How do you feel about guests using the kitchen

21

Thanks!
The guests are very appreciative of the sticky notes, they feel it is very helpful to know exactly otherwise they would hate the feeling of “walking on eggshells” or that the host is secretly resentful at them, you know, all the nasty unnecessary things, get them out of the way, be frank, open, honest and so everyone is “on the same page”.
I have also printed out on beautiful paper, a list of house rules and guidelines, our homes are investments. I charge guests next to NOTHING, the least I expect is that they understand that with next to nothing rates, you really need to pick up after yourself and learn to be a more responsible traveler.

I can’t even afford to travel as much as most of my guests do, these people are loaded for the most part!

It is all about respect, I respect them and offer a very comfortable, clean, safe and friendly space to rest. So the notes show how much I care because they are in fun assortments of colors and they float about my place, kinda’ fun right? My guests all think so!

xoxoxox
Love you all.

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22

Kona , I did put VERY light cooking only. Guests that followed the cooks never even had coffee. I don’t know may be that rule scared them hehe.

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23

If it works for you, more power to you! :slight_smile: Different strokes for different folks. I took a good hard critical look at my signs, and even my son thought I had too many. So I reduced them and condensed the more salient points on a fridge mag and also point out the ones I am most concerned about to guests as they check in.

Regarding being budget and expecting them to cut you some slack for that, I have fouud unfortunately that once guests check in they often still expect the world even though YOU know you are charging next to nothing. :slight_smile:

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24

konacoconutz,

What did I say that you interpret as personal criticism?

Ellen

25

This. It’s putting her down and making her feel like she shouldn’t be an Air host if she objects to rude guests cooking up a storm several times a day and leaving disgusting messes.

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Your posts seem to indicate that you don’t really like having people in your house. I am an extrovert who enjoys meeting and getting to know new people.

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26

I appreciate this topic and the discussion!

I actually had some conversation with airbnb support because I had a guest reduce their rating for my house because they felt my kitchen wasn’t “normal” ---- but they knew that they were renting a room in an occupied, busy house. So I wrote to ask airbnb how this works - do they get to rate me on MY living spaces?? They said they didn’t really know what to respond about that.

I’ve let guests have the option of using my kitchen, I’ve since made it VERY explicit in my info that the kitchen is shared by many people and to not expect it to be in pristine condition, since I cannot always be in control of it. I’ve still had a couple of people say something about it not being super-clean, but by and large everyone seems to get it. Only about 30% of my guests ever do anything in the kitchen. One family used it so much and kept leaving it a mess… I have to admit I was unimpressed since they’d asked me for a deal, then ended up being SO much more work than any other guests I’d ever had. (They had a baby, and left messes evvvvverywhere)

It’s a learning curve, for sure! Those who stay longer definitely tend to use the kitchen more frequently.

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27

You get quite a bit of cooking guests, I don’t get these many cooks, thankfully.
To my firm opinion, Airbnb guests should not be using anyone’s kitchen to the full extent as they do at home. I am a long time Airbnb traveler, and I never ever used my hosts kitchen as my own. First of, there is a big danger of burning something. Even being as carefull as me , I once wanted to fry an egg and burned the handle of a frying pan. The most I used a hosts kitchen is for tea, coffee, a toast and eggs.
There are plenty of foods that you can buy In a store that are good for a meal, like yougurt, bread, jam, fruits, berries, veggies to make salad with, cereal with milk, oatmeal. These produce needs the most few minutes to make. If you are a meat eater, ere are plenty of already made products that you just warm up.
When we as guests rent someone’s room we already are saving lots of money. We are saving even more money by having this luxury as kitchen, refrigerator and all other appliances like a toaster, coffee maker, tea pot. Most hosts provide hot drinks for free.
My first Airbnb experience was in Switzerland where I rented a hotel , a tiny room for 150$ a night. I went out all the time, and paid 5$ for a cup of tea. One of the travelers told me about Airbnb and the next day I found myself i a beautifull private room I a. Beautifull house where I could make my own tea whenever I wanted. I still went out at night only because I wanted to socialize but 2 meals I had at home, I could store my fruits and veggies, and I couldn’t be happier.
My point is that to use someone’s kitchen to the full extent like you do at home is very rude and inconsiderate. And to complain about it is just ridiculous.

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28

Hats off… I could never share my personal kitchen with strangers. My own kids make enough messes to keep me posted permanently at the kitchen sink. :smile:

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29

AGREE. It should be just coffee tea and toast, not Cordon Bleu. You just have to state it clearly in the rules or they will completely take advantage of you.

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I just say they can use the coffeemaker, toaster, microwave oven, but no cooking on stove or oven without permission. You can judge after you meet the guest, or else just say what you feel. Of course, you will get less bookings, but if you hate hosting guests who use the kitchen, then you hate hosting guests who use the kitchen!

31

No, my guests are not allowed to use the kitchen just because I don’t trust them to turn off the hob and the whole house burning down.

They are however welcome to use the fridge to store stuff or eat in the kitchen and use the Nespresso etc - anything that avoids turning on the heat!

32

We give access to our entire home on two levels all ACCEPT the kitchen. It is our private space to be where we can have a bit of privacy without having to hang out with the guests besides our top floor bedroom and bathroom (connected to kitchen via private back stairwell). For us, it is essential to feel that we have some space from visitors, and I believe our guests truly enjoy the privacy they also get and lots of space they are given too - our consistent 5 star glowing reviews would say so anyway.

