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I have a second home, unoccupied, which I rent out through AirBnb–but only the downstairs which has the sole entrance to it at that level. I am a super host, but have only been doing this a little over a year. The downstairs is 2 bedroom, one bath, sitting room, dining area, and studio type kitchen. The house is on a lake and guests can enjoy a large deck, dock and lake side pavilion, paddle boat, canoe, and kayak. I normally provide (but do not state this in the posting) charcoal for the grill, propane for the firepit table, tiki torch lighter fluid, coffee, and water for the crystal water cooler.
I have my first longer stay (32 days) coming up, a couple staying while making a move from one state to where my house is. I do not normally clean for guests during their stay, but only after they leave. But till now the longest stay was 8 days. I always have extra towels and sheets in the suite, but only one extra set per bed.
Do I need to supply all the amenities I normally do for a month long stay? They got a 46% discount to encourage the stay. If they want it cleaned mid-month do I charge them extra for that? I was excited about this stay at first, but as the time draws near, I am wondering if I will end up putting out more money for them than I should.
For my rare longer stay guests, I offer to either come in and clean once a week while they’re out, or drop off a hamper of clean towels and linens on the deck and return later to pick up the used ones.
We tend to leave the same amount of amenities if they are staying three days (our minimum) or a few months. The supplies should last them a week, but there is a washer and dryer in the unit, as well as a vehicle for transportation to the nearby market.
If they request it we will send cleaners their way, but they get to pay for the extra cleaning. We do supply cleaning supplies including a vacuum if they would like to tidy up during their stay.
Thanks for replying, Charmed 59. I also have a washer and dryer in the unit. Do you supply laundry detergent and fabric softener? And, I will be sure to have cleaning supplies in stock for them. Making certain they can tidy up during their stay is smart!
We do leave laundry detergent. And dishwasher detergent. That we try and leave enough they don’t have to get more, but still find all sorts of weird brands left behind.
Clarification, now that I’ve opened after COVID-closing, I think I’ll just be offering the drop off option. I let the room air out for a day before I even go in to clean now after the guests have left.
I think month-long stays are really easy. They typically just settle in and make themselves at home, and don’t require anything from me besides privacy (and good WiFi).
I think their reaction to weekly cleaning will depend on what they do at home. If they’re used to having someone come in, they’d probably be happy to have it; if not, they would probably prefer to do their own cleaning.
I have seen quite a few posts warning about tenancy laws kicking in for longer stays— that would depend on your location.
A lot of hosts who have had experience with long term stays suggest that the host go in to change out towels and bedding and do a quick clean once a week or so, just so you can make sure they aren’t trashing the place out. Hosts have sometimes been horrified at the state of the place after guests have been in there for a month or two.
And many just provide a starter pack of things like TP, paper towels, laundry soap, etc, with guests expected to buy their own after that. But that’s really something you should figure out and make clear before you accept a long term booking, rather than spring it on guests after the fact.
I am the same as @Charmed59, I leave the same amenities as I would for a short term stay. Also, depending on the guest dynamics ie: workers vs family etc, I make a call as to whether I demand weekly cleaning at their expense. Of course, with weekly cleanings comes amenity top ups. We do have a washer and dryer and always provide 3 pods and 3 dryer sheets, so that would also remain the same. We provide a vacuum, broom and floor steamer if they need for quick clean ups.
I personally provide enough for a month long stay. I do give them a full propane tank for the BBQ but if they need more because they’re grilling everyday, then they would have to refill it.
As for coffee I give them 60 coffee pods but I also give then a bag of coffee. I supply a Keriug but also a coffee maker.
I have contacted guests mid point of their month long stay to see if they need more coffee or toilet paper and paper towels. I rather offer and bring more over, if necessary, to avoid getting a bad review.
I don’t do any weekly cleaning. I just clean before and after their stay but I do leave cleansers in case they want to do a bit of cleaning during their month long stay.
Yes, this is what I do but I do it every 7-10 days so I’m not tied to a specific day every week. I used to go in and change the linens and do a quick cleaning touch up but since COVID-19, I don’t do that. I was just dropping off clean linens and picking up dirty ones, but then I came up with an even better plan.
