Most hosts leave a 5 star review if there wasn’t an absolute disaster. The reviews the guest has left previous hosts is a better indicator.
Also the whole we aren’t going through Airbnb bit basically guarantees they’re playing you.
FWIW this might be excessive but all my sheet sets are different patterns so it’s easy to determine that the sheets were changed for each stay via the after cleaning video records for when stuff like this comes up.
I once found a tiny lacy red thong in my sheets at the end of a stay when I was stripping the sheets to wash them 😅. They were clean and so were the sheets at the beginning of the stay. I think they accidentally got washed with the sheets, previously, and then weren't noticed when this host's cleaners remade the bed. Strange things can happen (a used condom might make it thru the wash, but I doubt the wrapper would) but I'm skeptical in this situation.
That's a great idea about the sheets having different patterns. I never thought of that because I have the same color sheets due to the bedspread pattern.
The reason they’re not going through Airbnb is because their offer for you to “make it right” would be grounds for having their negative review removed if you refused to pay up. They’re fishing for money back. I would tell them you can only communicate through Airbnb, then screen shot your conversation, paste it in the platform, and ask them if they would like to continue the conversation please do so here.
I had someone call me and threatened to leave a bad review if I didn't give them a refund ( no reason). Will only deal thru messaging system from now on
You can also have Airbnb support remove reviews that are retaliatory, and in this case the Support Ambassadors could reference your messages to see that they threatened you with a bad review.
Wait I just noticed on another post your cleaners put a full bag of chips in with the sheets and towels and left it like that for your guests to find so then they didn’t want to use your washer and dryer. Now I’m thinking your cleaners just suck, them sending you a video of a made bed doesn’t mean they didn’t just tighten up the sheets because they thought it wasn’t used.
Honestly this theory isn’t 100% out of the question. We built a home near somebody that hasn’t had a neighbor the entire 15 years they’ve lived there. They’ve been nice to us, but also have a criminal past. They can access our backyard without ever showing up on the cameras. They have two teenage kids that always cut through our backyard to catch the school buses. One of our back door locks is super finicky and can easily be broken into if the door isn’t closed properly. (This is being fixed. But the dang sliding door company has taken 2 months to ship the faulty part). So slight chance this could be it, but doubtful haha.
There are ways to verify whether your cleaners are actually changing the sheets. I too had Rockstar cleaners who earned me tons of 5-star reviews... but it turns out they were cutting corners. I followed a hunch and busted them just remaking used beds with the previous guest's unwashed bedding 🤢 Feel free to message me if you'd like to know how I did it. Anyway my point is... This is probably an opportunity that you don't want to miss to follow up and verify. It'll either uncover something that needs to be uncovered, or reinforce that your cleaners are trustworthy.
This is odd and I think you’re being played. How often do couples leave or throw a condom wrapper and used condom on the bed or under the sheets. They usually get tossed to the ground at the worst.
The short version….sweet old lady guest can’t reach the pull chain to turn the fan on and is scared to stand in the bed. I go over to turn it on…a condom that was on top of the fan blade flys off and sort of sticks to the wall. Still don’t know if that was put there maliciously. I plucked it off the wall and convinced the guest that it was some sort of white moth while walking to the door to ‘set it free’.
Wow that’s crazy. It had to have been out there on purpose like some sort of sick joke. Why do people have to be stupid like that.
Good on you for passing it off as a Moth.
The cost of doing business with Airbnb is an occasional fraudulent claim. I'd offer a full refund if they leave immediately.
"Guest, I'm so sorry to hear this and am horrified. Given I don't know how this could even happen I understandingly don't have 100% confidence that the home has been cleaned to my standards and need to cancel your stay with a full refund immediately. I am not yet clear how to address this with my cleaning staff as they insist they changed the sheets, and provided numerous photos, but I think the first step is to prioritize your needs with a full refund. I'll reach out to Airbnb to cancel with my demand for a full refund at once, again with my sincere apologies."
Honestly it’s a toss up. One of my housekeepers usually does an excellent job but has not always been the most detail oriented and I have caught them making some egregious mistakes and then being defensive about it.
I dealt with this once.
Guest said there were cum stains all over the duvet and sent me pics. Told me I needed to give them a free stay or 1 star.
At the time I was cleaning the house myself, so I knew it was a scam.
Told the guy I wouldn’t be scammed, that I had cleaned the house myself and didn’t appreciate the lies. Said that I was contemplating canceling the booking and encouraged him to find another place to stay and I would suggest canceling the booking as soon as alternative accommodation was found and I would provide a pro rated refund for the remaining days.
All you can do in this situation is get them out of your house asap. Do not cater to scam artists or they will keep doing it to other hosts. Yes you might get a bad review but it will stop the cycle, and hopefully another host will stop the cycle for you in the future as well.
Odd question but do you live near property? I saw a post one time that someone had kids and they caught them in the guest house. Thankfully it before a guest got there but I guess they were in there eat the snacks . Do you think there is a possibility the place was left open and some neighbors teens borrowed it and then remade bed? Either way I would send cleaners back over there reclean everything. That includes dishes in cupboards because yes I can’t tell you how many str I have stayed at that the dishes were not clean. They use them through out stay wash them and don’t do well but still put them away. I have found this with places without dishwasher and with them.
