New Host & Mid to Longer term stays, Do you provide 'consumables' during the entire length of stay?

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Hi, 1st I want to say thank you to everyones input and suggestions with my 2 previous posts. The information has been very helpful and informative.

We have had a busy few weeks with a steady rotation of guests that have enjoyed our places.

We have had a few inquiries for a 30, 45 and 60 day stay.

We provide the basics and some extras to the guests, however for the mid to longer term guests, how should we handle some basic consumables? (toilet paper, dish soap, towels, coffee, tea, makeup removing wipes, etc)

We also provide some extras like ‘local’ favorite snacks sourced from local MFG’s etc., I think it is a great extra that so far the guests have enjoyed, but for the longer term guests do we ‘re-supply’ the basics and the extras?

Thank You
Brian

Here is a link to our 2 Apts.:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/584188322744667060?adults=1&location=Clinton%2C%20TN&federated_search_id=2d226b37-d4e9-461f-a4e5-0ce7a4e68cb7&source_impression_id=p3_1649722175_pNexcFEYwVcpMtwZ

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/594389164730921638?adults=1&location=Clinton%2C%20TN&federated_search_id=f56835c7-10a9-478a-a1df-ee4195865e41&source_impression_id=p3_1649722165_FRs1dPTMS2oApHu6

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There doesn’t appear to be a hard and fast rule from AirBnB about the amount of consumables (beyond what it says it the screen shot I’ve included)… On a longer term stay (anything over a week) I provide what I estimate will be enough to get them through one week, and then let them know they’ll need to replenish the supplies themselves after that.

To my mind, I offer weekly and monthly discounts so if I had to replenish ALL the consumable supplies throughout their stay, I’d end up going in the hole if it was a large group and they drank a lot of coffee, or did a lot of laundry, etc.

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Now, I provide lots more than AirBnB has in the essentials list. I provide 2 pillows per guest, bed linens for each bed, 7 towels per guest for one week or longer stays, 1 roll of TP per guest per day up a total of 20 for one week or longer stays, liquid hand soap, bar soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, dishwasher pods (at least seven), laundry detergent, borax (we have hard water), 2 rolls of paper towels, foil, parchment paper, plastic sandwich bags and quart size freezer bags, cooking oils, spices, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and 3-4 trash bags.

If they get through all those consumables, then I expect them to go buy more. Only one set of guests cleaned me out to where I had to replace virtually all the soap and paper products, cooking oils, and several spices—and they were in the house for 6 months. At the end of the 6 months they were moving into their newly built home here so they took all the supplies (which they had purchased because obviously, after 6 months just about everything I provided was gone) with them. It cost several hundred dollars to replace everything.

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Personally, I would resupply all of the basics and the “extras” would be a one-time welcome gift. What do you do for bath towels, bed linens, dish towels, etc.? I assume for stays over some threshold (probably 1 or 2 weeks) you would want to come in and swap out towels and sheets and resupply the consumables at that time.

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We put in enough of everything to not look stingy. Occasionally someone asks for more of something or other, and we bring another generous supply. We live on the property so it’s not a lot of trouble.

As for linens, we have a washer / dryer and an extra set of linens in the closet

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If you were asking me….

On stays over 10 days we do a linen change every 7 to 10 days. We give them clean towels (including dish towels which I forgot to mention before) and make the beds with clean sheets during the linen change as well as doing a quick bathroom and kitchen refresh and taking out the trash. We might even run the vacuum on the first floor if they are particularly messy. It takes 2 of us about an hour to do the linen change.

If it’s a longer term stay—like a month or longer—I offer guests the option of bringing their own bed and bath linens and foregoing the linen change. I give them an additional $60 discount if they wish to provide their own linens. A very surprising number of the longer term guests choose this.

If they are using my linens then the linen change is NOT optional because some people are disgusting and won’t change the linens for months, thereby ruining my nice sheets.

We don’t top off the consumables in any stay over one week.

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Brian I think it’s wonderful that you provide locally sourced goods. This benefits folks in your community. And your properties look beautiful and inviting, I wish I could go there!

AirBnB provides on their website somewhere a way to create a shorter link to your property. My link is www.airbnb.com/h/Casitadelparque This is very handy if you run into prospective guests while out and about.

I think a close up photo of the beds in both listings (only one has a photo of the bed) to show the linens would be so nice if possible, and if you double the number of photos for both listings, that alone would help too. (I love the aerial shot and the sunset/sunrise!)

