Air B n B guests no longer need to clean up after themselves

[lonelylou09]

Wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the upcoming changes to Air BnB bookings where owners will no longer be able to ask guests to strip beds, remove rubbish or even wash up after themselves.
I'm a cleaner and I'm worried this will mean I can no longer do changeovers properly.
I currently do a 5 bed 3 bathroom that sleeps 10 and it takes me the whole check out time (5 hours) to turn the property over. That's with guests having to strip beds, remove rubbish to correct outside bins and at the very least load up the dishwasher and put it on.
If I have to add this on to It could easily add on an hour which means check out or in times would have to be adjusted and people already moan or turn up 2 or 3 hours early or leave an hour late.
So I'm guessing I'm asking what peoples thoughts are if you use air B and b. Do you do these things if asked and would continue too if you can't be asked to? Or do you think this isn't your place to do it? Does it make a difference if there is a cleaning fee charged separately?
My view is it's not a hotel ..its self catering and you should leave it as you found it. I always put a lot of effort into trying to ensure when the guests arrive it feels like no one was there before then and it's theirs for the week.
If I stay anywhere...even a hotel I'll strip the bed and set the bins ready to make it easier for the cleaner.
But although most guests are great you do get some that you just wonder what Thier own home is like.

Well judging by this owners response I am not too sure dogs aren’t allowed on sofa.

If they were I’d imagine she would have been annoyed when she heard a dog had peed on furniture it wasn’t meant to be on and automatically charged a penalty fee, instead of being so relaxed about it all.

But that’s just a guess from me. Only @larouxsauce can confirm were dogs allowed on the sofa or not ?

Would anyone really specify either way? If they alllow dogs, that’s that. It’s not realistic to make up rules once the dogs are in.

one thing that annoys me on booking dot com is you can’t filter the dog friendly hotels or apartment out! You can only filter for them! But what I do is check the property policies list where it always states if dogs are allowed or not.

Although I was once caught out staying in an Airbnb that claimed it wasn’t dog friendly. I walk in and two tiny dogs start running and yapping at me! I was like wtf?

So apparently the owners of the b&b had their dogs living with them and didn’t think to mention it. I made the assumption that since it wasn’t dog friendly it would be dog free. It was super clean tbf and the dogs weren’t allowed upstairs but the smell was so bad it put me off eating the breakfast downstairs.

I have actually heard of some business doing that and I agree it’s daft and very unrealistic. As if most of the owners/dogs will listen!

But I doubt in this case there was even any stipulation against dogs on furniture to begin with.

They usually specify beforehand and that will still be OK.
All the Airbnb and other platform self catering places I have stayed in state no dogs on furniture or bedrooms.

To be fair, I think you confused things upthread when you referred to guest as 'your' guests.

So I've just looked at pet friendly places in London as well as general air bnb rules around pets.

None of the listings I looked at (3 of different prices ranges) specified that pets shouldn't be on furniture. Airbnb themselves say that owners should put any restrictions on their listings but still suggest that guests check with owners for specific restrictions.

Given that many people do just let their pets on furniture freely, I'd say it is on the owner to say "not in my house". I think many of them might well see it as part of having pet friendly accommodation. They expect them to be on the sofa.

Yes I think that catches a few people out.

What they really mean is pet free apart from my pets and I get it in that sense of they know their pet and how it behaves but again I don’t want to walk in and be slapped in the face with dog smell. Just as I wouldn’t want to talk in and be slapped in the face with cigarette stink.

But they do there are standard AirBnB community rules,

"Guests should leave the listing in a state that doesn't require excessive or deep cleaning (moldy dishes, soiled carpets, stains from pets, etc.). Cleaning fees set by hosts are only meant to cover the cost of standard cleaning between reservations (laundry, vacuuming, etc)."

So if you are clean and tiny person, nothing required. If you are a dirty messy person you'll still need to clean back up to the standard of these rules. (I wonder if all those complaining are the former or the latter?)

AirBnB no longer breakout cleaning fees on the price, you have no idea if a cleaning fee is part of the price or not, just an average nightly fee,

The worry is that the messy dirty guest will now feel entitled to do nothing, and leave the place an even worse dirty mess. I fully expect to find ( once or twice a year ) 7 days of unwashed pans and dirty plates and cutlery scattered about the house cos " you can't make me wash up init..." and we have a dishwasher..

Yeah it was strictly speaking accurate since that was a policy for guests - but yes it just caught me out 😆

I tend to stay at hotels or at least serviced apartments where things like that are more clear, but this was a family run place in Hastings that was in a good location to the place I needed to be at the next day.

