How many towels would you expect for a 25 day stay?

[SmorgasBorb]

We have a little 1 bed Airbnb. It's usually only ever rented for weekends but we have a couple coming to stay for 25 days soon. They are happy to make their own beds etc and so I'm leaving them with all linen and towels for the period and we will collect a sack of the dirties every week. I'm leaving 4 sets of bed linen but I'm totally stumped as to how many bath towels, hand towels and shower mats to leave them though!

Weekenders are easy with a bath towel each, and a shower mat and a hand towel
Me and DH are happy to use a towel for a week or so so my instinct is to leave them with 4 each but the towel related threads on here makes me think it's not enough.

How many towels and specifically bath sheets per person would you expect to be left with for a 25 day stay in a small Airbnb? And is a bed linen set a week sufficient?

Obsessively clean and tidy

I am laughing at the outrage mydogisbest because, while I don't wash my towels that often, I would never ever share a towel with my dh, to me that is GRIM GRIM GRIM

Ah you know it's Mumsnet when you ask opinions on how many towels might be needed for two people over a 3 week stay and 100 posts later a poster is telling another to fuck right off

Lots of useful thoughts thank you. I think I'll do as many people have suggested and drop off linen weekly. One made bed and two spare sets of linen in the cupboard. A set of towels out for use and one more set in the cupboard. I'll take away the linen bag weekly, replace and ask if they had enough and go from there.

I'm probably not going to leave 14 towels for two people to use over a week though!

I am going ot say it again - OP in a holiday let for one week you get one set of everything.

Air B&B is basically same standard as holiday let.
If you let for 2 weeks, you might get 2 sets so you can wash them YOURSELF.

So I would give them 2 sets, tell them that due to water shortage once per week would be reasonable to wash and leave them to it.

Discount means they don't get hotel service (you don't get hotel level service in an air B&B anyway do you?)

Ah you know it's Mumsnet when you ask opinions on how many towels might be needed for two people over a 3 week stay and 100 posts later a poster is telling another to fuck right off

😂

@noresponserequired

One set of each a week, it’s what I do at home. I’d give them two complete sets and let the wash them themselves in the circumstances.

Agreed. Not sure why they need 4 sets of bed linen if they have access to a washer and dryer!

With two sets, they can choose how often they want to change and wash the linens.

Hi all,
Remarkably (and through bitter experience) we know that frequency of bedding and towel changes is one of the more divisive topics on Mumsnet, so can we ask everyone to bear in mind that one woman's utterly grim is another woman's acceptably grimy and post accordingly?
Thanks so much, have some lovely fresh-smelling for the thread!

I gave up after a bit and haven't read the whole thread (apart from OPs entries).

I'm glad you're going with dropping off supplies weekly - trying to have "enough" towels for 25 days already there is just an invitation to use them daily if it turns out they are so inclined. Supplying ample for a week or more and swapping them out seems more realistic.

I think it might depend a bit where they are from how likely they are to "get it" regarding water usage. I grew up in Sydney; my mother's still there and very aware of the cost of water (plus her suburb seems to be in a rainshadow compared with much of the city!). We camped plenty and if I were staying somewhere on tank water I'd change sheets and towels less than weekly if possible for a stay that long.

If they are overseas visitors you have less information to guess on. How comprehensive is your info sheet for guests? If you haven't already spelling out the implications of tank water quite clearly as part of it (washing, cleaning etc) is not unreasonable.

To acknowledge the "divide" - I have never been able to envisage what people are doing who feel the need to wash towels daily.

@noinorm the problem of letting the clients choose how often to wash towels/bedlinen using the provided washing machine, is that you might get someone who wants to wash them everyday, not realising/caring/understanding that there is a finite water supply.

Many of us may be watching the pennies or trying to do our bit for the environment, but I assume not many of us rely on our own tank of water for all our water needs, and when that is gone it is gone, until it rains substantially. Most of us are used to turning on the tap, washing machine etc and water appears

If you stay at a rental property for a week, even a high end one, you normally just get one set of towels per person, usually a bath towel and a hand towel, one bath mat per bathroom, and the sheets aren't changed till the handover to the next guests. Whoever stays in a cottage for a week and expects the sheets and towels to be changed half way through or to have more than one set of towels per person? If there's a washing machine I will sometimes wash towels if they get too soggy, but that's ususally in damp British weather. People on this site are mad about laundry.