Remember people are really looking for a bed when they book lodging.

You have a lot of show off in your listings and I think more photos, more close ups, maybe put a vase of wild flowers on a table during the photo shoot, might help you.

This has been said by Keugenia, but for long stays I think you need housekeeping every 7 days at least. So the basics she lists such as toilet paper and soap are checked/ resupplied at those times. But not the extras.

At our place we do required maid service for stays 5+ nights. Our maximum stay is 21 days. Longer stay guests tend to cause more difficulties, yes–but not always. I used to host 30+ day stays but I stopped because of the difficulties. (Things like furniture getting moved around a lot and excessive cleaning required at check out)

We do not refresh things like the 6 eggs and milk (we don’t live on a farm), pancake mix, and snacks when we do maid service. But I leave a piece of chocolate per person at maid service, and maybe an additional treat for the dog(s). (I provide everyone with enough breakfast items for 5+ days for 2 people at check in. Most people don’t use much.)

Reasons for maid service are so you can get in there and see what’s going on, and so check-out cleaning isn’t overwhelming, and also so guests don’t really have to wash their own sheets.

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It depends on how much you discount for a long-term stay compared to a short-term stay. And definitely have a required cleaning, preferably about once a week.

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If you’re new, don’t book long term until you’ve racked up a lot of reviews. Many of these aren’t good fits. ALSO have a real lease they sign for LTR as after 21-28 days (depending upon where you live) they are TENANTS, not guests and are under different laws - especially eviction laws.

First night for local goodies. After that send them to the local shops or markets. 30+ days are roommates/tenants so they buy their own TP, soap, hair products, etc. I’d supply a week’s worth of basics and give them a list of stores.

Like @Keugenia I provide 2 pillows per guest, 2 changes of linens, lots of towels, shower basics (body wash, shampoo, conditioner), and for laundry, I have FF detergent and dryer sheets.

As an in home host, I also supply garbage bags and coffee and a Keurig. Many LTR guests bring or buy their own pods and creamers as I only offer half and half and they like the flavored creamers.

Just had a 16 day stay. I swapped out the sheets twice (3x sheets), they wanted towels changed every 2 days (not an issue because if I’d had back to back stays it’s the same amount of laundry and I have 6 big bath towels so wasn’t doing small loads), they bought coffee pods and creamer and ate out most of the time but had full kitchen privileges.

On stays of over 10 days, I’ll do linen changes at the half way point and quick refresh of the bathroom.

I tell my longer term guests that I’ll go in, change the linens, quickly dust and vacuum and tidy the bathroom (toilet, bathtub, floor) every 6 days. Some say no and I say “it’s my job,” but it’s also my opportunity to assess the room and make sure there’s nothing in the garbage to attract bugs or that nothing’s damaged.

It’s worked. So far. :wink:

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We give a good amount of starter supplies as well as some treats and extras but we don’t refill TP, soap or garbage bags or those kinds of things, they only get enough to get started. The one exception is the bags for the vacuum cleaners because they are hard to find and come in a large pack, so I let them know they can ask for more vacuum bags when they need them (then I also know if they’re vacuuming frequently or not).

I don’t go in and do linen changes or cleaning for several reasons. One is that I want to give people their privacy. Two is that it gets a little tricky with our state’s landlord-tenant laws to enter so frequently. But most importantly, three, is that I did the math.

Let’s say that a set of sheets cost $80 and your average stay is 3.5 months. If you add $23 to the monthly rate then that set of sheets has been paid for and the $80 is accounted for, you’re not losing the money even if they are stained and gray when you get them back.

However, if you give them a new set of sheets every two weeks then they could potentially ruin 7 sets of sheets in a 3.5-month stay. That would cost you an extra $560 just for the sheets themselves. Plus you have to account for the cost of washing and drying the sheets and you have to account for the cost of your labor, so it comes out to much more than $560, probably closer to $1000 for a 3.5-month stay. You can double or triple that if you have 2 beds, 3 beds, etc.

So the math says tells me that it’s better to just give them a set of sheets that they are responsible for and account for the cost of the set of sheets in their rent. Most of the time most of the linens are still in excellent shape so it doesn’t even end up costing us the full $80 that we’ve already collected.

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I’m with the other Brian on this. I think the most important thing is that guests know what to expect. If the location is remote they might be advised to bring any essentials that you don’t supply

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My maximum stay is 14 days so perhaps I don’t have relevant perspective. But I think once you’re talking about a 30+ day stay, if it’s being offered at discount, the expectations should be lowered. If they are paying full price every night then they should get full price amenities. I would put any stays over 14 days on inquiry so you can discuss these nuances before committing.

