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All of my rooms have locks. People lock them at their discretion. One of them has been consistently locked for over a year. I’ve had the odd moment in there, but I have no reason to suspect anything untoward. He works nights so he is entitled to privacy.
At the beginning of an occupancy, I find an excuse to take a peek. And I am in to do service like air conditioning and battery replacement. But they will always know well in advance if I am going in, and they can reschedule if necessary.
I am looking for overall presentation, and some curious things. Most people are not neat freaks. But piles of cardboard, flammables, dirty plates, and so forth can be a hazard. I can also spot potential problems, such as a clearcut need for more cupboards, and fix them quite easily.
My listing is very much like yours, one guest room and our bedroom. Upon check in, I give the guests a key to the front door, and a bedroom key. Most times I don’t think the room key is used, but it’s up to the guests preference. In my introduction message, I state that I do not enter the guests room without permission, but will access their bathroom to tidy up, change towels, etc. No one seems to have a problem.
I lock my private room while guests are here, so why shouldn’t they? I don’t think it is so much a matter of not trusting the other person as just a way to avoid any and all mis-understanding about lost or mis-placed items.
You sound like a very conscientious host and one who goes out of the way to make guests feel comfortable and respected. As for replenishing items, perhaps just have the biscuits etc on a tray that they can help themselves to as they need to, on a table near their room, or something like that.
Of course during a long stay, you can always work out with them the day you will do a change of sheets etc, .
As one poster suggested " talk to them"
All best wishes.
I never enter the guest room/bathroom when they are staying unless they ask me to for some reason (both times this has happened it was because the guest asked if I could remove a spider) and once when there was a sudden downpour and I saw the guest had left her windows open . Most guests want to feel they have privacy for the duration of their stay. I have a 2 wek max, and I can’t imagine what there is to “replenish” in that time, aside from the clean sheets and towels I offer after a week, and all my guests have said they’ll change the bed themselves. If they need more toilet paper or anything, they can simply ask.
My private room/bath doesn’t come with maid service.
Thanks everybody for your views - conflicting though some of them are!
One issue that we’re taking on board - I normally go into the guest bedroom every day, to replenish water bottles and tea/coffee supplies, wash and replace used cups and saucers and empty the waste bin. One poster said that this was “not normal on AirBnB” - well, I don’t think anyone can say with authority what’s “normal” or not on AirBnB, and we like to do it. We don’t say on our listing that we do this, so in future we’ll mention to guests that it’s our custom to do this but we’ll ask guests if that’s OK. Anyway the guests left today and wrote a really nice thank you in our Visitors’ Book.
A special thank you to Joan for your nice comments.
If anyone wants to look at our listing, its number is 15575663.
Thanks again folks.
Malcolm
I agree, there’s a pretty broad range of what’s reasonable to provide.
I’d suggest adding some language to the listing to give guests a heads-up, in addition to speaking with them upon arrival (you might want to tell them that you assume they do not want any service if they choose to lock their door while they are out).
