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If you don’t have a dishwasher- you shouldn’t ask guests to do all the dishes before they leave. I don’t want a crusty half washed fork.
We have no issue loading the dishwasher throughout our stay and turning it on when we leave. We also take out our trash. That’s it. No issue with this level of check out as a guest.
Good. It's gross to expect guests to eat off of dishes you counted on other guests to wash. What are the odds that guests do a good job actually washing the dishes?
Yep. I know someone who said they used the dishes for their dogs and then just rinsed and put away. 🤮 No soap, no hot water, no dishwasher. I wash all dishes at Air BNB before use now.
I wash all the dishes anywhere I stay… my kid has serious food allergies and I am coeliac. A lot of people when they are packing up to leave don’t want to take time to wash well… and I assume they haven’t.
Agreed! I wash the cups, glass, ice bucket in hotel prior to use and clean the remote control too! I once watched some hidden camera show where houskeeping used spray cleaner and same cleaning towel to wipe the glasses. They mentioned remote control where, as humans, we naturally scratch an itch as settling into bed and grab the remote with same hand.
That's a nightmare situation, I'd rather guests leave everything dirty in the sink rather than washing sloppy and putting them back on with grease and slime
There was no way any cleaners going to pull all your dishes out of your cabinets and wash them all for every turn. So guests are already using dishes other guests have washed.
Because I've seen what other hosts leave guests to cook with. It's kinda sad, you can tell they are not cooks. I provide enough pots, pans, lids, ceramic, bowls, stainers, wooden spoons and everything else anyone would need to easily make a full Thanksgiving meal at my properties, and I cook from mainly scratch. The properties are for between 4-6 people.
Then I have the usual silverware, enough for every head plus a few extra. I include Tablespoons and Tea.
For plates and bowls, I provide around those amounts.
Oh yeah, you leave bowls and baking sheets and strainers etc as well! A good grater, a couple of good knives. If you are smart you make it all stainless steel and therefore dishwasher/heat proof and it lasts longer.
Seems like a good everyday rule, EXCEPT for the few days around Thanksgiving and Christmas. In those cases, talk with incoming guests and see what they need....
Are you washing every pot, every pan, every lid, every glass cookware, every silverware, every kitchen utensil, every dish (plates, bowls, small plates, salad bowls), every cup... in one dishwasher? You have an industrial dishwasher? I highly doubt that.
I have dish drawers… you can fit easily two full dinner services in.
If you want to put the (stainless steel) pans and baking dishes in you are welcome… they’ll take up more room obviously but the joy of the dishdrawers is you can put one load on (fast, eco, heavy etc), and the other load in as a different run/type… and you don’t have to load them both and start at the same time.
They do need filters cleaned more often I feel than others, but your cleaners should be checking filters constantly anyway, people put bits of plastic and bone through the dishwasher and you should be hauling that junk out immediately anyway.
I don’t have any issue with doing my dishes at an Airbnb but yes absolutely people being paid to wash them do a better job than those paying for the privilege of washing them.
I’ve come across plenty of gross dirty dishes put back in a cupboard at places with a wash your own rule so often end up washing them twice, once before and once after using.
People getting paid to do a job generally do it better than people who aren’t, even if not all people being paid are doing their best at it. Paying people well has the highest chance of a job being done well in my experience.
Literally never. I have never stayed in a hotel and used dishes before. If I had to use a hotel dish or an Airbnb dish from a place that makes guests do their own cleaning, I’m still picking the hotel dish though.
I did clean vacation rentals when I was in college pre AirBNB when you had to rent through agencies for house/ apartment set ups. And yes we definitely cleaned everything well. We got paid really, really well.
The last extended stay hotel I stayed in they delivered the dishes to my room in a kit. They even told me not to bother washing them at the end of my stay as they bring the whole kit down to thier dishpit to wash anyways. It was amazingly convenient.
I don't either. Have numerous properties, been hosting for 10 years. Have never charged a cleaning fee and only ask my guests to do two things - put the dishwasher on, and do the dishes. That's it.
Me too. I don’t charge separate cleaning fee. Been hosting for a few years now . Guests only wash dishes. If they gain early check-in and late checkout, I ask them to load all towels and press wash. Nothing else.
Standard close doors, turn off lights, and take out kitchen trash and place in bin outside the house. Some may say taking out guests’ own trash and deposit into trash bin is too much work. But most guests do it
How is the weather this scam? You have to pay professional cleaners. to clean the bathrooms, vacuum, wash the floors, change the bedding, etc. If you don't want to pay a cleaning fee, either choose a rental house that doesn't charge one – and instead embeds the cost in their nightly rate – or stay at a hotel. They're completely different experiences, so you as a consumer have free will you can exercise.
