Host requests for Airbnb places.

[madaboutpurple]

I saw some information on the net that Airbnb hosts are not allowed to ask guests to do the jobs that they often ask to be done anymore. My point of view has always been I am on holiday, the place will be getting a cleaner in before the next guests arrive so I will do a few things but I am not there due to being a paying guest to do some of the demands owners ask.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6n049gg75r4o

I'm glad the rules have changed. Having to strip the beds and take the bins out always annoyed me when they are charging hotel prices and there is a cleaning fee.

Airbnb can be pricey there’s no way I’m stripping beds or hoovering ! I’m on holiday that’s what the cleaners are for surely ? I’ll put towels in bath and we always wash up as we go anyway.

We've stayed in Airbnbs in lots of places. By far the worst for expecting us to do lots of cleaning and tidying was in the UK. If you've paid a cleaning fee, you shouldn't be expected to do half the cleaning work. Maybe hosts need to change the check in time to accommodate the actual cleaning needed?

In fact, I'd rather pay a bit more, if staying for more than a couple of days, for someone to come in and replace towels and bedding, clean the bathroom, etc. This is very often the case in many holiday lets abroad.

France is bad for this - it’s very common for you to have to bring your own bedding - the air bnbs just leave an empty mattress!

And the last place I stayed in while skiing, the host was aggressively texting me the next day to ask why I hadn’t texted her when I’d arrived as the air BnBs instructions has said to - there was no WiFi or phone coverage in her flat! That place didn’t even have cleaners - they were clear that I had to clean for the next guest… it was a bit grim when we arrived too, I think the guests were all just doing a cursory sweep. BUT it was cheap. I generally don’t use air bnb anymore as it’s more expensive than hotels.

we let out our house on Airbnb over the summer months, so not a full time gig. We don’t charge a cleaning fee, For a full changeover to immaculate standards it easily takes 6 person hours, often more. We have 11am checkout and 3pm check in although we try to avoid having a same day changeover.

We do ask people to put on the dishwasher and empty the bins before they leave (wheely bins are beside the back door). We don’t ask people to strip beds, although some do, but we do ask people to put used towels in the shower.

i don’t think that is a big ask. Sometimes we won’t be arriving at the property to do the changeover straight away and it means that dishes and bins aren’t festering.

We have just come back from holidays, stayed in 3 different airbnbs and we left the properties in the same condition we would expect ourselves. It’s just basic manners really.

And for those saying that Airbnb is expensive - ours sleeps 8 comfortably, with 3 bathrooms and 2 living rooms. It works out at about £30 per head per night. There aren’t many hotels to be found at those rates.

My understanding is that hosts can still request guests to do these things, but that they aren’t in the rules. So if they don’t do them then they can’t be marked down for breaking the rules, but can still be scored on cleanliness.

@EspanaPorfavor You stayed somewhere cheap but also don't stay in airbnbs as they're more expensive than hotels?? That's such a sweeping statement as to be meaningless really. Both hotels and airbnbs come in all sorts of price brackets and at different levels of quality so how can you know you're comparing like with like? I mean you aren't if you are comparing a room with a whole property for a start.

I often use Premier Inn and Travel Lodge when visiting family and you used to often get a room for £30 but now it's often closer to £100. That's just one type of hotel but I don't agree that hotels have become better value and airbnbs have become worse value. Everything has got more expensive and at least with airbnb you can mitigate that by eating in sometimes.

I will strip beds etc in a cheap holiday let, if it is expensive, or there is a 'cleaning charge' they can get fucked.

This is why I never use air BNbs I'm on holiday I am not stripping beds. Also the empty dishwasher. I will have my last cuppa before leaving and happy to put on the dishwasher but I am not waiting around for an hour or so for the cycle to finish to empty it again.

If i book one that has a cleaning fee itemised in my bill (which usually magically appears just before checkout) am I fuck stripping the beds or performing some elaborate routine. I wouldn’t do it in a hotel so I don’t do it there either.

