The majority of my bookings tend to be leisure bookings and my current settings allow for very short stays. I get surprised at how many guests take a leisurely night away to then want to cook. Here’s how to Remove cooking smells from your property after a guest leaves your rental.
The last thing I want to do when staying away is cook a meal. On a leisure trip I’d much rather reach for an app to get a meal delivered. We’re not even talking quick easy pasta meals too, it’s been evident guests have had big cooking sessions. Based on the ingredients I get left behind, I couldn’t think of anything worse!
I love the guests that just get a takeaway and fill the bin with the takeaway bags. It’s a quick and easy clean up and never leaves any lingering odour. Most of my bookings are either couple’s with leisure bookings or contractors working nearby. Often, these two groups seem to skip making dinner and opt for takeout.
But I find if a guest does cook, the property can be left with residual cooking smells. Depending on what was cooked, these smells aren’t always pleasant and can make the property feel ‘stuffy’.
As long as the guest is tidy I don’t mind what they cook. However, lingering cooking smells can be a nightmare to get rid of. This is especially true when you have another booking the next day or worse, the very same day.
Tips for lingering odour
Who wants to be greeted by a stuffy smelling home? I always want the next guest to be greeted with a fresh, clean, welcoming scent. Any leftover cooking smells make the property seem less clean, even though I know it isn’t.
There’s nothing worse than knowing you have a booking due when the property has an unpleasant or stale odour. I find that any cooking odours last about the same time as lingering smoke smells. Here’s how I get rid of them, with great effect:
Products used:
Open the windows
Open all the windows and doors as wide as you can the moment you get there. It’s a good idea to keep them all open right up until you have to leave.
Windows on opposite sides of the property can force fresh air through the building like a vacuum. Keeping internal doors open will allow a channel of fresh air to move through the affected rooms.
If you have slat blinds like myself a great tip is to spray them with air freshener or scented spray. You can then lightly wipe them dry. When you open the windows, this will force a fresh smell into the room when the wind blows through them. This helps to push fresher smelling air into the home.
You’ll notice pretty instant results with this and you’ll catch the fresh smell as you clean.
Wash up and empty the bins and fridge
If the guest has left any plates or cooking trays, wash them up. If guest have left washing up to dry that they’ve done, it might be worth giving it an extra rinse. Thi will ensure that cutlery and utensils are properly clean.
I find that guest often s don’t always wash up properly when they do. Often times I end up re-doing it so I can make sure that the plates don’t smell like food.
The first thing you should do after this is empty the bins and place the rubbish bag outside the property. Any smelly dinner waste needs to be removed to stop emanating smells. The bin will often be the main culprit for lingering odour.
Check the fridge for any leftovers and throw these away too. Clearing these away will help cut the main source of the smell. Once the source of the smell is gone, the open windows will push the remaining stink out.
Wipe over kitchen counters and table tops
I’ve found that using spray cleaners with a fresh lemon scent can overpower cooking smells better. These tend to have a clean and pleasant citrus scent instead of other cleaning fragrances which are weaker scents. Chemical smells can be a bit overbearing and guests won’t want to breath in these heavy headache-inducing scents. Instead, something fresh and familiar like lemon is more appealing.
Wipe down the oven
You probably won’t have time to do a proper oven clean, particularly if you have another booking turning up. But if the oven has been used, even just wiping it over with your chosen oven cleaner will freshen it. This will also help mask leftover odour.
Room spray
Oust odour removing spray is my favourite brand. I prefer this as it seems to remove the smell from the air rather than mask it. Oust does this much better than Fabreeze odour removing sprays in my opinion.
Gel air fresheners
I always keep a couple of these on hand just in case. You can put them in the back of wardrobes, above kitchen cabinets, under side tables or even under/behind the sofas. These odd areas help seep clean smells into the home from high to low.
You can get really cheap ones from Lidl in the UK for about 70p and they last for a while. They can also be found as cheap multi packs on Amazon. They’re great for placing around once you finished cleaning and need to lock up and leave.
I find they last quite a while and keep pumping fresh smells into the air for a few weeks.