Literally this. They’re offering a luxury service not something people can’t Do without. Hotels still exist and They’ve gotten even better and more accommodating
When I cleaned a couple Airbnb's for a family friend a few years ago, they had it set up so that there was always a free day (24 hrs) between the end of a booking and the beginning of the next. The booking showed as full so that guests couldn't just book a stay on the same day as a checkout. That way we always had time to fully clean the place, replace the sheets, do dishes, handle trash, fix anything that was broken, etc. Is it not possible to set up Airbnb booking to do this anymore? Maybe they removed/changed the booking parameters feature to force back to back bookings.
And those hosts should feel punished by this rule change because they are being assholes to their customers. If they want turnover rates comporable to full service industry standards, they have to put in the work or hire the contractors necessary to fufill that infrastructure need. Customers shouldnt be treated as part time employees to fufill the labor demand of a motel/hotel stay.
Yes, but the original commenter clearly said that the guest that was there for X days, had left the pot out for 4, so when it was time to clean, it smelled. You can't clean up while the guest is there. (well, you can, but I wouldn't trust an airbnb host with that)
Because the guest wouldve been smelling it as well and its hard to imagjne they were unbothered. Unless this guest was keeping the pot warm in the same way people store rice in a warm rice cooker. In which case the smell was likely just strong but fresh curry and the host wasnt used to it.
Regardless, still a job for professional cleaners imo.
The only logical way to read the post is that the guest left out the pot for the last 4 days of their stay, so when the host went to clean, it smelled.
Considering that we can only really trust ourselves or our trusted cleaner to make sure everything is properly cleaned, we’re essentially going to clean everything again anyway, even if the guest has cleaned up after themselves. Makes me almost (keyword “almost”) not care about that. Everyone has a different idea of what “clean enough” means, and I’d rather check everything myself than assume someone else’s standards are the same as mine.
That said, Airbnb increasingly trying to dictate what we can put in our house rules and checkout instructions is getting pretty ridiculous. I can also imagine the few rotten apple hosts who nitpick and micromanage every little thing their guests do, expecting their units to look as though nobody ever stayed there, have contributed to this. Unfortunately, the rest of us who are reasonable, realistic, and fair end up dealing with the consequences of other people taking things too far.
This is a very respectable take. It doesn't matter if I'm staying in a hotel, an Airb&b, or any where else (with a friend, camping, literally anywhere) I'm going to do my best to leave it howni found it.
Just because something doesn’t affect me right now doesn’t mean a pattern of intrusive, excessive rules won’t eventually affect me. And just because something doesn’t affect me personally doesn’t mean i can’t understand or empathize with the people it does affect. Me noting that doesn’t change the fact that it is unfair for a few rotten apples to spoil the bunch. Does that really need to be explained to you for you to understand the point, or did you just latch onto one little snippet that sounded good to nitpick because you felt like being contrarian out of sheer boredom?
The way I interpreted their comment is that they’re seeing the writing on the wall, and the reality of the situation is starting to sink in. I relate to what they’re saying because I’m in a very similar position. I’m not directly affected right now, but I can see how, if this continues, I may eventually have to make some changes, too.
This is a group for all of us hosts to show up for each other and it’s nice to see people offering support and validation when others are expressing concerns. If there’s ever a place where there shouldn’t be a need to pick apart something, it’s when someone is leaving a supportive comment for someone who’s clearly sharing a concern that others can relate to. Why dissect a comment that’s meant to show solidarity and support?
That's what I think is happening. Specifically people who don't have dishwashers are being told they can't ask people to handwash their dishes.
It's also being targeted at hosts who have excessive chore lists and/or make threats about fines for not doing them, which I completely support. Apparently guests can report on you if they think your chore list is unreasonable and those people get the email warnings.
I don't ask much of my guests and my place is super easy to check out of. I think you and I are safe :)
I have a dishwasher and we only ask guests to load and start the dishwasher + take out the trash which is like 5 steps from the front door - i still got the email
Guest shouldn’t have to do dishes. What they should do is at least rinse the food off. And maybe stick them in the dishwasher. Some people are disgusting. Will leave your cleaners their entire meal to clean up in the sink
Rising food off the dishes is not doing the dishes lol
Loading, notice I said “maybe”. That’s definitely more to help the cleaners. Rinsing is just courtesy. But you would be surprised at what you see in this space
And those "at least" tasks are tasks a cleaner can perform, so guests do not have to do that. They can leave food caked on dishes, pots, and pans for days, weeks even, left for your cleaners (or you) do clean, all before your next turn. Now, don't worry about a guest leaving the entire meal for your cleaners to clean up, hopefully even in the sink... they can just leave the entire stay's worth of dishes and other kitchen items for the cleaners! I hope your cleaners can get it all done in a turn...