It looked perfect in the online listing since you can’t smell dogs through images 😆

Need an extra tick box. Has a dog been in this property within the last month/six months

But that's part of providing holiday accommodation. Hotels deal with the same.

Yes, I agree, I don't want to go anywhere with dog smells.

I think many of them might well see it as part of having pet friendly accommodation. They expect them to be on the sofa.

Absolutely . Unless it’s otherwise stated I suspect most would assume their dog is allowed on the sofa.

The onus is on the property owner to clear state if that is not allowed, but again even then I do find that unrealistic as a pp said.

But those aren't the rules imposed by many owners are they? The full house rules in their entirety should be published. Frankly I couldn't really see why any owner would be against doing this, unless they know their demands are not reasonable.

I'm very clean and tidy, and do not want to live amongst mess or dirt so I clean and tidy as I go. But that doesn't mean I'd want to get up early to start stripping beds and scrubbing skirting boards before vacating the premises by 10am.

Exactly this. Nothing in the rules other than no smoking in the house. And they were so relaxed it made me think it’s probably not the first time they’ve dealt with something like that. I was fully prepared to pay an additional cleaning fee.

That is the rule. All expectations must be communicated before booking, so on the listing's page.

So from my understanding, it can't omit something like "no dogs on the furniture/upstairs" from their initial listing page and then tell me when I book that dogs can't go on the beds/sofa/upstairs.

If you had caused the skirting boards to get to a state during your stay and required scrubbing that would seem to be quite a bit beyond "in a state that doesn't require excessive or deep cleaning" So is that a rule you have actually encountered or just hyperbole?

Can I ask if every time your 2 cleaners take 2 hours to clean your 5 bed they also have to deal with everything else I have to do? Including making up 8 beds, restocking all your sundry items, removing the rubbish from outside, deep cleaning all bathrooms and kitchen and including oven and fridge clean plus a general tidy? I doubt it. I do general cleaning and do the owners 7 bed 4 bath house in 4 hours but that does not include making beds and deep cleaning plus a property inspection.
Yes I could probably do the let quicker and have done on occasion but I take price in my work so if there is extra time I'll do other things I don't normally get around to.

Cleaning the skirting boards was included in a list of things to be done before departing in a cottage I booked earlier this year.

Every communication in the information book, every sign and every rule should be published up front.

Ok so lets say I arrived at a property and they handed me, for the first time, a list of rules that includes cleaning skirting boards. The first thing I'd do is expect and photograph all the skirting boards for dirt and marks and report these. I know i won't add to anything that is there, so I'm pretty much okay on the SB front for my stay.

It applies across the board so doesn't matter if you charge a few or it's built in to nightly cost..the no rules rule applies. So you won't be able to request that the strip the bed or load the dishwasher washer. My one doesn't charge a separate fee ..the cost to pay me is factored in the overall charge.
You may need to add on a fee to cover the extra work you might have to face.
I think it would have been fairer to say ...pay a cleaning fee...no rules - leave it as you want. Or don't pay a fee and have to strip beds and wash up after yourself.
This blanket thing across the whole board makes it difficult

If I saw an expectation to clean the house in the listing I wouldn't book it.

I no more wish to waste my time photographing the entire property upon arrival than I do cleaning the place upon departure.

You cannot add terms to a contract after the contract has been agreed. ‘Rules’ that you are only presented with after booking, for example by laminated sheets in the property, is attempting to add terms to your contract, which they cannot do.

You have to understand that this whole problem has been created because basically, people who can't afford to run a hospitality business now have an opportunity to run one... badly.

Hotels don't really have this issue because they can afford to decide the price of a room inclusive of what is going to afford to clean and maintain it. They can afford to pay all that money plus emergency extras out beforehand, and then get the money back by renting out rooms. They can afford to provide a good service which will ensure customers have a good enough stay not to complain, review well, and/or come again.

But now with air bnb, you get people who have somehow landed themselves with an additional space or property which they are literally trying to use to climb the social ladder. They don't have the means to properly maintain it or provide a hygienic, good service, so they are constantly trying to cut corners to attract the same customers as hotels, but provide them a cheaper service for at least the same money, if not more.

They can't afford to be choosy about customers and let their reputation grow for example. Or even miss the opportunity for a same day booking to ensure they have the time to reset the place properly for the next person irrespective of its previous state. They need quick, easy money to cover their bills and scramble towards their dreams. Any shortcut they see they can take such as overcharging for cleaning, they will because they have to. This is the only way their kids will get into that school or whatever.