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Our Airbnb listed extra summer house have no laundry machine (also stated in the description), but we live in the house next door during the summers that has both laundry/tumbledryer.
Now I have a customer asking for laundry service from us coming next week. What would you charge?
How would you handle the matter? Just wash it, tumble dry, and deliver it in a bunch? or let them use the laundry room them selves?
Handling their dirty clothes is not really my thing…
/jesper
I would give them a basket that will hold the maximum amount your machines can handle.
Tell them they can do X number of baskets per week at a set time you both agree on.
Are you in Europe where electricity and water are very expensive?
If so, I’d say something like €5 per basket.
You need to control it, or else they will be going in and washing 2 items at a time.
I dunno…it’s a shame your machine is broken and you’re waiting for parts, though…
Options:
Say “No” … as stated in listing, “laundry is not available”; provide them address of nearest laundromat and/or contact information for laundry service.
Give them a specific day and time that is convenient for you for them to do it themselves in your home. Adhere to that strict timeframe; otherwise it’s not available. Your call as to if/what you charge and/or if you supply detergent or if they need to bring their own.
Charge them an exorbitant amount for you to do their laundry.
I discovered that giving guests an inch, they will take a mile when it comes to laundry. Someone asked me soon after I started hosting if they could launder their clothes before they left. They were here (in my home…) for a week, so I agreed, with a charge of £5 per load. On the second morning of their stay the daughter arrives in my kitchen holding a very small amount of underwear. I pointed out that this was not what I had agreed to, how wasteful such a small load was, and the exorbitant costs of utilities in the UK. They didn’t ask again.
If you have a local laundrette I would direct them to this. If not, is there a local washing/ironing service you can send them a link for?
If not just confirm that a local laundry service is not something that you offer.
I certainly wouldn’t be washing someone’s smalls. You couldn’t pay me enough.
I’ve done it for guests a couple of times. It’s not that the guests have asked though, I’ve offered. In every case the guest was a solo male and staying with me for a couple of weeks for work reasons. For the few minutes it takes, it’s worth it to me to have a super-happy guest and brilliant reviews.
(Put laundry in machine, 1 minute. Move clean laundry from washer to dryer, 1 minute. Fold roughly into laundry basket, five minutes. Job done. Every time the guest has given me a twenty dollar bill or equivalent which I figure is a good hourly rate. However, I’d want some serious money if ironing was involved).
But if a host wants to play by the rules, just say that it’s not offered and direct the guest to a launderette or local service. I certainly wouldn’t let them into my own place to use my own stuff.
If a laundry service is not something you normally offer you might want to give some thought if you really want to go down this route (even as a one off)! You have a few options:
Offer a concierge style service e.g. laundering items on behalf of guests and returning garments freshly washed and pressed. This could provide an opportunity to boost your income, but you need to charge enough to cover laundry supplies, utilities, and your time and effort.
Agree to do a basket (or two) of laundry for them, but just wash it, dry it and hand it back (although you still need to charge enough to cover your time etc).
Allow guests into your home - however you will need to outline when they can come, how much they can wash etc. Plus the guests are in your private space which is not ideal.
Link up with a laundry service who offer a pick-up/ drop-off service (maybe you can bag a little discount for promoting them)! Or find a local launderette and include this info in your welcome book.
Happy hosting!
If you have a local laundrette I would direct them to this. If not, is there a local washing/ironing service you can send them a link for?
If not just confirm that a local laundry service is not something that you offer.
I certainly wouldn’t be washing someone’s smalls. You couldn’t pay me enough
Is there a laundry mat nearby?
One thing to consider if you allow them to use your machines is that they might mention it in the review. So unless you are willing to do this for all guests, it could start something you don’t want.
I paid 12ish euros for a load at a laundry in Spain.
That being said, it sound like the OP does not want to do it. So why do it…
RR
“Sorry – as specified on my listing page, there is not laundry service available on-site. The nearest laundromat is: mmmm”
Just. Say. No. Seriously, I am taking use of washer/dryer off my listing because I had one couple who stayed for 4 days and asked if they could do “a couple of loads when they came back from dinner.” I said sure, as long as it was 2 loads ($5 more per load after that) and they would be finished by 10pm. They came home at 11:15pm and started doing laundry. Since it’s next to my master suite (and the cat and I were already in bed), the noise woke me up. So I sat in the living room with them until they were finished - at 1 am and told them that they had abused a privilege on offer. The kicker - they were off to another Air that offered laundry services.
It was an uncomfortable farewell the next day, and they dinged me to 4 stars on location.
Never again. It’s not worth it.
Darn parts take forever!
How far away is a commercial laundromat?
We don’t offer clothes washing as an amenity on our listing, but we do say in our house manual (and always have) that they can use the washing machine in our part of the house. I would guess about 25% of guests take advantage of this this. They come to the utility room and load the washer, then I unload when it’s finished and leave it in a basket for them to dry. They can either use the tumble dryer in the outdoor store (though it’s Spider Central in there so I don’t recommend) or the drying racks that we supply. We don’t charge for laundry.
Reasons for providing the service:
As a guest , I know how pleased I am if I can do laundry if staying more than a few days
We only host from May-September so fewer clothes and much easier to dry than colder seasons.
There are very few self-service launderettes in our part of Spain (in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one!)
I have no qualms about handling other peoples’ “smalls” … after all, I clean their toilets!
It takes very little of my time and energy, so why not?!
Exactly.
JF
20202020
I just love the dings on location. Do they expect it to change after they read the initial description? My address is Main St and I’ve had guests complain about the sound of cars!