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That’s exactly what I was thinking when I read that. A lot of the issues (glass doors and windows had to be washed for example) are things that should be done at every turnover.
By the way, I think it was more than three kids;
Five small children for nearly a month? I’d have expected total destruction. I can’t imagine ever renting to such a group. Maybe for a couple of days, and assuming I was on the premises, but no longer than that.
I do this halfway through a stay for any guests who are staying for more than eight days. It usually takes about an hour to change the beds and have a general clean. But it gives a great insight into whether the guests are doing anything they shouldn’t.
For instance, @KKC mentioned insects and that can quickly happen here if food isn’t put away. So if I see that there are crumbs, or if food is left out, I mention it to the guests.
It’s not being bossy or inhospitable - if they are from places with cooler weather than here, they’re probably just not aware that ants are everywhere and will find the slightest crumb of bread given half a chance. It’s one of the prices we pay for lovely weather.
I just visited my daughter and family in Canada. My 18 year old granddaughter wants to come stay with me for awhile in Mexico (she hasn’t been here since she was 7), which I would love.
But she has ADHD, acts more like a 14 year old than an 18 year old, and her room at home is a total disaster- piles of clothes everywhere, false eyelashes scattered about that make you jump, thinking it’s a centipede, and cookie bags with cookies spilled out onto the floor and never cleaned up for weeks.
I told her if she lives like that here in Mexico, she will have ants, cockroaches and scorpions in her room. She told me that in that case, as she’s an insect-phobe, she will keep her room clean and tidy. And I believe her, as one of the behaviors of those with ADHD is that they can hyperfocus on things which are personally important to them. I’m sure she’ll be hanging up her clothes when she stays with me rather than risk stepping on a scorpion hiding in a mess of clothes on the floor.
the challenging thing about reviews in general is that there are no objective standards to go by. It’s completely subjective and changes from host to host because it can only be based on our own personal experiences with our guests. I find myself comparing how clean a guest leaves our guesthouse to how the majority of guests leave it. If you are blessed with great guests it raises the bar for the rest of your guests. I suppose it works the other way around for hosts as well…each experience creates an expectation for the next one. We also have to be careful with this comparison because you can’t expect a family of five with small children on a 5 night stay to leave your place as clean as a single guest on an overnight stay. Not sure that’s any help!
While that is quite true, it is less so when it comes to written reviews than star ratings, which give no explanation for why a guest was rated as they were.
At least with written reviews, you can cross-reference to, first of all, see the reviewing host’s listing, whether they come across as overly controlling (a huge long list of rules, or onerous check-out chores expectations), and also look to see how the host has reviewed their past guests. If they seem critical and nit-picky in general when they review their guests, I’d take their reviews with a grain of salt.
I guess we come off as overly controlling as we do have a substantial list of rules! Our listing overlooks a pool and we also have a rescue farm, so that requires a few more rules than the standard listing might have.
Well, the list of rules may be lengthy but be obvious why they are required, according to the nature of the listing, such as in your case. Obviously you need safety rules for using the pool and can’t just have guests feeding or interacting with the rescue amimals without your direction or at all.
I am thinking more along the lines of long lists of rules that just sound like the host wants to micromanage every aspect of a guest’s stay, and/or instead of being practical and creating a fairly damage-proof listing, have a ton of rules about what guests can use, what they can touch, etc. Or have unenforceable rules like accepting pets, but saying they aren’t allowed on the furniture, because if a dog is used to being on the sofa or bed at home, that will be the case everywhere. However, a rule saying furniture should be covered with the provided dog blankets would be reasonable.
