Guest is claiming the bathroom is dirty upon check in

[Jeff Ebert]

Just received a personal message from a guest who just checked in last night. They said everything looks nice except the toilets are dirty and there is hair in the bathrooms.  There were also clothes left over from a previous guest.  Knowing my cleaning person, there is no way she left the place like this. In fact, after reaching out to her, she said it’s not true.

Before responding to this guest, anybody have any words of wisdom?

[Theresa Harris]

I'd simply go and clean it and remove the clothing they said was left behind.  Something could have been missed.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Jeff Ebert:

Ask for evidence. Your cleaner may be a great worker and very honest, but she could have still made a mistake. If they have evidence, apologize and find a way to make them whole.

[Russell Brazil]

You're in the hospitality business. Send someone over to clean it.

[Jeff Ebert]

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

I'd simply go and clean it and remove the clothing they said was left behind.  Something could have been missed.

Thank you. My cleaner offered to go over there and I put it out there. We’ll see what the guest says.

[Jeff Ebert]

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Jeff Ebert:

Ask for evidence. Your cleaner may be a great worker and very honest, but she could have still made a mistake. If they have evidence, apologize and find a way to make them whole.

Thank you. I like that idea. I’m first offering to have my cleaner go back over there. Either way it can be viewed as an inconvenience, but at least I’m trying to make them happy.

[Ken Boone]

Yea I always let the guest know I will send someone over to take care of it right away.  If they are lying, they change their tune and will decline the offer and will be insistent that they don't want to be bothered.

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Ken Boone:

Yea I always let the guest know I will send someone over to take care of it right away.  If they are lying, they change their tune and will decline the offer and will be insistent that they don't want to be bothered.

 Agree with Ken.

This may just be a ploy to get a discount.

[Jeff Ebert]

Quote from @Ken Boone:

Yea I always let the guest know I will send someone over to take care of it right away.  If they are lying, they change their tune and will decline the offer and will be insistent that they don't want to be bothered.

Thx!  That’s what I was thinking too… unless she decides to pull her hair out and make a mess to prove it!

[Sarah Kensinger]

Start using a platform like Turno or another system that your cleaner can upload photos with a date and time attached to the file, after each turnover. When a guest makes the claims you're dealing with, just refer to the photos. This is the best evidence you can have, especially if a guest calls the OTA and gets them involved. 

[Jeff Ebert]

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

Start using a platform like Turno or another system that your cleaner can upload photos with a date and time attached to the file, after each turnover. When a guest makes the claims you're dealing with, just refer to the photos. This is the best evidence you can have, especially if a guest calls the OTA and gets them involved. 

Thanks!  That’s a great safety measure for sure!

[Andrew Steffens]

We have software in use with our cleaners that show timestamped photos after cleaning.  We ask the guest to send photos.  Since this is a hospitality business we would offer a reclean in this case.  If they go to Airbnb looking for a refund we use the timestamped photos to refute them and deny compensation, but we do try to go above and beyond with the guest while there to garner a good review.  Arguing with them will not get you anything but a bad review unfortunately.

[Michael Baum]

Sounds like you got the plan @Jeff Ebert.

The best cleaners miss stuff. We have a great cleaner, but left some clothes in the drawers of the dressers. It happens. 

[Trent Reeve]

i have great cleaners, no issues with reviews for the year. And yet, had a guest call me one time and said the beds werent made and looked like used towels. My team had apparently cleaned everything, but someone forgot to take the used sheets/towels out and put the new stuff in. (they do laundry offsite and bring in the clean stuff with every clean). my cleaners are great, but they missed that. it happens.

[Nathan Gesner]

The best cleaners will take photos when they are done as evidence.

Want to have fun while protecting yourself? I heard of a hotel that places little signs under the beds that read, "Yes, we cleaned here, too!"

[Jeff Ebert]

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

The best cleaners will take photos when they are done as evidence.

Want to have fun while protecting yourself? I heard of a hotel that places little signs under the beds that read, "Yes, we cleaned here, too!"

 Awesome!

[Jeff Ebert]

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

We have software in use with our cleaners that show timestamped photos after cleaning.  We ask the guest to send photos.  Since this is a hospitality business we would offer a reclean in this case.  If they go to Airbnb looking for a refund we use the timestamped photos to refute them and deny compensation, but we do try to go above and beyond with the guest while there to garner a good review.  Arguing with them will not get you anything but a bad review unfortunately.

 Yes!  For sure I am giving her the benefit of the doubt in my response to her.  I do like the photo thing, but it's a pain in the ***.  I have to do that when I rent a Turo car and it's just one more thing to deal with

[V.G Jason]

Hard to tell who is lying, but there's no point of investigating that. Don't give either an option. In this instance, just go address it And in the future, don't let this happen.

For your vacation rentals, make sure there's a system in place where when any service is done there's photo proof, a timestamp, property manager digitally acknowledges, and a physical receipt there. If by some odd reason it's able to escape 4 checkpoints, then **** man I don't know. 

When my hvac gets serviced, the hvac guys does all that and by physical receipt I mean they actually leave a receipt of the service date, and the next expected one by the hvac company. When the cleaners clean the bedroom, there's literally a cardstock with a greeting  on the pillows and inside the fridge there's some paper food note for them to enjoy the stay. All the toiletries and paper towels, we rip off the ends and re tape over it. Vacation rentals are just that you need a great experience.

[Andrew Steffens]

Quote from @Jeff Ebert:

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

We have software in use with our cleaners that show timestamped photos after cleaning.  We ask the guest to send photos.  Since this is a hospitality business we would offer a reclean in this case.  If they go to Airbnb looking for a refund we use the timestamped photos to refute them and deny compensation, but we do try to go above and beyond with the guest while there to garner a good review.  Arguing with them will not get you anything but a bad review unfortunately.

 Yes!  For sure I am giving her the benefit of the doubt in my response to her.  I do like the photo thing, but it's a pain in the ***.  I have to do that when I rent a Turo car and it's just one more thing to deal with

 It is for sure, some apps/softwares make it easy where its just there is you need it.  Airbnb loves to refund 30% for complaints, so for us right now we have some units renting for $1000+ a night. On a 5 night stay an erroneous complaint can sav us $1500 which is worth it for us, especially at scale.

[Jeff Ebert]

Quote from @V.G Jason:

Hard to tell who is lying, but there's no point of investigating that. Don't give either an option. In this instance, just go address it And in the future, don't let this happen.

For your vacation rentals, make sure there's a system in place where when any service is done there's photo proof, a timestamp, property manager digitally acknowledges, and a physical receipt there. If by some odd reason it's able to escape 4 checkpoints, then **** man I don't know. 

When my hvac gets serviced, the hvac guys does all that and by physical receipt I mean they actually leave a receipt of the service date, and the next expected one by the hvac company. When the cleaners clean the bedroom, there's literally a cardstock with a greeting  on the pillows and inside the fridge there's some paper food note for them to enjoy the stay. All the toiletries and paper towels, we rip off the ends and re tape over it. Vacation rentals are just that you need a great experience.

[Jeff Ebert]

Awesome!  I get it Thank you for your input!

[Pierre Forsey]

Hey Jeff, i've been using Turno lately and this type of mistakes don't usually happen there. The cleaner has to sent pictures of the different rooms cleaned as evidence of their work done.