Self-Clean On-Arrival. New & novel approach. Seems to be working extremely well!

??? You don’t have a 4.94 overall rating- you have a 4.82, which is barely enough to maintain Superhost.
Also you started this thread regarding cleaning, and several of your listings have a 4.7 average cleanliness rating.

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It would be inappropriate of me to post other hosts listing details here, but yes I am proud of mine. And the focus of this thread is all about Self-Cleaning, and my main self-clean listing is scoring 4.94 overall. I think that is great, especially for a relatively new hosting approach.

So I do not think it is truthful when you say your listing rating is quite a bit higher than mine. For a start it is not a competition. We can each be proud. But if you are raising this, then I don’t see how it can be true that - as you say yourself - your overall listing rating is quite a bit higher than mine. How high does the bar go? Isn’t 4.94 enough lol?

Reminds me of SpinalTap, where their amp goes ‘up to 11’ as 10 is just not enough. Maybe your listing is actually rating 6.0 and it would then be quite a bit higher?!

Remember also that you have a boutique listing Muddy, so it doesn’t compare with my whole house listing - which can have up to 12 guests at times. It is very different managing such a large listing, and takes at least 4hrs to clean properly each time, and a lot more to go wrong too.

But if you want to be proud of your listing and your great reviews (as you should, and well done on the 5 for cleaning too), and show you are truthful in your comment - then feel free to post it here, as I have done with mine. If you are not comfortable with this, then I understand - but it is not helpful to suggest things that may not be true.

And as per Rolf - can I politely ask that you do not post any more comments on my Self-Cleaning thread, if they violate the guidelines of AirHost? I hope that is fair to ask.

I would never dream of telling any other host they had a grungy listing, or that they were barely making SuperHost or were an AI bot or had no experience so should not write here. I would assume folk would think very poorly of me for being so rude, and it would also be an ad hominem attack, which is quite specifically listed as a violation of the AirHost rules.

I really would love if you engaged with curiosity and interest, and constructive comments - as you have a lot of knowledge and experience in the hosting space. If so, I would happily engage positively and with respect, as you deserve. Please lets offer the same respect to all other hosts - myself included :slight_smile:

Also note that the more negative or bully focussed and inappropriate personal comments are in this forum, the less other hosts will want to engage. I have thick skin, despite it being still painful to be subject to such attitudes - more of a worry is how it clearly discourages other voices.

Any voice that is even mildly supportive or curious, and it gets a ‘knee jerk contradiction’. This is a specific violation term written in the AirHost guidelines, and is common courtesy. This forum is a healthy space for professional hosts to engage and support each other - not squabble and fight in the playground over who has the best marbles or whatever lol.

We should all feel proud of our short term hosting operations, and also - we should be proud of all our colleagues who host. It has it’s challenges for sure - let’s leave the challenges with guests and laundry, and not with other hosts here :slight_smile:

Interesting idea. I have pitched self cleaning to guests who demand early check in. So far only one agreed.

I pitch it as when you arrive and the cleaning isn’t done you can help clean the place and get an earlier check in.

My comment is ot help them understand that I don’t have a harry potter Weasley house that cleans itself.

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I didn’t criticize your 4.94 rating, or say it “wasn’t enough”. I corrected you saying your rating was higher than mine, when you had no idea what my my rating is, which happens to be 4.99. And that is only because I got my very first 4 star this season from a guest who never should have booked my place in the first place due to his mobility issues. Up til then I had never had less that 5 since I started hosting in 2016.

I do agree that it is generally easier to get 5 star ratings on a homeshare listing for one guest, like mine, than for entire house listings.

As far as being “proud” of my listing or my ratings, I am not. I don’t think or feel that way, about anything. Isn’t pride one of the 7 deadly sins? :wink:

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Totally yes! There are a number of different models I have and use already.

