This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
I have been hosting on Airbnb for about a year, and usually have 2 or 3 bookings per week. When I first started hosting I had a ton of hotel amenities that I had collected from my own hotel stays, but with the frequency of my bookings they ran out. I am buying trial size shampoo/conditioner from a retail drug store and had a hard time sourcing small soaps at a reasonable cost. (living in Canada problem:)
I decided to develop a website specifically for short-term rental units offering small pack deliveries of these basic amenities and offering them at a lower than retail cost. You’d be able to pay via paypal or credit card.
I also want to offer other amenities such dark washcloths with an embroidered makeup logo, linens and towels etc.
My question is would you use this kind of service? And if yes, what would you prefer to see?
individual packs of shampoo, conditioner etc ( case of 25/50/100 shampoos, 25/50/100 conditioners, 25/50/100 soaps)
kits (case of 25/50/100 of shampoo, conditioner, soap, body lotion
Yes, pricing is extremely important and I am aiming to provide brand name products at lower than retail costs.
We are also going to provide high end and value products so customers have a choice. It’s interesting in how important amenities are when away from home. My nephew, a tech guy, travels constantly and he goes on and on about the better soaps and shampoos he has experienced during his travels.
To me, it’s not about what we think of the guests, but about waste. I also provided large bars of soap, but what do you do with them when they leave? I can’t use all of these soaps myself and hated throwing out all of these soaps.
I also would hope that guests appreciate these little touches, new, unused soaps, shampoos and conditioner… but maybe I’m wrong:)
Would love to hear from other hosts. Do you think small sample sizes of amenities are not welcoming and denote a lack of care for our guests?
I feel it’s important to stay away from replicating a hotel experience.
I provide liquid soap on the bathroom sink and an all in one hair and body wash in the shower. I have only had one request to provide more toiletries. Typically my guests seem to travel with their own.
What I would find useful are individually wrapped emergency toiletries for women. At present I leave a few emergency toiletries in the bathroom cupboard available to my female guests. Along with cotton wipes, suncream, moisturizer.
I agree about the emergency toiletries and I also supply these as well as make up wipes. Your point about individually wrapped products is a good one, thank you.
One of my top frustrations about hosting is that even when I provide make up wipes, they are NOT used! Just today I came across one of my large, luxury white towels covered with make up stains! I am hoping that a black face cloth with embroidered instructions would be more appealing.
It can be frustrating when something nice is spoilt.
A tip that I learned from a fellow host is never to provide white towels or linens!
I do have some white bedding sheets that I occasionally use, but only for short stays.
Towels, I have blues and browns that I alternate.
We buy good quality glycerine soap and cut them in thirds. This provides a decent size bar of soap and addresses the waste issue. They are 3 or 4 times the size of hotel soaps. Have not bought soap for our own use since we began doing Air!
our local Meals on Wheels takes our lightly used soaps and distributes them to the needy in care baskets. They dont care that the full bars were used a few times.
Sometimes they are so lightly used that the name of the bar is still carved into the soap.
I try and minimise waste and recycle what I can so small plastic bottles aren’t something I would buy as they aren’t kind to the environment. I provide guests with fair trade shampoo, conditioner (those all in one types never condition hair well ) and shower gel. I also provide soap out of a refillable dispenser.
I also have an emergency kit with tights, tampons, paracetamol, toothbrushes, toothpaste, plasters, sewing kit, etc which I leave in the bathroom so guests can help themselves.
Luckily here we can recycle flowers, food waste, cans, foil, textiles, glass, shoes, batteries, plastic, cardboard and paper and so far my guests have been good at using the recycling facilities.
We have similar services where I host ( Tokyo, that is!) A lot of my fellow hosts use refillable shampoo and conditioner bottles. As for soap, I use bottles with refillable liquid types. That way, we can cut back on cost and waste.
I have always used luxery white towels and sheets, and nothing has been stained. The only towels I lost were darker decorative hand towels that people wiped their whitening toothpaste on and ruined.
I am curious what happens to your towels and sheets?
p.s. - I learned about the attraction and value of good, white towels and sheet on this forum?
cdnhost - I personally do not use the prepackaged shampoos and soaps for the reasons that they are too “hotel-ish” and that I abhor waste and anything not easily recyclable. BUT, I would love the dark washcloths with make-up logos. Great idea! Just not hand towels, as my darker ones are the only ones ruined with whitening toothpaste stains.
I would if I can get my cabins name/ logo and website on a label. And if they were cruelty free.
Right now I use large bottles of shampoo and liquid soaps, but I feel like maybe ones with my logo would get them to take it home and rebook with me another time
My place isn’t fancy, I buy large bottles of shampoo and body wash at the dollar store, and use liquid hand soap. Unless you have a high end place don’t waste $$ on toiletries. Bar soap is problematic as it has to be tossed between guests as its a nice place for germs to live.
I have a cottage (not my main residence) on airbnb and make it very clear that it is self catering so I only provide some soap, toilet paper and dishwasher powder to get people through on the first day in case they have forgotten to buy this stuff, after that they buy their own. Would be interested in what other similar hosts do.
Unless the prices were really, really low, I wouldn’t be interested in a service/website like what you’ve described. But that’s just me and I can be a super cheapskate (hey, is there a badge for that?).
For handsoap, we use a liquid soap dispenser and refill it with bulk product purchased at Sam’s Club. For shampoo, conditioner and body wash, I bought a 3 section dispenser that sticks to the wall of my shower. I refill that as needed, again, with bulk product from Sam’s. Guests seem to love this dispenser, by the way.
Also from Sam’s, I get individual Smucker’s jams and jellies, those little individual non refrigerated creamers, individual cream cheese packets, individual peanut butter, Nutrigrain cereal bars, boxed cereal, individual packs of peanuts and pretzels, TP, tissues and so on, all in bulk.
If you could create a website with better variety and lower prices, including shipping, I’d be interested, but I doubt you’d be able to do that and make any money yourself.
Do you remember the brand/model shower dispenser you have? I have one I purchased several years ago but I never found one that had “great” reviews. Mine is from Bed Bath Beyond but I think other places sold it. I just kept hearing that to avoid accidents of it landing on someone’s foot, then you pretty much needed to drill it into the wall?? It’s still sitting in the box, but I would like to install it.
