Guest snuck in a cat!

Where did these guests come from? Under a rock?

You do the laundry for guests in a separate dwelling/apartment? I’ve never heard of that.

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We live upstairs. Its a basement apt w no washer n dryer;)

Oh okay, I didn’t quite get that part.

I’ve done it a few times. In particular for single guests who are here for work reasons. Although there’s a shared laundry (coin-operated) that they can use it has limited hours (more or less daytime).

I get guests who are in town working for travelling Broadway shows and they tend to have long working hours which include the evenings so I offer to do their laundry as they are usually staying for about three weeks - the length of the show’s run. I don’t charge for it but I think every time, they’ve left me about $20 or so.

I also do a clean and linen change of the apartments mid-stay in guests are staying for more than eight days so for working guests, I offer to do their laundry at the same time.

I’m pretty sure that Airbnb doesn’t cover pet damage. Does your insurance cover it?

We tried to get the guest to compensate but she never did, totally ignored everything. I am so tired of all those junkies who seem to have decent past reviews then end up making and leaving a mess. They seem to have a habit of moving everything about, leaving their junk hidden in drawers and closet. Leaving sticky cannabis wax all over the cutlery, drawers, pans, sink etc. It took a long time to research what the sticky substance was, so that we could properly clean it off. Soap, oil, detergents etc didn’t work.

Wow, that’s really going above and beyond! We are not run like a hotel but then guests have their own private laundry room (no coins or sharing) as all of ours are complete, separate homes.

Ours are too and that’s why it’s so important. Mid-stay we can see what the situation is in the apartments and head off any problems. And after all, no one wants guests who sleep in the same bedding for three weeks. :crazy_face:

The mid-stay clean is something that guests appreciate but it’s much more important for the host’s business.

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I don’t think that would fly with our guests. Not only would we have to charge to do another cleaning around all their stuff (and they may see it as an intrusion) but we have several rentals so technically not practical. We do thorough check-out inspections however before cleaning and a final inspection after each cleaning – and to be honest, we don’t really care how long they sleep on their sheets as long as we clean them afterward.

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Don’t hold your breath waiting for Airbnb to help you get reimbursed for damages. We had a guest leave a hot curling iron on the carpet - burned/melted in three places; no way to patch it. Estimate to replace the carpet was around $1,700. The renter refused to pay that amount. We let Airbnb arbitrate. They awarded us $62.00.

I’ve removed any of your places from my bucket list.

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LOL, considering you don’t know any of our rentals that kind of makes no sense. But yeah, I don’t like people I rent from telling me when to do laundry or how to run a household I am renting. Seems very strange, like a hotel, only weirder if it is a separate entity – never heard of that before.

We give guests freedom to live as they wish. We don’t micro-manage. If that’s what you’re into I agree that our resort properties may not be a good fit for someone like you, but you’re in the minority of short-term renters having their landlords drop in to check up on them. Sounds creepy and I wouldn’t stay in one of yours either if we’re being honest. But to each his own I guess.

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There’s nothing weird about it at all just because you’ve never heard of it. Many hosts arrange to do a once a week quick clean for longer term rentals, so they can get an idea of how the guests are living in there (think rotting food and pizza boxes attracting cockroaches and ants) and keep things at bay if the guests are dirty slobs. It can also help to make guests more clean and tidy, if they know the host will be coming in once a week. Of course this has to be clear in the listing, that this is the host’s routine, and a convenient time for this arranged with guests so they don’t feel intruded on.

And I’ve read plenty of posts where hosts complained that clueless guests expected that they’d get daily maid service and were disgruntled that they didn’t.

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How horrible! Did you blast them on social media? That seems to be the only way to really get their attention on certain issues.

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Hi - thank you for booking - 18 days… your weekly service will be Monday at 8-30, please advise if this time slot is not suit, as we can shift you to a later slot!

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You got it! Feel free to share our reviews (and thanks for the free advertising Jefferson) – glad we are so easy to find, as that is the whole point of effective advertising. :grinning:

Yes, like I said some mistake vacation rentals for hotels but most of our guests know what a vacation rental is.

Actually, my response was to Joan’s snarky little remark incompletely quoting me when I said

After clearly explaining we are a multi-property company she thinks it’s strange that the booking company doesn’t come in to check up on them and do their laundry. Again, never heard of a multi-property company who does that and it would weird me out. Don’t like to be micro-managed. Her response was to imply it is dirty if we don’t check on how often our guests do laundry. Sorry, but micromanaging and checking up on guests without their asking for it is not our thing and would put many renters off. This is not a bed & breakfast or room share. How others run their business and their circumstances are up to them, but yes, it is quite ridiculous to assume a place with multiple rentals not checking guests’ laundry during their stay is unclean, when what she describes is not the norm (especially for multi-property management). Maybe Joan (who’s never been here) should read our reviews.

So how long before you change your own sheets at home then? Longer than a week, two weeks, three?

Whilst I host in my own home, a B&B, when I am staying as a guest in an entire property, usually for 2-3 weeks, I would be horrified to sleep in the same sheets for the duration, and would complain bitterly.

I’m completely with Jaquo and MUddy on this, on all fronts.

Thankfully, I have always experienced a weekly clean and linen change as the norm.

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Yeah, exactly. You are single property owner renting a room in your home and you don’t seem to know the difference of renting separate properties at a resort? I don’t know of any multiple property rentals that check up on the guests’ personal habits. That would indeed turn off most of our clientele. It’s great if you are a bed & breakfast-type who wants hotel service (probably make meals too). That’s great for you. That’s obviously not what we, and a huge sector of vacation rentals, are.

I personally would never rent that kind of place. Our guests value privacy and freedom. We would not rent to a guest like you nor would a guest looking for a bed & breakfast or hotel service inquire with us. Pretty simple really.

I guess some think AirBnB is still just for those who rent out a room in their house as it started (which we had no interest in) or as a “bed & breakfast” as their name implies. But even so I’m surprised if you have any any experience in this business you think that is the majority or don’t know of how others work – or what the difference is. AirBnB is actually one of the newer vacation rental agencies started long after we got into the business based on room-sharing. We only listed with them when they opened up to conventional vacation rentals. Perhaps this forum “airhosts” is intended for those as it was when it originally started, rather than conventional short-term rentals in general. No one operates that way here though.

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Congratulations. You are now the recipient of the “most pompous post of the month” award.

JF

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Another deity perhaps?

What is it with multiple property managers who think they know it all, can tell us how it is etc etc, ad nauseum.

And he didn’t answer my query about how often he changes his own sheets, although they do say cleanliness is next to Godliness I believe; perhaps he doesn’t need to…

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