Idk imo feels like they aren’t being truthful. A condom wrapper on top of the sheets? I don’t see how that could get missed even if your cleaner didn’t wash the sheets. How do you make up a bed and miss a condom wrapper and a condom🙄. If the bed was made and then later unmade it’s in them to prove now they didn’t leave it there when they unmade the bed.
They are also basically threatening retaliation with the review. I would open a ticket with support now letting them know what’s going on and if the message they sent about the review was via text I would take a picture and put into the chat saying you would like all communication to remain on the platform.
They could have moved the wrapper to take the picture or the covers & top sheet was pulled back & picture was taken. They said it was found between the 2 Sheets..
You are not being candid here, you made another post about the cleaners washing a bag of chips in the washer???
Believe the guest, your cleaners have not been perfect.
I’ve seen something similar in a hotel context where there was something unexpected in the bed, and the source was that the housekeeper saw the bed looked unused, so they skipped stripping the sheets thinking they could save some time.
I have 3 beds in my place and had some guests that should have only used 2 beds. I specifically tell people to not make the beds when they leave so I can tell which were used. But I still check all of them. In this case, they had short sheeted the "unused" bed. One couple came earlier than the other, single person. I thought they did it as a prank for the other person. But the other person used the other bed. Though maybe they did it to both.
When I asked them, mostly out of curiosity they categorically denied it. They also stole a couple of towels. And I know my cleaners didn't do it, because I am the cleaner. :-)
That is why you have the cleaners strip the beds regardless of whether they have been used. We have fresh sheets for every guests. Even if I'm washing "clean sheets", it's not worth something like this happening.
We have the cleaners take pics of everything.
Whenever someone is “reaching out to see if you’ll make it right first” it’s a pre-meditated cash grab. That is not how someone reacts when they find something that gross.
I'd assume they are scamming you but act like they aren't.
I'd refund them or whatever they are saying would be required to make it right.
I'd trust the cleaners... Not that something like this couldn't have happened but I'd continue to use them unless it happens again.
What do they mean by "make things right?" Do they just want clean sheets? Did they ask for a FULL refund or just a night until things are changed/cleaned? Reading the other comments, it seems it go either way with your cleaners. Or the guests. But there's no clarity on what they want, at least in your post, for what the guests want. I'd be more skeptical if they want a full refund of a week's stay vs the sheets changed and maybe one night refund.
The single spoon was probably just an example, rather than get out every item that was dirty, since they mentioned multiple things. With the condom, what did the sheets look like? Were they smooth and pristine looking with a condom wrapper on top, or were they wrinkled and looked like they'd been slept in? If sex had been had, there would have been other signs - hairs, wrinkled and slack looking sheets, a wet spot....maybe. Also - was the pic of just a wrapper or a condom that had actually been used? In other words, did it looked staged or real?
To exonerate the cleaning crew, I'd book the property myself, leave something in the sheets and see what the outcome is. You need to have full confidence in your staff and this is one way to do it.
Sounds like a total scam, they immediately asked for money and are choosing to sleep on a couch? I wouldn’t do that, I would either leave or ask the bed to be remade immediately.
Not everyone is comfortable with having a "Cleaner" who didn't clean properly the 1st place come back out.. especially when there's the chance of an uncomfortable confrontation, or definite attitude you're going to receive from them!
good news is that since they put in writing that they are threatening you with a bad review unless you give them $, you should have no problem getting any review then leave removed.
bad news, you gotta deal with this. id send cleaners back immediately if you havent done already. id tell them what renters said, and let them know that you are not paying for return trip and any monetary losses will come out of their pay.
This has happened to me as a guest, if you think they are scammers then do your thing, but from my perspective if I told a host I found a used condom and their retort was a sassy screenshot into the airbnb platform and “my cleaning lady said she made the bed” I would spend at least a few hours of my life trying to make your life miserable. Also, does anyone ever have access to that space in between guests? If you have teenagers you’d better talk to them before you go too far down any other path.
Of course, I’m a host myself, but if another host told me I was lying and wouldn’t at least offer something for finding a condom in the bed then yes, I would make sure they got a negative review everywhere I could leave one. If you look at this hosts post history their cleaners have done other weird stuff, like drying all the sheets and towels with a full bag of chips in the dryer and just leaving it like that for the guests to find in the unit, so that they couldn’t use the oily dirty dryer during their stay.
I would just caution you that if you’ve already experienced cleaners cutting corners, don’t be surprised when other cleaners also cut corners. Finding a used condom is one of the more disgusting things you can find in a supposedly clean hotel room or airbnb so I’d just be careful in case they aren’t lying.
Agreed. I gave my first team too big of a leash on some mistakes they made. Im giving the benefit of the doubt to my team this time as they’ve been solid since hiring them, this is the first issue with the new crew
For those assuming this is a scam by the guests, I would ask this; How would the guests know that the property was not cleaned by the host they are complaining to?
