have bussiness ceased?

Chicago is hardly in a Southern red state. It's one of the nuttier states. I was born and raised in IL but escaped the day I graduated from college. ...didn't even wait around to get the diploma.

Good point. "Free" breakfast is a marketing tool to "steal" customers from other hotels in the area. If there are no customers to steal or not enough to market to, it makes sense not to do the marketing.

This is true but most hotels are not offering daily room service either. You get a clean room and a made bed when you walk in. Then it up to you to do the daily routines yourself. Over night, not so bad, extended stay, not so good.

What daily routines are you referring to, specifically ones that you would do at a hotel?

In my recent experience, the amount of cleaning varies. Some offer new towels every 3 days, things like that. Extra house cleaning is often an option, you just have to ask. IIRC that began way before Covid, especially the towels. It's all about "water conservation", so they say.

It's been years since I did anything that even resembled an "extended stay" at a hotel, so cleaning has not been issue for me. Usually it's just 1 or 2 nights. I've taken longer vacations but in most cases we move around, like 2 nights here, 2 nights there, etc. In addition, we tend to use Airbnb more than hotels for anything longer than 2 nights. They don't get cleaned every day either, never did.

Bottom line, I don't think I've stayed anywhere that required me to "clean" my room during my stay. I don't clean my own bathroom or change the sheets every few days, so why would I do it at a hotel? In fact, even back in the days where daily cleaning was routine, I usually hung the Do Not Disturb tag on the door anyway. I never needed anyone to clean for me every day and I didn't have to worry about "neatening up" before they came in. Basically, I didn't want them in my room during my stay.

Until relatively recently beds were made, bathroom towels were replaced, floor vacuumed, trash cans emptied, daily.

This may not be important to you but If I am paying for this service I expect this service, or a discount.

I think you need to change your expectations.

I consider this analogous to the purchase of ice cream. Remember when $2.69 got you a half gallon? Now it gets you 48 oz. You are not paying for

Do you "expect" 64 oz simply because that's what it used to be? Do you ask for a discount when you only get 48?

$125 a night (or you pick the number) used to get you a daily room cleaning. Now $125 (pick the same number) gets you towels every 3 days and (hopefully) extra cleaning when requested.

Bottom line: You are getting the current product at the current price.

As far as a discount, I almost always ask for a discount when booking a room. Not because they aren't cleaning it daily, but just because I hate paying full price. It never hurts to ask, and in all three cases this past week, a discount was applied.

I typically "inquire/negotiate" from a cell phone, even while sitting in the parking lot of the motel I'm calling. I have also got significant discounts in the lobby by saying "that's more than I expected to pay--I may go compare to some of the other motels down the road first..". To which I was asked, "Well, what did you expect to pay?" And I got that rate ($70). As she was writing it up, I needed to remind her that I meant **including** taxes and fees--the final price! ; )

Most of the hotels where I've stayed for more than one night, say something like "throw dirty towels on the floor or to save water, hang them on the bar". They've all had daily housekeeping, AFAIK. Room service in only the top tier hotels ($200 and up).

The beach rentals we've done get cleaned between renters. The owners treat it like a long-term lease (privacy and all that).

The above beach units have to be cleaned by the outgoing renters to some degree ("broom clean", garbage out, dishes in the DW, used bedding on the floor. It seems that they only schedule a half day between rentals so there isn't much time to scrub it top to bottom.

"Checkout time is 11:00." "Oh, we'll be out by 8:00." "Um, It's 10:00 now."

:-0

I've experienced varying levels of "cleaning requirements at Airbnb's. Some are pretty lenient, some make me question why I am even paying a cleaning fee.

I have a family member that owns 2 Airbnb houses in a tourist area. He is usually booked back to back. He does a lot of his own cleaning but has a service available if needed. He scrambles, but he gets it done.

He's only had one "squatter". He got to the house at 10 to clean and there was no one there, but all their stuff was. Open suitcases, personal items everywhere, even the dog. He called them and they said they were stuck at a repair shop getting their RV fixed. Luckily he had the night open, so he extended their stay.

