I must confess that when I was a student back in the last Ice Age I didn’t wash my bed linen very often, if at all.
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When I had a leak and the carpet got mildew, I used baking soda but it still smelled in the room. A shallow glass pie plate with vinegar on the floor next to the smelly part really helped. I also use a spray bottle with essential oils & epsom salt for dispersion as an air freshener. I am surprised the smell is so persistant!
Being on the Appalachian Trail and the C&O Canal Towpath in Maryland, I get a lot of hikers and bikers who have not bathed, or washed clothing, in days (or weeks). When I know they are coming in with that kind of smell, which can almost knock you down, I stop them at the door and ask them to please bath before sitting on my bed and linens and I hand them a laundry bag to stuff with their clothing so I can do a load of wash for them while they bathe, because the first time I had a guest like that - the smell lingered for a week! Fortunately it was a slow time, but it still took that long to air the room out between guests. I have now set this expectation on my listing and guests are typically very thankful at the offer of my doing a load of wash for them so they can be on their way the next morning all fresh and clean.
Perhaps put something on your listing, not just as an offering, but as a requirement, if a guest comes in with B.O. or develops it? Don’t be shy about it. This is your home and your business. Future guests will appreciate it and those who don’t like the rule, won’t book. Problem solved!
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Ok, I’m American, and have just learned a new word that is SO fitting. Pong! I will be using that from now on. Thank you!
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Well we’re talking only 4 days in now, trouble is my 3rd subsequent guest arrives tomorrow. I daresay a week of clean habits and ventilation would do the trick, but I don’t have a week. I hope the new HEPA/charcoal purifier will do a fast job.
Thanks for explaining @KKC - I was genuinely puzzled as I haven’t had anyone do this in three years so thought @Jess1 might be one of those hosts who asked guests to bring their own bedding.
Do these exist since minimum standards ask hosts to provide linen?
Well if you check Airbnb Help Centre you will find they are recommended rather than minimum standards @Jess1 - so yes.
Did the charcoal filter help?
Still not had a chance my 3rd guest checked in early. Just got by on another steam clean. Smell will most likely be gone by the time I get to use the purifier but it’s there for next time.
Good luck! :four_leaf_clover:As some races complain that we smell of red meat, we think they stink of garlic. When I smell a smelly guest, I put a cup of vinegar in the area they are using like in a corner of the closet and always keep coal in a dish under each bed. The vinegar is less expensive than air freshner and is more effective,
I don’t have carpets as they are a pain to keep clean and impossible to get certain smells out like urine. I do have a couple of throw rugs, one beside each bed.
Ah ha, charcoal as in filters!
Actually if you don’t allow shoes or food upstairs carpets are easier, and they insulate sound and warmth.
Goodness, if I was staying somewhere and found coal under the bed I’d be pretty surprised.
What’s wrong with the smell of garlic???
Some sort of strange Christmas ritual? Mind you I looked it up and apparently some people put it in a little fabric pouch.
I personally don’t find garlic a lingering smell. It is a natural antiseptic after all. Unwashed socks and underwear smell? Not so good.
My mum always used to keep a special piece of coal (it didn’t loo special!) and then throw out the person who had the darkest hair after midnight had struck the New Year. They then had to bring the coal into the house thus ensuring prosperity and happiness for the household for the remainder of the year.
It didn’t work! 
You say ‘some races complain that ‘we’ smell of red meat’ - how bizarre have never heard of this.
Which races are you saying complaining of this ?and who are the ‘we’ they complain about? @lordhunt
And who are you staying stinks of garlic?
A rather bewildering post
At least you got a place in the sun! No need for coal.
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There was another post before about how the Japanese think Westerners smell of meat and Japanese of vinegar and the way to combat this is to change the diet. I have a good sense of smell but wouldn’t notice this from a social distance.
However a dirty laundry smell in a bedroom is one I can easily identify.
Some orientals use a whole head of garlic when cooking instead of a garlic clove. Some orientals and some vegetarians, my daughter included, complain about the smell of red meat.