Guests abuse washer / dryer

A guest just made 4 loads back-to-back and finished almost half a new bottle of laundry detergent.

Do you provide your guests with laundry detergent as well as drying sheets? Any limits?

@yana should be the one to answer!! :laughing:

What house rules do you have around use of your washer/dryer?

Did you not talk to them about it before they got to the fourth load?

How long have they been staying that they have four loads of laundry?

I don’t have specific House Rules around it. I’d always thought people would do 1 load top. I didn’t see it. My wife told it was 4 loads when I got back home. We just had a baby girl so she’s in no condition to go outside and handle this.

5 days but that happened on the 1st day.

Easy to solve, don’t offer laundry but then you can make exceptions as you see fit.

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I wanted to offer the Washer / Dryer amenities but not being abused.

Another lady 3 weeks ago stayed for 3 nights with her family and also did the same. 3 loads on the day of their check-out. So it’s not like a one time thing…

Do you charge for laundry detergent or limit it?

Well now you do!

You can never trust guests to do the right thing!

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I don’t offer this, but some hosts charge, limit or have guests bring their own. I think Yana told the story of how she realized guests had booked her place JUST to do laundry all night long as it was cheaper than several loads at the launderette.

My electric bill goes up hugely during busy season when I have back to back guests or when my sons are home and that washer is constantly running. I don’t pay for water (free from the sky!!) but I do pay for the water pump and for the water heater.

Laundry is not free! Guests staying under three days should not have unlimited access. Well, no guests should. Put a fair limit on it or people will totally take advantage.

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If you don’t mind me asking, how did you word it?

Do I tell them to bring their own laundry detergent?

Ask Yana or others here who have laundry rules, guests cannot access laundry or use it at my house so I don’t have this issue.

Are you a whole house rental or shared?

If you are concerned about cost, I would just buy a big generic detergent for their use. Hide the good stuff. That would be my route.

They have their own unit. But the washer and dryer is shared.

I agree with others don’t offer it as a facility. Then if you have a longer term guest (one week plus) you want to offer it to, you can. I would limit to one load a week.

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But under House Rules or just to take it off the amnesties?

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Take it off the amenities. There are no house rules because you aren’t offering it.

If you decide to let them use it, inform them verbally.

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Are you booked solid? No reason to lose a booking over $4 of washer dryer use. This could be a vital amenity for some guests.

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WE charge $5 per load, detergent included. But it is only mentioned in the house rules, and says “guests staying more than 5 days can do one large (it’s a high capacity machine) load of laundry.”

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No no no no… not a reason to let guests take advantage of you.
$4 is a lot to some people. Every little bit adds up and comes off your bottom line.

I couldn’t afford to give away $4 for my listing. And we are also talking about intangibles such as wear and tear on your appliances, possibly overloads of grey water to your septic and overall energy use. Way more than $4.

Most experienced hosts have rules around laundry. Many started out with this attitude, oh what’s a little laundry. It helps keep guests happy. But what about hosts who feel resentful that guests might be booking your place just to bring tons of laundry over and save money on launderette costs?

If laundry were free why do launderette charge $5 a load?

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