Missing cutlery again! This is the 4th time a guest has taken cutlery or thrown it in the garbage. The first time the guest asked me if I could just live with it (the missing cutlery)…I replied 'No" and they mailed it back to me at my suggestion. The second time the fella dropped it off on our door step before he left town after I messaged him and mentioned that cutlery was missing on inventory count. Next, the third person threw a fork in the garbage in error, which we later found at their suggestion that they may have tossed with their salad, (that can happen, it was an accident). I know, because I must have tossed my favourite spatula in the garbage by mistake. Last nights guests and the 4th are going to check their bags when they stop for the night because a spoon is missing. I don’t want to buy a bunch of cheap cutlery or only have plastic available, ( I do have plastic available in the room for them to take if need be). I have a matched set and I want a matched set, don’t want a mish mash of cutlery. I don’t know why this throws me into a rage but it does. I feel we give good service, along with some nice extras, like complimentary baking upon arrival. I just think…bloody hell, buy your own! This may sound trivial, but have you checked price of decent cutlery. You can buy cheap tin cutlery sure, but I don’t want junk! So that is my wee rant.
I am also fussy about having pleasing and matching cutlery, but I approach it differently.
I bought several matching 20-piece sets and keep them tucked away so that when a spoon is missing, I have a replacement for it. A spoon is $3. I’m not chasing that.
I cannot buy a match anywhere…I have looked. You can buy a pack of 4 or 6 at Canadian Tire but not the same. I have one Airbnb and cannot really afford several additional sets. Still annoyed.
Yes… it’s not my intent to tell you how to feel. I have only one Airbnb too, and I have only so much energy… I only stock it with things that I can easily buy in multiples. I have an IKEA nearby, so that helps, but even Canadian Tire has some pretty respectable offerings. I consider these things to be a business expense and claim it on my taxes.
How about having a box or bag of cutlery you don’t care about- it could be mismatched stuff you pick up at the secondhand store. Then make it clear to guests that if they go out for the day still eating their bowl of cereal or whatever, or go on a hike or a picnic, they are welcome to bring any of that with them, but that the regular kitchen cutlery is not to be taken out of the house. Replenish as necessary when the stash gets low.
It might not work 100%, but worth a try. I actually keep a bag of mismatched cutlery in the glove box of my car, in case I get some take-out when I am out shopping.
I don’t know what happens to cutlery. My guests share my kitchen, but as far as I’m aware, none have taken the cutlery out of the house. Yet there are many pieces missing from my original set of 8 of everything. Like there are only 5 teaspoons left, 6 tablespoons, 6 of each size fork, and 7 knives.
It irritates me because it was the first time I had ever bought myself a set- before that, I just had a hodge-podge. I suspect it goes missing when I have housesitters in the summer when I go on holiday. I have found cutlery and my good vegetable peeler when I screened my compost once a year. But it sure wasn’t me who tossed it in the compost pail.
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I guess it just pisses me off. I am proud of our Airbnb as you all are, and I take insult to people taking my stuff when I give enough and more. I will just go out and buy some from Canadian Tire and be annoyed. I have a box of vintage silverware that I don’t really use anymore that I could put in the suite but i don’t want to. I guess I just need to vent and move on. Thanks you guys for being my sounding board.
Welcome to the club.
I regularly run into this ‘issue’ of being too emotionally involved in our two on-site Airbnbs due to guests being negligent, disrespectful or flat out air-headed.
It should be just a matter of time until some other members here will chime in to let you know that this is a business and you should treat it as such - nothing more, nothing less. Damage and loss of inventory will be considered a ‘cost of doing business’ which should be calculated into your nightly rates to protect yourself from such matters.
I have learned that this true but the heart and elbow grease that goes into running our Airbnbs smoothly (especially when you do everything yourself) does make it difficult to completely detach oneself emotionally - at least for me.
We truly care about our guests and offer every possible kind of support that we can offer and just sucks to see guests who feel entitled and assume that they can do anything they want just because they paid money for the accommodation.
We’ve severely tightened our vetting process (despite using IB) and it seems to have helped a lot in order to get ‘better’ guests.
However, I believe it is better to use easy to replace cutlery or dishes to avoid this frustration. Unless you are running an extremely high-end accommodation I don’t see the need to offer special cutlery or dishes. At least in our experience we never had any comments regarding the quality of our cutlery etc. Most people care about cleanliness and comfy beds and linens perhaps.
I know how you feel and am disappointed in the guest when something is ‘taken’. I have a collection of teaspoons in a container labelled ‘Take one of these if you need it’ and i regularly replace them. Teaspoons are the ones that mostly ´walk’ i find.
My place caters for three people at the most, so my cutlery set is for 3 only, so easy to check on the guest’s departure.
Great idea to have the walking teaspoon container.
As someone who has found a teaspoon in an empty yogurt pot in the bin, I sympathise.
And it wasn’t in one of the rentals, it was in my own home! These things happen…
I bought a job lot of souvenir tea spoons on ebay. The ones with a little plaque on the handle showcasing a town or tourist attraction. I tell guests they are welcome to take one and even leave one if they wish. The implication being they haven’t been given permission to take any of the other cutlery. It was mostly tea spoons I would lose which is apparently a thing. So I leaned into it and gave them away
You can buy a job lot of souvenir teaspoons on ebay for about 20c each so I leave them out and invite people to take one.
Great idea - mine are just mismatched op shop variety.
I think this is much more the attitude of off-site hosts who don’t even ever use the property themselves, it’s purely an str, many of whom never meet their guests. They have no mental, emotional, or physical attachment to the place or the stuff in it- they have cleaners and gardeners and didn’t and don’t put any personal attention into the place- they may have even had some designer pick out the furniture and decor, so they don’t feel disrespected when guests damage or make off with things or behave in an entitled way.
Those of us who are hands-on naturally feel disrespected if guests behave disrespectfully.
As far as “the cost of doing business”, I think of that more in terms of yes, cutlery will inevitably go missing, dishes get broken, sheets and towels get stained- those are costs you have to accept and budget for.
But I don’t think that considering it the cost of doing business is at odds with also feeling disrespected. It can be both.
It’s kinda like having teenagers- you know that their moodiness, their rebellion, their thinking they know better than mom and dad, their wanting all the privileges of adults with none of the responsibilities, are natural for those their age, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a pain in the butt and emotionally exhausting to deal with sometimes.
I have an extra matched set for spares.
RR
We offer guests use of Michaels Grandmothers and Aunts (same style, so there’s quite a few) Vintage silver plated flatware from the 50’s-60’s with no problems. In five years I think one piece out of place settings for 6 has gone missing.
Part of my intro with guests is showing them that and the cool dinnerware made in Santa Monica in the 50’s, so they know it is meaningful and special to have and be able to use and enjoy them, which they do<><> I think only one or two of those pieces have got broken.
We’ve been pleasantly surprised.
My place mainly hosts business pros, so it’s not a good indication of how a lot of people look at an Airbnb stay, but I’ve never in my last 11 years had anybody asked for silverware, plateware, etc. I had one or two people ask for a ceramic coffee cup, rather than our Bamboo compostable cups, but unfortunately, they were the crotchety guests that I remember as PITAs.
I think it’s an age thing more than anything else, most people these days do not think putting a disposable plate on the table is an indication of status or wealth. If you present the use of compostable dinnerware as a feature, it takes away the “ I never put my lips onto disposable items” response.
What a fantastic comparison! As the parent of a teen, I can certainly relate!
If anyone is looking for good quality, open stock flatware, I am very happy with Liberty Tabletop