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.

To be honest, I have always resented being asked to do things which a cleaner should do. I don’t mind stripping the beds and tidying up, especially if I’ve moved things around. But I don’t clean and am very glad to have it clarified that I am not expected to.

If the house is too large for one cleaner to manage in the turnaround time, the owner needs to get two cleaners in. That’s their business expense, not my holiday responsibility.

I don;t understand why this rule has to be across the board. Surely it should be an option. People pay more if they want to leave everything.

Personally - bit sad maybe - I get a buzz out of leaving an Air bnb spotless.

> twice a week

What luxury!
Most of us have to make do with fortnightly collections

I do not pay to clean my own accommodation. I would never book somewhere that expected
you to either

I agree.

I no longer use Air BnB because the whole dynamic as a paying customer is flipped from a hotel situation.

In a hotel, they take care of everything and any issues are a case for apologies to be made. Toilet tissue is provided as needed (they don't seem to have this weird issue that Air Bnb hosts live in fear of, of guests loading their suitcases with rolls of spare toilet tissue.)

In Air BnB it's the reverse: it's like they expect you to be grateful you are giving them business or, even more accurately, are lending you their precious home as a favour. Thus, you should act like an obsequious house guest, hoovering behind you and ideally using and touching as little as possible. It totally changes the vibe of a relaxing stay as you are constantly telling children not to touch, trying not to make a mess, careful with that mug etc etc. I might as well stay home and clean my own home. Ironically, we have never broken or ruined anything in a hotel.

I've paid to stay. Like hell am I stripping the bed. That came in with Covid as an understandable hygiene precaution but those days are gone.

The last Air Bnb we stayed in we were on the phone in the middle of winter trying to get them to talk us through what needed doing to activate the Nest heating, which they CONTROLLED THE TEMPERATURE of remotely. Unfortunately this arrangement had failed to turn on at all and they were acting like we were being somehow demanding for persisting in trying to get it on. We couldn't get to the boiler as it was in a locked cupboard, so they had to get a plumber who was told the secret location of the key. The plumber, hilariously at this point, unlocked the hidey cupboard to get to the boiler in which was stashed about 400 rolls of toilet tissue - presumably the reason for the lock and hidden key! Even he was smirking.

It was just so Fawlty Towers - and so paranoid, controlling and fundamentally unwelcoming.

I wouldn’t leave a sink full of dirty pots. I’d wash them or run the dishwasher. If the bins were easily accessible i’d put the rubbish out and i always put used towels in the bath. But that’s it. I’m not stripping beds or hoovering, it’s madness when you have paid firstly to stay somewhere and secondly for a cleaning fee on top!

Yes, I'd load the dishwasher on leaving. Somehow that feels more in the realm of flushing the loo after use.

But hoovering, sheet stripping etc: I'm no longer doing it if I'm paying.

I've also been told we had to leave the wood basket filled with the same number of logs as on arrival.

Twice a week is really frequently. If you can't keep up with that, then thats on you as a host.

Good grief! That's ridiculous. I doubt it's cheap as well.

Same here. I want to relax, not do their housework for them.

I get what your saying regarding your time. But I've never stayed in one before of the housework required. Im on holiday not a chance im emptying bins stripping beds.
If I did use dishes yes I would wash them as that woukd smell.

Again, there isn't anything for me to keep up with. Guests put the bins out, bins are collected. If guests forget, literally nothing happens. No one gets fined or charged extra, we don't say a thing to them, they don't get a bad review. All it means is that when the next guests arrive, they see that the bins are full, which doesn't make a good impression. We have nowhere to take them, because the bin men take them when they come twice a week. The only other option is to start fly tipping, which for obvious reasons I won't be doing.

We don't ask guests to take the bins out, we just tell them when they get collected. So far pretty much every single one of our guests appears to be an adult and has the common sense to put the bin out, rather than have it stink up the kitchen because they "can't be bothered".

I agree, I didn't realise that I was doing anything out of the ordinary by ensuring that all the bins were put out, the dishes were all washed or washing in the dishwasher and the place looked reasonable - its a bit of an eye opener.

The guests might not get bad a review, but don't you end up with bad reviews? If I turned up to a holiday cottage to find someone else had left a bin full of rubbish, I would think that was pretty disgusting.

Edited to ask - is this actually in the house or the outside bins? Outside bins would be okay, inside - horrible

You're not "a filthy pig" if you don't empty the bins or strip the beds. It's not like you're leaving food mess on the floor or a dirty toilet. You're paying to stay there, they're not doing you a favour.

