I am a host who used Airbnb as a guest. Poor experience

1

Hello

I have been hosting guest in my villa in Florida for 6 years. Very happy overall with Airbnb. I sometimes use Airbnb as guest to travel.

I recently booked an expensive apartment with my wife and kids in the south of France. It was nice and in a great location. It had its issues (had to wait an hour in front of a locked door upon arrival, wear & tear of furniture, sticky pans in kitchen, etc). Nothing major, we are really easy going. We met the owner once. She was nice.

We paid over $120 for a cleaning fee for a 2 bdr apartment. When we checked out, we didn’t clean the apartment. Nothing major (left dirty dishes in the kitchen, left over food in the fridge, didn’t vacuum). There was no instructions anywhere either.

I was shocked to read her review after we checked-out. She said we left her place as a “pig house”, trashed her used furniture that was already worn, etc. She didn’t ask for a deposit, just a nasty review.

I was floored. I have rented for years in Florida a whole 4bd home and I charge $110 for cleaning. We never expect our guest to clean after themselves, do dishes, take the trash out, clean the floor, etc. Some guests barely use the villa, other will leave it dirty but that is what a cleaning fee is for.

We had a great time but the nasty review made me quite uncomfortable. Especially for the amount of cash we dropped and the hefty cleaning fee. I love Airbnb but the lack of professionalism from the host was a major turn off. If it had been my first time using Airbnb, i would never rent from them again. It is super uncomfortable to be publicly trashed like that.

What is your take?

2

What did the listing say about cleaning upon departure?

The French tradition is that you do clean the home well before leaving, but the real question is, what were HER rules?

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You should have done dishes, cleaned fridge out, moved trash out to bins. I don’t post rules on this, but all but one of my guests have left my place as they found it. Most sweep the floor, but not wash it or vacuum. Trash is tied up and placed in bins.
I’m supriised you didn’t know this.

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4

Nothing. There was no instructions.

I have rented in France before and cleaned up the apartment but the agreement was clear that if cleaned the apartment there was no cleaning fee.

In this case I paid 105 euros for cleaning and i was supposed to do the cleaning myself?

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Ooo boy. You sound like a newbie guest, not someone who has hosted for years. I’m shocked at this story too. Not at the host, but at your attitude.

How many times do we tell guests that the cleaning fee is to prep the place before they get there and not clean up after them??

Despite no instructions, you disrespected that home by leaving a mess like that and deserved the review you got. For shame.

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I would have thought it was common courtesy to take out your trash, do your dishes and remove your food from the fridge. I would not have expected you to dust, vacuum or scrub the bathroom, that’s what the cleaning fee was for.

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People here are crazy. Airbnb is a business, not staying at grandmas. If you want your guests to do anything at check-out, put it in rules or post information in the house somewhere.

If these people ran a restaurant I guess they would be chasing after their “customers” following the meal to do the dishes.

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@Rsv

You’ll get no sympathy from this host.

There is no excuse for leaving the rental in worse condition than you found it. It shows total disrespect of the accommodation to the owner. It is astounding to me that you are justifying it and that your spouse also didn’t think to set a better example for your kids. Tsk-tsk!

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Thanks for the insight. To give perspective, I have a professional crew that comes after each guest and cleans up the villa in full. There is no expectation of cleaning anything, guests leave food in the fridge all the time ( which the cleaners take). I actually prefer that they don’t clean as it is often poorly done, the actual cleaners will miss it and the next guest will complain. The cleaning fee is to clean up after the guests. Where I have my villa, i compete with hotels so I have to deliver the same expectations.

If some hosts expect to do basic cleaning, i can understand why my host was upset. But the cleaning fee was then outrageous for the small size. The host doesn’t live there, it is a vacation apartment and she relies on a local property management.

I am honestly surprised

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From what I am reading here there is two levels of expectations:

  1. You rent your own place via Airbnb a few times and you expect the guests to leave the place as you found it. I totally agree with that but then don’t charge me an insane fee of 105 euros for cleaning and be clear about what you expect me to do.

