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I don’t wear makeup these days (Covid) and my white wash cloths still get dull. I am unsure why anyone puts white in their AirBnB? To mimic hotels? And if that’s why, then are these the same hosts who complain when guests think they should expect hotel-like amenities? LOL. I bought navy and brown everything which complimented the tan/sand colors in my AirBnB bathroom.
I am genuinely curious about the white washcloth/towels reasoning though, despite my attempt at humour.
Because it absolutely points out to guests that everything is perfectly clean. We use all white bedding, towels, washcloths, bathmat, robes, shower curtains etc. and they really do show guests that everything is truly clean and unstained.
Even though guests know that another couple was sleeping in ‘their’ bed the night before, subconsciously the cleanest possible look reassures them.
And probably gives them snow-blindness but never mind … 
It is a position that makes total logical sense. But then I wonder, how do you know this?
For example, in my space, I make sure I vacuum so that there are never any dust bunnies or long hairs (I have long hair and it’s EVERYWHERE). I am of the mind that if you see one thing that looks dirty, you begin to look for more. So I am pretty meticulous. Yet, I see white linens as a negative for this reason. It’s so hard to keep them all white. Why not just use a darker color and rely on the emotional impact of my guest never seeing a spec of anything else out of order to reinforce this. I have to imagine that you also make sure that everything is very clean.
I certainly do and I’m pretty sure that there are a few hosts here who think I’m completely nuts. 
I’ve been doing things this way for a long, long time and it works well for me. But all hosts are different.
My own apartment is another story - it’s never perfect - but as long as the rentals are, I’m happy.
Yes, I’ve read that hotels do this for the same reason, and that white does connote cleanliness since stains do show.
To a degree. In many ways I am trying to create a hotel like atmosphere. When I started Airbnb as a room in my home, I used the sheets, towels, etc I already had on hand. But both from reading here and my own experience with well over 1000 guests, I decided 100% white cotton was best. I’ve never had any sheets ruined by stains. I do use a duvet cover with a grey and beige print. I’ve also used light gray pillowcases. I have more problem with colored linens getting bleached out by face products or colored items getting a stain and I can’t use clorine bleach on it.
As for washcloths I bought them in various colors as it kind of goes with my pop of colors theme with the decor. When they get ruined I toss them in the rag pile.
What I’ve never understood was hosts getting all worked up about washcloths when they are so inexpensive and easily turned into cleaning rags. Set your prices so that ruined linens aren’t painful to replace.
@Suz-in-Boston I’m in your camp. The “if it’s not white they may not perceive it as clean” is ridiculous to me and not something I am going to cater to.
I have towels in sage green and terracotta, and sheets in various colors that go with the room. I even mix and match sheets- might use a burgundy bottom sheet, a grey top sheet, and patterned pillow cases that incorporate both colors (I make pillowcases myself from quilting cotton, which comes in hundreds of patterns and color combos).
Like you, I clean meticulously (I’m a shedder, too), every square centimeter. I get reviews that mention how immaculate it is. No guest has ever indicated that they think something might not be clean (clean bedding and towels seem pretty evident to me- they look and smell clean) and I actually get compliments on the bed. I even use some sheets that had some tiny hole or stain that I patched, as otherwise they were fine, and one guest commented how cute the patches were.
I suspect that many hosts who use all white also do it because they like that all-white look as well, that it’s not just about the guests.
I bought black washclothes on Amazon for makeup, they actually have ‘Makeup’ embroidered on them, totally solved the problem.
I use white towels and hand towels. Occasionally I encounter hand towels with brown stains which I hope are not biological 
We try to bleach and then wash them but if the stain doesn’t go out then the towel becomes a wash rag. Given a towel is $2-$3 it’s hardly worth worrying about in my experience.