Airbnb new rules - can't ask guests to wash up!

GrandmaKT

Sago, we live 75 miles away from our holiday let. I employ a local cleaner and I can honestly say that she is fantastic! In 12 years she has never once let me down, her cleaning is first class and the cottage is always spotless. We get 5 starts every time. I trust her much more than I would a professional company and I like to handle the bookings myself.

We use a holiday cottage company who send the bookings through to the cleaning company and ourselves.

I prefer dealing with a professional company, on the few occasions things have been forgotten I have no qualms about contacting them!

Also they own all the bed linen and towels ( we select the quality ) so they take charge of all that side of things.

You are lucky to have found someone local and reliable, hang on to her!

Sago, we live 75 miles away from our holiday let. I employ a local cleaner and I can honestly say that she is fantastic! In 12 years she has never once let me down, her cleaning is first class and the cottage is always spotless. We get 5 starts every time. I trust her much more than I would a professional company and I like to handle the bookings myself.

I don’t believe an extra cleaning fee should ever be charged.

I think a big mistake that the owners often make is using a local cleaner to do the change overs if they can’t do it themselves.
You really need to have a professional company to do the work.

Our bookings go through to the cleaning company so they can schedule the change overs, we don't ever have to worry about someone getting the wrong date or not showing up.
Yes we pay more than we would if it was an individual but we want those 5* reviews and we want our guests to be happy.

I really don't get that not checking the place after one party has left, how can an owner think it would be acceptable for the new people to come in and find it hadn't been cleaned and the beds haven't been changed? The owner/s couldn't possibly know how their accommodation had been left. Apologies wouldn't be good enough, the price would have to be reduced imo to reflect such a glaring and unacceptable oversight. Why are they even doing AirB&B would be a question I'd ask when they aren't fulfilling their part of the arrangement

My granddaughters went to one in a supposedly posh area of London after a long flight from Australia. It was filthy and the beds were unmade, old food left on plates and filthy floors. They had to ring the owner because it wasn’t liveable. Then they had to leave the place whilst they cleaned up. Disgusting. Luckily they only had a few nights there. The owner was very apologetic but you’d think he would have checked.

Thanks for your input Doodledog. Since earlier this year it is not possible to charge a separate cleaning fee on Airbnb anyway(I wish they would publicise this, as the message obviously hasn't got through to guests!)

GrandmaKT

Thanks for all the comments. Full disclosure, I have a small cottage that I let out via Airbnb. I am so pleased to see that most of you will happily put on the dishwasher when you leave and take out the rubbish. This is all I have ever asked or expected of my guests. Luckily,I have never charged a cleaning fee and never expect my guests to clean, strip beds, load the washing machine etc. and I hope the new Airbnb rules won't change anything!

I don't think it's asking too much for people to clean up after themselves and their dogs, but asking them to do actual 'cleaning' is a step too far.

What annoys me is having to pay a fee and also do the cleaning. A cleaning fee is a bit like adding postage charges or delivery fees to an order - people really want to know what something is going to cost them before costs are added on, and get annoyed when the charges differ.

We have recently had to pay a £99 delivery fee for new sofas, plus £150 to take the old ones away, on top of the already expensive costs of having the sofas made to order. We knew that bespoke furniture would be expensive, which makes the 'additional extras' (£250!!) feel more extortionate. Had it been added to the cost of the bespoke experience I would have felt happier about it, but seeing it added at the point of ordering was just annoying.

I know you don't add a cleaning fee, but maybe you could make that obvious to your guests? A set charge 'with cleaning included' or similar? And a dog-friendly environment that is free to all dogs (if appropriate)?

Reading this thread, I’m glad I choose a Premier Inn👍

Thanks for all the comments. Full disclosure, I have a small cottage that I let out via Airbnb. I am so pleased to see that most of you will happily put on the dishwasher when you leave and take out the rubbish. This is all I have ever asked or expected of my guests. Luckily,I have never charged a cleaning fee and never expect my guests to clean, strip beds, load the washing machine etc. and I hope the new Airbnb rules won't change anything!

But I think that's partly the problem ( not on this thread but generally) on social media air bnb owners are complaining and saying this is a perfectly reasonable thing to expect, but enough of their customers are disagreeing so much that it is impacting the business. I dont really think many of the air bnb owners are 'getting that'.

Magenta8

I once stayed in a gite owned by an English couple in a village in Normandy. I collected the keys from them as they lived nearby.

I happened to be the last person to stay there that summer.

The gite had been left in a shocking state by the people who had stayed before so I cleaned the filthy bathroom, changed the one bed I slept in, swept, dusted and cleaned. Apart from washing up some stinky pots and cutlery, I left the messy kitchen, as I ate out in the village or had picnics. The previous tenants had lit a fire in the grate and it was full of ashes which I also left. Before I left I cleaned all the areas I had used, and stripped my bed.

About a week after I returned to England I received a very nasty letter in the post from France demanding money to pay for cleaning the gite as they claimed that I had left it in a disgusting state. They also stated that I would not be welcome to stay there again. Clearly they didn't bother to check between tenants or do anything about cleaning.

Fortunately, this was before the time when owners and tenants left reviews.

I wrote them a letter explaining how messy the previous tenants had been and how I cleaned all the areas I had used but they never replied.

All the other holiday homes I have stayed in were clean when I moved in and I left clean when I moved out.

