dear airbnb hosts

[comeondover]

Enough of the plug-in air fresheners. They're foul a matter of personal taste. Also they make me very suspicious about what you might be trying to hide.

And if all the temperature and function settings have been rubbed off, what am I supposed to do, play oven roulette? Give me a fighting chance and leave me the manual so I can look at a picture of it.

Anything else?

Dear Air BnB hosts,

When your guests arrive, knackered, after a journey, please don't talk at them for 25 minutes about every appliance in the kitchen and every restaurant in a 3 mile radius.

Your guests have just had a long drive, or flight, and are probably desperate for a cup of tea/ wee/ sit down.

If your microwave is that complicated, leave a laminated instruction sheet. Your guests want to make themselves at home, not have to make polite small talk for ages.

When you stock the kitchen use easily replaceable crockery and check between guests. I am SO sick of staying in lovely places with the less than basic kitchen equipment or stuff that's chipped or scratched. Go to Wilko's or Ikea , basic and cheap! And estimate that these things will constantly need replacing the more guests you have over the years. FFS!

If it were possible to attach an audio clip on a post, I'd treat you all to the loud, 180 bpm rat-a-tat noise the fridge here is making.

why do all airbnbs have so many double beds? We often rent houses for our family but my kids (teens, adults, tweens) do not enjoy sharing a bed with their siblings. Usually most rooms have doubles though. At least provide an extra single bed/pop up bed in most rooms for families. (surely not all your guests are multiple couples renting one house???)

Also: In summer provide some extra flat sheets. Your winter weight duvet is not comfortable in July and August.

And why only 2 half rolls of toilet paper? I would much rather that then wine.

Thank you for those who provide basics like salt, pepper, sugar, tea, coffee, etc.

Never come across ridiculous cleaning requests yet!

We often move furniture around, but we also put it back the way it was. Reasons include: side tables in odd places rather than next to chairs for drinks and books, not enough seating for guests so have to drag chairs in from other rooms, etc.

When buying beds do not buy ones with a foot board or any kind of end of bed restriction. My DP is 6ft5 and we have loads of issues finding a bed he will fit in or else he sleep diagonally which restricts me.

When we stayed in one with our then 18 month old, we put all the breakables (vases, glass ornaments, collection of coloured glass pebbles, clock etc.), together with the bath salts, candles and white fluffy floor rug up high in the kitchen/bedroom cupboards so they would survive our stay intact. We also moved the glass coffee table into the corner and put a blanket over it. After cleaning all morning on the day we were leaving, I took our DC out for a walk while my DH packed the car and did a final check round. Despite specifically being told to put stuff back and where it should go, he forgot and I ended up getting a very puzzled message from the owner asking where all their stuff had gone 😳. I was very apologetic, as you can imagine!

Current place - isolated cabin in the woods.
It's beautiful.
Pros - most things! Host lent us kayak and canoe. Kitchen has enough equipment for 12 people (we are just 3) and loads of space.
Massive BBQ. Fire pit.

Cons: no table lamps, only one bath towel for each person for a week. It's been raining and there is no washing machine or drier.
No basic cleaning things, just to have a wipe around. Odd. Just a Hoover and a swifter. I've wanted to give the bathroom a wipe around, as well as the kitchen.
Barely anywhere to hang things - tea towels, bath towels, coats, damp clothes.

I think guests are usually shorter stays and more local.

He did offer to bring more towels up, but we've embraced the outdoors (rowing, hiking, fires) and are holding out until we move on tomorrow to our next place which has laundry facilities.

Yeah, oven gloves please! I hate trying to get a large lasagne out of the oven with just a teatowel to protect my hands.

We take pictures now so that we can put things back where they belong when we leave.

Also, I always make sure in advance that we are not expected to do some sort of deep clean on leaving. I just simply don't book those places.

Only if the host lives in the same building or nearby ie are likely to see the guests out and about.
I would want to know if the person I passed in the car park/hall way/at the corner shop was my host.

Please stop buying property in residential areas and operating loud, disruptive businesses through the wall from folk who just want to live peacefully. Stop trying to cram in as many people as possible into small properties. Stop allowing stag and hen parties to stay. Literally stop for two seconds to think about people beyond yourselves.

Each and every person who buys a property with the purpose of short term letting is selfish and greedy.

