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Thanks Bunny. I also have the same issue with well water (iron) so constantly battling that too including with a water softener and ditto hate putting bleach down the sink. I have a front-loader which isn’t helpful with soaking so usually do my bleach soaking in a baby-bath and then pour the bleach onto my front patio in the hope that it’ll also kill the weeds that grow up between the stones. I’ll try Borax.
My most recent issue is a really good quality red bath sheet that’s disappeared and been replaced by a $10 bath-towel, much smaller, of the same color. Seemed like an honest switch/mistake - the bath sheet was among the towels in a room occupied by a teenager. But the parents have sworn that they don’t have my bath sheet and, furthermore, that the strange red towel, that wasn’t there before their stay, isn’t theirs. I’m going to have to eat it but have now removed all the quality towels and, going forward, guests are getting regular towels that’ll be floor-rags in a couple of years, and I won’t be mad if they disappear.
I get towels at Costco, a brand called Charisma is very fluffy and nice and regularly $8. I try to buy when they are $6 (like yesterday). There’s another line that’s a step down, more like hospitality industry is their target and they come in packs of 6 for $24 or something like that. I don’t use them but I think they are fine for most Airbnbs. Costco also has reduced prices on a variety of towels from time to time. they just had some very nice packs of two hand towels and two wash cloths for $5 but I don’t use colors so I didn’t buy any. They also have the bath sheet size in a few limited colors, I think they are $12. Bath towels are big enough and it’s less laundry.
If you don’t have Costco you should still be able to find very nice bath towels for less than $10 each.
If you don’t need them right away you can order online.
Good deal, much better than the one I got at BB&B yesterday but I needed the towels for my guests coming on Friday. I’m done having my colored ones ruined. I’ll save them for me (I’ve got a lifetime supply now). They are, BTW, Costco towels and they are lovely.
Here are the Charisma, $11 for bath, hand and washcloth:
I have gotten so many bargains at Costco. They have a Hansgrohe Metris lavatory faucet that sells all over the internet for $120 and up for $70 right now. A lighted vanity mirror for $50. You can’t even get a plain mirror cheaper.
I use a plain white $14 comforter I got on amazon 2 years ago.
I wash the sheets and the blanket with every reservation, but leave the comforter, pillow protectors and mattress protector to be bleached at the first of The month. Maybe I’m just lucky? Because no one has ruined it… yet
People destroy my towels though. I don’t know how they put actual holes in them.
Re: urious if you have ever used the security deposit option via the Airbnb to recover costs for ruined linens or additional cleaning time? I did once when some allowed their geriatric dog to sleep with them (despite “no dogs on beds” rule) and left a pee stain + some blood spots. I asked for and got $50 for the additional time needed to bring the linens and mattress cover back to stainless. But this summer, every single guest group has left orange stains (sun-tan oil I presume) on the sheets and pillow cases that have trebled the time allotted for laundry and some stains haven’t come out (I’ve found soaking the linens in bleach is the only thing that works but two pillow cases have already rotted into holes as a result; I plan on trying hydrogen peroxide and Oxyclean next time - as there WILL be a next time!).
Ooooof. One woman menstruated all over my apartment (couch, bathroom floor, comforter, sheets, side of bathroom cabinet… it was like she used the wash cloths to “clean” herself) you better believe she paid to have the entire apartment and all of the linens professionally sanitized. She was a terrible guest from start to finish; complaining the light breakfast I left out (guavas, yogurt and oatmeal). I don’t advertise breakfast, so I’m not sure what all the fuss was about. I almost feel like she did it to get back at me, she claimed I “should be used to and expect this because I host women” …but the joke was on her because she got a $170 bill. She left me a 1* review, but CS took it down.
