How many towels to provide

We are new to Airbnb, trying to figure out how many towels, washcloths and hand towels is the appropriate amount to have on hand, there is a washer available. Sleeps 5. Thanks, we need all the help we can get!

Three bathtowels per person, three handtowels per person, three washcloths per person. Also one bathrobe per person.

Guests staying for more than eight days get a complete change of towels and bedding halfway through their stay.

You’re in the right place.
:slight_smile:

Edited to add - also one beach towel per person so they don’t take my lovely white towels down to the beach.

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Thank you, that is very helpful, not a big fan of robes but I will give that some thought!

You might want to search ‘towels’ on this site.

I don’t know how to include links to the most relevant threads but the moderators do. We just had this topic this year though I couldn’t find it.

To be honest, only a minority of guests use them but it gives a great impression,

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I tried finding something relevant, but couldn’t

You’re probably going to get as many different answers as there are hosts. But here’s mine, strong opinions included.

Always at least two bath towels per gal (and long-haired guys, lol), one bath towel per guy and one or two extra available to the guests for backups. And at least one washcloth and one hand/face towel per day of the stay per every half-person (or so-ish) but never less than what makes the shelf look full enough.

Washcloths are not meant to be used more than once. And hand/face towels aren’t meant to be used for more than a day. It’s not sanitary. Ask anyone who’s ever had an eye infection. However, not everyone uses washcloths and hand/face towels so you don’t need to account for every guest. I base it kind of on a half-person for that reason and know that women use them more often than men. If I allowed children, I might add extra washcloths.

It’s not as complicated as it sounds. In my apartments that sleep 4 guests, the shelves look “full” with 6 of each so I start with that even if it’s only one guest. That works all the way up to two guy/gal couples or 3 women. But if it’s going to be 4 women then I add 2 more of everything.

Regardless of the number of guests or towels I’ve left for them, if they’re staying more than 5 nights, I contact them and offer them fresh towels. Guests love this so much! :innocent: However, only one couple out of 350 or so stays has ever taken me up on it and wanted fresh towels. So while it is generous and sounds generous and feels generous it’s not costing me any extra :wink:

I take it back. The guy who just checked out also took me up on my fresh towels offer. He was here for 2 weeks and his girlfriend was coming to join him for the second week so I think he was being thoughtful for her, which is great.

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When you and I exchanged posts on this the last time I explained that I just didn’t have the room for all those towels in the bathroom.

You made the excellent point that in that instance I should be sure to offer more tools on request – a great suggestion.

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I have mostly one night guests. I provide one bath towel per person on the bed with a washcloth. There’s another single bathtowel on a shelf in the bathroom. The closet is unlocked and there are another two or three in there. I’ve never had bath towel abuse but I also don’t have a whole house, families, multi day stays, a kitchen etc.

All that said, err on the side of generosity and adjust your price if folks take advantage of said generosity.

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My guests see piles of fluffy white towels (8 of each and it’s a 2 person suite). I think it makes a nice impression. For every guest that uses 3 a day, there’s a guest that uses one set for an entire week.

The last guest loved the suite and said they would be back to visit family in the future. My secret note: Buy black washcloths and put them out for this one!

Left the white ones covered with makeup and mascara, requiring lots of stain remover and several washes. Based on the condition of the washed dishes, I suspect she’s a bit visually impaired.

Nice person and part of my host job is to make adjustments.

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We normally have 2 to four guests and put four sets of towels out (washcloth, hand towel, bath towel) with 16 more in the linen closet. We seldom see more than 4 sets of towels to wash during a turnover. Once a party of 4 used 14 towel bath towels plus 7 pool towels in three days. No big deal, but it was so unusual we noticed.

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We only give guests one towel (but it’s a very lovely high quality large bath sheet), handtowels in the bathroom and toilet, and face washer 1pp.

We have back up smaller towels/washers in the spare cupboard, these rarely get used. As most of our guests stay 1-2 nights they generally are not washing their hair.

I also have a towel for dogs, in case they come in wet and a thoughtful owner wants to dry them off. And we supply sep towels for the pool which are up in the pool house.

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We have a basket of dog towels by the back door that is noted in the dog guest manual “for muddy paws and rainy days” but they’re also mentioned in the regular house manual as “being available for large spills or messes” or something like that. I don’t include the hint-hint but really it’s there I think, lol.

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I normally don’t have guests that stay for more than a few days.

I leave 1 bath, hand and wash cloth per guest. I also have a bucket of gray wash cloths for make up removal.

I also leave 2 extra bath, hand and wash cloth along with extra bedding in a hall closet for guests to use.

If the guest is staying a week or more, I double the amount of towels and offer to change sheets and to take out the dirty towels.

My Suite is while very cozy and clean and in a great location, I price it on the lower end in my area (but not the lowest).

Last week I had two guests who stayed 4 days use every towel in the suite (including the closest) and it was an extra load of laundry.

I’d love to provide robes but it’s just too much laundry. I try to keep my washing to 2 loads (cold and hot) and line dry the cold wash.

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same. we’ve hosted over 250 stays and only 1 guest has ever asked us if we had robes.

I need to update my cottage manual because we also have an old towel under the laundry sink for this purpose.

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Three per person of each type of towel - doesn’t that depend on how long they are staying? @jaquo

@SandyCreek welcome. If you use the search function you will find common issues such as towels, linens, insurance, problem guests etc covered many times. So most of your questions will already have been answered :slight_smile:

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This would be too much work for some hosts here but here’s something I do. The newer, fluffiest towels are put out for people who pay higher rates, repeat guests of a known quality, non-pet owners. I have a duvet cover for pet owning guests as well as different towels. So when this woman returns make sure she has the towels that are due to be retired soon anyway.

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Plenty, I leave out in bathroom two of each per guest, then there are another 1/2 dozen available in a closet. I also leave out a big almost overflowing basket of soaps/shampoos/tooth brushes and shaving kits. It cost me nothing extra to wash 2 towels or 6.

RR

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My apartment sleeps 2-3. I leave two on the rack and the cabinet over the toilet has another four or so and is labeled “extra towels”. If they’re really ambitious, they can search the cabinets above the washer, which have a ton more. I leave four washcloths and a hand towel out, and there are also plenty more of both in the cabinet. I’ve never had anyone use everything, although few people have left the clean towels on the towel rack and just used the ones from the cabinet.

I’m pretty new also and the longest stay I have had is 3 days, typically mine are 1-2 days. I provide 1 of each per person for the 1-2 day stays.