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Normally I enjoy hosting but… this is the second time I’m hosting a guest who just doesn’t use the shower. My guests get my bedroom while I camp out in my lounge, so it’s really grossing me out that they don’t wash and then sleep in my bed. I can already smell whiffs of stale, greasy human in the room. The previous non-washer stayed with me for nearly two weeks during a London heatwave… he reeked. Oh, he also left a pile of toenail clippings on the floor right next to the bin, special present for me. I wanted to power hose the room after he left, ugh. What can I do about this? Is this a common problem? My bathroom is very nice and sparkling clean. I offer all sorts of bath products. Fluffy white towels. So whyyy???
Can I make a house rule that guests have maintain a minimum standard of personal hygiene?
I prefer guests who don’t shower often to guests who overuse perfume, aftershave and that nasty, nasty Axe body wash.
I agree that people who don’t bathe very often (and non-bathers often don’t wear deodorant or wash their clothes regularly) smell disgusting. However, if I were a guest I would choose a hotel/motel over an Airbnb listing where there were rules about how often I was allowed to and/or must bathe. You can make a house rule about personal hygiene if you like, but I believe it will encourage potential guests to book elsewhere.
One of our regular guests came here as a result of shower rules. She’d overlooked the rule at her previous listing that stated that guests must wait until 9:00 A.M. to shower. This rule is odd as the listing is “Business Ready”. The guest was showering before work. The host came in the bathroom while the guest was in the shower to yell at the guest.
Oh gross, you deserve every penny you earn plus an extra 50cents for making me laugh, even though its not funny. I could not get in that bed, even the thought of someone else farting in my bed freaks me out. All I can suggest is up your price from gross guest to decent guest or lower your price and make them sleep in the lounge.
The very very first night I ever had my new $2000 mattress and king bed set up, I had a pair book for one night. It’s a terrible value so I try to discourage that, but they insisted… so I accepted and was pretty shocked when they arrived, they looked homeless. They both had dreadlocks, not that there’s anything wrong with that (white people, for the record) and clothes that stank and backpacks only.
Visions of my new perfect bed getting infested with bedbugs or more!!
All turned out okay and they left the place fine and no bedbugs that I know of!
But back to eyeborg, are your prices too low? are you attracting riff raff?
I’ve had nail clippings left too, but outside, least I could sweep them away. But gross… disgusting.
I had a very nice and VERY SMELLY guest a few years ago (on a different platform).
His clothes stunk. His room stunk after he left. It took me smudging it, using essential oils and it took 3-4 days before it stopped being smelly (thankfully no one was booked in that room right after him).
I offered to wash his clothes (this is how desperate I was to have him not be stinky). He declined.
He was very nice, but it was so yucky that I don’t think I’d host him again because it was seriously awful and I could tell where which rooms he’d just been in (didn’t need Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs).
A number of years ago, a guy from British Columbia (nothing to do with my VR) who was staying with a neighbor, took a liking to me, so he would wander over and come in to chat. That was fine because he was somewhat interesting (though totally clueless about what caused his marriage to fall apart).
We always sat out on the patio but on this one day, he sat in the living room…on my white nubby-fabric upholstered sofa. I recall it was called a peanut shape (not that it makes any difference to this story…eye-roll).
Anyway, I thought I caught a whiff of him as he was coming in the door and it wasn’t of the usual men’s cologne that has me panting with desire…it was of body sweat. He sat on the sofa and laid his arm on the top of the cushions next to him. He was wearing a tank top and I didn’t think anything of it until after he left and his “aura” (body odor) remained…like big time! I went over and took a sniff and about barfed.
I tried numerous times in the succeeding days to fabric-wash that area but I could always smell sweat. I swear, it took weeks to remove all hint of armpit smell. (ugh and barf…and not necessarily in that order either.)
Reminds me of a trip when I was a guest last summer. My girlfriend had to work all over Britain, and quite often I’d accompany her, make a nice trip of it. We found a great Airbnb in central Leeds, let out by a student, when a guest turned up, he would move in to his girlfriends place.
It absolutely whiffed. We had to open all the windows, and felt obliged to take chairs out on to the balcony, spend as much time as we could outside. The host used to have a dog, till his girlfriend moved out, but it didn’t smell doggy. There was a row of his trainers in the lounge…I tentatively sniffed one…it wasn’t that either. But whatever the source of the cheese smell was, it was literally causing us to gag.
His family popped in at some point, and I said “ooh, could I ask you about the smell?” Normally, I would NEVER consider this line of questioning, such a risk of offending, but the smell was sooooo strong, I assumed everyone was aware. How could they not be? “What smell?” they said, blank faced.
I think we dropped a star on their cleanliness, but mentioned it in a private message, probably fell on deaf ears. And vey likely, deaf noses too.
Thanks for your support everyone! Yes, long stays are a risk. I don’t get riff-raff, my place is pricy enough and my guests are all professionals, but somehow there are still issues like this. And no, not just males…! I get equally annoyed with the body-spray chemical warfare enthusiasts, those smells are even harder to air out, but at least it’s not gross. Then there was the guest who was into ‘skincare’, he drenched himself in oils every day, it seeped through into the pillow and mattress protector, while the bathtub was a slime fest. Fun times! Oh, and the guy who pooped ON the toilet, as well as IN.
@konacoconutz, I feel for your sinking heart when the people slept in your new bed, ouch! Glad it turned out ok.
@Barns, dead granny under the floor boards, family cashed in the life insurance. ‘What smell?’
Okay, that’s so gross. That professional, high paying guests are still stinky. Gross.
A guy I once worked with played in the BOSS’s first jersey bar band, the original E Street. He used to tell us stories about how stinky the BOSS was. Would never wash his clothes or take showers, he was apparently so rank it was hard to play standing next to him (surely he’s different now!) But even though he’s the BOSS (whom I loved, stood in line for tickets and saw him play when he was still up and coming, fantastic shows, the best ever) would I want to rent my airbnb to someone that stinky…??? Just a hypothetical question for this Monday morning!!
