Upped the Game a Little

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We’re a little under two miles away from the nearest grocery store.

So, when you say you throw out any open foodstuffs other than salt and pepper, does that mean you’d throw out spices, oil, vinegar?

We throw out or ourselves use anything opened in the refrigerator. If the guest as left something shelf stable and it is not expired we keep it in the pantry, although not something easily contaminated like peanut butter. I’ve been thinking whether I should label that shelf “Past Guests Have Left These Items”

We have not had any guests buy their own salt and pepper.

For the guests who cook an entire holiday dinner it would seem likely [?] that they’d need spices and condiments, just a little bit from several, and then would be forced to leave or pack the partially used bottles. So that’s what I was trying to save them from. Of course, if they’re uncomfortable in using opened spices they could buy their own.

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Absolutely. Anything where I can’t guarantee the contents will be tossed or taken by the cleaners. I’ve seen presumably tiny guests write on every other page of the post it notes, and then bury the pad back in stack. I’ve seen garbage hidden in amazing places in the house, like used cigarettes under the couch cushions in a non-smoking house. I don’t trust that a guest won’t add or combine ingredients in open packages. And I don’t want to be liable if some crazy person puts poison in there.

Being in a senior community, the groceries are good at having tiny packages of everything just because there are lots of permanent residents that do very little cooking.
No one has complained about lack of spices or olive oil.

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Thank you. That’s solid input.

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Well, seeing all this has made me decide to “up my game” and from now on, I’m going put six tea bags out instead of three, four salt sachets instead of two and as an added bonus, I’m also now going to add some dinky little sachets of black pepper. I hope my guests will be grateful, I mean it takes me ages to walk to McDonalds to get these. I did have a thought though, should I maybe list these, just so the guests know that they won’t have to buy any in advance?

In addition, I’m going to recycle our old cooking oil from upstairs by putting it down in the apartments and renaming it unfiltered extra virgin olive oil direct from the factory. Do you think our guests will be impressed?

I’ve also decided that it’s probably been a bit mean of me to only allow three sheets of toilet paper, per guest, per day. So, what I intend to do is put a full roll in at check in, with each sheet carefully numbered, and when they check out I only apply the penalty charge for usage over and above ten sheets per day. By allowing guests to share their allowance I’m sure they’ll cite this as a positive in any review.

I’ve started numbering my first roll, and what a job this is. I started off with a permanent marker but that didn’t work very well, so I’m now using little sticky labels. Works a treat.

The things you learn here, it’s like every day is a school day :slightly_smiling_face:

JF

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You make some good points here. I’m glad I inspired you! And what’s this about ‘maybe list’ these? Maybe?? Maybe?? I know I wrote that I’m not suggesting that Hosts ‘should’ make a list, but I was being nice. Please, set aside an hour and read my posts again.

Sticky labels? That’s genius.

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Ditto. My basics: salt, pepper, seasoned salt, steak seasoning & old Bay. Anything else is a bonus.

Old Bay is expensive so I buy the giant Costco containers & place in a smaller but ample container to refill. In my shrimp loving world Old Bay is a food group.

My guest book suggests shopping at dollar tree for smaller sizes of oils & shelf stable foods like Rice or cereal.

Nope- no fine spices here.

I do highly recommend my favorite “they have everything” grocer Boulineaus (IGA) and my 2 favorite just off the boat seafood sellers.

Ok while writing this my mind sailed to my favorite easy summer meal.
Boulineaus will steam shrimp with Old Bay. Fresh corn on the cob. Sliced chilled cucumbers in sweet vinegar. Watermelon. Oh-I digress

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No one has ever complained here either – actually one person commented that it would have been nice to have more, so one person in several hundred bookings since I’ve been involved.

So I’m engaged in a real experiment, with the focus for me as to spices is the variety I’m offering, 13 generic type spices and then a few blends (Chef Prudhomme) and classics like Colman’s mustard.