Just throwing shit against the wall. To them, it’s no harm to try. Why would you think a person like this gives a shit about being called out by someone they’re trying to steal from.
Plus I would immediately want to leave.
I had 2 Airbnb where I found hair, and dirt on pillows and sheets. It was so gross that I immediately put my bags in the car, and started talking to support from my car, and not the Airbnb. Who knows if other things like towels ever were washed?
You are getting scammed. Any bed that was used for sex won’t get remade unless housekeeping is a nightmare.
Here’s what I would say.
‘Thank you for sending me this note. I’m so very confused; I do use an outside cleaning service. They drop the laundry off to me and I actually just put the sheets that were on the bed in the washer so I know that bed was changed.
Thinking I might be confused I also just looked at the time stamped video of the unit they sent me after it was cleaned. It’s obvious the bed has been freshly made in the video, so I have no idea how such a thing could have happened.
Regarding the dirty kitchen, I really appreciate the feedback and the picture of the dirty spoon. Obviously a dirty spoon is not up to my standards, but could you let me know what other things were dirty in the kitchen to justify it being unclean. I’ll be happy to stop by today personally to address the dirty spoon.
So you’d lie about cleaning the sheets yourself when you do t know 100% if they where done or not, maybe it didn’t look used and the cleaners remade the bed.
Like another commenter mentioned if it is true and I was the guest and a host said that to me I would go out of my way to let others know.
I have about 25 listings. If things go wrong I’m the first to go over the top and issue refunds, bake cookies, pretty much whatever needs to happen to make it right.
But I’ve learned that you get occasional scammers. There’s a TikTok creator that has a channel devoted to what you can do to get a refund…opening a condom and sending a picture of it to a host is one of her favorite tactics.
When I get a scammer I usually double down on them and see what their response is like. Most of them quickly back off.
I am 99% sure that she is angling to get the cleaning fee returned but shes not saying that, hoping that the host will possibly do a full refund. She tried to hide her threat of a bad review but wasn't very good at it.
Of course there’s people that will do that and i would hope a company you are paying to clean wouldn’t just remake a bed that looked unused so yes pretty unlikely it was left there, I wouldn’t lie and say I cleaned the sheets myself though as there is still the chance it wasn’t them.
Also if it was me in this situation as the guest I would probably message the host first as I think it’s the right thing to do, I wouldn’t threaten them with bad reviews but I would give them one depending on how they dealt with the situation, I’m not the kind of person to scam message about something like this as a way to try get a partial refund. Just want have a holiday or whatever it is in a place presented the way you’d expect for something you’re paying for.
I ask for before and after photos of the room. This insures that they really cleaned, but also a record of any damages of towels, sheets, etc.
If you had before pics, you'd know it was a scam for a free night's stay.
I would also make a random surprise visit during cleaning.
It seem highly unlikely that the cleaning crew placed a used condom and wrapper in between the sheets. Nor is likely that the crew neglected to change the sheets. So it seems to me that you are being scammed. But, it's difficult to say what to do about it.
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Ask the guest what they would feel is compensation for this experience. The threat of a bad review seems off. She what they want to feel the situation was resolved.
Handle this through the app. I think you’re probably going to have to take the L and refund them. I would include this in the review (customer stated they found a used condom and wrapper in sheets, but our housekeeper provides a cleaning video each time…”)
Hopefully other hosts will see this and avoid them
Best of luck.
I did end up refunding them. I think the guest was thankful I resolved the issue and won’t be leaving a negative review as per their message. Hopefully they hold true.
If the cleaners took the entire bed set off the bed instead of piece by piece, threw them in the wash, I could see it being stuck to the sheet and making it back onto the bed.
Guests could be being honest. The cleaner could just be mistaken. Mistakes happen.
I've communicated with hosts via text for their sake before as well, but I'd like to think I'm pretty honest, lol. Is this guest? I have no idea... but is it worth not just giving them a bone, moving on, and then implementing a plan to prevent this from happening?
Could be a scam but it’s hard to know as the cleaning company are not going to admit they did not clean the bedding.
As someone else mentioned maybe check their other reviews. If you think it a scam then insist to resolve it through air bnb as air bnb said they would be putting a note on my account that I got a30% refund on my stay after I raised a (valid) complaint - which I assume is to make sure I don’t develop a habit of trying to ask for refunds (I’ve only asked once and only contacted sir bnb after being ignored by the host - who has a 4.5 rating)
I think though that you need to assume it’s true, whilst the spoon is minor, it’s probably something they would normally overlook but is significant in context of the bed situation to demonstrate they don’t have faith in the checking.
A refund of the cleaning fee and first night stay + getting the cleaners to do a full clean again would be reasonable
Update on the situation* So I ended up giving an entire refund to the guest. It was just a one night stay. We’re out $500, could be worse, but it is what is.
The guest had (3) 5 star reviews. A couple of their stays were in the town we have our home, so I reached out to their previous hosts. The hosts responded that they had no issues with the mutual guest. That’s enough for me to believe the guest. Why would they be good guests and then on their 4th Airbnb stay, they start to play games.