  2. Treat your Airbnb rental as a business and your guests as customers. That is what I do. My guests are always right, unless they caused vandalism. My cleaning fee is to cover the cost of paying a professional cleaning team after each guests. I actually make money from Airbnb after all costs are factored in.

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@SandyToes

Nobody cleans after themeseves when they go to hotels/resorts. My Airbnb rental is the same way. It seems I wrongly assumed that the last apartment I rented was under the similar mindset

But if it is your place, I can imagine you expect it to be left the way you found it.

To be fair, I rented many places across the world with Airbnb and this was my first experience like that. I rented in Paris last year and we had nothing to do. It was a professional crew taking care of everything.

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@Brandt I 100% agree with you and that is how I treat my Airbnb rental, which actually makes money.

With the last apartment, I was floored to be treated so unprofessionally. I went there with the mindset of “I am the customer”. Especially since the apartment was located in a resort town, managed by a property management company, super expensive, and was obviously a rental due to the lack of TLC you would expect in a persons’ home. Lastly the 105 euros cleaning fees for 60 square meters seemed hefty but if I didn’t have to clean up at checkout, I didn’t mind paying.

But reading the perspective here, I can see how hosts would expect guests to “be guests” and treat the place as if they were being hosted for free or for a modest fee and leave the place as they found it. But in my case at close to $200 a night in a resort town for 60 square feet, I had slightly different expectations.

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13

I guess it’s different strokes, different standards.

I rented a pretty nice two-bedroom condo last summer with a cleaning fee of $350 and still made sure the kitchen items were washed and put away, the perishables were cleaned out of the fridge and the stove-top wiped, and the trash bagged and put in the cans outside. The rest of the place was left tidy though not “cleaned”. The décor pillows were in place, as were reading materials, etc. - basically nothing in disarray. I do that in hotel rooms also…throw the used towels over the side of the tub and leave the bedding as is but straighten the desk chair, throw trash and coffee makings in the bins along with opened shampoo bottles, etc.

Don’t you?

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Most Airbnbs are part of someone’s personal homes. NOT A hotel, NOT a resort. There is a big difference between a resort and a personal home.

This is one of the main things we try to educate guests about.

Just surprised you as a host see your place as a resort where guests can be slobs and disrespect the place.

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That’s funny, earlier you described yourself as super easygoing.

I think in the future you would be much much happier staying in a hotel or resort.

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@SandyToes I don’t tidy up my room in a hotel. First thing the cleaners will do is remove all linens and towels and move the furniture to vacuum.

I don’t expect my guests to do anything at checkout beyond leaving with their personal belongings.

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The cleaning fee is to ready the place for you, not to clean up after you. You don’t know what the going rate for cleaning is in places you visit. Here in Hawaii, we are lucky to find someone competent for $25 an hour.

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You are talking yourself in circles. You shouldn’t need to clean if you expect the place to be in the condition it was entered, i.e. (cleaned).

If guests come in eyes wide open I don’t see an issue with some tasks. I ask the guests to start the dishwasher and take out trash. However I put this in my listing and instructions in my unit.

It appreciate it if a guest goes above and beyond in cleanliness, but don’t send guests nastygrams post check-out if they just do the minimum.

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If I stayed in a hotel I would, at the least, clean up my dishes. Dirty kitchens attract insects. Sometimes it’s just about having a little dignity and common sense as a human being. Your host sounds like she overreacted but you don’t sound like a desirable guest either. Split the difference and move on.

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What?!!! I beg your pardon? Circles? Right. I’m totally confounded by your statement. Are you saying if I ask my guests to clean up, do their dishes and take the trash that I therefore don’t need to charge for cleaning for the next guests?

You don’t get it at all. It doesn’t matter how much you are paying. You don’t leave someone’s personal home in a disrespectful state.

It would have take the the OP ten minutes to take their trash and do their dishes. With that attitude, I definitely wouldn’t want them as guests. I’m glad the host left an honest review.

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