At Walmart’s I would have paid say ~ $13 for those spices, while I probably paid almost $65. In the scheme of things – convenience #1 – the difference doesn’t matter much to me, and we’ll see what I do next time. I certainly don’t think that based on what I’ve read that they will taste better, or that they are ‘fine spices’ though I do think that say where you buy saffron does make a difference, maybe cardamon, or whether it’s Tabasco or Cholulu are real preferences.

Consumer Reports did a blind taste taste with two spices, oregano and cinnamon, and the more expensive grocery store spice was not materially better tasting than Wal-Mart’s, which was MUCH less expensive, like a third or a fifth the price.

But they were not comparing Wal-Mart with Penzey’s or The Spice House, where the quality is very good and the price is very expensive.

I suppose if I saw that one spice was used quite a bit, I might spring for Penzey’s or The Spice House and test out the feedback as at least I’d know people like that spice. I got the brand I got because it was either that or 365 or Simply Organic and I was attracted to the idea that Frontier was a co-op and it was all fair trade and they give 4% to charities. And Whole Foods is 2 miles, Wal Mart is six miles and Costco is 40 miles away.

But, dollars and cents, Wal Mart or – even better – Costco, would be the better deal and you can always get something special for something that is used a lot or is ‘the show’ in the recipe. Actually I think I’d score a lot of taste points with Maldon sea salt flakes, which is really delicious, but it’s easily contaminated by people’s fingers, so it was a no go for me.

Steamed shrimp with Old Bay? Old Bay is a star in that show, and very much worth it.

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@HostAirbnbVRBO Don’t change a thing! No need to explain and re explain yourself. I stand by what I stated and would very much enjoy creating in your thoughtfully curated listed kitchen.
@JJD Furthermore, now I’ve got to say saffron is not turmeric nor is it curcumin which though the health benefits, they have a heavy scent. Therefore a paella be it traditional or veggie has neither but if you wanna kick me out so be it.

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I know the difference :grimacing: Saffron has the potential to kill me but I drink turmeric with milk several times a week. It’s nothing to do with the scents. I’m allergic to Saffron with the main symptom being anaphylaxis but also seizure.

I know it would not be the same for you but I have a friend who has made it for me a few times without the saffron by substituting a mix of smoked paprika and turmeric and it is really good!

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One thing you don’t mention in this thread is the nightly rate of your property on a per-person basis. On a nightly per-person basis, hosts here range from US$30 (or less) to several hundred. If you are on the high end, then adding those touches makes sense. It’s great if this works for you, but I’m guessing that most hosts don’t have the profit margin needed to maintain such an extensive list of extras.

I still believe you should not leave the list out and just let them know you strive to stock the pantry with staples. Two reasons to not have a list - people don’t read so they’ll probably miss your disclaimers, and a serious cook will check the physical inventory before they go to the store. So why have a long list that you don’t guarantee instead of letting them open the pantry and be delighted?

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I don’t believe an hour would be near enough time.

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You ask about our nightly rate and by doing so raise a good question about where we are in the marketplace. Our nightly rate is $170/night; in the winter we lower to $150, sometimes lower.

We don’t permit pets or children under 12 [wood floors, lots of indoor plants and experience where parents let kids play with metal toys on floor, scratching and marring floors; house not child-proofed], which seems to be our biggest limiting factor (was just reviewing a nearby one bedroom home that permits pets and lists at $250/night!). We have a 30,000 in-ground solar-heated pool, A/C, occupancy 6, and for what it’s worth the property is private, strikingly decorated, and very well gardened, with many flowers, no grass, plenty of sedum, a man-made stream/water feature, hardscape in part.

When we look at our marketplace, most of the homes are in the $120 to $150 ballpark. Then there are a few, not many, that are $250+/night, which are typically bigger than our 3 bedroom home and very upscale, not in the city itself.

So we are right in the middle and alone in the middle. Our home is MUCH nicer, usually bigger, more amenities than the $120-$150 homes but not as nice/upscale and big as the $250+ homes.

