Guests eating meals in bedroom

Lively lively.

@scubacat asked opinions about letting people eat in their room

I gave mine.

I didn’t realize how seriously some people disagree. I’ve learned something today

Soon this may rival the great duvet debate of 2017!!! :smile:

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@KKC
I don’t understand ironing sheets either. I use 100% cotton sheets. I think if I ever started to iron a sheet my beloved mother (gone 5 years) would be so shocked she would rise up and visit me just to see if it was true. Hey—-now that’s a thought, let me grab my iron!!!

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And the Brits obsession with ironing bed linen… Sorry Dusty!

Our Tsarina and her breakfast wine drinking partner were too pissed to come down at 9 am. I had to message them, with a gentle reminder that check-out was at 10 am, and breakfast was on the table.

I was really pissed off with a channel swimmer, here for a month (never again…) who despite being constantly told (after being asked) not to keep food in her room, had mouldy fruit, cakes and other strange swimmery foodstuffs. She simply didn’t notice but nor did she eat them.

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Yes. I do have carpets and extra textiles due to the damp, cold climate. Obviously I air the rooms before every single guest but this is hard in the winter. Food under such circumstances is a real problem, whereas the dining room is designed for the purpose of eating!
I had an unpersonable guest recently, one of only a very small number to complain about the no eating in the bedroom rule over 3 years, who left a brown stain on my carpet which did not respond to the machine or treatment. I felt really exploited by this. I will need to replace the carpet and it will take a week and a half’s worth of bookings to pay for it. All because the selfish ***** wanted her own way. She had the nerve to not give me 5 stars for value, apparently other hosts had let her do more in their listing, like being a weirdo and hanging out in the kitchen all day.
Yep I think many local hosts feel pressured to allow things like eating in bedrooms when they don’t like it or can’t afford it. This is because of the race to the bottom where Airbnb demands more for less money.
The towels issue is really easy to accommodate as a host when you’re washing bedding anyway. The idea of a guest lugging around a wet towel is really unsavoury.

Oh, that sounds gross! What’s wrong with people?! My worst was a family who was piling up used diapers in their apartment for more than a week during the summer.:nauseated_face:

This, of course, changes things quite a bit. It must be a nightmare to professionally clean or replace carpet every now and then. I was surprised how many people in colder climates have these wall to wall carpets (I don’t know how they are called, is it simply a carpet? :smiley:) in all the rooms but kitchen and bathroom. Places that don’t have it had really cold floors!

We usually have tiles and laminate flooring, with some area rugs. In the apartments I rent out I have them only in the bedroom and bathroom, and they can be washed in washing machines. That makes life much easier.

They are called “fitted carpets”. Like Jess, in the same climate, I have fitted carpets, but only upstairs, and they are a pale taupe colour. So, no food, no wine, no beer if I can help it. Oak floors downstairs, some 250 years old, are easily cleaned, if a bit draughty!

LOL. But where did it come from?

How interesting ~ I’ve never heard the term “fitted carpets”. In the U.S., they are referred to as wall-to-wall carpet(ing).

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Yes likewise, hard floors in kitchen, dining room and bathrooms, but fitted carpets in the bedrooms for warmth. Also carpet on the stairs for sound proofing. I have a carpet shampooing machine, a spot cleaning machine and a Miele Cat and Dog vacuum cleaner. It is quite a bit to keep clean!
Matching extra bedspreads and blankets in the bedrooms for extra warmth (guests need to choose the right temperature for them) mean it would be a huge expense if guests stained things.
So, no food in bedrooms! I find it sad other hosts are pressurised into allowing it.

You’ve mentioned extra linens for warm a couple of times and difficulty airing out a room because it is cold. My curiosity is up…where are you?

If I lived in a cold climate I’d probably have wall to wall installed fitted carpets as well. But I can tell you I will never, ever have them again in my current home. I thought my home was clean. Everyone said it was clean. It didn’t smell and it looked clean. First I replaced the carpet in my bedroom then in the rest of my home. Between what I saw on and under the carpet when I pulled up the carpet in the living area last summer and what I’ve seen on the floors since I installed tile…you don’t want to know. I’m appalled I had carpet for so long.

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I HATE ironing, with a vengeance! But We (as in the Royals) do like our sheets and duvet covers ironed to within an inch of their lives. It may be the old Matron in me, but I like a wrinkle free bottom sheet, hospital corners are a given and the duvet cover looking crisp and fresh. Shame about our bed… So I outsource the sheets and duvet covers (am I risking reigniting that old chestnut?), do the pillowcases, unless I have cajoled/bribed/coerced Mr Joan to do them, along with his bloody work shirts; acres of the buggers. The best trick is to let him watch a crap film on the telly whilst he does it, or to threaten him with mowing the lawn for me. It works about once a month.

Somewhere cold and damp in the UK, probably in an aged house to boot. When I’m slow in winter, I close off half the house unless booked.

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UK Extra rain in my part!

Somerset???

I’ve just remembered on the sheet front; 1970’s nylon sheets. We thought they were great when students and they came out; no ironing or they’d melt. I also remembered flannelette. They were horrid but very warm.

Yep I agree, carpets can definitely trap dirt, hence the carpet shampooing machine and the Miele Cat and Dog vacuum cleaner. The latter practically lifts the fitted carpet off the floor it’s so powerful (German!). Also upstairs is shoes off (and food free lol).

However the house is so cold and noisy (3 storeys) without carpet, it’s well worth all the fuss. Maybe if I lived in a new eco home insulated within an inch of its life, without squeaky Victorian floorboards I could give carpet up. You’d lose the character and location then though. That’s why a third of us live in Victorian houses here.

Honestly I miss it so much at times. So easy to keep looking clean. Soft underfoot. The way it keeps the hair from drifting all over the place like a tumbleweed. LOL.

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We put a small table in our room and encourage it! I also have a small fridge and a microwave. Our room, though part of our house, has it’s own private entrance and the door to the rest of the house is locked so there is no access to the kitchen. I require a $100 security deposit to cover spills and stains but have never needed to use it.

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That’s more like a bedsitting room than just a bedroom, with a microwave and all. Having a table and chairs will almost certainly keep food away from the bed so that’s a good layout. Plus if they damage a rug etc you have the deposit.

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It is interesting that having spent half a life time of travelling for work and sometimes staying at very expensive hotels it is only now running my modest little AirBnB i realise how much of the room cost goes to keeping everything looking like new. I wonder what happens to the used towels and bedding at the Ritz?