Yes I don’t rent apartments in France any more after being called a dirty pig by the cleaner when I explicitly asked her when we arrived how she wanted the place left and had paid a 60 euros cleaning fee for a small apartment NB bathroom was clean as were kitchen surfaces and dishes done.
I am happy to strip beds as it takes two minutes, empty bins if it’s not onerous to get to outside bins, leave toilet clean and wash and dry dishes. I am not hoovering, dusting or cleaning windows ( which is what they seem to expect in France even if you have paid a cleaning fee).

@Catsslave i take price into account but it’s not the only factor. For skiing in the French Pyrenees at the foot of the slopes there aren’t any hotels, so you’re limited to air BnBs really.

But for a city break, or a stopover on a long road trip, where both are on offer, I’ve found hotels to be cheaper than airbnbs.

Not exactly comparing like with like but comparing four city center beds with four city center beds and one set of beds is more expensive, you need to bring your own bedding and clean up after yourself… in those cases I wouldn’t choose the air bnb.

I was asked to strip the beds at the last stay. By the 4th bed I was in a terrible mood. Especially when I found one duvet thoroughly stained with what looked like wee and it hadn’t been us. Never again. Staying with friends, of course. Paying good money, I’m done.

My understanding is that hosts can still request guests to do these things, but that they aren’t in the rules. So if they don’t do them then they can’t be marked down for breaking the rules, but can still be scored on cleanliness.

There may be reasons why hosts need to request additional tasks, and they are not necessarily unreasonable.

I do think that this should have to be made clear in the listing so that the guest has the option to book elsewhere, and not be a surprise on arrival.

But presumably they can’t be marked down on cleanliness for not doing the optional things.

We have stayed in probably dozens of self-catering properties over the years, not just Airbnb but through other companies too.

Putting towels in the bath, or all in the one place, is standard. Stripping the beds is something that will be asked for about 30% of the time, I don't mind doing it especially now the kids are all older and can do it themselves. Also taking the bins out is not a massive imposition. We generally run the dishwasher the night before, empty it in the morning, and anything used in the morning before we leave is washed by hand.

I have never been asked to hoover, dust or clean. And agree, that's what cleaners are for.

Putting the bins out for the bin men - do Airbnb properties have their rubbish collected with the regular household waste? Or do they have to pay a private company to do so?

If - for example - the bins in the area you are staying in get picked up every second Wednesday and your changeover day is a Friday, are the guests expected to put them on the pavement for collection?

If they want the beds stripped and the kitchen clear (dishwasher emptied not just left running) then my checkout time better be 11am.

I thought this was standard. I've never booked an Air B&B but we've booked holiday cottages & lodges and always make sure the beds are stripped, towels in the bath, bin emptied & washing up completed & put away. I don't see this as 'cleaning' it takes 10 minutes & it's just good manners.

Airbnb are bringing in new guidelines on 20 Nov which specifically covers these points and calls out stripping beds as being an activity a cleaner should be reasonably expected to do plus also not asking guests to sign a separate contract which I experienced in Poland recently. We were there with a family member for a special event so I did sign (with fake details) otherwise I would have throughly refused for any other AirBnB stay.

I'm can't seem to attach a link to their guidelines as on my phone, but worth a look.

If you rent a property with a hot tub then there are usually a whole load of rules that go with that. Are guests no longer expected to adhere to these?

Yep, demanding gueats wash up is leaving you at the mercy of the previous guests' random standards.

Too often encountered greasy pans and smeary glasses 🤢. I want to know the washing up has been done by a professional ( or a machine).

We do a lot of self catering and it's standard that the dishwasher be emptied. It's a pleasant surprise if it just says to put it on! It's no hardship, you just wash your breakfast bits up by hand

I was expected to pull out already full bins onto the pavement on my first night at my latest stay.
I had been told that I must not arrive before the earliest check in time as the cleaners would still be working ( didn’t affect me as my plane landed much later), but I don’t understand why they didn’t put the bins out before they left.

I would never ever do that. It’s not my job.

I for one am glad they’ve banned this type of thing. They make you pay a cleaning fee and then ask you to clean the place!!