This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
so a guest just left me 3 stars for cleanliness because there were ‘spider web in corner’
i have high ceilings and always vaccum the corners for spider webs, they stayed for 2 weeks. how can i help if a spider builds a web while you stay there??!? ahhhh
dang spiders ruining my reputation
Three stars because of spider webs?
You really need to train your spiders not to weave when guests are present. There’s an app. for that.
Moreover, construction by spiders more frequently than every two weeks is against airbnb’s TOS.
Please read their rules.
You are the reason we hosts have bad reputations.
You are better suited to a hotel.
It’s guests like these that make hosting so stressful.
My BFF thinks I’m insane because I basically deep clean my entire house (with the exception of the 2 rooms guests can’t access) once a week and keep the common areas looking like a model home. As I’m spot cleaning something sticky from the kitchen cabinet, to touch up painting scuffs on the wall, she’ll say, “You’re being ridiculous! No one is THAT fussy!”
And I think she may have a point. Guests probably are not really that fussy, at least in their own homes. But! Give them a chance to pass judgement on someone and they are in heaven.
me too! im an ocd clean freak, i clean every surface, everywhere, dang spiders ruining my reputation.
Spiders can build a web very quickly, even within one hour! You’d think the guests would be a little more understanding. You may want to try spraying some long lasting, unscented bug spray.
My mother swears by Conkers put by the windows and doors to keep spiders out. Peppermint essential oil is a deterrent. Could make an alternative pot pourri! What about one of those sonic gizmos? Thankfully I only get them in the Autumn, then straight up the vacuum cleaner they go unfortunately for them.
Fresh herbs are a good way to repel spiders too. Plant a lovely pot of basil, thyme, rosemary, mint etc. and put it in the rental. Tell guests that they can help themselves to a sprig if they are cooking. (If they are allowed to cook). I’d love that little touch in a place I was renting.
Then, when guests are staying for more than a week you can let them know that you’ll be going in on the seventh day to change their bedding and to ‘water the lovely herbs’. At the same time, check for webs. 
Fresh herbs are much better tan pesticides! Actually, spiders eat other insects so in a way the guests should be glad they have someone watching their back! ha ha!
My only 3 star review overall and 1 star for cleanliness were some people who turned up late having driven about 10 hours. The next morning I saw them drive out at about 7am. In the review the man who booked said his wife was arachnophobic and there were cobwebs. I checked and there indeed some large (say 6" wide) cobwebs behind the venetian blinds but no visible spiders let along large scary ones we sometimes get. My cleaner then used to do a rubbish job and didn’t see it as her role to clean cobwebs even visible ones in the corner on the ceiling. In the end I sacked her (politely) as she just wouldn’t make the effort or clean at the same time each week. Then had the temerity to want to know why I’d sacked her. “Because I keep getting 3s and 4s for cleanliness on AirBnB”. “Oh I guess those people are just super fussy”. No, she was just a bad cleaner. Now I do it myself as living in the country cleaners are really hard to find.
Anyway I still have that 1 for cleanliness on my stats. In my mind a 1 for cleanliness would be like an all male student house where the toilet hadn’t been cleaned for 6 months and there were science projects living in the fridge. It still peeves me 4 years later. Thanks for letting me get it off my chest, I’ve been waiting a while for a post like yours to bring it up.
Google: “australia huntsmen spiders”. I think it would take more than a sprig of rosemary to repel one of those bastards.
I’m not looking. I have to deal with those bastards in person at least once a year.
also, i should note this is in New Zealand, there are no extremely poisonous spiders, these are harmless daddy long legs!
I just had a guest stay with me that said “she wanted to be kind but…”. Then, she left me a detailed list of how my little house needed a “deep clean” and listed cobwebs and dust etc. etc. We are, also, very clean people but we live in the dry side of Washington state and it is windy here. Dust is everywhere AND those spiders can be swept away one night and have my bushes covered by the next morning.
I could take her feedback very personally but I’ll try not to. I’ll vent here and keep cleaning my little place spotless, leave freshly made tamales in the fridge/freezer and chocolates on the pillow.
A recent guest told me how she helped me by moving all the furniture (650 sq ft (198 sq meters) 1BR so not like a huge house) away from the walls and cleaned behind & beneath and I would never believe how much dirt was there.
I was surprised. The weekend before I did the semi-annual unit deep cleaning and did exactly the same thing. I wonder what she found???
OCPD…
Relief?
Was this a private message, public, or verbal way she told you?
I got marked down for place being too clean! Beat that!
It was a private email and she told me she would contact me later to tell me more details but she implied that she wanted to let me know in private before she posted it publically.
I replied with a simple, “Thank you so much for the feedback, I appreciate it.” I didn’t want to get into a conversation with her about it because I don’t agree with her and I know how well my daughter and I clean…but it’s an old little house (1950 era) and my house adjacent to it is 1906 era. The price per night is very reasonable, too. It’s a very clean vintage house but it is in a dry, dusty, windy area. I also don’t have time to take additional feedback from her later on!
Jill