 
Glad you get it. But you need to get that I got it from the get go. Vaping and smoking create allergic response. Smoke or not. You want funky smells that trigger guest allergies in your house, whether smoke or vape? Have at it!
Not interested in splitting technical hairs with you. I got it, and you need to get that.
Not sure how you came up with that, or why you are being so antagonistic, when all I was talking about was the way guests can deny breaking rules, interpreting things in whichever way suits them, if hosts aren’t specific.
Liver and microwave should never be in the same sentence. Feeling a bit nauseated.
Simple. I don’t allow candles. They are fire hazards. More than once I’ve walked into a room with them unattended. Those battery operated “candles” are great.
Nope. Don’t allow candles or open flame of any kind. And since I host in a couple of rooms in my home, also ask that people be thoughtful about scents of any kind as there may be others that have allergies. Had a guest once that used hairspray… everyday! She got it all over EVERYTHING in the bathroom! Thankfully, she was open when I asked if she would mind finding some other alternative and she said that she would wait until she got to work and use her hairspray then! Whew!
Hi- I do enforce a no candle rule, smelly or not within the suite. The property has a deck and they can burn them out there because I can take a look before bed to ensure none are still burning. I don’t take the risk of someone leaving a candle burning!
For sure you should never take a risk with fire. What I hate about people using candles aside from the fire risk is when they drip wax everwhere. You’re washing the floor and there’s a spot that won’t come clean,and on closer inspection realize it’s got dripped wax on it.
One way to cut down on fire risk with candles is to set them in a container of sand. Even if they get forgotten, when they burn down, they will just go out and not catch anything on fire.