I had a issue with one long term guest that was a lazy kid (college student) — he didn’t bother to put the clean linens on his bed and would just give me back the laundered ones at the next linen change. This was in a house with 4 college students and he would stuff the clean sheets under the other student’s dirty ones and I’d have to wash them again. Needless to say, he ruined the sheets on his bed with ground-in body oil over the 3 month their group was there. So, the following semester, I offered them the option of providing their own bath and bed linens for a small discount, and the entire group choose to do that.
Now, whenever I have a group staying longer than a month, I give them the same option. So far, ALL of the long term guests have taken the discount and choose to provide their own sheets and towels. It’s saved me a lot of work, wear and tear on my linens, and reduced my potential exposure to COVID-19 or any other germs and viruses. I give them a cash rebate (through the AirBnB app) of $20 every 10 days for providing their own linens.
Regarding house supplies—coffee, toiletries, cleaning supplies, laundry supplies paper products, etc., I make sure there is enough for a one to two week stay and let them know they will need to supply their own once the initial supply is gone. Most people staying long term will have their own brands and kinds of products they prefer.
You could go broke fast providing enough coffee supplies to a group of six heavy coffee drinkers over the period of a month!
We offer stays up to 28 days. We also provide supplies for up to a week or two (depending on use!) including coffee, tea, spices, oil, a handful of laundry pods, tp, paper towels, hand soap, laundry detergent, basic cleaning supplies, etc.
We also let guests know when booking stays of about 2 weeks or more that there’s a complimentary clean half way through. They can also pay for extra cleanings if they like and to just let me know so we can be sure to schedule. So far it’s worked well, but helpful to see what other hosts here do!
My neighbour had a long term tenant (well, mid term - about 3 months) and the tenant painted all the bedroom walls a revolting shade of dark green.
He also painted the white wicker bedhead, nightstands and two chest of drawers a shade of brown.
To me, weekly cleanings (which are more for my benefit than for the guests) are essential. They are not optional. I ask the guest if they’d like to be there or not when I clean and change the linens and almost always they are happy for me to do it when they are out.
Like the corny old cracks about houseproud ladies who clean when the cleaner is coming, I’m sure that some of my guests really do that.
As a guest, I would be open to whatever arrangement you are comfortable with. However, I don’t like uncertainty in regard to expectations. What do I need to bring? The things that I think should be host responsibility for longer stays are safe water, toilet paper and items where the brand might make a difference. For example, if you have some funky coffee maker that requires a filter that is hard to find.
Oddly, our messiest guests are our shortest stays.
Often after our month or more guests leave we wander in trying to guess if we beat the house keepers there or not. They keep the home like they keep their own.
Those staying three or four days are using us more like a hotel, so often they leave linens strewn about and cups and glasses hidden in the bedrooms. They assume the cleaners will track them all down.
Though it might be due to age. Our month long folks are here to mix into the senior community and take advantage of the social groups. The shorter stays are usually here to visit grandparents.
As guests, we have stayed for a month+ in Airbnbs, usually because of a long distance move. All of the hosts provided starter supplies and also presented them as, “this should get you started” but there was no ongoing supplies after check in. I think one of them offered to come and clean but they had also left cleaning supplies and we opted to just borrow a vacuum. We always just washed our linens and remade the bed like at home. This was fantastic for us. I don’t expect additional supplies or cleaning services after check-in for a longer stay.
And because it was a longer stay, it was serving us as a replacement for a home or a temporary home so I wouldn’t want or expect much from the host as far as supplies or cleaning services after check-in. It would feel less like a temporary home if there was a lot of intrusion by the host coming in to clean or drop off TP. Besides, we got a huge discount and so doubt that extra time and supplies would be profitable for the host.
As a host, I won’t do monthly stays on Airbnb. We do monthly stays but not on Airbnb because we don’t control the security deposit there. I don’t want anyone in there for too long if I don’t hold the security deposit. And because monthly stays are discounted, whether on Airbnb or not, it doesn’t make sense to me, business-wise, to provide extra supplies (money) or cleaning services (time, which is also money). I understand the want to see how it looks in the apt when you have a long term stay but if you do monthly stays where you control a deposit, they will either clean and take care of the apartment or you will get paid for it (out of their deposit).
shade of brown.