How Many hosts provide MINI FRIDGE in the rooms?

I have been debating whether or not to put mini fridges in my rooms. I just don’t like that guests clutter my fridge with Thier food and I think they would like it. Because I know I would. So how many of you guys provide.
My only concern is that they will eat in the room and make a mess. Let me know your opinion

My guests eat in their room anyway without a fridge.
I dont think fridge is nesesesary. Unless you dont want their food in your fridge. Its not a hotel, kitchen is right there. Why cant they just put their food there. I just stayed in 2 Airbnbs in SF, and i had fridge in my room. And coffee maker. WHich told me that host does not want to see me on a kitchen. SO, i felt kind of uncomfortable to even go get myself water. She also put 1 bottle of water on the table. I drank the water but wanted more, so i had to get it from the bathroom.
I allow very limited use of stove but i definitely allow use of my fridge, coffee maker, tea pot, and boiling, warming up food.

Our rental is detached, so there is no question of guests using the house fridge. However having stayed in Air spaces where guests share the house fridge, I don’t feel comfortable doing that. Call me silly, but my stuff is my stuff, and putting it in a common space is asking for someone to use my food instead of theirs.

If I were you, I would put mini-fridges in the rooms, even if they are the tiny table top ones which only hold a six-pack of beer. Guests are going to eat in their rooms whether or not there is a fridge in the room, but this way you are showing them good hosting.

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Love to read the different perspectives of people!

I am a brand new host. Got the guest room put together, listed it, and now have bookings for 14 nights. First guests will arrive July 8th.

I plan on putting a mini fridge in the room, along with a small coffee maker and small microwave, though guests will have use of my kitchen which is just steps from the guest room. My thought is that if they want privacy they will have it, but if they want to be social they can. And I will make it clear on check in that they are free to partake of the kitchen coffee pot in the morning if they want.

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They use my fridge. And when they do they often leave unopened food and I eat it. Nothing like free food. Lol

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Is there enough room in the bedroom that you can put the fridge but the room still is restful and comfortable? Will there still be room for their luggage? Room for them to feel at home?

Can you just clear a section of your fridge - even using, perhaps, a plastic box and say ‘this is your space’ so their stuff doesn’t mingle with yours? Even label the box? Not only will they not mingle with your mayo but they will feel like there is room for them.

Does the ‘cluttering’ happen often enough to make this worth it? My guests get a whole shelf of a fridge that’s in their little kitchen area and rarely use it. Even a family of 5 that just stayed for 8 nights - they just had bottles of water in it.

Do you want to put distance between you and the guest (as Yana expressed) or do you want some sense of ‘sharing community’.

I agree that putting a fridge in the room will make it more likely that they will eat in their room. If you don’t want them eating in their room, put their fridge somewhere else near (if not in) the kitchen.

Can you post a link to your listing?

I arrived at an airbnb recently and the hosts refrigerator was kinda full. He said “just put your stuff anywhere”. But there wasn’t really an ‘anywhere’ for me and it made me uncomfortable, like, though he listed ‘kitchen’ as an amenity I wasn’t really expected to be there. My first airbnb stay, (and that host remains my muse), she said “here’s the place for your food” and I felt very welcome. (I always pack at least one meal besides breakfast while traveling).

So think a bit more beyond the clutter in the fridge - can you grow a bit more in flexibility as a host? What atmosphere do you want in the room and in your home? Do you want to add that expense to your bottom line?

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I rent my upstairs bedroom, no way I’m putting a mini fridge up there! I do NOT want people eating in the bedroom. My linens and carpets at risk if food allowed in bedroom. I do want guests who feel comfortable with sharing a refigerstor, kitchen, living room. If they can’t put forth the level of trust that I’m not going to eat their food, then they should go to a hotel!

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@dcmooney makes a good point. Mini fridges do make noise. Mine was not cheap but you can still hear it kicking into gear and humming when the cooling system is on. I haven’t had a complaint about it yet (knock on wood) but my space is apartment sized. In a small room the noise might become annoying.

This is the one that I have:

http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/whirlpool-energy-star-31-cu-ft-compact-2-door-refrigerator-in-stainless-look/6000194079881

I thought about it. I do have a good spot for a tiny one and even added an electric receptacle for it. But for the time being I’ve decided against it. First, it’s a small house on one floor and I already have two fridges in my home, one in the kitchen one in the laundry room. There will always be room for travelers to put their things. Second, I know people will eat in the room but I don’t want to encourage or increase it by having a fridge and or microwave. Third, more energy use. Fourth, something else to clean. If I start leaving the house often while guests are here I might put a fridge and microwave because when I’m gone I lock the door into the rest of the house.

