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This is our first pet problem, and I’m sure many will say not our last, but I’d like input.
Our pet fee is only $25 for a small studio. Upon checkout, this guest left a text saying that they had a great time but unfortunately their dog had diarrhea. They tried to clean it up.
They did try. They used all the good bath towels, washcloths and dish towels (we did have a basket labeled rags and dog towels, but they didn’t use them). All poop covered towels were piled in the shower. The rug had many stains. Really nasty. There was even poop on the bed and every blanket.
So…… fortunately there was no turnover that day. I was able to get all stains miraculously out of towels and bedding ( kudos to Tide and Oxy Clean), but even after power washing the carpet outside (8x10), it still smells. Cannot put it back in the apartment.
The carpet is two years old. To replace with low quality would be at least $125. I want to offer the guests the option of putting $50 toward a replacement.
More than fair. She should be reimbursing you for all the extra time it took to deal with the disgusting mess she left. How rude to use your good towels to clean up diarrhea. WTF is wrong with people.
Tell her you threw them all in the garbage, as being expected to deal with dog diarrhea sodden towels is not normal, that she should have asked you for clean-up rags, and charge her for the towels as well.
And I second KKC’s get rid of carpets. Carpets are gross regardless of whether you accept pets. A few easily washable throw rugs with non-skid mats under is much better. I would never book a place with carpets.
Third here. If they suit your style, blinds are better than curtains as they are easy to clean and don’t hold smells. Ditto with leather furniture instead of fabric upholstery.
That’s pretty lenient of you. I hope you have success.
Charge them for the towels as well as the carpet. I would even get a quote for carpet cleaning and submit that!
Who knows if the dog peed anywhere? Just gross!
That’s more than fair, and considering your time and the situation, I would definitely charge higher. Even if their dog was sick, that’s no excuse to use nice bath towels for dog poop!!!
You can definitely get the smell out of the rug if you wish to do that. I have 2 rugs in my pet friendly cottage and one is a light gray. My own dog had that problem on the gray rug, but you wouldn’t know it now, it is pristine. I shampoo rugs between every pet stay.
The best product is called “Smells Be Gone.” You can buy it scented or unscented. Another excellent product is “Eliminate,” you can get it from Amazon. I leave a spray bottle of this in the cottage and most pet owners clean up with no issues whatsoever.
Using a Bissell rug cleaner or similar, I put in 1/2 the amount of recommended Bissell detergent (I always use 1/2 to 1/4 the recommended amount) and then 1/2 cup of Smells Be Gone. If you doing this with a hose on your driveway, I would buy the Bissell detergent and put that in a bucket of hot water with the Smells Be Gone.
Shit does wash out, but dog diarrhea could be caused by parasites. Unless those towels can be bleached/disinfected somehow, I’m not sure reusing them for other guests is a good idea.
I’m with you but it’s purely my personal preference. I’m not reusing any cloth that’s cleaned up fecal matter for animals. Even if I bleached the holy hell out of it - after that incident - it becomes an outdoor cleaning rag.
