My new Airbnb guest is a young 20 year old lady, a 3-rd yr University student, Indian girl. She has poor personal hygiene. The room where she stays in my 2 bdrm condo smells horrible now. Even when the door to her room is closed, one can still smell her presence there, and not talking about the smell when passing by the door. The problem is that she’s staying here for 3 months!!! and the smell does bother me a lot. It even smells in my room!
What is the best way to let the guest know that it’s not acceptable and bothers me?
I do not want to be rude.
Thank you.
Don’t be apologetic, and don’t pull any punches. Buy a bar of soap, a deodorant stick and an air freshener, give them to her. Tell her that this is America, and that personal hygiene is important here. Tell her you expect her to use both the soap and the deodorant on a daily basis or she might have to find another place to stay.
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Thank you 
I assume that she is not going to use a deodorant but I hope that she takes a shower more frequently. I had another Indian guest who smelled sweat and was not really taking shower every day. These people have sweat smelling winter jackets. I had a similar experience with a Chinese guy who would never take a shower after the gym but the next day. … oh, my… I wonder if these people even aware of their body smell? probably no. It’s just a disrespect to the people around.
The phrase you need to use is Personal Hygiene.
Sometimes a particular person has a very active sweat gland resulting with an unpleasant body odour, or something in their diet. It is to my great shame I never plucked up the courage to tell one of my early students she needed to step up her personal hygiene. I spent so much time rehearsing in my head but just couldn’t do it.
Perhaps if you lay out some shampoo/soap/deodorant and tell her please to use it plus put some air fresh stuff in the room.
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@KenH normally I agree with your posts but I find the comment:
“Tell her that this is America, and that personal hygiene is important here” rather unpleasant and am surprised that other hosts have ‘like’ this post.
The implications of your comment is that personal hygiene is not important in India. In reality nothing is further from the truth and even those surviving on a few pence a week make huge efforts to stay clean.
Please lets not start generalising again based on where someone is from.
If the OP has a personal hygiene issue this is not because she is Indian but because she doesn’t look after her hygiene and/or because she may have a health issue that results in her smelling unpleasantly.
In your situation @roxioxi I would sit down and have a friendly but firm chat with her and have a friendly chat say that she may not realise but her room and person doesn’t have the best smell. Provide her with some shampoo, shower gel and soap and say that it is your favourite brand and she might like to try it.
Also agree with her how often you will change her bedding and towels (I do this for my guests weekly) and agree with her when she would like to wash her clothes on a weekly basis.
A combination of weekly change of linens, towels, clean clothes and use of shampoo, gel and soap should help her smell fresher (unless there is an underlying medical condition).
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I can’t imagine telling my guests about her/his personal hygiene.
i had a guest once …not sure what it was …but the whole house started smelling like a mixture of pot, dirty socks and super cheap perfume. That was the longest 2 days of my life
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And what if that smelly person had been booked for 90 days? You would just offer in your own home instead of having a polite discussion?
I am ussualy in 100% for polite discussion.
It’s just …it is such a sensitive subject.
What If it’s her natural smell? I know Indians have special spices they use in food and also there is a religious holiday that women don’t wash. I had a friend from India in college once and she smelled afwull on days of those holidays.
Message her through the app: Dear guest I am a bit embarrassed to bring this up but we have an issue. I can smell you from my room, you need to use the provided facilities and shower every morning with soap or you will have to leave.
Thanks for understanding
Your host.
Then if she does not evict her. Life is too short for you to put up with someone stinking your house up. There is no easy way to do this, you just need to do it or live with her stank.
RR
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I think you need to be very careful about how to approach the guest. I might even write to Airbnb customer service and ask them what they would suggest. (Yeah, I know the dreaded CS) Also, some people have a medical condition that can cause body odor.
By writing to Airbnb and asking them for advice it shows that you are trying to be kind and have provided a paper trial.
Personally, I don’t think I would let her stay unless this is taken care of within days.