  • Self-Clean as a listing
  • Self-Clean as an ‘Upgrade’: They pay professional rates but get early check-in FREE! - and my cleaning expenses are also free. They are often delighted, as am I. I try to upgrade them to add one extra night early as the solution, but early check-in works a lot of the time here too.
  • Bed Make On-Arrival. This is where I have been able to do the cleaning, but the washing is still going. I leave them to it, and they dry if needed, and remake their own beds. So it’s not self-clean, it’s self make bed with clean linen. A halfway solution. Sometimes I offer this up front (if we know we will be too busy), and at others like you - I offer it if they turn up and want to check-in. Often they prefer to handle it themselves to finish off, and get you out of their hair.
  • Self-Clean On-Arrival SURPRISE: It is not that uncommon that I SELL a booking as self-clean, but clean it fully regardless. Several reasons for this model - maybe I have no bookings for a few days. If so I MIGHT clean ready for a new professional booking, but get a self-clean. So bonus for them, as they were expecting to clean and make beds but didn’t have to in the end. ANOTHER reason might be I have already had two Self-Clean in a row, and I want to ensure things are tidy, and I have time. So I might do just the basic clean and laundry, but leave them to it. So the surprise is they were expecting full clean, but they only needed to make beds.
  • Self-Clean On-Arrival + DepartWash. Here the requirement is to wash everything on departure, but not actually clean. It means we go in and the machines have already run, so we are not waiting, and don’t need to fold as we put fresh dried back on beds. We also get the place ready for next guests. So they do a lot of the departure work still, but we finish off. Not a bad option.
  • Self-Clean On-Arrival + DepartWash. This is more challenging. I very rarely offer this, but have done before. Especially if they got a surprise clean, then I encourage them to do their cleaning post stay, at least laundry. Works ok in that arrangement. But taking guests for DepartWash is challenging. It’s SO much easier to take them On-Arrival, as you really don’t mind if they don’t do laundry, or you charge the extra fee if they leave extra laundry for you - as another revenue option. Same with not putting bins out. I charge them for the tip run, but always push them to take them out themselves on bin night. I do not directly push professional guests to do this as often… sometimes, but it is always optional, where Self-Clean it is a required task.
  • Self-Clean room - but also do whole house: This is not uncommon, as self-clean guests are often good communicators (due to vetting too) and flexible. I sometimes offer them a deal of reduced rate, if they do a whole house clean, or remake other beds at least, and ensure clean. Normally a single room Self-Clean guest only needs to make and clean their own room, but often they will be delighted to do the whole house and get the night almost free, or heavily discounted. It is always less cost than the professional clean, but far easier for the guest as they are already on-site, and can relax while machines run etc.

So there are many different variations to the general theme, depending on various factors. Price is sometimes a focus, but early check-in is a big benefit to many, who need the flexibility… or who are retired and value the extra time there, and are not rushing to the place after work and not needing early check-in.

But yes - guests misunderstand how much work it is to clean sometimes, especially when you have a much larger listing than usual - such as mine with 12 guests sometimes. If they want midday check-in, it is not possible as I need at least 4hrs straight cleaning time to get the house ready for them.

But great comment and thanks for adding your observations. It feels good to know I am not the only one who has been pushed into offering Self-Clean as an option, by eager guests. I just never thought of it myself before, but now it seems obvious I guess - so I am happy to share with anyone who wants to consider SOME sort of variation on the more traditional model of hosting. Which is how the very spirit of Airbnb started in the first place, thanks to Brian’s Airbed and his crazy weird idea - that is why we are all here now talking about Airbnb hosting!

You should be proud too. This is a great achievement I think. Not just the extremely high rating, but for how long you have hosted for. I think it is a bit of a numbers game too though, and the more guests you host, the more likely it is some will be a bit crazy - and book or do or think things that may not make sense, like your wheelchair guest who should have booked a wheelchair accessible place or whatever.

I appreciate you acknowledging the difference in hosting the more boutique vs the much larger places. Yes, it certainly is different - and that is partly why Self-Clean works well. Because if you are allocating 4hrs or more to clean a small place, it would not be very commercial. You could presumably easily offer early check-in too, IF you wanted… where I have no chance when I have to do laundry and clean after a big wedding party of ten or more sometimes.

