Interior Design

The Airbnb Tiny Dishwasher Strategy

Airbnb guests are awful dishwashers

Sound Familiar?

Pesky Problem

The dishes are sticky.

Let’s be frank. Airbnb guests are downright awful dishwashers. How do we know this? Because of the sheer number of sticky (or grimey or smelly or stained) dishes we’ve encountered during our travels. At this point, when we pick up a glass in an Airbnb, we instinctively raise it to our nose for a quick sniff and glance inside before getting a drink of water.

And while we’d like to think that we personally do a decent job leaving Airbnb dishes a little better than we found them, most guests aren’t thinking much about future guests as they wash the dishes. Usually they’re keeping an eye on the clock. It’s likely the morning of checkout, maybe an hour left in their stay, and they’re doing a slapdash job cleaning out the sink before heading out the door.

Let's Try This

Bite-Size Solution

Install a tiny dishwasher.

After years of seeing this problem crop up in Airbnbs across the price spectrum, the solution to us is clear: you need a dishwasher. Now, we get it. For many hosts, a full-sized dishwasher seems like overkill in their small apartment or kitchenette. But a tiny Airbnb can still benefit immensely from a tiny dishwasher.

There are loads of 18″ dishwashers out there with slim profiles. There are even portable, countertop dishwashers perfectly sized for the dishes produced during a single weekend stay. And they’re not as expensive as you might think. This type of investment makes clean up easy on your guests and ensures that your next guests enjoy a truly clean kitchen.

5 Minutes

Here's Your First Step

See an example from our very first Airbnb stay ever.

We experienced the brilliance of the itty bitty dishwasher strategy during our very first Airbnb stay ever. There are so many elements we adored about this place. You can check out our full Featured Stay post here. In the post, you’ll see the tiny dishwasher tucked in the suite’s kitchenette, alongside their mini fridge/freezer combo, coffee machine, and rolling cart that doubled as an island and housed the mini microwave. We stayed in this suite for a full 10 days and rarely ate out. We had everything we needed in their fully functional kitchenette.

P.S. The Diswasher Alternative. Now maybe a dishwasher install seems completely out of the question right now, but you’ve noticed the sticky dishes situation in your Airbnb. (Put differently, would you blindly put every cup to your lips or fork in your mouth in your own Airbnb?) If there’s hesitation, add a new step to your cleaning routine.

Between every few stays, clean all the dishes to your standard by hand, or, if you happen to live on the property and have a dishwasher yourself, take the workhorse dishes back to your own kitchen for a deep cleaning. Your guests will feel the difference and that cleaning rating will soar to five stars.

INSPIRED BY you

This week’s Big Heart Hosting post was inspired by Richard and Heather, Airbnb Superhosts in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Just click here to explore the full listing.

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The Ultimate Airbnb Checklist Collection

The number one question we hear from hosts is “What am I forgetting to put in my Airbnb?” This collection is the definitive answer to that question. In our signature product, we go room-by-room, step-by-step until your Airbnb is perfectly appointed and ready to impress. Bye-bye blindspots and hello happy guests!

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