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Sorry can’t agree with you on this one @RiverRock . How horrible to receive this information from a host that lives in the same accommodation as you via Airbnb messaging.
As hosts sometimes we have to bite the bullet and deal with difficult situations in person. We are running a business.
OP just be polite, friendly, professional and firm. You can then follow up your conversation via Airbnb messaging.
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@Helsi you are probably right, I would just want her out. No way would I want to have to tell someone to shower, or put up with the stink for 3 months. Yet another reason not to accept long term bookings!
RR
Yes it would be horrible but think how horrible it is for the people around the Guest (or at least those that live with her).
If your business supercedes your personal life fine but I would likely side with River Rock here. Maybe the Guest would end up benefiting in life from the Host willing to speak up.
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I didn’t say the host shouldn’t speak up @Militaryhorsegal . If you read my earlier response you will see that is exactly what I suggested she does.
I just said she should do it in person rather than via Airbnb messaging.
And considering the fluffy waffle that the CSR’s go on with, the request might be lost in the wording, or the rep might squeal discrimination and there is a whole other can of worms.
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Are you sure it is not some oil in a diffuser like sandlewood that can smell quite pungent? Maybe she is a vegan and trying to cover up the smell of meat cooking? It can be quite confronting to people who are not used to it. You could even try:
You: “I noticed there was quite a pungent smell coming from your room like from an oil diffuser. I’d rather you didn’t use one as the smell carries throught out the whole house”
Her: “No I wasn’t using an oil diffuser or anything like that”
You: “Oh. I see. Well I could definitely smell something”. Walks away.
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Thank you dear hosts for your opinions. They are very helpful.
The girl does not use any essential oils. it’s the smell of her body. I guess she was misfortunate to have it very unpleasant and strong in addition to her almost non-existent communication skills and being not clean in general. Thanks God, she does not know how to cook and only eats take aways (which is a norm for young people these days).
She did an instant book with me. And she already had a bad review from a previous host who tried to be as polite as possible describing the mess the girls left in the room after her checkout: boxes of unfinished food, sometimes spoiled food leftovers in takeout boxes UNDER THE BED… and she exchanged only a couple of worlds with hosts 2-3 times in the 4 months that she stayed there! she is not in the mood to talk to anyone.
I discussed the garbage issue with her that was in review right away at her checkin. she tried to find stupid excuses for her junk…
Now the smell.
ufff…
I think I’ll talk to Airbnb first. Cause since she is brown she might make it as a discrimination issue.
and she does have nice shampoo, soap, and perfume… it is not seem to be enough what ever she does to take care of herself.
it’s when she is present in the room, I can smell her. and since the apartment has the AC/heating with circulating air , I can smell her in MY room though the warm air coming though the AC system.
Why on earth did you take someone with such an awful review for a long term stay @roxioxi, when you know you could have asked Airbnb to cancel the booking as you felt uncomfortable with the guest, due to her previous review.
It’s a shame the previous host didn’t give her a three star and thumbs down so she couldn’t instant book with you.
Talk to Airbnb first if it makes you more comfortable, however you are going to have to tackle the situation with her directly eventually.
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SO! DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!!!
I have had this discussion with Indian friends of mine who live in Australia. They are all scrupulously clean and smell amazing. Plus, I have stayed in their homes in India so know that their extended family are the same.
They are such good friends I knew that I could safely ask them the question that my Colombian friends ask me. Why do Indians …? They acknowledge there is an issue and are embarrassed by it.
Here is their answer (not mine): There are two issues 1/ Most Indians cook with all the windows and doors shut, (they shake their heads at this as they don’t understand why). 2/ Deodorant in India is considered a luxury, it is not a part of normal life for a lot of Indians.
They have accosted other Indians on public transport, told them the truth and have said: you … and are giving all of us a bad name!
My daughter nurses for an Indian dentist and struggles with the issue. Most days she makes a big deal of saying: oops! forgot to put deodorant on this morning and lifts up her top and slathers it on in front of her.
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