Hosting overnight guests can be both wonderful and stressful. We love to invite our friends and family into our homes, but it can be expensive and exhausting to have others interfere with our personal space. Have you ever considered just how much stress hosting guests can cause? The Sleep Judge surveyed 500 people who had recently stayed at someone else’s home and 500 people who had recently hosted others to understand how people truly feel about overnight stays. Here’s what they found.
Cost of Being a Host
It’s no surprise that your cost of living increases when you have guests stay over. From groceries to transportation, having more people in your house simply costs more. The average stay among study participants was 2.7 nights, and hosts spent an average of $245 on their most recent guests. The average cost of a hotel room in the U.S., on the other hand, is $133 per night.
According to the study, it cost less to host friends compared to parents, siblings, or other family members. Interestingly, hosts spent more in each category when “other family members,” not including parents and siblings, stayed over. On average, hosts spent more on groceries for this type of guest, while restaurant, entertainment, transportation, and alcohol budgets all increased as well.
Although friends cost less to host, people in the survey felt less obligated to host their friends than their parents, siblings, or other family members. Guests who stayed four or more nights cost their hosts $436, on average. To make up for lost time, 11.3% of hosts worked extra hours.
Overstaying Your Welcome
The 500 hosts that participated in the survey were asked how comfortable they felt hosting guests for consecutive nights. According to etiquette experts cited in the study, visitors who stay more than three consecutive nights run the risk of imposing on their hosts. The survey found that nearly 45% of hosts were comfortable with stays of two to three consecutive nights.
Fewer people were comfortable with four- or six-night stays than those who were comfortable hosting for more than seven days.
Preparing Your Home
Hosts spent an average of 4.5 hours cleaning and preparing their homes for their guests’ arrival. The survey found that hosts who were somewhat or very stressed cleaned their homes for an average of 5.4 hours, while hosts who were not at all stressed cleaned their homes for an average of 3.7 hours. Even the least stressed hosts still spent a few hours cleaning and preparing their homes for their visitors.
Guests were asked about the importance of different cleaning tasks: 53.1% said it is very important that hosts changed bed sheets before their arrival, and 39.6% of guests also thought it is very important that hosts clean the bathroom. Even though guests thought changing the bed sheets is very important, 18.7% of hosts said they don’t always do so before their visitors arrive.
House Rules
Guests are expected to abide by their hosts’ rules. Around 84% of hosts said smoking indoors without permission and taking their belongings are the most inappropriate guest behaviors. On the guests’ side, 1.6% said they’d smoked indoors without the host’s permission, and 2% of guests said they’d taken the host’s belongings. Over 78% of hosts said it is very inappropriate for guests to have sex on their couch, and 76% of hosts said it is very inappropriate for guests to have sex in their bed. However, 1 in 5 guests surveyed had sex in their host’s home.
Ready for a Sleepover?
While spending time with friends and family is a great way to connect, it can cause some mental and financial stress, including spending more on groceries and entertainment during your guests’ stay.
Giving the gift of a place to stay is a loving way to show kindness toward others, and the study found that only 6% of guests put in zero effort to show their appreciation. That means 94% of people understood and appreciated the gift they received and showed how much it meant to them. Sometimes, that’s what matters most.