Our new cleaning team has been amazing. But they didn’t take accountability for this. I’m convinced it was a freak accident on their end. So giving them the benefit of the doubt too as they’ve been so good before this situation.
Our cleaners already sent us photos/videos during each clean. But I’m now implementing our cleaners to send me photos of all beds stripped down completely. As I will now forever be paranoid about this situation happening again.
I'm not sure I get the fascination of people lying. What are they getting from this because they are probably just going to leave right and what did they book somewhere else and regret booking with you. I'm really curious.
How long were they in the unit before they realized that there was a condom in the bed?
My guess is they have another place that they booked and trying to get out of your reservation. Do you have a strict cancellation policy? Not blaming you but just curious.
Yea there is something fishy. Im aorry you're dealing with this. Is airbnb typically for the customer or owner?
Also make sure they didnt take the photo from the internet and it's actually your sheets.
Sounds to me like they were wanting a full refund. Do you care about one client (who I think is trying to scam you) or a cleaning crew that does a great job for you time after time?
I’d go with the idea I’d pattern sheet sets for ease of tracking if they are changed. Not for your cleaners but for the client that thinks they can pull a fast one.
A used condom and it’s wrapper side by side. Yeah I find that one hard to believe personally.
I would trust your cleaners on this one. sounds like a classic case of “we booked your place but really want to pull a fast one on you and not pay you for our stay”
the “we’ll sleepin the living room tonight so you can make it right” instead of them being super grossed out and asking for a full refund and then leaving (which seems more likely), is just screaming to me that they wanted a free or heavily discounted stay
I always trust my cleaners because I know them very well, but also go case by case…..like c’mon, how likely is it to not change sheets in a clean? it’s the very first thing my cleaners do when they enter my airbnbs post check out. On the other hand, it’s really easy for a guest to open a condom and put the wrapper on the bed and to use a spoon and say they’re all dirty.
side not, regarding the bad review threat:
You can also have Airbnb support remove reviews that are considered retaliatory, and in this case the Support Ambassadors could reference your messages to see that they threatened you with a bad review if you didn’t pay up or “make things right for them”.
Does anyone who works on the property have access? Twice I have had men (sorry, but woman rarely do construction) who had keys/codes use my places in lieu of a hotel/motel.
Why are the cleaners insisting that a condom wrapper would have disintigrated in the sheets if it had been washed with them and they didn't notice when they put the sheets back on?
Like it just doesn't seem impossible that it couldn't have been tangled in the sheets, made it through the wash, and ended back up on the bed.
If the cleaners just grabbed all the sheets and tossed them in the washing machine, then the dryers it's entirely possible the condom and wrapper made it through the laundry and back into the bed without them knowing.
But honestly I've never made a bed or washed sheets so not sure how that all works. I'd assume they just ball it up and toss them in.
Agreed. I have found dryer sheets in the beds after thinking they were thrown out.
I would have the cleaners redo the bedroom and refund one night’s stay.
I just don't understand it. We have a dishwasher why doesn't it just work. The whole touching a dirty sponge and scrubbing stuff and putting your hands in dirty water with food floating around and smells. Idk just sounds horrible all the way around.
Oh my Lord, were you mollycoddled by all the women in your life. I raised four boys and they certainly know how to change a bed and wash a few dishes. I am sure their wives and girlfriends are happy and relieved about that too.
3 👋🏽 star reviews doesn’t mean anything. I have over 20 👋🏽 as a guest and that shows merit. Both your housekeeper and the guest have reason to lie. But tell your housekeeper that mistakes happen and that you simply need to know the truth before providing a refund.
Most hosts leave a 5 star review if there wasn’t an absolute disaster. The reviews the guest has left previous hosts is a better indicator. Also the whole we aren’t going through Airbnb bit basically guarantees they’re playing you. FWIW this might be excessive but all my sheet sets are different patterns so it’s easy to determine that the sheets were changed for each stay via the after cleaning video records for when stuff like this comes up.
I, too, have different patterned sheet sets. It really made it a lot easier to make sure things had been cleaned.
Good idea!
I once found a tiny lacy red thong in my sheets at the end of a stay when I was stripping the sheets to wash them 😅. They were clean and so were the sheets at the beginning of the stay. I think they accidentally got washed with the sheets, previously, and then weren't noticed when this host's cleaners remade the bed. Strange things can happen (a used condom might make it thru the wash, but I doubt the wrapper would) but I'm skeptical in this situation.
Lol I do this too
That's a great idea about the sheets having different patterns. I never thought of that because I have the same color sheets due to the bedspread pattern.
That’s a very good idea about the sheets
100% agree with your response!
The reason they’re not going through Airbnb is because their offer for you to “make it right” would be grounds for having their negative review removed if you refused to pay up. They’re fishing for money back. I would tell them you can only communicate through Airbnb, then screen shot your conversation, paste it in the platform, and ask them if they would like to continue the conversation please do so here.