But I don’t think pride should be a sin, as it can be healthy pride. We should be proud - of our children, and of our beautiful hosting spaces. It’s a good mindset, and fosters a high quality focus. Being proud means we go the extra mile where we can. I can’t promise to always fold the toilet paper end into a diamond for my guests… but I do sometimes, and try to go the extra mile in some areas at least - to make them happy with their stay.

Again - good on you. Your listing quality is great, and so it’s obvious you have plenty to offer others here. I am still scratching my head as to why I never thought of using shampoo in the hand soap refills - so again thank you for this tip!

But it did remind me of one thing I forgot to mention. I never buy dishwashing liquid, I have always used the bulk laundry detergent, and refilled the bottle. My wife might not approve, but I’ve been waiting to see if she complains, and it’s been a year and a half now that I’ve been doing this, and never a complaint. We use a dishwasher a lot too - but it is a reminder that soap is soap, and likely you can just use bulk liquid soap for dishes, hair and hands. I figure if I can’t notice the difference, and others can’t either - then why buy the smaller bottles just because of ‘marketing’. They used to sell pain killers with different styles here - you can pay more for one that is good for menstrual pain vs a toothache vs a migraine. The clever marketing folk worked out some pay more for the special type of pain, regardless that all had the same active ingredient. Crazy, but that is marketing I guess!

I never said that. You seem to enjoy talking more than actually reading what others say. Shampoo and soap are not the same or interchangable. I said I don’t see the need for all the different types of things to wash your face and body with, like bar soap, liquid soap, shower gel, body wash, face wash, etc. I already said this in a previous post, which you apparently didn’t read.

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Here’s what you said. It is very clear, and thanks to your tip - I’ll do the same.
I accept you may have forgotten what you said, but I found it - and it was helpful, and I intend to take advantage of this suggestion and refill from the bulk container too - as you said.

But a reminder on bullying. Please stop. It doesn’t reflect well on you, and is a violation of the guidelines. I trust you are professional enough to want to abide by them. Your comments are personal and harassing, and are not welcome here, as I said before. Comments on soap or hosting? Good. Denigrating comments that make folk wonder if they stepped into the set of Mean Girls? NO - not ok. I would delete mean and inappropriate comments if I could here, but I will be flagging your post for violation - and once again - if you can’t say anything nice, do not post. For someone who seems quite opposed to the concept of this thread, you seem to be very active in commenting on it. Fine if you have things of value to say. Nobody should care what your personal opinion is on other hosts, and especially so if they are negative and rude.

To be clear - here are two more of your rude comments that violate the AirHost rules:

(Except I did - and it’s now quoted here and very clear… and helpful too!)

I accept maybe you are not aware how you are coming across, but I hope my highlighting of them can assist. We do not want to alienate other hosts by them thinking this is A) OK to share bullying comments, or B) That they better not comment themselves on any post, or they might also be attacked.

Less Ad Hominem. More constructive, positive and interesting comments please, regardless of your view being for or against a topic. Just be nice. It’s better for everyone. I trust you are not like this with your guests. I would never dream of saying such rude comments to anyone.

Here are the AirHost forum guidelines.
They are very clear on what is and is not allowed regards the tone and nature of posts made here. They are very normal, and in line with many others. Easy!
https://airhostsforum.com/faq

An interesting idea, for sure. Not for our listing, I think, but worth looking at in general as one would for any creative idea.

You are getting ridiculous. I didn’t forget what I said. Do you see “shampoo” in that quote?
I didn’t say I put liquid soap in a shampoo container, did I? I have one pump container in the shower and one at the bathroom sink. It’s soap. I don’t provide shampoo and don’t put soap in a container marked “shampoo”, nor shampoo in a soap container.

Perhaps to you, not to me. I go the extra mile when I can because it feels like the right thing to do and I like treating my guests well. It has zero to do with “pride”.

And please stop lecturing and telling me what reflects badly on me- you are not a forum mod, and I am not your child. We are adults here. If you are offended by responses, ignore them or don’t read them.

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Trolls do go on and on…