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Buying a bar fridge was the first thing I did before starting out. We have a two-room suite taking up the entire third floor. One room is a bedroom, the other is a sitting room that can be used as a bedroom. The sitting room has the fridge, coffee maker, tea kettle, toaster, and all sorts of continental breakfast food. It also has a large table for people to eat at. As far as I can tell, everybody always eats at the table, where I have the cutlery & dishes. There’s also a TV. Works great, even for the messiest people. I’ve never seen evidence of food in the bedroom. For us it’s a selling point. Guests can have a really decent breakfast without bothering us or even getting dressed. Most have dinner in a restaurant. Only our longer-staying guests use the main kitchen at all, and we permit only light use with no fridge sharing.

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I would too eat it:grinning:

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…and, if the drain of the defroster gets clogged, or other problem, you have water everywhere.

True that. My place is what it is :slight_smile: while the bedroom and bathroom are private, the rest of the house is shared.

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You are asking for trouble doing this. Read through the forum for more on why it’s a bad idea and many many hosts have started out with kitchen use, only to rescind it.

I know that some hosts don’t like sharing their kitchens, but sharing mine has created some of my best Airbnb memories. We’ve had many guests cook us wonderful meals and treats, a Korean guest who made us dinner, a French/Tunisian guest who made several dinners, Japanese guests who made us several dinners, a Chinese guest who made us a dessert, double skin milk pudding, an English guest who just left who made us delicious granola, etc. I think that whether or not you’ll enjoy sharing your kitchen depends on several things: good ventilation (we have a range hood fan and windows on both two sides of the kitchen), whether you like sharing your kitchen in general (This is no problem for me, I give other cooks three of the six burners and one of the three counters.), whether you are enchanted or repulsed by spices you aren’t used to (I am enchanted.), and whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert. I give guests a shelf in my refrigerator. I absolutely don’t want to encourage food preparation in the guest room. We’ve already had guests attract ants on more than on occasion.

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This sounds wonderful :smile: Plus your kitchen is so cute and cozy. I think you are right with what you advise here, and another example of how one size doesn’t fit all. :smile:

I can often smell the cooking of my guests downstairs and it’s often wonderful (but they rarely invite me which is fine)… but sometimes on those nights when I have cheerios or scrambled eggs for dinner, it makes me feel all the more pathetic. :smile:

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Hi @Gandyv8,

As I have mentioned elsewhere on this forum, I purchased a 260 litre inverter fridge for guest use. It might get here tomorrow. This is going to live at the foot of the stairs, leading to the guest room. There isn’t sufficient space in the guest room, though I could possibly create it by getting rid of the large CRT TV in there, and replacing it with a wall-mounted LED TV. But I digress.

I was actually just second-guessing myself, wondering whether it was large enough. (I’m not particularly prone to buyer’s remorse, because I tend to analyze prospective purchases to death. That is a pain, but that is another story.) Anyway, I generally agree with the sentiments expressed in numerous places in this forum, that short term stays are better. And for a short term stay, say under a month for a maximum of 2 people, a 260 litre fridge should suffice, I think.

Anyway, having a separate designed fridge for guests is a certainly a good idea, but it doesn’t have to live in the guest room. In fact, for the reason you mentioned (guests eating in the room) it might be better if it didn’t.

We have a fridge, microwave, coffee pot and an electric tea kettle in ours and the guests love it! We stock bottled water coffee and light snacks as well. Our room though attached to the house has it’s own private exterior door so we keep the interior door to the rest of the house locked at all times during a reservation. Most people use the fridge and also eat in the room. We had one coffee spill on the carpet that was a chore to clean but other than that no issues.http://www.snowpeakscozycottage.com

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I love what @dcmooney said and I understand the feeling Yana has.

My husband and I personally love to have a fridge in the room and most places we booked were having a fridge provided in (think of a hotel room), and few with kitchenette (this was more when we went for business trip).

We are quite private and I guess that is why we prefer it this way.

I think what Yana experiencing (feeling unwelcomed and worry for even taking a water from the kitchen) would not be a nice thing to have…
I guess so would just check what the host said in their listing: is the kitchen off-limit, or part of shared space? Maybe the host provides fridge in the room just as a courtesy (for guests like me it’s brilliant!) And having a bottle of water by the side of my bed as a welcoming gesture feels like staying in a Club floor’s room in a 5 star hotel! :kissing_heart:

Yes, we rent 4 rooms in our home and they all have a mini fridge in them. We got them super cheap. Our guests love them! We put a few bottles of water in them and plug them in before they arrive. Guests like to put their left overs from restaurants in them or food that they’ve brought. Plus, you can write them off as a business expense.