If you advertise a property that sleeps 5, in a double, two singles and a sofa bed don’t accuse people of having extra guests because they used bedding in the airing cupboard for the sofa bed because they were 4 individuals, not couples so never planned to have two people in the double bed 🙄

Also, if you provide a crap kettle that breaks while guests are staying, apologise & either return it or accept it’s wear & tear - don’t threaten the guests with a bill to replace it.

Please don't furnish with white sofas if you are advertising a place as being suitable for a family. If you must have white sofas, provide stain removing equipment/ Ariel that is easily accessible to deal with the inevitable spills.
Please make sure the beds are adequate and fully as described, so that a single bed does actually fit a full size adult, and a double bed fits 2 adults. More than once we've found that 6 footers have been obliged to fit into weirdly short beds.
If you can sleep 6, then you need 6 of everything, including seats and mugs. Providing a welcome pack for 4 when you've rented to 6 doesn't actually feel very welcoming.
Some holiday cottages provide a handbook, with details of local info, including nearest medical centre/shop opening times/ local events / recommendations for eating out and places to visit. Manuals for equipment are really useful.
Keeping spares of important things on hand like batteries for the alarm and replacement bulbs has been helpful, and leaving more than half a cm of washing up liquid is good, as is bleach. We've had vomiting incidents on first night more than once, before we've had a chance to go shopping, and it really helps to have enough emergency cleaning stuff on hand! And toilet paper, particularly if the accommodation is remote!

Thanks, I'll give it a go.

Just back from a holiday cottage. It had a washing machine and tumble dryer but no whirligig/clothes pegs and no laundry basket to transport clothes.

As PP it had 12 long stemmed champagne glasses but was lacking in basic tumblers.
No colander, tin foil, oven gloves and it had ONE tea towel.

Tea/coffee/sugar was in canisters so I had no idea if previous guests have sneezed over it or the expiry date. Please provide these in new and sealed containers.

In addition to the above, my wishlist:
An airfryer.
Bedside/table lamp in all bedrooms.
Decent curtains/ blackout blinds.
Shower gel..
A basic DIY toolkit with screwdrivers, string, sellotape, safety pins, batteries etc

My bugbear is recycling. Please provide space to store recycling and instructions on what to do with rubbish/recycling including food waste.

Not fussed about the plug ins - easy enough to switch off and open windows. But awful frying pans that everything welds to, no proper sharp knives and grimy toilets are another matter

Agree about the recycling! There’s never anywhere to put it so we end up having to put it in the regular bin.

Are they going through the bins and sorting all the rubbish when you leave? I doubt it.

If you advertise your property (with garden) as dog friendly, please don’t wait until I arrive to tell me it is “tradition” that dog owners in the village walk out of the village before letting said dog pee/poo. It might only be 5 minutes but my dog doesn’t think that way, nor do I want to get dressed at 6 am.
And tough, he couldn’t wait any further than outside your church.

And please try sitting on the sofa, it’s so broken underneath you can’t actually sit on it.

@SheilaFentiman I realise this - but this particular AirBnb was taking the piss. Check in after 4pm. Gone by 10am.

Yes 10am!!!

I love this thread:

• Hooks by the door for wet coats (lots)
• Storage in the bathroom for guests' toiletries
• If you do have a washing machine and don't have a dryer, please provide a drying rack
• Bedside tables and lamps in EVERY room (or I will move things around)
• Full length mirror somewhere in the house
• Ditch the eleventibillion and one pillows in the bedroom, but a few on the couch would not go amiss
• Feel free to ask me to run the dishwasher, but I shouldn't have to empty the fucking thing before a 10am checkout
• Recycling bin
• Sharp knives
• Food storage

I love scented stuff (not toilet paper 🤮) but only the scents I choose.

Agree with the list of cleaning chores at the end of a holiday. I always strip the bed, empty bins, wash up etc, but hate being told to do that.

Although I like the keypad method of entry, that then means I spend the whole of the first evening worrying about the host returning and (naturally) coming over to greet us when what I want to do is get into my jamas and drink wine (after rearranging the furniture to my preference). So it’s better if they greet you, give you any info needed then leave you alone with a mobile number to text in case of need

Keypads please. I don't want the stress of keeping someone waiting or updating my journey to a stranger. Usually I'm traveling in from somewhere so the journey can be unpredictable. And also keypads means there is no rush if and I can change schedules.

Don't bother your guests with constant friendly messages of if everything is OK and do not visit the site without being invited just to say hi