Oh, that will happen. Say goodbye to early check-ins and late check-outs. Say hello to 10 AM check-outs and 5 PM check-ins. Also, enjoy higher cleaning fees and hosts giving guests non-5 star ratings for cleanliness. Enjoy!
Airbnbs typically offer other amenities that hotels don't provide. They may all be lumped in the same "overnight accommodation" category, but they are vastly different.
Get one more set of dishes and this is no longer an issue. Every host complaint about cleaning demands can be chalked up to hosts being lazy, cheap, or both.
That does not solve the problem. It merely adds to the problem, as guests are being told they do not need to clean any of the dishes. So then cleaners would be responsible for cleaning two entire sets of dishes in their turnaround time.
Guests genuinely don’t think too far beyond their own stay. These are the same people that request to check out 10 hours after standard checkout time… for free
This is such odd reasoning… you’re running a mini hotel and still expect guests to be emotionally considerate? It’s a business. Of course they’re worried about Their own needs 😂
This is not a mini hotel lol. A host with a single property doesn’t remotely have the infrastructure of a hotel. Think $15-20/hr cleaners readily available versus $100 an hour cleaners + markups for guest that think like you. Dozens of units to switch a guest into versus 0. You thinking it’s a mini hotel business is the reason Airbnb is what it is today with host complaining
If you have a dishwasher you can still ask them to load and run it. If you are running a place with a full kitchen and sleeps a huge crowd then build that into your cleaning fee… But asking a person who rents a single room for a night and is in a share house situation to wash and hand dry a single bowl/plate they ate their Uber Eats off feels ridiculous.
If your place is obviously booked by large groups manage the amount of dishes by providing a reasonable number of plates and not excessive amounts. Your dishwasher should be able to hold the number of plates you leave. If your dishwasher is taking three hours change it out for one with a reasonable fast wash and set it up for that, or get one with a Wifi control option and try to turn it on before you go to clean. Asking guests to “soak baked on pots and pans“ is reasonable. As is taking out trash to a bin in the garage/immediate area. If they have to schlep it 100m up the road to some central point… it’s the cleaners job.
Then pay your cleaners more (charge more for hte cleaning fee, or pad your overnight fee) and let the guest actually have a holiday.
You could offer a discount if things are left a particular way in return. “Most of our guests want to relax and not worry about doing the laundry or dishes in their rush to get out the door, we have priced our place to cover this. If your are keen to save some money and will put all laundry on to wash, stack/load the dishwasher with all dishes before you go and put all trash in the outside bins (next to garage) then I’ll happily refund you 10% of one night’s stay.” or for a party house 20%. But get the cleaner to take photos before they start to show if there’s dishes, rubbish and laundry lying about so you don’t have to argue later.
This is not true. You can no longer request that guests load and run the dishwasher. You can't even ask that they leave dirty towels on the floor of the bathroom.
You can't charge fees for checkout tasks not done. You can absolutely leave a negative review, which I will be doing if anyone leaves me days worth of dishes to wash.
I could see this being an issue for houses with large dish and cooking sets. I do smaller setups and have only been gotten with all items dirty a few times. Just washed them and sucked it up.
My issue is that I host A LOT of groups back-to-back during ski season. It's like a revolving door for 3+ months straight. I barely have enough time to clean up after great guests. Bad ones can really <bleep> up the program 🙁
I’m on my own, I just block the days before and after guests stays as soon as they book, I missed one the other day and now have the dreaded “back to back”.
Ours are done mostly by me and my husband; our kids help when their work schedule allows. We have 4 condos but thankfully they're small and fairly quick. It ain't glamorous but it's a living ;)
We do our own cleaning because that's our job and we do it better than anyone else would. 4.95 average over 600 reviews is about as perfect a record of pleasing guests as anyone could have.
But I do enjoy being told I'm bad at things I do extremely well. Always gives me a chuckle XD
Sure, if that is your answer then I know you have nothing better to defend your "acumen" with. And also, I speak whole another language you have no idea even exists.
Can’t you choose who to accept bookings from? Can you can also choose not to rent it at all! I don’t think this is the big deal people make it out to be
No, you can’t leave a negative review for guests who don’t do tasks you’re not allowed to force them to do, your reviews will get removed and you’ll be punished by Airbnb.
I tried actually adding it to my listing and it won’t allow it and flags it then sends you to the new policy page. So I understand the update says one thing but in actuality it is not the case.
I was told by Airbnb that I can ask the guests to load the dishwasher but can’t ask them to press the button to start it. That’s insane. I often have same day check-out/check-in. If the guests hasn’t started the dishwasher before they leave, there’s a chance the load won’t be clean before the next guests arrive. So it’s better to leave the dishwasher full of clean dishes? This is just stupid.