Next day, 10 AM, same thing. Open suitcases, personal items everywhere, even the dog. Except this time they aren't answering their phone. He left messages through every means possible that if they weren't back by 1:00, he was going to move all their stuff into the garage and call Animal Control to come get the dog.

At 1:00, he started moving their stuff so he could clean. He's a dog owner, so he didn't call Animal Control just yet. Soft hearted guy. After all, the dog didn't do anything wrong.

Around 2:00, they finally rolled up in their RV. Apparently, the elderly Mom was all apologetic about the delay, but the son was a real A-hole. "Don't blame me, they took too long to fix the da*m RV", etc. Never provided a good reason for not responding to all of the contact attempts.

In the end, they were gone before the next guests arrived so it all worked out. At least he got paid for his trouble since he obviously charged them for the extra night, which would have been open.

Overall, he doing great with the Airbnb business. He's hoping to show enough income this year to qualify for a mortgage on a 3rd house to Airbnb.

I, for one, am _not_ here. The last time I looked I was over there but that was almost an hour ago...

We try to leave them as clean as they were when we got there but follow the directions (dishes in the DW, not turned on is typical). Some don't even have vacuums, others are tile throughout, which is a good idea for a beach house.

Back-to-back check-in/check-out the same hour? Most of the rentals we've stayed at have a check-out at 9:00 or 10:00 and the next check-in at 5:00 on the same Saturday. Everyone gets a "full" week and the owner doesn't miss a day's income.

I would have charged the second day plus additional cleaning. He doesn't need them back anyway. Is there some service where they can rate renters something like the sites that rank the properties?

Yeah, don't need them back.

Should have been two.

Does he have a special insurance policy that covers him for a commercial property? LLC for each, or similar? Just curious. I've heard podcasts with the strategies for Air-B&Bs and protection from the financial risks. It's interesting stuff but far to risky for me.

He's a real nowhere man Sitting in his nowhere land Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

Did you vote for Biden? ;~) I have already changed my expectations, does not mean I have to agree.

Sing it Paul! LOL

I recall the red compound from my school days in the '60s. The janitor used a big dust mop with a vibrant dark red sweeping compound to sweep the hallways. As a kid I was curious about what that red stuff was... I also thought that stuff and the big dust mop were pretty cool! This as pushing that stuff around seemed like more fun than sitting in the classroom. LOL

The ZEP compound I got is a pale red. Not as visually appealing perhaps but it works great! Amongst other things it contains sawdust and silica. I've noticed that the concrete in my shop looks a bit shiny now as the compound is not only getting the dust up but it seems to be polishing the floor. The dust collector and ambient air cleaner help but they certainly don't get it all... and completely miss the dirt I track in on my feet. I find that I'm sweeping more often now because doing so is so effective. I also suspect that having the dust and dog hair off the floors should help with finishing as there will be less dust to mess up the finish.

Not sure what that question has to do with the cost of ice cream...

Your words from yesterday:

"This may not be important to you but If I am paying for this service I expect this service."

Sounds like an overnight change in your expectations. ;-)

No, I believe it's more like out at 10, in at 3. By back-to-back I meant very few open nights.

I don't have the exact details, maybe he did charge them something extra.

Airbnb (but he's also listed on other booking sites) has a review system where the guest enters a hidden review as does the host. Nothing is posted until both reviews are complete or 14 days have passed.

That said, hosts have to be careful how hard they slam their guests since all reviews are public. You don't want to come across as an A-hole host since the readers (potential guests) don't really know the full situation. Guests want a nice, friendly, easy going host.

Yeah, he has something like a $1MM policy through Airbnb. He's had some small items stolen (clock radio, etc.) and some minor damage that was all covered by Airbnb.

He advertises RV parking in his listing. One guest backed in too far and damaged the fence. He put in a claim and Airbnb paid up.

Fair enough, I was staying in rural areas. They had coffee, but that was it. Some toast or pastries would have been nice, though.