No smoking rules apply to all VRBO, Airbnb and short-term rentals. Today’s vacation rental mailbag answers house rules for a no smoking policy. 

The host should mention it in the listing. “No smoking, no vaping or there will be an extra cleaning fee.” (This means extra chemicals or an ozone generator for odor removal.)

You can still make it welcoming to a guest to smoke out back with a designated smoking sign. Include a decorative outdoor ashtray so you don’t have to pay a landscaper to clean up cigarette butts.

Listen: No Smoking Rules

Watch: No Smoking Rules

Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.

Do You Need No Smoking Rules in Your Airbnb?

No smoking rules in your Airbnb. Ahhh! Not smoking. It’s not an issue people like talking about but it’s an issue at every single property.

The first guest writes in and they want to know: “Is the Airbnb supposed to put up a placard that says no smoking, or is that overkill?” Are there certain words or verbiage that you use in your listing so that guests know they cannot smoke at your property?

No Smoking is Standard in Airbnbs

It’s kind of standard everywhere that you don’t smoke, right? Everywhere has no-smoking policies. It’s not nice to go into someone else’s home and smoke.

That happened like 50 years ago, but nobody’s doing that today. It’s not cool. So everybody should kind of know but if they don’t know, yes it should be in your listing, and it should be online where they can read it before they come.

Because if they are a smoker and it doesn’t say anything about not smoking, it’s going to be easy to assume that they can smoke.

Smoking Marijuana and Vaping is Not Okay Either

With the legalization of marijuana, a lot of people think that it’s okay if they vape and smoke inside your house.  But it’s not okay.

You’ve got to turn this property over for the next guest, and you don’t want your house stinking. Also, you don’t want all that nicotine and tar on your drapes and your furniture and your carpets. It costs a lot of money to get all that out of the air.

So no smoking in your listing. And you can have simple words like no smoking allowed.  You don’t have to use fancy words. Come right out and say no smoking allowed. Now you can be more specific and say no smoking allowed on the property. That means they got to go out and go into the street, or they got to go away to go smoke. If you want to allow it outside, that’s okay, but not inside.

You Can Get a No Smoking Sticker

The next thing is when you go to a hotel, as you close the door, the very first thing that you see is a little sign that says no smoking. This is a no smoking room, and you can buy those on Amazon.

 Place a no smoking placard on the back of the door. Another thing that you might suggest is that you put inside your listing a fee. And so if you do smoke in our property, here’s how much it costs. And also on the back of the doors in hotel rooms you will find these.

There will be a little thing that says here’s the going rate for this night. And if you smoke, it’s going to be an extra $250 charge for us to come in and renovate and repair the air. That way there are no surprises, and if it happens, they’re going to go, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, I saw the sign. I read it in the listing. Okay, yeah, here’s the money.”

But if they never saw it, on the back of the door, how on Earth are they going to know? And then they’re going to say, “Well, it was never mentioned. I’m not paying that.” Now you have a different fight you’re fighting.

Where Do They Smoke If You Don’t Allow It?

If a customer smokes at your house, and you do not allow it, where are they allowed to smoke?

Do you allow them to smoke outside? And if it’s smoking outside, are they okay to smoke in the front of the house, or do you make them go smoke in the back of the property so the neighbors don’t see?

That’s up to you. That’s your personal preference. If you don’t mind smoking in front of your property, there are lots of properties that don’t have neighbors around. So, smoking in the front might be fine. Just please step outside. If you do live in a neighborhood or you live in a row of houses, you may want to say go outback. That way, there are not people smoking in the street that are strangers that nobody’s ever seen before.

Who Cleans Up the Cigarette Butts

So who cleans up the cigarette butts? Is that the landscaper? Is that the house cleaner? The guest? Who does that?

Well, in a perfect world, to answer the question, people would not throw their cigarette butts on the ground. That’s not nice. But that is part of the landscaper’s job, so if the guest is not going to clean up their cigarette butts, then that is the landscaper’s job.

When they come in and they do the mowing and the edging and the blowing, they’re going to see the cigarette butts on the ground. They need to stop and pick those up, and you might pay them extra for that. That’s a service you pay extra for. 

Should You Provide an Ashtray?

Are you obligated to provide an ashtray? You’re not obligated, no, but you should provide one. If you don’t want to pay extra for the landscaper to pick up the cigarette butts, your guests are not going to put the cigarette butts in their pocket.

That is not going to happen. So they’re going to throw them somewhere. Provide an ashtray. There are all kinds of decorative ashtrays. 

That way when they’re done smoking, they can put them in the ashtray. Let the guests know what they’re supposed to do. If you provide an ashtray, that says“Hey, throw your cigarette butts away.” If you provide cleaning supplies, tell them where they are.

Resources

DHS-S Snail Outdoor Ashtray with Lid Decorative Cigarette Ash Tray Unique Desk Gift for Home and Office – https://amzn.to/2GbTZNh

CO-Z Adjustable Outdoor Floor Standing Ashtray, Contemporary Windproof Closable Floor Stand Ashtray with Lid, Tall Outside Patio Ashtrays for Cigarettes – https://amzn.to/2Bas0u2

Outdoor/Indoor Recessed Panel Trash Can with Ash Urn 9474BL, Black, Decorative Fluted Panels, Stainless Steel Ashtray, 15 Gallon Capacity – https://amzn.to/2SkyBME

Outdoor/Indoor 8.27″ high x 5.51″ wide NO SMOKING Decal Sticker Window Door Wall stop smoke No cigarette logo **Back Self-Adhesive Vinyl – https://amzn.to/2WtubCg

No Smoking No Vapor Smoking No E Cigarettes Black White Safety Warning Round Sign – 12 Inch, Plastic – https://amzn.to/2TkkKCZ

Antique Copper Color Adhesive Backed Door Sign “No Smoking” NO SMOKING SIGN 18X18CM – https://amzn.to/2G7YWqG

Designated Smoking Area Green Sign – Smoker Zone Signage – Smoke Break Signs Plastic Single – https://amzn.to/2Ww5FAz

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