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.

I've stopped booking Airbnb. I found the properties were never as nice as the host made out, so many just felt yuck and it didn't feel like a restful break

So have I, Hedgly, but in my case because they deleted my honest and factual review stating that the advertised "parking on premises" didn't exist
Travelling with a disabled friend it was crucial, and not only did AirB&B not respond for ages - they didn't give a damn as long as their revenue-producing host was protected

The one that makes me laugh are dog friendly AirB&Bs that state dog not to be left alone in a room at any point, but dog also not allowed in bedrooms.

I suppose if you have to sleep downstairs on the sofa at least you could get away with not stripping beds, as you're not permitted to use them.

You can't charge a deposit on Air BnB.

I forgot about an AirBnb in Italy. Only after arrival did we learn they wanted all tiled floors swept and mopped before leaving, all carpeted floors vacuumed, the bathrooms cleaned including toilets/mirrors etc plus a much longer list. Our flight was at 7am, so we were up hours earlier to comply, then a sweaty mess for the entire flight home. Never again!

The truth is a certain section of hosts have brought this on themselves with their unreasonable demands and people have quite rightly complained and chosen to take their business elsewhere hence Airbnb responding as they have.

There are quite a few hosts who have decided to buy property in tourist areas as investments, shove it on Airbnb and keep managing costs to the absolute bare minimum for profit. These are the problem hosts and are the key players in the unreasonable demands accusations.

As an Airbnb guest I have no problem with doing things like: washing up what has been used/ putting the dishwasher on, emptying indoor bins into the properties ON SITE wheelie bins, making sure the property is empty of our personal belongings, quick wipe down of the kitchen sides so there are no crumbs/ spills left out and check out times adhered to. I do however take issue with stripping beds, putting loads of washing on, deep cleaning kitchens and bathrooms and emptying sink traps, cleaning out fridges, hoovering and mopping floors, taking all our rubbish with us to the local tip - those are the tasks that are been complained about.

As a cleaner you need to have this conversation with your employer. You will either need to expand your team and therefore increase costs or checkout and check in times will have to be altered. Or the lazy host who is keeping costs to bare minimum can come and do the housekeeping tasks whilst you clean.

I don't use Air b n b but been going on UK self-catering holidays for years. I fully expect that washing the dishes we have used is our job, dishwasher or no dishwasher. I also expect dealing with bins / recycling to be our responsibility and I'm happy to strip beds - there are always so many throws, blankets, excess pillows etc that I put in the wardrobe on arrival 😂 I like to make it clear what has been used and what hasn't. Wiping up spillages etc as you go is also normal. Just be civilsed!

I don't think it's guests' job to scrub toilets, clean ovens, empty the toaster, etc. And I don't think anyone should be expected to pay for holiday accomodation where the state of cleanliness is entirely up to strangers who have had to get up early, finish packing, and then clean a house for someone else's benefit. Proper cleaning needs to be priced in.

Air BnB owners have been ripping the customers off for years and i am glad the rug has been pulled from under their feet. I agree that guests shouldn't leave dirty dishes or rubbish on the worktops. If you book a hotel at £100 a night you don't expect to have to strip the beds, empty the bin and pay a huge cleaning fee on top. Air BnB owners have become so greedy.

They can't impose rules that you didn't know about upon booking. It's basic contract law. Unless you had the ability to see those rules prior to booking, i.e. via a link to the rules or embedded within the terms & conditions, they're not enforceable and you're "free" to ignore them without consequence. Obviously, if they were available and you didn't notice them within the T&Cs or didn't click on a link to view their "rules", then you have to comply or face the consequences.

I haven’t found anywhere dirty either. I only stay in places with excellent reviews.

I've never seen this. It's usually that they are not to be left alone in the property not in the room.

I agree - the last place I stayed at had so many rules I began to feel miserable and like I may as well have stayed at home and cleaned! I think Air bnb owners need to recognise they are providing holiday accommodation - people don't want to do housework on holiday.

We use AirBnB quite a lot when we go away, to give us each a bedroom.

I will always:

Strip the beds.
Put used towels on the bathroom floor.
Wash any dishes we have used, either starting a load in the dishwasher or by hand.
Start a load of washing, if requested.
Obviously I will sweep up any crumbs as we go along, but I'm not going to be getting the vacuum cleaner out, or dust, or clean the fridge.

All of that takes about half an hour, and although it's a bit jarring to be stripping beds etc on the holiday I'm paying for, I consider it worth it for the cost, compared to paying for hotel rooms for all.

However, I won't do any more than that, especially if a handsome sum has been charged as a cleaning fee.

The last place we used was not clean by any standards, and clearly hadn't had a 'deep clean' for quite a while- there were stained loo brushes in every bathroom, thick dust on the windowsills, and some very unpleasant stains on the bedspreads.

Basically, if I'm paying for a cleaning service, I expect a cleaning service to...well, clean. And properly.

I’m another one who doesn’t use Airbnb for this reason. We book through proper holiday cottage companies. I’m happy to put the dishwasher on and all used towels in the bath. Fine with emptying bins as long as the main bin is close by.

My other major gripe is the rating systems. I can’t tell which are the actually good places I’d pay more for and which are just okay when everything gets 5 stars.

I've had an AirBnB owner complain about the state I left the place in, when it was left in a really good condition with beds stripped, bins taken out, all surfaces swept and wiped etc. I think they were not paying for a professional clean between guests (despite charging for it) and expecting guests to clean up to that level.