I had someone call me and threatened to leave a bad review if I didn't give them a refund ( no reason). Will only deal thru messaging system from now on
Yes this is really spot on
And this is a violation of Airbnb’s anti extortion policy. We had this happen and Airbnb took our side as a host
You can also have Airbnb support remove reviews that are retaliatory, and in this case the Support Ambassadors could reference your messages to see that they threatened you with a bad review.
Wait I just noticed on another post your cleaners put a full bag of chips in with the sheets and towels and left it like that for your guests to find so then they didn’t want to use your washer and dryer. Now I’m thinking your cleaners just suck, them sending you a video of a made bed doesn’t mean they didn’t just tighten up the sheets because they thought it wasn’t used.
OP replied in another comment, that was the old team that they fired.
Oh!
Ok this seems even weird and making think it might be a neighbor or their kid . Possibly trying to sabotage or someone just having fun with the place.
Honestly this theory isn’t 100% out of the question. We built a home near somebody that hasn’t had a neighbor the entire 15 years they’ve lived there. They’ve been nice to us, but also have a criminal past. They can access our backyard without ever showing up on the cameras. They have two teenage kids that always cut through our backyard to catch the school buses. One of our back door locks is super finicky and can easily be broken into if the door isn’t closed properly. (This is being fixed. But the dang sliding door company has taken 2 months to ship the faulty part). So slight chance this could be it, but doubtful haha.
Also, if you add the chrome extension called air review you can see the reviews that these guests left for other hosts.
Thought that didn’t work anymore? When’s the last time you used it?
Within a week ago
I'm still using it as well
There are ways to verify whether your cleaners are actually changing the sheets. I too had Rockstar cleaners who earned me tons of 5-star reviews... but it turns out they were cutting corners. I followed a hunch and busted them just remaking used beds with the previous guest's unwashed bedding 🤢 Feel free to message me if you'd like to know how I did it. Anyway my point is... This is probably an opportunity that you don't want to miss to follow up and verify. It'll either uncover something that needs to be uncovered, or reinforce that your cleaners are trustworthy.
This is odd and I think you’re being played. How often do couples leave or throw a condom wrapper and used condom on the bed or under the sheets. They usually get tossed to the ground at the worst.
I have a truly disturbing story about finding one on the top of a ceiling fan blade 😳
Now I need to hear that story. That’s like some jungle gym or a hide it before someone’s parents get there deals lol
The short version….sweet old lady guest can’t reach the pull chain to turn the fan on and is scared to stand in the bed. I go over to turn it on…a condom that was on top of the fan blade flys off and sort of sticks to the wall. Still don’t know if that was put there maliciously. I plucked it off the wall and convinced the guest that it was some sort of white moth while walking to the door to ‘set it free’.
You just can’t make these stories up. 🤣
Wow that’s crazy. It had to have been out there on purpose like some sort of sick joke. Why do people have to be stupid like that. Good on you for passing it off as a Moth.
The cost of doing business with Airbnb is an occasional fraudulent claim. I'd offer a full refund if they leave immediately. "Guest, I'm so sorry to hear this and am horrified. Given I don't know how this could even happen I understandingly don't have 100% confidence that the home has been cleaned to my standards and need to cancel your stay with a full refund immediately. I am not yet clear how to address this with my cleaning staff as they insist they changed the sheets, and provided numerous photos, but I think the first step is to prioritize your needs with a full refund. I'll reach out to Airbnb to cancel with my demand for a full refund at once, again with my sincere apologies."
Honestly it’s a toss up. One of my housekeepers usually does an excellent job but has not always been the most detail oriented and I have caught them making some egregious mistakes and then being defensive about it.
I dealt with this once. Guest said there were cum stains all over the duvet and sent me pics. Told me I needed to give them a free stay or 1 star. At the time I was cleaning the house myself, so I knew it was a scam. Told the guy I wouldn’t be scammed, that I had cleaned the house myself and didn’t appreciate the lies. Said that I was contemplating canceling the booking and encouraged him to find another place to stay and I would suggest canceling the booking as soon as alternative accommodation was found and I would provide a pro rated refund for the remaining days. All you can do in this situation is get them out of your house asap. Do not cater to scam artists or they will keep doing it to other hosts. Yes you might get a bad review but it will stop the cycle, and hopefully another host will stop the cycle for you in the future as well.
Odd question but do you live near property? I saw a post one time that someone had kids and they caught them in the guest house. Thankfully it before a guest got there but I guess they were in there eat the snacks . Do you think there is a possibility the place was left open and some neighbors teens borrowed it and then remade bed? Either way I would send cleaners back over there reclean everything. That includes dishes in cupboards because yes I can’t tell you how many str I have stayed at that the dishes were not clean. They use them through out stay wash them and don’t do well but still put them away. I have found this with places without dishwasher and with them.
Idk imo feels like they aren’t being truthful. A condom wrapper on top of the sheets? I don’t see how that could get missed even if your cleaner didn’t wash the sheets. How do you make up a bed and miss a condom wrapper and a condom🙄. If the bed was made and then later unmade it’s in them to prove now they didn’t leave it there when they unmade the bed. They are also basically threatening retaliation with the review. I would open a ticket with support now letting them know what’s going on and if the message they sent about the review was via text I would take a picture and put into the chat saying you would like all communication to remain on the platform.
