To grippee sock or not to grippee sock?

I know, I was just thinking exactly that and wondering should I edit my post! I got lost in pondering over whether I should change the bathmat every day rather than every 2-3 days as I do currently.

edit how often do you change the bathmat? This should probably be a separate thread!

1 Like

It could be one of those threads that goes on forever. I thought the duvet one was pretty straightforward at first but it must be one of the longest here!

Anyway, my answer (separate apartment) is clean bathmat for every guest. Even guests who only stay for a couple of days produce a really dirty bathmat but the walking-around-in-no-shoes situation here in S Florida probably contributes to that!

That’s why some of us don’t go barefoot in public bathrooms.

But shouldn’t no-shoes mean a cleaner bathmat? Confused! I do ask guests not to wear outdoor shoes in the bathroom. It never occurred to me at the start I would need to say that (I mean, who does that anyway??) but hey, lots of people have learned from me what those weird little things on the table are for, so it’s all a grand educational experience.

I don’t use a bathmat. I use a towel daily (kind of like a hand towel but somewhat thicker). It’s changed daily.

So do your guests have their own bathmat/towel too? Do they actually use it or do they sometimes just drip all over the floor? I might think about doing the same (individual bathmats) now that I have verruccas on the brain.

I thought we we’re talking about bathrooms in shared listings.

No… one towel the size of a small hand towel put out daily and washed daily. There’s nothing that stays on the bathroom floor for any time.

Christy’s sell them. I got the idea from a hotel I stayed in a long time ago (when I was about 18) and used it ever since. Bathmats creep me out because they probably habour stale wee more than anything else …

I don’t like bathmats and I don’t like that thing some people put around the loo. Both yuck.

1 Like

I have all cotton ones that I wash between every guest.

You actually reminded me of a time I went to a spa with my friend. We were in the pool relaxing when I caught sight of her feet; three veruccas no less. I got so annoyed but she just laughed and told me everyone does it. :frowning:

No, it means filthy feet! The bathroom in the rental is tiny and I doubt anyone goes in there wearing shoes. It’s their mucky feet :slight_smile:

People take their shoes off in New Zealand and if you have carpet in the UK.

2 Likes

Yeah I’m used to taking shoes off here but to be honest I’m not sure if it’s standard since I’m constantly told my house rule is bizarre.

No, it’s not bizarre, Not to me anyway. As a kid in the UK (and that was many moons ago) we were well trained to take off our shoes when going into the house.

1 Like

OK, I’m still wondering though. Do you mean there is one small towel/bathmat that everyone uses and it’s changed daily? I was thinking about each guest being given an individual towel/bathmat that they use so nobody shares at all.

That’s an interesting idea. Probably worth pursuing?

We have a no shoes rule, too. We offer disposable slippers for the cooler months (November through April, and it’s in our listing), and guests are on their own for the rest of the year. Our listing encourages guests to take the slippers home, but no one has. So, it’s probably doubtful that guests will take your nicer, washable slippers. We have a bench in the entry way, and a place for shoes under the bench.

Regarding bathmats, I would be uncomfortable not washing them between each guest. We give each guest an all cotton bathmat (not expensive, from IKEA) that’s like a thicker towel. May not be as comfy as a plush bathmat, but it’s easy to wash with the towel load. It’s folded on the towel bar so guests know it’s clean, and everyone has used it.

1 Like

I have a “no shoes” rule and it’s the only specialized rule I post in my listing besides the standards (no smoking, no parties). I have a long mat just inside the front door with a wide Asian stool at one end. Next to the stool is a basket of new terry disposable spa slippers (individually wrapped in clear plastic which I don’t remove) & I provide one pair per adult guest. The welcome note begins with a reminder to remove shoes in the apt and encourages them to use (and take home) a pair of slippers if they wish.

I bought a huge box of these and they run around $1.25 per pair – over 3 years and hundreds of guests, less than 20 pairs have been used. Guests walk barefoot or in their socks and many remark that the slate floors are so clean that the bottoms of their socks remain white. We have radiant heat so in the winter, the tiles are warm which I’m guessing is a factor in why so few people wear the free slippers (which are relatively thick for disposable slippers). But in the summer when the tiles are cool, guests still don’t wear or take them.

All this to say, I don’t know if you need to be concerned about people stealing your slippers or socks or whatever – I can’t seem to get my guests to even open them. Of those guests who do use the slippers, the vast majority leave them behind which bums me out given the waste and environment.

There’s a total of three people that use the shower in the morning. Me first always… then my guests. The towel for the floor is folded on the side of the bath. The towel has to be picked up and put on the floor… and it’s pretty obvious you need to do that because of it’s location in the bathroom.

Guests invariably leave it on the floor when they’re done. I go in and put it back on the side of the bath when I’m refreshing the bathroom in case any guests also shower in the evening (I dont… my skin can’t handle London water more than once a day).

The next morning I take a fresh floor towel into the bathroom and the cycle behinds again.

There are probably a few reasons I personally wouldn’t implement your suggestion of giving people their own floor towel;

  1. How can you be sure they’ll understand what to do with it? In my case there’s a pretty heavy hint as it’s kept folded over the side of the bath.

  2. Where would you keep it when it’s damp but not in use? Two to three wet floor towels is a lot to find space for and because they’re woven differently to a hand towel they don’t hang on hooks easily.

  3. My assumption is that my two guests are usually partners, at the very least they sleep in the same bed. Their bare feet are already in contact so I don’t need to try and protect them further. The issue for me is between my feet and the guests that come in. This is the reason I change the floor towel when i take my shower in the morning and not before.

Ah, all clear now. Thanks @Zandra. I think you’re right that individual bathmats won’t work. We’ve managed fine up to now so I guess ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ applies.
Apologies to @dpfromva for derailing your thread about socks into one about bathmats! Hope you got some useful information anyhow.