New cleaning protocol going mandatory!

Just when I thought perhaps we have some choices left to us as hosts, I read that in November airbnb is going mandatory on their cleaning protocol. I am a very short lady and now I will have to drag around my step stool and take down those never used dishes on the top shelf and stick them in the dishwasher in between all guests. Sigh… I am thinking about just taking down the curtains until covid is over and leaving just the blinds. All that extra washing and disinfecting will ruin them. I have already rolled up the area rug and stored it. I could just add a blurb “ No curtains, no rugs, no decor for your safety!”

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[quote=“Mountainhost, post:1, topic:44131”]
I read that in November

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Pack them up, EZPZ

RR

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I just re-read the cleaning protocols, and they don’t seem to involve crazy things like washing walls between guests or laundering curtains any more. I’m fine with “washing dishes and laundry on the hottest settings”. So perhaps this is totally do-able. I wonder if they’ll also enforce 24 hours between guests for everyone.

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Interesting use of the word mandatory. They can make us say we agree to it, they have no way to enforce cleaning standards though. They can only enforce 24 hours between guests on their platform. If a host uses more than one platform they can schedule back to back guests.

As has been the case forever, responsible hosts will act responsibly. Greedy, unethical hosts will do as they please.

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I have read several posts from guests on the Airbnb CC in the past few months who said not only was the place they booked not cleaned to the enhanced cleaning standards advertised on the listing, the place was quite filthy and didn’t look like it had been cleaned at all. The kind of scene guests just turn around and walk away from and get a hotel room.

So it’s obvious that there are a lot of hosts out there who signed up, claiming they were doing all that, and do no such thing. And since all the guests I read about reported this to Airbnb, you’d think they would be doing away with something that hosts can just totally lie about, rather than requiring it of all hosts.

But of course this has nothing to do with Airbnb caring if listings are safe, it’s simply a virtue-signalling exercise.

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Great idea. I think I will

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I reread them also, and I believe that’s still in there and they are recommending hosts wait a minimum of 3 hours before going in to clean but prefer a 24 hour delay before you clean.So, technically, if the host wanted to rush it, the guest checks out at 11 or 12 , host can wait until the next day to clean, and next guest could check in at 3 or 4. Too tight for me. I would prefer to block the next day too.

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Our listings are currently snoozed so I’m not worrying about this yet. However, when we do reopen we don’t even have a dishwasher. If this virus is defeated by handwashing, it should defeated by hand dishwashing. We could end up with paper plates and plasticware - not the vibe we are looking for.

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Bleach solution as a final rinse, thats why restaurants have 3 sinks. wash rinse sanitize.

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You don’t need to use bleach - you can use a restaurant-quality sanitizer (inexpensive, food-safe, compact, never goes bad):
Steramine

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In reading the Enhanced protocols one thing immediately pops out. Does air bnb really think that guests are going to wear face masks once they arrive and close the door? Who is going to monitor this ?
There are several other things that are concern the main one being how much longer it will take to preform the Enhanced protocol. The cleaning routine just went from 4-5 hrs. to over 8. Which means prices will have to go up dramatically in order to compensate for the additional measures.
Of equal importance is the reason that guests wish to stay at an air bnb. I believe it is because they are unique and are not sterile in amenities or decor. Air bnb’s have personality that hotels/motels do not. Oh well good thing I have a washer/dryer downstairs and a new dishwasher. Light reading the cleaning handbook is 39

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I don’t like that or single use plastics but during the pandemic I am using more of them.

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Unfortunately, I think by making this big brother imposed standard mandatory, they are going to get a rush to the bottom that will result in more listings like these.

They don’t vet hosts or guests with background checks, and they don’t regulate corporate property management listings, but yet they try to sell the image that they care by telling the media how they block party houses and enforce cleaning protocols.

They can’t have it both ways.

Until they run their platform in a responsible way, from the initial onboarding, all this show-work is just a band-aid to cover an infectious wound.

The crappy hosts will still find a way to circumvent the protocol and THAT is what will make news. Not the 1000s of responsible hosts that work day in and day out without incident and without greed.

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Yes, I understand and I’m ServSafe certified, but I hope Airbnb allows for that method. Sometimes they publish things without thinking of the ripple effect.

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Since my country is requiring similar standards as Abnb for cleaning protocols the Enhanced Cleaning being mandatory is not really a problem for me. I’m not doing it for now as my country hasn’t allowed us to open as yet anyway.
One thing I noticed, when reading through the Abnb protocols, is that guests will be asked extra questions, that are specific to the Enhanced cleaning.

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I found a site that has “Green” products like to-go cups, plates, bowls, etc. that are not plastic- compost able & biodegradable. I buy them for my house.
Greenpaperproducts is the name✌

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thank you for sharing!

I was excited to find these. We nearly bought them for our big party last year (about 200 people). But I checked with our recycling service. They won’t take them if they’re dirty. So, for us, they weren’t going to be as recyclable as we wanted them to be. We don’t have any way to compost them.

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I understand that the recycling people, here anyway, have a hard time with pizza boxes. Although they are recyclable cardboard, the lids are often greasy where they’ve touched the topping. This invalidates the whole box for recycling and indeed the whole batch, should the box be in with other cardboard or recyclable items.

With my bossy-host-pants on, even before the pandemic we should have been cleaning to fantastic standards and have ‘guest-proofed’ the rentals so that they are easy to clean. So it truly hasn’t made much difference to my cleaning - it was always a tough job anyway. :crazy_face:

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