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In general I do not supply most consumables beyond 1 week’s worth.

The exception is make up remover in hopes of saving my hand towels. I buy cheap towels because I throw quite a few away owing to makeup/shoe polish.

For stays beyond 28 days I require a signed agreement that mandates 2 housekeeping visits. Guests are told to do their own linen laundry, but fresh linens are provided with housekeeping. I might leave a chocolate bar if the people are nice.

This is theoretical this year, though. I have no longer stays scheduled for 2023 and I don’t expect any. I’m already booked with short term stays for most months that break up the calendar.

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There’s no way to designate different ways of booking for different length stays, like only sending an inquiry if it’s over 14 days. A host could say that in their ad, but that doesn’t prevent someone from sending a request or IBing if the host uses IB. If someone wanted guests to message first if they wanted a longer stay, they would have to set their max stay to 14 days or whatever, and say in their ad to inquire if they want a longer stay, as it might be considered.

My average stay length is about 10 days, my max is 2 weeks. I don’t offer any discounts and can’t imagine not providing guests with the amenities I advertise just because they book for more than a few days or a week.

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Perhaps there are different settings based on where you are located? In my booking settings I have the option to to manually review stays longer than my maximum (in my case 14 nights).

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Sorry clearly I’m new to this platform, I should have condensed all my thoughts in one post. I hear what you’re saying. In my case, my max stay is 14 days and I truly have no interest in people staying beyond that…I’m with you, for that length of stay I want my guest to have access to all the advertised amenities including TP, soap, linens, etc.

I guess what I was trying to say is that if I was open to hosting guests for 30+ days and if that stay was discounted, to me that’s a different level of expectation. In that case I wouldn’t expect to be at beck and call with TP. And I would want to discuss that upfront to manage expectations and avoid any misunderstandings,

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Yes, exactly. I’m a home share host and figured 2 weeks is plenty to have a stranger I may or may not like in my home. I’d be open to a guest staying longer, but only a good repeat guest or one who was in residence who I liked having around. But my nightly fee is already pretty budget minded, and I don’t provide a lot past the basics, so not sure I’d offer a discount. It certainly doesn’t make sense to me to provide the same amount of supplies to a guest that has been given a discount as one who is paying full price.

But for sure if a host is going to be open to longer term bookings and giving a discount, any differences in amenities provided need to be made clear to guests, both in the listing info and through messaging. It wouldn’t be fair to guests to accept a longer term booking and only mention after the fact “Oh, by the way, you’ll have to buy your own soap, toilet paper, and everything else”.

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Absolutely agree, for hosts truly considering stays in increments over whatever they set their threshold for their “max stay”, it would be good to put additional details about any changes in level of service or amenities in the listing, as well as getting a direct agreement over ABB messenger before accepting the booking. And I think most normal people wouldn’t expect you to provide them TP for a 30-60 day stay unless you’re charging them the same daily rate as if they were only staying 5 days or whatever.

But I’ll never allow guests for longer than 3 weeks. 2 weeks is my advertised max but I’d allow a repeat guest for 3 weeks if they asked. I live in CA so I never want anyone even getting close to establishing tenants rights.

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I have a homeshare with light breakfast included so I don’t face the same question that you do. I talk with the guests about how often they want fresh linens and work around their preferences. I have been a guest on longer stays and frankly only expect a set of bed an bath linens and toilet paper. The most important thing is that the guest’s expectations are clear. Tell them what will be there and tell them where they can conveniently buy things that they will need longer term. Consider your cost in setting your price. I expect minimal essentials in a budget rental and more amenities in more expensive accommodations that bill themselves as luxurious. One nice convenience is a supply of anything that is tricky to find like a special coffee filter. I also like to know if the faucet water is drinkable. If not, I would supply bottled or filtered for the first few days.

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I don’t recommend doing 30+ day stays on Airbnb but if I was going to, it would make sense to make a separate listing for those longer stays. That way you’re not trying to communicate for two different kinds of stays all within one listing page. The listing that allowed longer stays could have different amenities, house rules, requirements (like for a signed contract), etc.

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I would not do it that way. Since they have to inquire for longer stays, I’d respond to them with the changes. Don’t make the listing longer than it has to be.

But I think @JJD has the best idea - make a different listing for longer stays.

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