If you’re a budget traveler, have dogs or kids, our place is not the place for you. But if you want a home in a quiet neighborhood, private, beautiful inside and out and don’t want to pay $250+/night we really have no competition.

So part of my motivation is to add some upscale amenities in terms of spices, condiments, toiletries, make the most of our most upscale inside feature, the kitchen, and see if that translates into more re-bookings, new bookings or ultimately a higher price (though not too much more, maybe $190?).

BTW, our cleaning fee is $130; this is not a profit center for us as we pay at least $180 and that doesn’t count quarterly deep cleanings and lots of things we do to keep the property in mint condition as the primary host is unbelievably finicky on how clean and perfectly maintained the place must be. Yet, while people compliment the cleanliness, they also did so when we were paying $70 for cleaning and it was nowhere near as spotless, pristine as it is now. Like much in life there are diminishing returns.

So, with the spices, condiments, toiletries is it something guests will notice, appreciate and ultimately pay for in price or loyalty? I don’t know. That’s the experiment.

One more thing. It’s been years that I’ve been at a hotel but I recall going to some nice hotels years ago where they’d have little cards touting their soap or the robes or such. Of course, I knew it was marketing but I also wondered, paid attention, evaluated. “Is this robe so nice? Is this soap especially good?” I often really didn’t know, but I knew that they seemed to think it was special, and I wondered whether it just might be. So, that’s also part of my thinking on the list, which I’ll hold myself accountable to, not worried about that. If I demonstrate, by the list, that it’s a big deal that this whole range of spices and condiments, some snacks too, is available to you (and I invite the question on what’s missing), maybe you will too.

I find that sometimes little things mean a big difference. Many things are of diminishing returns, but others are of exponential returns. @Robin 's letter board idea. Recently we started turning on the gas-insert fireplace before the guest could check in. THAT got some raves. Is the list and the kitchen stocking one of those things? I don’t know.

[I don’t know if we’ll continue leaving the gas-insert fireplace on. I’m on the community emergency response team here and will ask a fire Dept rep at the meeting this week. I think you should never leave a fire unattended even though there is nothing combustible nearby past say 3’ and it’s gas and glass-enclosed. I might have to stop that.]

We started inviting guests to send things ahead that we could take in, offering to get groceries or, better, just take them in via Instacart. One guest raved about that but most so far have passed on it. But our reviews are noticeably lengthier and now more often mention our hospitality, not just the place. So there’s that.

We get at least a couple of new-to-Airbnb guests each season who exclaim that they didn’t know ‘Airbnbs do all this.’ So, for them, we’re just average!

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They especially don’t read things that are Proustian in length.

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Well, we had the list down to one page double sided, but now it’s spilled into a second piece of paper. Maybe I can cut it back.

But they could miss it as we now have: 1) Guide to the House, 2) Guide to the HomePod Minis (one page), 3) Things we Stock, 4) Emergency Plan and 5) Guidebook to the Area.

I’m disclosing this in full realization of the torrent of comments that will follow.

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And you’ll never get that hour back in your life! [We each have our issues]

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But then she has to remember to ask for the toothpaste. It’s more common to forget to ask because you’re orienting to the space, managing luggage, maybe managing other people…

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Didn’t you say you were in MA? I might’ve heard that wrong, but unless this is a duplex and you live in the other side, MA state law prohibits discriminating against people with children, even in STRs specifically. When they wrote the legislation they applied the ch. 151B section 4 non-discrimination/illegal practices laws to STRs, not the public accommodations nondiscrimination laws. If you’re not aware, you’ll want to keep to that in mind.

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You got it right; we’re in MA.

I don’t know if you’d call it a duplex, but it is a split level home (no shared spaces; separate entrances) and we live in the floor below.

So I am supposing that we are not subject to that legislation. Is that right?

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You’re good. Owner-occupied with two units or less :slight_smile:

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Are you the owners of the property? If so, who is the “primary host” you mentioned before?