So I think the rule change is fair. Most of the companies operating on AirBnB are now professional so should be held to professional standards.

I’m happy to set the dishwasher off and empty the bin and usually do a quick hoover as we have a very hairy dog.
Id rather not strip the beds, but don’t mind if I’m asked.

I do object to taking rubbish away and being asked to take recycling to a bottle bank etc.

Yes, I think it's the "amateurs" who don't really understand ALL the risks and rewards of running a business who are mostly guilty of it, just wanting an "easy" profit. The more professional ones who have multiple properties and use other specialist holiday letting websites/agencies tend not to have such stupid unreasonable rules as they understand about running a professional business.

It's the same with quality and comfort of accommodation, furnishings, fittings, etc - the ones who use proper reputable agencies/booking platforms tend to have better quality properties, more amenities, etc.

I've suffered a couple of times staying in "amateur" Air BNBs and vow never to do so again unless absolutely necessary. One was clearly someone's home (not made clear on the listing), full of personal stuff, even their own underwear left in the bedroom drawers, their own food in the kitchen cupboards and fridge (with stickers on saying "don't touch") - very unwelcoming - apparently they'd moved into a Travelodge for the week - and they returned to the house every day to do the gardening (and no doubt go into the house if they knew we weren't there). Never again. The other was basically the most basic "home" possible, nothing other than the bare minimum, very sparse furniture, very limited kitchen utensils, just one pan, no "home comforts" at all - obviously trying to make a quick buck on the cheap by buying the bare minimum. The other was someone who's elderly relative had clearly recently died as the house was basically "an old woman's house" with knick knacks everywhere, very dated furniture and bedding etc, old mismatched crockery and cutlery. Urgh!!

Many air bnb properties are on other platforms. I always cross check

AirBnB owners are at fault for expecting OTT profits for very ordinary properties. This is a correction to the market. Cleaning is included in hotel pricing, there's no reason why a thorough clean shouldn't be included in self-catered accommodation.

Guests shouldn't leave the place a mess and a pile of dishes in the sink, but stripping beds, dealing with complicated recycling, sweeping, mopping etc. is unreasonable when you're being kicked out at 10am.

OP - I would expect a property of that size to employ at least two cleaners for a changeover.

We stopped using AirBnB after a host said they had to cancel on us, the day before a stay, and while they said they had to cancel they didn't actually cancel the booking. That meant a lot of hassle with customer support to make sure there would be no penalty against us for not turning up, as well as having to find another stay at short notice.

Now we just look for a hotel or local B&B when we go away, much less chance of being messed around.

It might take seconds, but the point is hosts are charging (often extortionate) cleaning fees whilst still expecting guests to do the work. I’ve never stripped a bed in a hotel!

Either don’t charge a cleaning fee and continue asking guests to strip the beds and so on, or charge the fee and do it yourself.

The only change here is that hosts can’t artificially inflate their charges through cleaning fees whilst not actually doing the cleaning. Good!!

I think that bookings of Air B&B have dropped significantly, and bad publicity from owners who have gone completely over the top with cleaning rules are one of the problems that customers have complained about.

You are competing with hotels that offer to service your room and overlook bad behaviour to an extent.
More and more people have started to return to booking hotels because of the predictability of outcome and lack of fear of being charged extra's.

I stay in a lot of Airb&B's and some have been a bit wierd, one was ran very muc h like a hotel with every room booked out, about 12 guests and my room had no lock on the door which made me uneasy for the 3 nights I was there. One I arrived about 15 mins late and she nearly would not let me in, I was alone in a city I didn't know, she was arguing with her husband in the kitcenall night; one the electrics were decididly a bit dodgy.
You get great places sometimes, I've had lovely flats but you are aware when booking that the safety standards that hotels have to abide by are not applied to Airb&b's.
I think that relaxing the cleaning rules might encourage people to book again, and encourage guests to book.

This.

The point of Airbnb when it came around was that it was a more affordable option than a hotel.

Overtime, it because just as expensive (if not more, in some cases) with added tasks. Frankly I’ve just stopped using it and went back to booking hotels.

Generally everywhere I go I do leave it clean behind, but why are you paying a cleaning fee if you’re already doing the cleaning? Plus yeah, I can wash the dishes, but I don’t know the standards of whoever came before me. I’d be comfortable with the cleaning staff cleaning them, but I wouldn’t want to rely on whatever previous guest and trust that they washed properly.

Plus not to mention the absolute blight that Airbnb has become in some cities. Good riddance.

I use airbnb quite often. Its lovely to get a 2 bed apartment so we can have a room for adults and a room for the dc. Plus its always helpful having a kitchen and not being at the whims of hotel meal times.

We always leave it clean and tidy but dont think ive ever stripped beds or emptied all the bins. Ill make sure dishwasher is loaded and on, there's no rubbish strewn around, etc but Ive always assumed that if I pay a £50 cleaning fee then all that is included in the price. Especially if its a 10.00am check out time.

I can see why airbnb has changed the rules, I think cleaning fees increased massively plus the onus on guests to do more cleaning crept up. Quite often it costs us more to get an airbnb than a hotel, but we like the freedom and convince and the increasing expections on guests have made it less convenient.

OP, it sounds like the property owners just need to employ an additional cleaner to help you turn it over within your alloted 5 hours. Either that or have a day empty between bookings for you to get everything done.