Guests eating hot food in bedroom

And even then you will likely still have to deal with it sometimes…:roll_eyes:

1 Like

I’ve hosted about 600 stays and had food spilled on the bed 2x, both in the last year. There is a desk where a single can eat and there’s a table outside for nice weather but I am not surprised people eat on the bed in the room.

Making rules that can’t be enforced seems like a bad idea (she said again.) Women having their menses appear unexpectedly is a greater danger than food eating. What’s the fine for not tracking that and taking proper precautions?

5 Likes

No fine. Just pay to replace sheets if it is unable to be salvaged. Unless you just consider it the cost of doing business then you cover it yourself.

No problem as far as I am concerned. Guests can take plates and cutlery from the kitchen where I also have a number of lap-trays they can use and eat their take outs wherever they like. Never had any issues.

Like you, I host at home but am lucky enough to have a separate dining room for guests. I serve breakfast here, but they can make hot drinks in the evening, and have a small fridge for drinks of their own. My house rules state categorically that neither food or drink, other than water, is taken to bedrooms. By drink, I mean alcohol, specifically red wine but without specifically stating so.

All garnered from lessons learned. It’s not about being inhospitable; it’s yor home, not a hotel, and they have chosen to stay with you and your family.

Only one problem with someone trying to take their breakfast back up to eat in bed. Suffice to say she didn’t.

Be specific about what you expect in your HR

2 Likes

I have it in my house rules and when doing the meet and greet tell them about the guests that had a late dinner in their room and spilled red wine all over the quilt and carpet then say “so that’s why I don’t allow food in the guest rooms.” I do think mentioning it in addition to having it in the written rules helps. I have not had one guest break the rule since. However I have a home on pilings and am fortunate enough to have lots of outdoor space so there are two indoor and three outdoor eating spaces they are welcome to use. My son set up an outdoor TV under the house recently with a sectional seating area and I hardly ever see my guests anymore!

4 Likes

If I were renting just a bedroom in a private home I can’t imagine ordering in an actual meal to eat there. However i am a bedroom snacker and I don’t think I could manage with just water … no morning cuppa, no glass of milk at night, not a single biscuit or banana? What if I wake up and can’t get to sleep?

I think “no hot food” is a perfectly reasonable rule for your situation - then you just have to watch out for a guest setting out a lavish cold table with salads!

1 Like

Hi becky_jo
I have also had this problem and we have a fully kitted kitchen & dining area and guests still eat in bed.

To help alleviate this problem - I did this - I don’t have instant book, so all guests need to enquire first. I now send our house rules to the guests and ask them to read them and confirm that the house rules suit them before I accept their booking. This really does force guests to acknowledge and read all house rules carefully. I have noticed a drop in the amount of crumbs I find in the beds. This may help.

Good luck
Al

1 Like

I am the same as you @Malagachica but I have learnt from experience that i can’t afford to have guests eat or drink in my room.

I put the no drinks and food rule in place after the first guest after I bought a brand new £600 mattress split her coffee on it and didn’t even bother to try and get the stain out or tell me about it and it spread across the mattress. (And yes I do have a mattress topper, but it hadn’t been unpacked in my new place when this happened).

Of course I can’t stop guests eating or drinking up in the room, but on my walk around I make a joking comment about the mattress incident to guests and hope that will help them realise I am not being a fussy so and so, but there is a reason for me having the rule in place.

Guests on the whole seem to understand that they are invited into our kitchen in the morning, but that we don’t offer kitchen facilities in the evenings. When they arrive we take them into the kitchen and show them where breakfast will be set up for them, where the toaster and kettle are etc, and ask about an approx time they’d like breakfast. That night I’ll put most things out (cereals, tea/coffee, crockery, jam honey etc), then first thing in the morning I’ll pop down and take the fresh bread out of the maker, put out milk, yoghurt, juice. They also have a kettle and tea/coffee facilities in their room. It seems to work really well, and depending on what time they want it, we usually have a chat and sometimes even have breakfast with them in the morning, which people seem to enjoy too!

2 Likes

I have a similar set up. Whole house rental. Dining room with table & 4 chairs, eating bar in kitchen with 4 stools…the bedrooms are up a steep flight of stairs.

I had not had anyone eat in the bedrooms until recently. A doctor on work assignment took food and consumed it in the bedroom and left her empty food container in the bedroom wastebasket.

She’s also the person who dyed her hair in the upscale marble bathroom. Luckily, we had just re-sealed the tile and did not have any staining.

You would think a doctor would know better and be more clean, but she was one of the most untidy, unsanitary guests I’ve had.

Wow, it sounds as if you need to re-read your posts before hitting the reply button.

RR

2 Likes

Just another example of how stereotyping doesn’t work, no matter who we are trying to stereotype.

I have a doctor client with my dog boarding business and her dog came to me with some sores and I determined that he had fleas. Fleas are so rare here that I’ve literally never seen them on dogs in my town and we are talking about 1000s of dogs over 50+ years. Anyway you would have thought her dog had Ebola. As the told me when she picked him up two days ago: My house is now sterilized. LOL. So she does fit the stereotype.

Gosh I wish that was true here! They are so thick on the ground you can have them in your house even if you have no pets!

1 Like

That all sounds good. Be aware though, that you will eventually have guests who don’t get the set-up. Just be clear and up-front when you do the house tour. You’re not going to be able to stop people eating in the room - that’s a fact. So I’d take the advice you’ve had so far about giving trays or investing in a big tub of Oxyclean or the equivalent!

1 Like

Oh Don, time for a mental Margarita! :slight_smile:

I have never had a problem with food in the room. There is a microwave and mini fridge right there. The rules are that the food must be covered or pooped in the fridge. And we have containers for them, too. Yes, we have a kitchen table, but everyone likes pizza in front of their own smart TV. Easy peezee

You tell the guests to poop in the fridge? No wonder you don’t have a problem with food in the room. :rofl:

3 Likes

AHA! You’re awake!!!

I know it’s a typo, and I must have the sense of humor of a 10 year old boy…but that made me belly laugh, then snicker…