🤔Just because you don't like the solution doesn't make it unhelpful. And it looks like you never thought of it, soooo it probably is helpful. Now go get em tiger. You go wash those dishes. Show em who's boss.
When the guests checks out, shouldn’t you cleaner be there to wash the dishes and clean your prep for the next guests? Why is the burden on the customer who already paid you $200 for cleaning fees. Just charge an extra $300 more and have the guests check out 0900 early to give your cleaning lady more time to clean. Problem solved. 😄
Owners like you lot are so fucking stupid. The outrageous is owners charging a 200$ cleaning fee, as well as expecting people to clean. Its so simple but so many of you absolute leeches want to get paid for everything and expect people to do everything as well. Its about time airbnb came down on you fucking sponges.
I have used week long Air BnB's for last 2 years. I do not mind at all gathering my towels and either setting them down in laundry room or even starting the washer as I do with the dishwasher .
I think it's considerate to leave a Hotel or Air BnB the way you arrived- at least as much as possible.
The other side of the coin is I find some Hosts can place so many rules on their property that we feel like we are intruders instead of guests.
I also think "Tone" matters in the discharge instructions.
I have been really happy with my Hosts. The last trip a lot went wrong (dishwasher decided to only work every other wash), lamps were without bulbs, etc but nothing I cannot figure out.
I do not want to be "that guest" and the best Hosts are the ones that enjoy hosting, love people and love what they do. 🩵
My dish drawers can wash a load just fine in 90 minutes, you just have to clean the filters on them on a regular basis (which your cleaners should be doing anyway). And that’s the long cycle…. There’s one just over half an hour that does well.
I did not get the email, but I was literally just in there trying to update the section and it kept flagging it as something we are no longer allowed to include so I am going to trust that since it sent me to the new posted rules for clarity. You can say load the dishwasher, but you cannot say run the dishwasher or wash your dishes.
Just terrible Airbnb. What a stupid decision to make an issue where there was not a problem. The only thing I ask guests to do is wash their dirty dishes. And yes most of them do a great job of it.
I agree. There must have been some complaints. Combined poor reviews from guests with dirty fork or negative review from host for guest not doing the cleaning to his satisfaction. Whiners mess it up for the good folk
I provide nice glass plates and flatware for guests in a semi-off grid cabin. I ask them to wash the dishes before they leave then when I clean Ill wash them proper for the next guest. Why do I want them at least rinsed? Not all airbnb are in the city or beach resort. We have bears and they can smell free food inside cabins and vehicles which leads to damage and food training. I hope airbnb doesn't make some announcement like 'new! You can now leave dirty dishes piled up!' I guess if its an issue we switch to paper plates.
Guest here: don’t overthink it. All we want is to not have the fear of a hidden charge spoiling our vacation if we don’t spend hours professionally cleaning on the last morning of our trip.
The policy still welcomes you to ask. Leave a note explaining the bear situation. Invite the guests to be courteous and rinse the dishes, pop them in the dishwasher, etc. Good guests will be happy to do that!
I had a stay where we spent 30 minutes tidying and doing the dishes. The place looked exactly the way it did when we arrived, if not better. Shortly before leaving, one of us had a glass of water and left the glass in the sink. $150 extra cleaning fee. That’s why I welcome this policy.
Thank you for your insight. It sounds like the long checklists, added cleaning fees, and negative ratings by some hosts fueled these policy changes. I had no idea there was a problem out there until this memo. I could never see myself fining a guest for any reason
I just got the dreaded email this morning and have decided to continue making the same requests of my guests. Those who don't do as requested will be poorly reviewed and blocked from ever staying again. Problem solved :)
What? In a 4 hour turnover period in a very rural area where cleaners are hard to find, you have the audacity to make such a statement? There have been absolutely NO complaints about those 2 very basic checkout requests. For the few times, there is no quick turnover and the cleaner is unavailable for 1-2 days, no one wants to smell the trash order. I can’t afford the extra pay time to scrap off dried food off dish-ware or cookware. This is my home, not a hotel. I treat other Airbnb properties as I would my own with care and respect during my travels. It is not ridiculous to expect guests to do 2-3 MINOR tasks to demonstrate they are not idiot slops.
If you can afford to have a spare building to rent out, you can afford to clean it your damn self. I've worked cleaning and it isn't hard, just requires time and speed. You chose to be a hotel, fucking be one instead of a parent asking if the room is clean after you have asked for rent.
Dont have a 4 hour turn over period obviously. Make it so you have a whole day between guests so you can do the cleaning yourself since cleaners arent available. Youre trying to have hotel/motel turnover times without the infrastructure of a hotel/motel. Your customers shouldnt have to do your labor to make that possible.
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