I'm wondering why the owners had not been in after the previous people had left, inspected it. surely routine and cleaned up for your visit, certainly no way to run a business As they lived nearby I'd have told them to come round and see the mess and arrange for it to be cleaned up before I unpacked. Really quite shocking!

As most on here do , when I stay at a holiday rental whether it’s Airbnb or other platforms , I wash up or run the dishwasher, take out rubbish and generally tidy up and wipe the kitchen surfaces . I strip beds if asked by the owners . As for deeper cleaning, no way . It ruins your last day if you have to do all that by check out time , which can be 10 am .
Plus one persons cleaning varies from another’s .
I’ve stayed at a couple of places where the owners turned up at checkout to inspect the property.

Doodledog

I think the difference is just that Air B&B offer a platform through which landlords can advertise their properties, and they (Air B&B) deal with the bookings. They can screen out renters who have a poor reputation from other landlords, and both parties know the rules of engagement.

IME, cottages usually have similar rules. Washing up is fine - who is going to go out and leave dishes on the table/counters? But vacuuming, stripping beds etc is, IMO, a step too far. They are household chores which you go on holiday to escape. Plus, you pay a cleaning fee, so what is that for if you have to clean the place yourself?

Yes I agree. Apart from washing, drying the dishes, putting a little cleaner around the loo, I wouldn’t be doing owt else. Like you say Doodledog, we are taking a break from all that mundane stuff.

They should have at least thanked you witzend.

Air b&b should be banned outright. It is responsible for rents skyrocketing and rental properties for long term lets being impossible to find. I hate it.

Well yes, but the OP asked what we thought about it, so we are giving our opinions as requested.

I dont think in a sense it matters whether we would strip the beds or not, it is impacting the business model so they are changing it.

I once stayed in a gite owned by an English couple in a village in Normandy. I collected the keys from them as they lived nearby.

I happened to be the last person to stay there that summer.

The gite had been left in a shocking state by the people who had stayed before so I cleaned the filthy bathroom, changed the one bed I slept in, swept, dusted and cleaned. Apart from washing up some stinky pots and cutlery, I left the messy kitchen, as I ate out in the village or had picnics. The previous tenants had lit a fire in the grate and it was full of ashes which I also left. Before I left I cleaned all the areas I had used, and stripped my bed.

About a week after I returned to England I received a very nasty letter in the post from France demanding money to pay for cleaning the gite as they claimed that I had left it in a disgusting state. They also stated that I would not be welcome to stay there again. Clearly they didn't bother to check between tenants or do anything about cleaning.

Fortunately, this was before the time when owners and tenants left reviews.

I wrote them a letter explaining how messy the previous tenants had been and how I cleaned all the areas I had used but they never replied.

All the other holiday homes I have stayed in were clean when I moved in and I left clean when I moved out.

MT62

Witzend

Must say I was pretty naffed off recently to find, in a far from cheap 4 bed AirBnB, that there was no spatula type thing for lifting fried eggs from the pan - and there wasn’t even one vaguely non stick frying pan. And the Gdcs were asking for pancakes…
We had to go and buy both.

And the freezer was completely iced up!
I will always leave the place tidy, no crumbs etc., and will put used crockery etc. in the dishwasher, plus will strip beds, but that is absolutely IT.

Did you leave them or take them home? 😂

TBH I was all for taking them, but dh dissuaded me, saying that if previous form was anything to go by, the next guests would also have the annoyance of missing essentials.
We did however make a point of informing the owners!

I think the difference is just that Air B&B offer a platform through which landlords can advertise their properties, and they (Air B&B) deal with the bookings. They can screen out renters who have a poor reputation from other landlords, and both parties know the rules of engagement.

IME, cottages usually have similar rules. Washing up is fine - who is going to go out and leave dishes on the table/counters? But vacuuming, stripping beds etc is, IMO, a step too far. They are household chores which you go on holiday to escape. Plus, you pay a cleaning fee, so what is that for if you have to clean the place yourself?

what is the difference visgirl, between the two?
I’ve never stayed in a holiday cottage, & would love to.
I follow the ‘Two Germans in Britain’, on YouTube. They travel around the uk staying in some beautiful cottages.
I couldn’t imagine them not washing up after some of their afternoon teas.
Does the same rules apply, Or not?

I have found individual holiday lets very variable, especially the French ones. In general, the AirBnB cottages have higher standards.

Visgir1

The reason I wouldn't consider Airbnb was the thought of tidying up before I left, obviously we wouldn't leave in a mess, but dishwasher, I get beds nope.
That's not my job, it's the owners that's what you paid for.

Can I ask if you wouldn't consider staying in any holiday cottage, or if you think Airbnbs are different in this respect?

I've stayed in lots of airbnbs ...I never was3h up but always fill the dishwasher...I never strip beds ....I will put rubbish out if its in the garden....if the bins are further away then I leave the binbags tied up next to the bin in kitchen.....I pick up dog poo ( disgusting not to I think) .....I wipe down kitchen surface.....and thats my lot....regardless of what the host asks for.....I have all positive reviews as an airbnb guest....sure a host can ask....but they cannot enforce

PamelaJ1

My sister takes her Dyson and hoovers before she leaves. She also picks up after her dogs.
Apparently there is a site where owners can leave reports about their guests. She must have 5stars!

Airbnb hosts leave reviews about their guest