@ItsSnowJokes

Ah the competitive MN I change my bedding hourly and my towels every time they are used is out in force.

Once a week is fine for both. They have a washing machine and dryer if they need them washed more frequently.

That's your standard.

For me, personally, I do not the next day wish to wipe my face on the towel which I had previously wiped my private areas, as clean as they may well be. And that's my hygiene standard of choice. Yours maybe lower and that's great for you, but what works for you doesn't mean it's right for all. And actually, when away from home, even more so, I think that people have the right to the supposed luxury of having a clean towel daily!

@SmorgasBorb

Ah you know it's Mumsnet when you ask opinions on how many towels might be needed for two people over a 3 week stay and 100 posts later a poster is telling another to fuck right off

Lots of useful thoughts thank you. I think I'll do as many people have suggested and drop off linen weekly. One made bed and two spare sets of linen in the cupboard. A set of towels out for use and one more set in the cupboard. I'll take away the linen bag weekly, replace and ask if they had enough and go from there.

I'm probably not going to leave 14 towels for two people to use over a week though!

I would not be impressed and think that my review of your establishment would reflect this, that you think 2 towels a week per person is sufficient. And I'd be contacting for more. I think that if you're genuinely going to be rhis stingey you need to give at least 3 sets and expect that your reviews may have this commented on. Can you take the hit on negative reviews?

Whenever we've rented an apartment we've washed out own towels. It's not thing consuming.
I would leave 4 each of everything and they can put them through a wash as needed.
I wouldn't be happy with just one towel each for a week's stay. If I have a shower, I want to be able to wrap my hair and have a towel floor my body art the same time, so two is a minimum, but 3 or 4 gives time for wet ones to dry in-between.

Why don’t you ask them?

Most self catering is one set of towels/ linen per week.

I’d like to know whether the people wanting more, ever self cater? It is not the same as a hotel.

If you went somewhere @ChoiceMummy and it had a limited amount of water for your use, so say the OP could lock down the tank so you could only use a certain amount of water, what would you give up so you could have clean towels everyday? Could you not dry your face on a flannel and dry your bits on a towel?

@ChoiceMummy what if you had finite; very finite water resources. Which would you limit? A daily shower, the ability to flush the lavatory when you used it or a clean towel everyday?
What if I told you that a clean towel everyday would mean that you had to only flush the loo once a day or that the decision to have a clean towel everyday may leave future guests without any water at all?
And this isn't rhetorical. We live with this week in and week out.

Bed linen - 1 per week

Towels - 1 set per week

I'm not eating off them. I'm drying my clean body with them and then quickly drying them on a radiator.

choicemummy

how often you wash your towels is entirely up to you.

But it is standard in self catering accommodation to be given one set.
Do you often stay in self catering accommodation, like air B&B or do you only stay in hotels?
Because they are not paying for hotel accommodation.

Can you keep towels dry after use?
If there is heated towel rail adequate to the towels I would think one set weekly is fine.If there is a risk of them remaining damp , 2. Two sets per week if they are likely to be doing outdoor activities requiring multiple showers.
1 set of bed linen a week is fine and over many years if staying in self catering accommodation is normal.

HNRTT but if they are getting a discount and it's your first long term stay, could you ask them and say this is the first time someone has stayed for more than a weekend and how many towels do they think they'd need if you do a weekly swap out?

If you are ever wondering how our planet came to be so screwed, just look up a MN linen/towel washing thread.

And in addition, who has the time to change sheets more than one a week? Think how much better that time could be spent!

I think you’re mad to leave them to it for a month. Goodness knows what you’ll come back to.

A towel set each per week is fine in the circumstances - maybe leave a few more in the house for spares. Check on them at least weekly, swap dirty linen for a clean set, and explain that the limited towels is due to limited rain water to wash it with.

You really need to set the tone for this, not be dictated to by your guests.

Never ask about towels or bedding on here. If you don’t change bedding daily and use a separate fresh towel for each individual body part, bleach then burn them straight after use you’re a disgusting slattern according to many

Not read the thread but I would drop a new set off each week and take the dirty away.
Duvet cover
Fitted sheet
4 pillowcases
2 bath towels
2 hand towels
1 bath mat
7 tea towels