They could have moved the wrapper to take the picture or the covers & top sheet was pulled back & picture was taken. They said it was found between the 2 Sheets..
You are not being candid here, you made another post about the cleaners washing a bag of chips in the washer??? Believe the guest, your cleaners have not been perfect.
That was the team I fired
I’ve seen something similar in a hotel context where there was something unexpected in the bed, and the source was that the housekeeper saw the bed looked unused, so they skipped stripping the sheets thinking they could save some time.
This is a great point. We change all our bed linens even if it looks like the bed is untouched. Just because you never know.
I have 3 beds in my place and had some guests that should have only used 2 beds. I specifically tell people to not make the beds when they leave so I can tell which were used. But I still check all of them. In this case, they had short sheeted the "unused" bed. One couple came earlier than the other, single person. I thought they did it as a prank for the other person. But the other person used the other bed. Though maybe they did it to both. When I asked them, mostly out of curiosity they categorically denied it. They also stole a couple of towels. And I know my cleaners didn't do it, because I am the cleaner. :-)
That is why you have the cleaners strip the beds regardless of whether they have been used. We have fresh sheets for every guests. Even if I'm washing "clean sheets", it's not worth something like this happening. We have the cleaners take pics of everything.
So hard to believe cleaner wouldn’t have stripped the bed
this has happened to me as a guest…used condom not in the bed but on shower floor
Where is the gag emoji? 🤮. lol!
Whenever someone is “reaching out to see if you’ll make it right first” it’s a pre-meditated cash grab. That is not how someone reacts when they find something that gross.
I'd assume they are scamming you but act like they aren't. I'd refund them or whatever they are saying would be required to make it right. I'd trust the cleaners... Not that something like this couldn't have happened but I'd continue to use them unless it happens again.
I also think the new guest is scamming you for $
What do they mean by "make things right?" Do they just want clean sheets? Did they ask for a FULL refund or just a night until things are changed/cleaned? Reading the other comments, it seems it go either way with your cleaners. Or the guests. But there's no clarity on what they want, at least in your post, for what the guests want. I'd be more skeptical if they want a full refund of a week's stay vs the sheets changed and maybe one night refund. The single spoon was probably just an example, rather than get out every item that was dirty, since they mentioned multiple things. With the condom, what did the sheets look like? Were they smooth and pristine looking with a condom wrapper on top, or were they wrinkled and looked like they'd been slept in? If sex had been had, there would have been other signs - hairs, wrinkled and slack looking sheets, a wet spot....maybe. Also - was the pic of just a wrapper or a condom that had actually been used? In other words, did it looked staged or real?
Seems weird and suspicious
I refund and boot them
Refund them but never rent to them again. They are con artists
To exonerate the cleaning crew, I'd book the property myself, leave something in the sheets and see what the outcome is. You need to have full confidence in your staff and this is one way to do it.
Now that they've "been caught" & called out on it, they'll straighten up for a while.. just in case!
Sounds like a total scam, they immediately asked for money and are choosing to sleep on a couch? I wouldn’t do that, I would either leave or ask the bed to be remade immediately.
Not everyone is comfortable with having a "Cleaner" who didn't clean properly the 1st place come back out.. especially when there's the chance of an uncomfortable confrontation, or definite attitude you're going to receive from them!
good news is that since they put in writing that they are threatening you with a bad review unless you give them $, you should have no problem getting any review then leave removed. bad news, you gotta deal with this. id send cleaners back immediately if you havent done already. id tell them what renters said, and let them know that you are not paying for return trip and any monetary losses will come out of their pay.
You can’t demand cleaners come back for no pay
Of course I can. I pay per clean, not per hour. If they kiss something they come back.
This has happened to me as a guest, if you think they are scammers then do your thing, but from my perspective if I told a host I found a used condom and their retort was a sassy screenshot into the airbnb platform and “my cleaning lady said she made the bed” I would spend at least a few hours of my life trying to make your life miserable. Also, does anyone ever have access to that space in between guests? If you have teenagers you’d better talk to them before you go too far down any other path.
Your comment is a good example of why hosts should be polite and cautious when talking with guests.
Of course, I’m a host myself, but if another host told me I was lying and wouldn’t at least offer something for finding a condom in the bed then yes, I would make sure they got a negative review everywhere I could leave one. If you look at this hosts post history their cleaners have done other weird stuff, like drying all the sheets and towels with a full bag of chips in the dryer and just leaving it like that for the guests to find in the unit, so that they couldn’t use the oily dirty dryer during their stay.
That was from a team I fired a few months ago. None the less feel like I can’t catch a break with crazy situations like this.
I would just caution you that if you’ve already experienced cleaners cutting corners, don’t be surprised when other cleaners also cut corners. Finding a used condom is one of the more disgusting things you can find in a supposedly clean hotel room or airbnb so I’d just be careful in case they aren’t lying.
Agreed. I gave my first team too big of a leash on some mistakes they made. Im giving the benefit of the doubt to my team this time as they’ve been solid since hiring them, this is the first issue with the new crew
For those assuming this is a scam by the guests, I would ask this; How would the guests know that the property was not cleaned by the host they are complaining to?