We provide a tea/coffee area in the dining room with a small fridge. A large percolator is brewing every morning, and guests can make tea anytime (the kettle is kept full and we provide a big jug of water, and carafes of water in rooms). We also provide a breakfast of fresh fruit, bagels or croissants and jam. It is definitely an extra, but it seems appreciated. For years we shared our kitchen with bands working in our studio and staying with us. It was chaotic to say the least, although very social. The main issue was everyone would always be crowded in the kitchen all the time, and we found it difficult to meet our own needs.

With airbnb guests, we would never want them in the kitchen because we absolutely need space from some guests in particular because some are just completely unlike able and demanding, and we just need a break. Wouldn’t it be so lovely if everyone was considerate, kind, and the type of people we just love to hang out with and engage in conversation for hours on end. Unfortunately it is just not so. A good portion of our guests seem quite like-able and even the kinds of people we might be friends with, but some are entitled jerks that we can’t wait until they leave. Having guests that lack manners, and that are inconsiderate are difficult to deal with as it is, and we definitely couldn’t cope if we didn’t have our own space. For those that share everything with guests and love it - I wonder how long you have been hosting? If it has been for years and you are still enjoying it, then you must either be getting different kinds of guests (ours are NY weekenders mainly), or be far more impervious to people’s behavior than we are. We are artists and definitely emotionally sensitive. Even if we are not interacting too much directly with our guests, we feel it when guests are not being respectful of us and our home and we find it pretty stressful, and it takes a few days for us to clear out the memory of the guests and how they made us feel when they were in our personal space.

We just had a Chinese guy that didn’t even think he needed to speak to my husband (his host and owner of the home in which he was staying). He was arrogant and incredibly rude. When his wife was downstairs talking to my husband and another female guest soon after arriving, he marched in, started talking to her in Chinese then grabbed her to leave. She explained that they had to go. He spoke English - they’d lived here for years, he just didn’t think he had to bother communicating or being polite in any way to the hosts or other guests in the home he was staying. Needless to say the stay was a disaster. The noise late at night after our other guest had been asleep (or trying to) for hours was incredible. The were flinging the doors so the slammed, rather than closing them with the handles, causing the house to shake repeatedly as they thumped back and forth from the bathroom over and over. We wouldn’t have liked to have had these guests also taking over the kitchen. As it was, they destroyed a beautiful antique chair in their room. I also had another guest a few weeks ago that never left the house the entire week she stayed, and if it wasn’t for the kitchen, we would have been thoroughly overwhelmed by her demanding presence. She wished to be waited on like a queen, and seemed to view us as her servants.

It’s a tough thing doing airbnb, and we all have different personalities. I think that for what guests pay, they needn’t expect to be cooking in a full kitchen. That comes when you rent an entire home or apartment, not when you book a room. That’s my feeling anyway. But hosts that love socializing are welcome to open their kitchen, and that’s what makes airbnb great - the many differences.

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33

I love to cook so my kitchen is my baby. I don’t want people rummaging around in it or bumping into me when I’m cooking. One guest did this to me and it was at 8:30 at night then again the next morning. They assumed and I let them. I do have a mini frig,microwave,coffee pot ,paper plates etc in guest room for their convenience and I also give them a little homemade baked goody for them and fruit…sometimes even a small glass of homemade wine. I definitely made it clear on my profile kitchen is off and they have what they need in their room for their convenience . They are well provided for. So no on kitchen :0) .

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34

That was exact ly my thought with all their cooking, talking loudly, laughing for hours a day on my kitchen. I thought how can they not understand that the just rented 2 rooms not the whole house. The worst were weekends. Here is our family and them wanting to have breakfast. If they gotto the kitchen first, that’s it we have to wait for at least an hour to be able to have breakfast.
And never any questions. They just did what they wanted. I understand it was not easy with my limited Spanish but we did communicated when they just wanted to chat and understood each other.
I wish I found this forum earlier, so I would set boundaries right away.
They did ask me if we can use kitchen. They even explained to me that they stayed in hotel , and though the price was the same as my house, because he re they had to rent 2 rooms instead of one , but the cooking privileges will be more economical for them.

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35

Oh, I understand Yana!

36

Yeah. Live and Learn… jUST SAY NO!

37

Personally, it is a pain in the ass. I don’t offer it. Guests leave dishes in their rooms, leave them in the sink, food gets left in the fridge and I have no idea what food belongs to what guests… They rarely clean up after themselves properly.

I think about it like this: if they were to get a hotel room would they get a kitchen? In most cases no. I am significantly cheaper than the hotels in my area, my private rooms cost €50 or so a night, the 4 star hotel across the street wants €250 to €350 a night, the 3 star wants €150 to €200, the way I see it I am saving guests a lot of money, go to a restaurant FFS! You’re on vacation, you cook!? Support the local economy a little (way too many cheapskates out there!)

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38

I recently updated my house manual and guest access section of my listing to say we discourage cooking. I didn’t go as far as saying we don’t allow it, because I don’t want to seem too restrictive, but I figure this is enough to let them know we would rather they didn’t. I’ve had seven sets of guests so far and so far have not had anyone who did any cooking.

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The way I see it, why would you want to do any cooking when you ar eon holiday anyway? And, Hollywood has 10,000 great restaurants at all price ranges.

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40

Jack, Maybe add that about the variety of eating places in your description. It’s a selling point!