Confessions of an Airbnb cleaner: Disgusting reason why I’ll never stay in a short-term rental
A cleaner has made public the ‘gross’ list of requests a property management company responsible for 60 Airbnbs sent him ahead of a job.
Jason Shipway, owner of Enhanced Cleaning, claims the Western Australian company, which he preferred not to name, sent him an email detailing ways to ‘cut corners’ and save time, including not washing sheets or towels.
“The day before we were supposed to send one of our teams, we got an email from the management company,” he said Yahoo News.
‘In this email they let us know that they have a procedure that they would like us to follow to save money on lead times.’
Jason Shipway revealed that his company has received a ‘gross’ list of requests from a management company that manages between 50 and 60 Airbnbs in Washington
“The more I read this email, the more shocked I became.”
The company informed Mr Shipway that it had specific procedures for cleaners to follow to save money.
These include avoiding washing linens after each stay, folding towels that appeared clean, and putting away dishes that were not ‘obviously’ used.
“Every second cleaning… they just wanted us to take the linen off and turn it over so the top was now on the bottom so it looked like they were cleaner,” Mr Shipway claimed.
“They also said they would give us a spray bottle to spray the sheets to make them less wrinkled and make them look like they haven’t been used by the previous guests.”
The list of requests included not washing sheets between stays, folding towels that didn’t look dirty and packing dishes that weren’t ‘obviously’ used to save money
‘They told us that towels that don’t look dirty can be put back on the beds and in the cupboards.
“They basically said that any dishes left in the sink or dishwasher that had been used but didn’t look dirty could just be put back in the drawers for the next guest.”
The company even advised Mr. Shipway to only spot clean the floors where it appeared there were obvious traces of dirt or fingerprints.
Mr Shipway said the disgusting practices are common in some short-term rental properties.
“Most Airbnbs are really lagging behind hotels, and that’s because of greedy people like this,” Shipway said.
‘They just want to earn that little extra money with their stay and therefore sacrifice a lot on cleaning.
“It’s really disgusting and disturbing to think that the next Airbnb you might go to could be run like this.”
The cleaner rejected the job after seeing the ‘gross’ list of requests and has since reported the incident to Airbnb.