I have a new apartment with new carpet and I cant stand it when people trapse inside with their shoes on! Goodness knows what has touched the bottom of their shoes - gum, dog poo, mud etc etc. I think its so rude and disrespectful to trod that through someone elses home! I have written “no shoes inside please” on my airbnb profile, house manual and in the info folder in the room. But still some people ignore this and stomp crap all over my carpet!
What to do?
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We all know guests don’t read. And not all cultures are in the habit of taking their shoes off. Where are most of your guests from?
When you go into the apartment is there a lobby? if so put a sign on the door into the apartment to remind them and provide some re-useable/disposable slippers in a basket/rack.
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In some countries/cultures it’s standard to take off your shoes, in other it’s standard not to do so. Some people think the shoes are dirty, other think the floor is dirty. In my European family I once had an aunt go mad because another aunt insisted that everyone should take off their shoes and walk around on socks or barefoot.
@Helsi is totally right: Put up a sign and provide some kind of slipper.
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put sign in front door " shoes off". That helps a lot. And don’t be afraid to remind. I had guest’s who were terribly embaraaaes that they kept forgetting taking their shoes off. They told me they never in their lives took shoes inside their own houses.
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It is also very important to provide space for guests to put their shoes.
Nothing is more annoying than a lot of shoes in front of the door.
Most of our guests take of their shoes. We have shoe racks at the entrance of every appartment, and guest use them.
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These “shoes on or off” discussions always remind me of when I lived on Kwajalein Atoll in far Pacific.
Folks out there wear flip-flops at best, and many only wear them for formal events.
That was back when TSA first announced the “must take off your shoes” rule to be searched before boarding airplanes. We Westerners were confused enough at the new rule, you can imagine how those lovely people from those simpler cultures reacted! What?! You can see my feet, why should I take of my flip flops??!! How stupid the TSA!!
Yes, we have a shoe rack by the door and guests see that and assume they need to take their shoes off. We don’t even have it in our house rules and most people still do it.
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Wow!! That would have been amazing. I hear the Wildlife is fantastic there. May I ask what you were doing out there?
I was a government contract Technical Writer for the Ronald Reagan Missile Test Range, where we have the world’s largest, most powerful radar among other things. My island (Kwajalein) was 3 miles long and half a mile wide.
Our island didn’t have much wildlife – no land mammals, coconut crabs, geckos all over, half a dozen species of native birds and a few transients. All the neat wildlife was the incredible diversity in our 1200 square mile lagoon not more than 200 ft deep. Visibility was normally 75-100 ft!!
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[Found out my answer.]
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Duvets/top sheets
Kettles/er … no kettles
tomaytoes/tomartoes
Shoes on/shoes off … of course it’s your house and therefore your rules, but please don’t assume it’s “rude and disrespectful” if people don’t automatically take their shoes off when entering your hallowed abode. In Spain and Italy we have tiled, hard floors and it’s not the custom at all for guests to remove shoes - in fact I wouldn’t dare ask an elegantly-dressed Señora to remove a carefully-chosen part of her outfit!
It’s interesting to see which countries are on which side in the shoes on/off divide: China and Japan yes; Arab world yes, on the whole at home but hospitality would probably win out and I don’t think a guest would be required to do so. Scandinavian countries and Canada (i.e. cold, snowy countries) absolutely yes, Southern Europe no, UK and US mixed, up to the individual home owner.
Any advance on these?
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One of my rules is for people to park in my curved driveway in front of my house, not in the street and not blocking the garage. It’s the prime parking spot with the shortest walk to their door. It’s a rule, as well as driveway parking mentioned as a benefit several places in the listing. Still, people park in the street, across the street, down the street (?!) and in front of the garage about 40% of the time. People have advised signs or even painting my driveway but I want my home to look like a home, not a commercial enterprise.
This is what I’ve found to be most effective: putting it in the message with the check in information on the day of arrival sent between noon and 3 pm. So I tell them where to park, I generally remind them we are in the Mountain Time Zone and I tell them how to get in the room. That all of that is in the listing is irrelevant to a number of guests.
I bet you know some people who lived there also and later built a house here in Kona with the money they saved from being exempt from paying taxes. I profiled their home for our home magazine. She taught herself sewing and he taught himself cabinet making because of the lack of things to do…know who I mean? I should pM you the article. 
India traditionally goes for shoes off, I think. But we personally don’t do the shoe off thing. I’m told it’s for hygiene purposes, but personally I doubt it makes a significant difference. Does anyone disagree?
I don’t voluntarily do the shoe off thing either. It brings to mind the memory of having to remove our shoes before entering a beautiful ancient mosque in Cairo. I looked at the hundred or so assorted footwear at the entrance and wondered if I would ever see mine again.
We entered the huge open-air prayer area quietly and respectfully, staying on the perimeter of the hundreds of fringed prayer rugs neatly covering every inch of the floor. They were of various colors and patterns but looked worn and faded.
What struck me the most, more than the unique architecture, detailed mosaic art, and the quiet and peaceful atmosphere, was the unexpected smell of unwashed feet. Apparently, the rugs were permeated with it even in that arid and dusty environment. Ugh…not very hygienic.
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A possible approach in such a situation is to tie the shoes together by their laces and hang them around your neck. But for some reason this isn’t a popular option.
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I hang one slip on shoe on each ear. Also not a popular option. 
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I so love it when hosts can help each other! …
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Around the neck or over the ears, it is!
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New travelling product - scarf with smell proof shoe pockets, just the things for indoor shoe phobic hosts and no shoes temples!
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