I think most folks would agree, the only good cockroach is a dead cockroach 🪳
So in a slightly better frame of mind than the night before, I set out to clean & negotiate. Now to be fair we are in the jungle tropics 🌴 There are bugs here. As much as I hate the creepy crawlies, I wasn’t going to overreact. AndI certainly wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to pursue a financially beneficial situation.
You can take the professional organizer out of COS but you can’t take the OCD entrepreneur out of me!
So as some of you know & many may not, I had a thriving & successful professional organizing business in Colorado Springs for 15 years. I loved my business. I believe I never felt more truly alive, in the zone, who I was built to be than when l was designing, creating & organizing space! https://www.facebook.com/MAS.Movement (If you are interested in more back story.)
I know a lot of people who are not big fans of cleaning & organizing. But even more so, hate the idea & cannot even bring themselves to ask for something when things are not right. I actually love doing both of these things! Not only am I all about bartering & negotiating, but I truly believe there is zero harm in asking. What is the worst they can say? No….better than not asking!
We have stayed in ten different AirBnBs over the last 11 months in a dozen different cities. Half of those have said yes to some sort of refund or stay extension. Almost every host has been eager to “make things right.” I infer that means they would rather give a little than receive a bad review. Which of course works in my favor! Some times I ask for too little, sometimes I asks for too much, but in the end there is a mutually beneficial resolution.
I should have asked for more here at the bug condo but got a quick refund for one night & the cleaning fee. I did give the kitchen a minor cleaning, including washing every dish before we used it & also bought a can of bug spray at the store.
Other AirBnBs have agreed to similar refunds, usually due to lack of cleanliness more than anything else. A “nice” resort place in Pagosa had hair every where & no vacuum 🤢 $100 cleaning fee refunded. Our AirBnB in Albuquerque was actually wonderful all the way around & as it turned out we were actually acquaintances & now good friends with the owners. NOTE: Always really look at the person’s name & photo, you might end up knowing them 🤦🏼♀️ & could contact them directly 😉 At their place, I reorganized the kitchen just for the shear joy of doing so & sharing some ❤️.
One of the worst was our AirBnB house in Colorado Springs. After collapsing on the couch from the exhaustion of moving in all our crap, I noticed all the trash under the beds I could see from my living room vantage point.
The host offered to resend the cleaners, which almost all offer to do. I always decline this in exchange for a refund of some kind. Why? Mainly because they didn’t clean it well the first time & I can do a better job better! BTW have I mentioned how much crap we still seem to have during this living on the road period of our lives?! I don’t need or want some random person “cleaning” around the melee.
Needless to say, this turned out to be one of my most lucrative negotiations. I spent a day doing a pretty thorough cleaning of the entire house & re-orged the kitchen. The host was so pleased, he asked me to check out his other AirBnB across the street. I spent a day there as well. In the end, we were refunded our cleaning fee & nearly an entire week!
What advice can I give to help you get a deal? Quick & easy… 1st thing, always when you arrive at a vacation rental, check everywhere & take pictures 📸 The 3 places I focus are:
Bathroom: 🚽 check the space behind the seat, check the seat & raise the seat – if there are any areas of concern, take a picture.
Kitchen: 🍽️ I start in the cutlery drawer, how does this drawer get so crumby? If it is overrun with crumbs or worse little black spots (roach poop) – take a picture. I check the fridge. I also check a few dishes to make sure they are clean, especially if there is no dishwasher.
Bedroom: 🛏️ have a good look at the bedspread, I don’t think these ever get washed 🤢 then pull back the covers. Grosser still, I found crumbs & hair in one place that was given no grace, we just left & got a full refund.
It hasn’t happened yet, but my goal is to create a “business” where I am able to barter stays in vacation rentals in exchange for design, organization & efficiency advice & implementation. Once again, remember, Dave is working 8-5, M-F. I have a lot of time on my hands 🤲🏼
Our other five AirBnBs have been clean enough not to warrant complaint. However in an attempt to garner my own own great reviews, I try to offer constructive criticism on how they can improve. Again most hosts have been very receptive. But as I ramble on, I realize this is a story for another time.
In case you were not counting there is one AirBnB I left out. This AirBnB is the reason why I am off track & this blog is out of sync with our actual location & timeline as well as why I haven’t been posting a ton on the socials. Hopefully you will stick around for that one, it’s a doozy 🔪 😬😉