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We offer weekly cleaning for our guests (who book for a minimum 30 days). This is actually the legally allowed minimum in NYC.
Once of our guests obviously had the runs in our bed and we found staining on our fitted sheet, top sheet and the mattress pad necessitating extensive stain treatment and multiple laundering. The cleaning took our cleaner twice the amount of time plus he was completely freaked out by the incident. Other cleanings were delayed. We tried not to humiliate him and wrote a sensitive note saying that he obviously had an accident in the bed but that and we took care of it but that should this happen again that he needs to take care of it himself and give us a heads up. He wrote us back saying he doesnât know what we mean. He is foreign but we think he is playing dumb. Does anyone have advice about how they would handle such an incident?
Photos and ask what happened?
Most of us would consider these issues to be part of the being a hotel dealâŚbut it does disappoint when they donât advise / admit to an issue.
Like the guest who used hair dye in my marble bathroom - completely denied it.
Consider whether your cleaner is up to the task. Poop and vomit are going to happen on occasion an he needs to deal with it. Freaking out isnât an option.
The cleaner needs to be prepared to take photos of things that are out of the ordinary. You will need the photos if you ever need to make a claim.
Get a water-proof encasement for your mattress, and your pillows, too. You can buy these that are made of a terry-cloth like material instead of the crinkly plastic from many years ago. Do this ASAP.
If you donât have any photos, thereâs nothing else you can do. If there is a next time, send the photos and ask what happened, although if all it took is a some extra laundry treatment, then Iâm not sure Iâd say anything at all. Personally, I think your cleaner is inexperienced and took twice as long only because he was freaking out. He shouldâve just bundled it all up into a plastic bag, put spare sheets and protector on the bed and then washed the soiled bedding offsite. Itâs hardly different from what he should be doing on every cleaning.
Thanks for your response. We wrote: we had a bit of a time in your room today. Looks like you had a personal accident with the sheets/ linens. We had to treat and wash the linens and mattress pad here today, in addition to sending out tomorrow with the normal service. We would appreciate your mitigating this as soon as this occurs. We understand this can happen. Thanks for your cooperation. And have a good weekend.
Guest response: what do you mean? I donât understand? Personal accident?
This is beyond what a normal cleaning should be. Would you charge this guest for additional cleaning?
We could have said, âyour fitted and flat sheets and mattress pads were covered with feces and bowel distract.â
I would have handled it the way you did. The problem is his denial. Letâs hope that for most healthy people this is going to be a one time occurence. If I had to deal with a denial Iâd would probably say âif this occurs again there will be a charge of xx dollars.â All the advice about what the cleaner should do and how you should have doubles or triples of everything is accurate. However, if a guest has an accident and lets it soak in and dry and refuses to make any change in their behavior then the guest is the problem, not you.
I had a guest this happened to. The difference was that when I got up in the morning, she was standing there in her doorway, looking mortified, and told me what happened. It wasnât as extreme as what the OP here experienced, it hadnât soaked through the sheet yet, she had jumped out of bed the instant it happened and whipped the sheet off. I was able to allay her embarrassment somewhat by telling her not to sweat it, that the same thing had happened to me when staying at a friendâs house, not that long before, after eating out and obviously getting a mild case of food poisoning (which was totally true).
She said there was no way she wanted me to have to deal with it at all, and could I please show her how to work the washing machine (which isnât normally on offer to guests).
Mature aduts overcome their embarrassment and do the right thing.
I would be very concerned if my guest is not grasping that they soiled sheets during their stay?
I am no expert but for me personally, I would contact AirBnB and register my interaction with this guest and their denial of soiling the sheets. Send AirBnB all the information I had including the photos.
Then ask for the guest to be re-homed.
I hadnât seen this post when I responded previously. Did you send him the pictures? After his response Iâd have sent these picture and said âYou shat the bed!â Okay, maybe not. But lordy. Iâve met adolescents like that⌠they will deny even when caught red handed. As Muddy says itâs extremely immature. And Iâd be tempted to have the guest re-homed depending on if I thought I could fill his spot. Then again a whole new set of linens could probably be purchased for a few nights of his booking.
As the guest didnât have English as his first language, he might have understood that better than âa personal accident.â
He would also probably have not properly understood âwe had a bit of a time in your room todayâ, âin addition to sending outâ and âmitigatingâ.
No I wouldnât charge for extra cleaning - weâre in the hospitality business and these things happen. Hopefully your nightly charge has an amount built in for such contingencies. But as Brian suggests, Iâd definitely question the cleaner being âfreaked outâ. Thatâs not the sort of person to be working in a rental situation.
Re. photos. Is that it?? A couple of poop stains? For goodness sake, just soak in oxyclean and wash the damned things. What on earth is the fuss about? There is something seriously wrong with your mattress protector if such small stains seeped through.
Fair enough, it was not good that the guest seemed unaware or didnât care that s/heâd left such a nasty mess but such issues should be for reviews, no?
Like @muddy, Iâve had a guest who shat the entire bed due to a gastric bug. She dealt with it all herself and would not let me anywhere near.
Not if itâs for a 30 day stay. Given the literal shit I deal at times with the dogs I have a high tolerance for mess. But I wouldnât want to deal with this more than once. Itâs not the stains itâs the âhow to deal with a guest who acts like they have no idea they shat the bed?â