Are they supposed to go into the property and get the rubbish when the guests are there?! Because I can guarantee commercial waste collection is also on a schedule - so if you find it so egregious that a guest should walk 10 steps to put a bin bag in a wheelie bin we have the same problem, no?!

Most guests who decide to holiday in the South of France know that we don't work the same way as the UK does. The couple of times it's happened I've apologised and the new guests have been absolutely fine, totally understanding that I can't exactly make the bin men come back at my convenience because I had previous guests who couldn't be bothered. Most people are very understanding in general.

You were complaining that the property only has collections every three weeks. Around here that's the domestic not commercial collection.

If you're paying for commercial, then you can ask them to come more regularly. It'll just cost more.

If you're not paying for commercial then I have no sympathy for you

Just saw your edit - this is the outside bins. We have a kitchen bin so the full bin bag needs to be put outside into our outdoor wheelie bin for collection. If a previous guest doesn't do it it's not the end of the world, it just means the next guests don't have an empty wheelie bin to use for a couple of days, but perhaps a half filled one or worst case scenario, full, so they have to put their bin bag next to it.

If there's too much work for one cleaner to turn around the property between 10am and 3pm then the owners need to pay for a second cleaner. That cost can be added to the letting cost if necessary.

It's fine to ask guests to put dirty stuff in the dishwasher - that's just ordinary every-day stuff. Anything that they wouldn't be doing every day of the holiday anyway (stripping beds, emptying bins, mopping and hoovering) is not stuff that anyone should be doing when they are on holiday.

I wouldn't object to places that offer an after-your-holiday discount if you leave the place spotless - ie if all the cleaner needs to do in the 5hr turnaround is put fresh sheets on the beds and top up the loo roll supplies then you get a £150 refund, with pro-rata cutoffs if they only have to do a small amount of cleaning - but that wouldn't actually be a viable model because (a) hosts that are paying for a cleaner would be very unethical to have their employee in a precarious situation of not knowing from week to week what they will earn. It would only work where the owner does their own cleaning. But also (b) it would open up a huge can of worms that a guest might put in loads of effort to get the place really clean but the person asseesing whether they get a refund is also the person who profits if they say it's not good enough, so there would be endless disputes. Better to just have all airbnbs operate on the assumption that they need to be responsible for all turnaround tasks and not rely on compliant guests willing to have a stressful and unhappy last morning of their holiday.

A 5 bed will be very expensive to rent on Air BnB. Your employers are making A LOT of money so they should absolutely be able to pay for a second cleaner. If they can't, they should sell (which would be a great result for everyone).

We have far less frequent rubbish collections than you do. We manage with fortnightly collections. Can't quite grasp how twice a week leaves you with no wiggle room at all, or why you couldn't possibly find another solution.

I’m never going to leave a space I hire a disaster, but a checklist of chores is one of the main reasons I don’t use Airbnb. This change is designed to get my business and keep other people from leaving the service.

The only thing I find odd is not washing the dishes. People could abuse that rule. However, as the next guest, relying on a previous guest to have properly washed the dishes is worrisome. It is hard to find the balance on that issue.

A large home requires more than one cleaner for a proper and timely turnover. It always has.

I literally don’t understand what you are saying. If the guests are not prepared to take the rubbish to the wheelie bin - commercial or not - either me or the commercial waste collectors will have to enter the property to remove the rubbish. Alternatively the next guests can arrive to full bins - which isn’t really fair on them. You are just arguing for arguments sake. I don’t want my guests to clean the property - I would like them to put a bin bag in a bin on their way out. No normal person finds this unreasonable beyond Mumsnet.

incidentally it has never been in my house rules and has never been a problem. I have hosted thousands of guests - drop them a message on collection day and they happily put their bag in the bin. Everyone is happy (my 5* reviews about my hosting would attest to this).

I really don't know what to answer you if you're not reading my posts.. The only option for disposing of bins is the bin collection that is twice a week. If guests don't want to take their bin bags from the kitchen to the front door, then that's on them and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it other than go into the property myself, invade their privacy, to put the bin out.

If guests stay in my property for 2 weeks, are you genuinely expecting them to leave all of their full bin bags in the kitchen rather than put them outside the front door? The only person this bothers is them, because they have to smell it, and the next guests who now no longer have use of an empty wheelie bin until the bin men come.

No one is getting fined, no one is getting told off, no one is getting a bad review. If I get to the property on changeover day and see that the bins haven't been taken out, I take them out. It just sucks a bit for the next group but is by far from a major issue, as the bin men come twice a week.

I'm just baffled as to how taking a bin bag from a kitchen to outside the front door is too much to ask from self catering guests.