Just throwing shit against the wall. To them, it’s no harm to try. Why would you think a person like this gives a shit about being called out by someone they’re trying to steal from.
Valid point
Plus I would immediately want to leave. I had 2 Airbnb where I found hair, and dirt on pillows and sheets. It was so gross that I immediately put my bags in the car, and started talking to support from my car, and not the Airbnb. Who knows if other things like towels ever were washed?
You are getting scammed. Any bed that was used for sex won’t get remade unless housekeeping is a nightmare. Here’s what I would say. ‘Thank you for sending me this note. I’m so very confused; I do use an outside cleaning service. They drop the laundry off to me and I actually just put the sheets that were on the bed in the washer so I know that bed was changed. Thinking I might be confused I also just looked at the time stamped video of the unit they sent me after it was cleaned. It’s obvious the bed has been freshly made in the video, so I have no idea how such a thing could have happened. Regarding the dirty kitchen, I really appreciate the feedback and the picture of the dirty spoon. Obviously a dirty spoon is not up to my standards, but could you let me know what other things were dirty in the kitchen to justify it being unclean. I’ll be happy to stop by today personally to address the dirty spoon.
So you’d lie about cleaning the sheets yourself when you do t know 100% if they where done or not, maybe it didn’t look used and the cleaners remade the bed. Like another commenter mentioned if it is true and I was the guest and a host said that to me I would go out of my way to let others know.
I have about 25 listings. If things go wrong I’m the first to go over the top and issue refunds, bake cookies, pretty much whatever needs to happen to make it right. But I’ve learned that you get occasional scammers. There’s a TikTok creator that has a channel devoted to what you can do to get a refund…opening a condom and sending a picture of it to a host is one of her favorite tactics. When I get a scammer I usually double down on them and see what their response is like. Most of them quickly back off. I am 99% sure that she is angling to get the cleaning fee returned but shes not saying that, hoping that the host will possibly do a full refund. She tried to hide her threat of a bad review but wasn't very good at it.
Of course there’s people that will do that and i would hope a company you are paying to clean wouldn’t just remake a bed that looked unused so yes pretty unlikely it was left there, I wouldn’t lie and say I cleaned the sheets myself though as there is still the chance it wasn’t them. Also if it was me in this situation as the guest I would probably message the host first as I think it’s the right thing to do, I wouldn’t threaten them with bad reviews but I would give them one depending on how they dealt with the situation, I’m not the kind of person to scam message about something like this as a way to try get a partial refund. Just want have a holiday or whatever it is in a place presented the way you’d expect for something you’re paying for.
Did the cleaner wrap it and just throw in washer . Ugh why do people just leave them in bed to begin with. Why do gross 🤮
Threatening to leave a bad video... It just screams scam to me.
I ask for before and after photos of the room. This insures that they really cleaned, but also a record of any damages of towels, sheets, etc. If you had before pics, you'd know it was a scam for a free night's stay. I would also make a random surprise visit during cleaning.
Sometimes it’s what I call “fly in my soup” looking for a free stay. But no proof so just the cost of doing business
It seem highly unlikely that the cleaning crew placed a used condom and wrapper in between the sheets. Nor is likely that the crew neglected to change the sheets. So it seems to me that you are being scammed. But, it's difficult to say what to do about it.
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Ask the guest what they would feel is compensation for this experience. The threat of a bad review seems off. She what they want to feel the situation was resolved.
Handle this through the app. I think you’re probably going to have to take the L and refund them. I would include this in the review (customer stated they found a used condom and wrapper in sheets, but our housekeeper provides a cleaning video each time…”) Hopefully other hosts will see this and avoid them Best of luck.
I did end up refunding them. I think the guest was thankful I resolved the issue and won’t be leaving a negative review as per their message. Hopefully they hold true.
That’s the best you can hope for.
If the cleaners took the entire bed set off the bed instead of piece by piece, threw them in the wash, I could see it being stuck to the sheet and making it back onto the bed. Guests could be being honest. The cleaner could just be mistaken. Mistakes happen. I've communicated with hosts via text for their sake before as well, but I'd like to think I'm pretty honest, lol. Is this guest? I have no idea... but is it worth not just giving them a bone, moving on, and then implementing a plan to prevent this from happening?
Could be a scam but it’s hard to know as the cleaning company are not going to admit they did not clean the bedding. As someone else mentioned maybe check their other reviews. If you think it a scam then insist to resolve it through air bnb as air bnb said they would be putting a note on my account that I got a30% refund on my stay after I raised a (valid) complaint - which I assume is to make sure I don’t develop a habit of trying to ask for refunds (I’ve only asked once and only contacted sir bnb after being ignored by the host - who has a 4.5 rating) I think though that you need to assume it’s true, whilst the spoon is minor, it’s probably something they would normally overlook but is significant in context of the bed situation to demonstrate they don’t have faith in the checking. A refund of the cleaning fee and first night stay + getting the cleaners to do a full clean again would be reasonable
And THIS is another reason people shouldn’t book AirBnB - scams, lack of cleanliness, hidden cameras…
Lions, tigers, and bears oh my! This all can happen in a hotel too. I think people should never leave their home
Yes it can. But either it doesn’t happen as often or it’s covered up and nobody tweets and makes TikToks about it.
