Airbnb host check out demands - AIBU to ignore

[Senseonhorizons]

Been staying in Airbnb for last 3 nights, out of many, many we have stayed in this is our worst experience. There are lots of positives about the place, however it is f'ing freezing. Non functional heating on one floor so bedrooms were 12 degrees and we were all so cold in the night and now are ill, may or may not be connected.

I did contact host re heating on arrival and was given a load of instructions that don't work.

I have now received list of tasks to do on check out, none mentioned in property listing. They include stripping off beds and taking all sheets and towels downstairs, emptying bins in kitchen and bathrooms and taking to bins half way down the lane.

I feel like f'off do it yourself. We paid enough for the place. I know people did it in covid with sheets etc, but there is absolutely no reason to now

AIBU to ignore their demands?

Highly disagree, you will be telling me next that they don’t ask you to put the towels in the bath or shower. The latter done at almost all hotels and holiday rentals now.

This is the same with me. Mostly if I stay at an air b n b, I don't want to be stripping beds or emptying bins especially if we've been really busy.

If I have time, I'll do it, but I wouldn't expect to have to do it, especially as most air b n b's have a cleaner that do this for them.

It depends though, on what the hosts arrange or require.

I've stayed in apartments and villas, owned by friends and family, where the managers of them (owners are always away) has supplied fresh towels every other day or every day if you request it, the apartments are cleaned and rubbish collected and anything else done that you'd need whilst you stay there, it would never occur to them not to do this and it would seem rude to them if you actually stripped beds and so on, they always tell us "we have staff/cleaners who do this for us, you are 'not' to do this!".

You get good air b n b hosts and you get bad ones, is all I can say.

I doubt most holiday lets launder the bedding in the apartment

Why on earth not? There was no heating and they didn't supply additional heaters, you had to buy extra hot water bottles and dressing gowns etc.

I did the above when I was staying in a tent on a campsite in August when it was unseasonably freezing cold, we all did, I wouldn't expect an Air b n b host to be so tight and disorganised not to supply extra heaters if the rooms were cold.

It's not a huge amount of hassle to request a part refund, you can go through chat or email Air b n b email address for assistance if you can't work it out online, from what I recall when I did it last.

When I looked at hotels for both a package holiday and short breaks recently (both abroad and in UK) I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonable they were compared to Air b n b's especially as I've found, the list of what some hosts require seems to have increased in recent years. F that for a game of soldiers!

Surely though, as an air b n b host, if you're expected to actually clean the property on departure (!) if you plan to re-let the property the same/next day and want to save on using cleaners, you'd have to be satisfied with the standard of cleaning left by the previous people staying there. If you weren't, then what would you do. And if they left you a negative review based on your cleaning standards, how petty is that?!

For me personally, I'd probably just take the hit and pay for the cleaner, because I couldn't trust that the previous people staying there could clean it to the standard I'd expect. I'm a bit anal about cleaning standards anyway but have let a few things slide in the past with cleaners.

If you’re paying a cleaning fee I wouldn’t do it. Especially since it wasn’t in the original listing. I’m sick of air bnb/holiday rental places charging you for cleaning and expecting you to do it yourself as well
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Can people please stop stripping the beds/taking bins out. Airbnb is not that cheap any more and owners need their
expectations managing. At the least, pay cleaners a decent wage to do these things and stop being cheapskates. People, especially mothers, go on holiday to rest not do the same shite they do every week of the year.

I would always strip the beds, I find it bizarre that people make a bed nicely when they leave, do they honestly think the bed will be reused? You are better to leave it messy if you are not going to strip it.

If you want people to do this, you put it in the listing. It is rubbish that everywhere asks you to do this. We are staying at a cottage where cleaners come half way through to empty bins and clean and they expect us to do nothing before checking out, except loading up the dishwasher.
If it is in the listings people like me can avoid booking them.

I dont see why they should have cleaning fees . It part of the landlords responsibility to clean. Should all be included in the price.

agree. Its part if renting your premises out to clean them. Paying customers should not be asked to do it

Stripping beds is no harder than making the bed & why would you make the bed knowing no one else would sleep in used sheets.

Drives me nuts that rentals insist you leave by 10am but can't get in until 4pm. It leaves more than enough time to clean etc between clients.

It takes one second to straighten a few duvets - another entirely striping 3/4 beds!!
The cleaner should be changing all of the beds full stop, that is what the customer has paid for - both the ones previously and the future bookings!

I’ve only stayed at 2 Air Bnb places so don’t have a lot to go on - one place asked me to strip beds & put towels and bedding in separately labelled containers that would be collected. The other place asked for the bin to be taken out ‘if full’. I didn’t have an issue with either request. Both owners were lovely & left presents on arrival too though so I might have felt different if I was cold at night.

The places that don't ask you to strip the beds are probably the places that don't change the beds between guests.

If you want all he housekeeping done for you, stay in a hotel.

You are unreasonable. I would strip beds and empty dustbins. I'd complain about the heating, though, and ask for a refund.

I own a holiday cottage, we don’t ask anyone to do anything specifically and when I first started I used to say, ‘don’t worry at all, you’re on your holidays!’ If anyone mentioned that they would put bins out, put dishwasher on etc. One day a guest replied, ‘I do have my pride you know’, that really made me stop and think and I now say, ‘whatever you feel comfortable with’ instead.

With regards to stripping beds, it really doesn’t make any difference time wise to the housekeeping team but what I have learned is that if you strip your bed you will find things that you would otherwise have missed. Not only things like socks and underwear; I have couriered a much loved teddy that got left behind in the bedding.

Now I do strip my bed if I stay anywhere, I also put the bins out and clean down the kitchen worktops, in the words of my wise guest, I have my pride.

Yes I don't understand this.
Sometimes we end up not using a bed - only DC - so I signpost this by making sure nothing has been touched on it and either stripping the other beds if in a holiday rental, or leaving unmade if a hotel.

I usually strip the bed if I've been there for a week even if not asked. I feel the sheets are probably a bit smelly by that stage so I'd rather they were wash ready than making someone else have to strip them off.

If you expect guests to do housekeeping, put it in the listings.

I wouldn't mind doing the two things you've mentioned, but perhaps there are other, less reasonable requests. I'd be pissed off about the heating. I'd certainly message the host privately about this afterwards, and obviously wouldn't stay there again.

@HollyKnight rubbish. We are in a cottage at the moment that asks us to do nothing. It is the cleanest place I have ever stayed.

Have never used Air bnb and am amazed at how you have to pay a cleaning fee AND are supposed to strip beds and empty bins etc! Nothing to do with manners, when the owners are charging substantial fees plus cleaning fees, it's a business, and no doubt a very lucrative one. I'd leave tidy but that's all, I don't go on holiday to clean someone else's house. Different if you're a guest or in a house swap etc.

I own holiday cottages and don't make those requests of guests. Most guests leave the properties in a dishevelled state. I've got used to it and don't expect any different. I don't think guests should have to concern themselves with emptying bins and stripping beds though.