AIBU not to want to spend our single morning in Paris stuck in a laundrette?

[AppleCiderVinegar]

Driving back from the south of France this weekend with DH and 2 DC. We've booked one overnight stay in Paris on Saturday night to break up the long drive before we get the ferry from Calais Sunday teatime.

We're staying in a relatively cheap Airbnb. The host doesn't charge a cleaning fee so you have to tidy up after yourself before you leave. So far so good. I figured we'll be eating out and not making much mess during our short stay anyway.

No problem at all about cleaning up, emptying bins etc, and I'm happy to make the beds up when we arrive then strip them for the next guests.

But now an email from our host makes it clear that, in addition to all the usual cleaning up, she expects us to take all bedding, towels etc to a laundrette a couple of streets away (no washing machine in the apartment), to wash and dry them before we leave.

The email makes it clear our host is finding this Airbnb thing increasingly stressful and disappointing, hence her detailed additional cleaning instructions. Eg she says some guests haven't been cleaning up after themselves and it's caused her a lot of distress, for example her husband had to hoover because he found a hair on the carpet!

I reckon I'm generally a pretty considerate guest but AIBU not to want to spend ALL our time in Paris washing and drying this woman's sheets?

Or is this a thing in France? I've done lots of Airbnb and never seen anything like it.

That’s a nice set up Amabelle but it sounds as though Airb&b do nothing to mitigate against the many who are not keeping such standards. It’s too unreliable a service. I prefer to book with organisations who uphold reliable standards.

I would just say you have a flight to catch in the morning and won't have time.

I make plenty of effort Iheartniles and i consider myself an amateur. I work very hard to make sure my guests have a good holiday and i am very mindful that it their holiday and they are precious. Airbnb would probably not accept this situation however this is why there are reviews and guests usually make things like this clear so can avoid. In this case i doubt airbnb would accept this and would refund.

Utterly ridiculous. I would cancel, and if it’s too late to cancel but cheap I would actually just book somewhere else. Absolutley no way I’d do that.

There's no way 'do your own cleaning' equates reasonably to 'strip the beds, THEN take them to a laundrette, wash and dry them and bring them back before you leave'. It's just not on to ask this of paying guests.

Just contact airb&b with her email and ask them to find you somewhere else - it’s definitely not normal and if she hasn’t stated it in her terms and conditions she can’t enforce it.

Which area of Paris is it in ?

Ok well how will she actually know that you've been to the launderette or not? Strips beds, leave everything clean and tidy and off you go.
And make it clear in your review that she demands that you go to launderette to warn others.

Can you take your own sheets and towels?

Chardonnay - no she can't RTFT

Febreze is the answer.
Tell her that you will wash the bedlinen but then just Febreze it.

Gosh, fancy her dh having to hoover after a guest!

I'd be concerned that previous guests will take the Febreze option and you'll have dirty sheets. Don't stay there.

If she wants the bedding laundered then she needs to provide a washing machine and dryer, totally unreasonable expectation otherwise. What if you were leaving Paris at 6am? Are you supposed to not sleep in the beds in that case? I'd either take my own sheets or just leave a note in an envelope with a few euros to cover the cost if a service wash saying you didn't have time to go to the launderette.

That’s an outrageous request. Surely they have more than one set of bedding?

Thought airbnb was illegal in Paris

I find the suggestions to Febreeze the bedlinen quite disgusting TBH.

It's not a reasonable thing to ask from the guests to go to a laundrette and faff around with the sheets , but it's better to be honest about it than to let the next set of guests to deal with this.

Unless that was made clear when you originally booked I'd ask for your money back and stay in a hotel.

It's not illegal but they are cutting down on those who rent out their place for more than 120 days.
I wouldn't write the suggested French sentences, far too British, you wouldn't catch a French person apologising.
Did you pay a deposit?
If not, just don't do it.
Make it clear that you haven't, though. She is basically getting you to do the whole changeover.

Cracking down not cutting down, sorry.

This is redic. If she didn't say this at your booking then she can't request this!

@IheartNiles yep! Totally agree

No point doing airbnb for one night as the cleaning fees can be extortionate

Like other posters, I would be concerned that other guests may have not bothered to do this if the owner is not in the habit of cleaning up.

TBH, I really don't think Air BnB is "made" for one-night stays. I have used Air BnB to make longer stays more affordable, but if it's just the odd night here or the odd night here I think a hotel is more comfortable and convenient.

If I only have a very short stay somewhere, then I want to be able to spend as much time as possible enjoying my short break. A hotel does all the housekeeping for you, and there is no faffing about trying to find the place, fiddle around getting your hands on the keys, walk around trying to work out how to work the appliances or switch things on/off, or follow pages of instructions.

I have stayed in around a dozen Airbnbs in France and never had to do this. I did see (but did not book) a few who asked that guests put bedding in the wash and hang up to dry, but this was always made very clear in the listing so you knew before you booked and there was a washing machine in the property.

These were clearly properties which had absentee owners who did not live locally and did want to employ cleaners, so guests were expected to do the cleaning. This means the cleanliness of the property (or lack of) will totally depend on the previous guests, hence I did not book them.

I also saw quite a few places on other self catering rental sites where guests were expected to do the cleaning and/or provide their own bedding and towels (!) but these were almost always in ski resort/alpine village places, where I guess it is more common for owners not to live in the same place, very rarely saw this in towns or cities - Briancon is the only one I can remember, in that case the owner was a Brit who did not live in the town (but they did provide bedding and towels, you just had to wash them on morning of departure and hang up to dry using washing machine in the flat)...

But to expect someone to go to a laundrette is a bit ridiculous and if this is not mentioned beforehand then you have a legitimate reason to cancel and get a full refund so you can book somewhere else.. Contact airbnb and see what they say.

On the other hand Airbnb customer service can be a bit crap - stayed in a place in the UK which was nothing like described (eg said it was a recently redecorated luxury flat which had stunning views - in reality it was a dingy basement flat so no views, view from bedroom was of a brick wall!) and was also filthy and worn - recently redecorated my ass!

Complained and provided photographic evidence to airbnb - all they did was give me a "coupon" for a future stay with a value of around 10% of the price I paid for the stay. The completely innaccurate listing was unchanged and still is - even when I complained again to airbnb and said they were knowingly allowing false advertising by this host. Click on the hosts name and it says they have 36 properties on airbnb. Clearly someone who never even visits the properties he rents (uses keyboxes and employs cleaners) doesn't give a shit about guests (there were loads of other bad reviews apart from mine and they were uncontactable during stay) and only interested in raking in the cash...