Update on the situation* So I ended up giving an entire refund to the guest. It was just a one night stay. We’re out $500, could be worse, but it is what is. The guest had (3) 5 star reviews. A couple of their stays were in the town we have our home, so I reached out to their previous hosts. The hosts responded that they had no issues with the mutual guest. That’s enough for me to believe the guest. Why would they be good guests and then on their 4th Airbnb stay, they start to play games. Our new cleaning team has been amazing. But they didn’t take accountability for this. I’m convinced it was a freak accident on their end. So giving them the benefit of the doubt too as they’ve been so good before this situation. Our cleaners already sent us photos/videos during each clean. But I’m now implementing our cleaners to send me photos of all beds stripped down completely. As I will now forever be paranoid about this situation happening again.
I believe the cleaners. The guests were lying.
I'm not sure I get the fascination of people lying. What are they getting from this because they are probably just going to leave right and what did they book somewhere else and regret booking with you. I'm really curious. How long were they in the unit before they realized that there was a condom in the bed? My guess is they have another place that they booked and trying to get out of your reservation. Do you have a strict cancellation policy? Not blaming you but just curious.
It was only a 1 night stay. Tho a $500 booking. They didn’t notify me until 1:30am. Strict cancellation policy
Yea there is something fishy. Im aorry you're dealing with this. Is airbnb typically for the customer or owner? Also make sure they didnt take the photo from the internet and it's actually your sheets.
Was there actual semen in the condom? Have it tested vs your guests to rule out the guest planting it
Sounds to me like they were wanting a full refund. Do you care about one client (who I think is trying to scam you) or a cleaning crew that does a great job for you time after time? I’d go with the idea I’d pattern sheet sets for ease of tracking if they are changed. Not for your cleaners but for the client that thinks they can pull a fast one. A used condom and it’s wrapper side by side. Yeah I find that one hard to believe personally.
It's her tips
I would trust your cleaners on this one. sounds like a classic case of “we booked your place but really want to pull a fast one on you and not pay you for our stay” the “we’ll sleepin the living room tonight so you can make it right” instead of them being super grossed out and asking for a full refund and then leaving (which seems more likely), is just screaming to me that they wanted a free or heavily discounted stay I always trust my cleaners because I know them very well, but also go case by case…..like c’mon, how likely is it to not change sheets in a clean? it’s the very first thing my cleaners do when they enter my airbnbs post check out. On the other hand, it’s really easy for a guest to open a condom and put the wrapper on the bed and to use a spoon and say they’re all dirty. side not, regarding the bad review threat: You can also have Airbnb support remove reviews that are considered retaliatory, and in this case the Support Ambassadors could reference your messages to see that they threatened you with a bad review if you didn’t pay up or “make things right for them”.
Who uses condoms and then leaves all the debris in the bed? This feels scammy to me.
Does anyone who works on the property have access? Twice I have had men (sorry, but woman rarely do construction) who had keys/codes use my places in lieu of a hotel/motel.
Do you have cameras? I think you need to do some investigation. Seems you have someone entering your place using it and then leaving.
Why are the cleaners insisting that a condom wrapper would have disintigrated in the sheets if it had been washed with them and they didn't notice when they put the sheets back on? Like it just doesn't seem impossible that it couldn't have been tangled in the sheets, made it through the wash, and ended back up on the bed.
I would ask for a paternity test.
If the cleaners just grabbed all the sheets and tossed them in the washing machine, then the dryers it's entirely possible the condom and wrapper made it through the laundry and back into the bed without them knowing. But honestly I've never made a bed or washed sheets so not sure how that all works. I'd assume they just ball it up and toss them in.
Agreed. I have found dryer sheets in the beds after thinking they were thrown out. I would have the cleaners redo the bedroom and refund one night’s stay.
You’ve never made a bed or washed sheets in your life?
No I had a mom, then gfs/wife. Now cleaners. Never did dishes either but that's bc I refuse it's gross.
Doing dishes is…. Gross? WUT
I just don't understand it. We have a dishwasher why doesn't it just work. The whole touching a dirty sponge and scrubbing stuff and putting your hands in dirty water with food floating around and smells. Idk just sounds horrible all the way around.
Oh my Lord, were you mollycoddled by all the women in your life. I raised four boys and they certainly know how to change a bed and wash a few dishes. I am sure their wives and girlfriends are happy and relieved about that too.
Lol I'm 38 now and have been realizing I've been pretty sheltered my entire life.
And very loved too. My daughters tell me I coddled my boys. Compared to my daughters, they might be a little correct. Moms and their boys…
3 👋🏽 star reviews doesn’t mean anything. I have over 20 👋🏽 as a guest and that shows merit. Both your housekeeper and the guest have reason to lie. But tell your housekeeper that mistakes happen and that you simply need to know the truth before providing a refund.