This is a studio unit. I’ve had guests who appear to be respectful. Tidy up place return items to where they came from, even strip the bedsheets, etc. Others look like they just up and left and the room is messy, items strewn everywhere,and random things like use a teatowel to mop up a coffee spill and let it dry up, take a face cloth with them, worn wet clothing in bed (guessing) leaving a blue dye stain. Now the place isn’t a pigsty as such but all extra work for me. I don’t know but even when I stay in a hotel I leave my room behind tidy. I charge a very small cleaning fee as I rent out in a holiday area with lots of competition. Increasing it would make me less competitive. But anyway I am sucking up this extra work but really don’t want to give a raving review. Do I add to house rules the expectation of leaving the unit tidy, and be specific? I have heard others say if you charge a cleaning fee, mine is $10, then guests expect to a clean up service. But given all this what reviews do I give?
You need to make it clear what your expect guests to do.
As a host we clean the property, provide fresh linens and towels, toiletries, refreshments, check for maintenance etc.
I think it’s fine ask guests to clean and put away dishes and kitchenware. Put rubbish in bins/recycle, brush floors, leave bathroom and kitchen surfers cleaned down. You need to leave products to enable them to do so. Empty fridge and dispose of open food.
I’ve always had a cleaning fee and in eight years, I have never had a guest leave it messy because they paid for cleaning.
Make up some check out instructions that spell out how you want it left, or guaranteed, they will leave it messy.
Always leave a factual, non-emotional review. It does not have to be “pleasant”. The public side of the review is really for your fellow hosts, not to make it sound as if all your guest were perfect angels.
“Guests were quiet, respectful, good communicators; we’d enjoy hosting them again.”
“Guests left the place a mess – stained bedclothes, mopped up spilled coffee with tea towel, and more. Cannot recommend hosting them.”
I host during the summer in Ireland and have a three bedroom lake side house and I don’t charge a cleaning fee. I make it clear in my house rules that ‘the house must be left clean and tidy as this helps us avoid a cleaning fee’ and most of my guests have diligently complied. We still do a ‘deep clean’ which takes a few hours. In your situation with this guest, you may want to consider giving a short factual review and say a bit more to them in private feedback.
Hmmm. I just had one of those large blue dye stains too. A very nice young couple, although the girl was prone to leaving her dirty laundry on the bathroom vanity, and when I went in to make the beds there was a big blue stain. To me it looked like it was from raw denim jeans. I messaged the guest about it. They thought it was from the blanket I provided.
In any case, I soaked the sheet in strong detergent solution for a few hours and it all came out. 