How Smell Affects Your Airbnb Rating
Smell is one of the most immediately noticeable and most emotionally impactful aspects of arriving at a short-let property. Unlike a dirty surface that requires inspection to notice, an unpleasant smell hits a guest the moment they open the door. It creates an instant, difficult-to-reverse negative impression — and guests who had an otherwise good stay will still leave a one or two-star review if the property smelled bad.
For Airbnb specifically, the "Cleanliness" rating subcategory captures smell complaints even when guests do not explicitly describe it as a cleaning issue. A pattern of 3–4 star cleanliness ratings from otherwise positive guests is a strong signal that smell is the unspoken problem.
The financial impact is significant. A property consistently rated 4.7 or below in cleanliness will see reduced booking rates and lower occupancy, particularly in competitive London neighbourhoods where guests have many alternatives. The cost of professional treatment — once or twice a year — is typically recovered within 2–3 additional bookings at higher occupancy.
Most Common Short-Let Odour Problems
- Cooking smell: The most common issue in well-used short-let properties. London guests frequently cook curries, fish, and other strongly-scented food. The smell embeds in kitchen surfaces, soft furnishings and carpets over time.
- Unreported cigarette or vape smoking: Guests who smoke outdoors still bring smoke compounds indoors on clothing. Guests who smoke indoors despite a no-smoking policy often do so in bathrooms or with windows open — neither of which prevents indoor contamination.
- Pet smell from guest animals: Properties that allow pets accumulate dander and urine compounds over time. Even a single pet guest can leave detectable smell that affects subsequent reviews.
- General “lived-in” smell: Body odour, sebaceous oils and moisture from occupancy build up in bedding, mattresses and soft furnishings. In a property with high occupancy, this accumulates faster than monthly cleaning removes it.
- Damp and ventilation issues: Short-let properties are frequently left closed between guests, allowing humidity to build up and musty smell to develop. Properties with poor natural ventilation are particularly susceptible.
Cooking Smell Between Guests
Cooking smell is the hardest to prevent because it is a legitimate guest activity. The practical approach is to make it as easy as possible for smell to dissipate between stays:
- Extraction: Ensure the kitchen extractor fan is powerful and working correctly. Clean the filter monthly — a blocked filter circulates grease back into the kitchen. If the extraction is inadequate, consider upgrading it.
- Immediate post-guest ventilation: Open all windows for at least 2 hours immediately after a checkout before cleaning begins. Warm air escapes and takes cooking VOCs with it.
- Surface cleaning sequence: Kitchen surfaces, hob and splashback cleaned with a degreasing product before anything else. Cooking smell compounds cling to greasy surfaces and continue off-gassing until the grease is removed.
- Soft furnishings: If the kitchen opens onto a living area, sofas and cushions near the kitchen accumulate cooking smell. Rotate and air cushion covers regularly. Baking soda treatment of upholstery quarterly helps.
For properties with very high occupancy or where cooking smell is a recurring review complaint, professional fogging treatment between seasons is the most effective intervention — it addresses the compound residue in surfaces and fabrics that cleaning does not reach.
Unreported Smoking: The Hidden Problem
Unreported smoking is one of the most significant and most underestimated odour risks in short-let properties. Even guests who smoke on a balcony or outside bring smoke compounds indoors on their clothing and hair, and these deposit on soft furnishings and bedding over time.
Guests who smoke indoors — particularly in bathrooms with the extractor running or near open windows — believe they are not leaving a detectable trace. They almost always are, and the next guest notices it immediately.
Signs of unreported indoor smoking: cigarette smell strongest in bathroom or bedroom; yellow-brown staining on ceiling or near windows; smell that is noticeably worse in warm weather or when the heating comes on.
Practical responses:
- Include smoke detectors linked to your smart home system (some models alert remotely to smoke)
- Clearly photograph and document the property condition at the start of each stay via your check-in process
- If indoor smoking is confirmed, the cost of professional odour treatment can be claimed from the guest through the Airbnb Resolution Centre — document with photographs and a professional treatment invoice
For a property where unreported smoking has occurred, surface cleaning is insufficient. The cigarette smell compounds have embedded in walls, ceiling, soft furnishings and carpet. Professional treatment is needed before the property can be re-let with confidence.
Pet Smell from Guest Animals
Properties that allow pets face a cumulative odour challenge. Each pet-accompanied stay deposits dander and potentially urine compounds in the carpet and soft furnishings. Over time, even with regular cleaning, this accumulates in the backing of carpets and in the foam of sofas.
- Charge a cleaning supplement for pet stays that covers enzyme treatment of the carpet in the areas the pet used
- Use a UV torch to check carpets for urine deposits after pet stays — dried pet urine is invisible under normal light
- Consider replacing carpets with hard flooring in properties that accept pets — hard flooring is significantly easier to clean thoroughly and does not retain dander and urine compounds
Prevention Routine Between Guests
A systematic routine between every guest check-out significantly reduces smell build-up:
- Open all windows immediately on check-out — before cleaning begins, ventilate for 1–2 hours
- Strip all bedding and launder at 60°C minimum with an enzyme detergent
- Clean kitchen extraction filter and all cooking surfaces with a degreasing product
- Baking soda on all upholstery — leave 30 minutes while cleaning, then vacuum off
- Check bathroom for any smoke residue (ceiling, near windows)
- Run all drains for 30 seconds each to refill P-traps
- Leave windows slightly open until the next guest arrives if weather permits
Periodic Professional Treatment
Even with a good between-guest routine, smell compounds accumulate in the surfaces of a busy short-let property over months. Professional fogging and ozone treatment once or twice a year — ideally between peak seasons — resets the property to a genuinely neutral baseline.
This is particularly valuable for properties that:
- Allow cooking with no restrictions
- Accept pets
- Have had confirmed or suspected smoking incidents
- Are receiving recurring cleanliness complaints despite thorough cleaning
- Are being prepared for photography or a pricing increase
For London short-let properties, we offer flexible scheduling including weekday treatment that completes before the next guest arrival. Treatment typically takes 4–8 hours including the ozone cycle, and the property is ready for guests from the same evening.
After a Smell Incident: Documentation and Recovery
If a guest leaves the property with a significant smell problem — confirmed smoking, a pet accident, or severe cooking smell — the process is:
- Photograph the condition at checkout
- Document the smell with a written description and any witness confirmation
- Get a professional treatment quote before contacting Airbnb
- Submit the claim through the Airbnb Resolution Centre within 14 days of checkout
- Attach the treatment invoice as evidence of loss
We can provide a written treatment report for Airbnb dispute purposes. Keep the invoices — Airbnb accepts professional remediation costs as valid claims against guests who violate house rules.
Treatment Cost for Short-Let Properties
- Essential (ozone only, pre-cleaned property): from £495 + VAT
- Advanced (fogging + ozone): from £695 + VAT — recommended for ongoing maintenance
For short-let hosts with multiple properties, we offer discounted rates for regular treatment schedules. Full pricing guide →