What little things annoy you in a holiday home?

[Callistone]

We're in a lovely holiday home at the moment, really nice decor, plenty of crockery and cutlery, a food cupboard of cool bags and beach rugs to help yourself too, definitely one to visit again.

However they have provided three dishwasher tablets and no spare bin bags. Hardly the end of the world but for the price of the rental I always get mildly irritated when they are so stingy with something inexpensive like dishwasher tablets. If it was me I'd just have them in stock like washing up liquid.

Anything irritate you?

Laminate signs with "the rules" stuck to every surface.

@Levatrice we now live 2 hours away and have lots of short break guests so do neither check in or check out. Our cleaner comes and collects the sheets for the dry cleaners but doesn't necessarily do a full tour. She does the cleaning close to the arrival of new guests so that it remains dust free.

Tiny mugs
No side tables near comfy chairs for you to put your tea on
No pizza cutter

Slippery sofas.

Dirty crockery. I complained recently because the kitchen utensils were so full of old food. The manager of the very posh holiday agency said the cleaner doesn’t have time to open the kitchen cupboards and check inside. I thought well you are charging me £200 deposit for breakages so I’d rather you did check before I arrive.

Chopping board, sharp knife, dishwasher tabs, loo roll and hand soap I take my own. Loo roll and hand soap and hand towel is in my handbag so it’s handy to find when we arrive if it’s not there.

We stay in properties that’s cost £1,500 + a week, so I do expect good standards of cleanliness. I saw a collapsible washing up bowl and dish rack, I’m tempted to buy for our next trip away.

No bin liners and no instructions for recycling.
Not enough pillows.
Complicated cooker without instructions.
Things that fall to bits - chairs especially.

I go away with a big group every year. Our standards aren't high. As long as the sheets are clean and the water is hot, we're fine. It's always useful to know what will be provided and what is expected of us. We can take everything we need as long as we know. We now take washing up liquid, sponges, dishwasher tablets, tea towels, sharp knives, cafetière, loo roll and hand soap.

Pint glasses are warmly welcomed, as are plastic cups for the kids. Decent saucepans are loved. It takes a big old saucepan to cook pasta for 15.

Old things and a hint of damp aren't an issue. We're there for the weekend, we can cope.

Massively thick winter duvets on beds in the middle of summer, I now take my own duvets, it’s a pain but I hate being to hot in bed, who sleeps in a 13 tog in the middle of August. It makes me so mad !

Can I share my tip for emergency black out. Take a cheap roll of foil. Wipe the window with a damp cloth and the foil will stick to it no problem.

(Always take a big mug, chopping board, large pan and good knife....I'm still upset I left a good plastic spoon in South Wales I have been unable to replace! Lol. -- I'm just exctatic if we get a holiday home with a washing machine and drying facilities - line or airer is ok with me ).

No potato masher in our current holiday home! Also literally just enough bowls & plates for 6 people so having to wash up a lot. No bins in bathroom. We are still having a great time though 😀

The one that really ticks me off is people that leave a tap running. It's happened at least 3x. And it can be weeks before we realize if we don't have back to back bookings.

you mean you don't go an check after each booking that they have cleaned up, haven't left anything smelly in the fridge or bin or toilet, etc?

I’ve just stayed somewhere remote in Scotland where the fridge was tiny, you could fit in a pint of milk and a small yoghurt pot. Nearest shop was 20 miles away. No cold pantry or anywhere to store food . Expensive place too . My online review has not remained on their website ....

Gonegrey: but it's so cold up here, couldn't you just put stuff on the window sill like in the old days?

but I get it really, a remote location needs a decent sized fridge freezer because you'll be wanting to stock up for the whole trip.

That’s what I did ! But I do think I should have been warned about the very limited food storage .

Poorly dusted places. The last place we stayed had inches of dust under the beds

It also had a terrible damp problem which they disguised with plug in air freshener. And a wet room which didn’t drain properly so when you had a shower, the water seeped into the bedroom. We ended up buying our own drain unblocker to sort it!!!

This place was owner direct and I think their mum did the cleaning. And not very well.

237 posts and no one's mentioned a sieve or colander. They are rare as hens' teeth. What are you all using to drain your vegetables and rinse your fruit?

As for loo roll and dishwasher tablets: charge me an extra £5 and leave enough for one a day plus a couple of spares just in case. If the nearest shop is 7 miles away I really don't want to be making an extra journey for basics and often the car is so stuffed on the way that we don't have room for them.

And the crockery/cutlery thing. How can 8 of each thing be enough for a 'sleeps 8'? The point of being on holiday is to lounge around eating and drinking tea and coffee, not washing up all the time, specially if there are only enough dishwasher tablets to wash 2 loads in a week and one tea towel.

Good point amicissimma. Also kitchen scales. I need to weigh out pasta.

Was just thinking “read 10 pages and no one mentioned my two biggest gripes” but just been mentioned - no instructions re what can be recycled and winter weight duvets in summer. So my job on first evening of holiday is to work out which council covers the area and find their recycling page and swapping duvets over for those that took up half our boot to ensure we would be cool enough to sleep.

Other gripes are:
no shelf in shower or sometimes in bathroom at all
no toilet roll or hand wash for that “just arrived, desperate for toilet, haven’t got time to empty the boot first”
plastic or wood chopping boards with lots of scratches/cuts full of bacteria - give me hygienic glass ones please!
one small unheated towel rail for all towels
washing machine but no washing basket
washing line but no pegs
no space to store food
egg cups, cake tins, rolling pin but no grater or wooden spoon or grill pan
no small windows you can safely leave open at night
bedside lights that light up whole room so no chance of staying up reading while partner sleeps

But really the key is for them to tell you exactly what they provide - annoying to not have things but almost as annoying to bring then find you didn’t need to. Love a welcome pack but not when it provides exactly what we brought with us or a dozen eggs for four of us for a two night stay! - a pint of milk and a treat (cake, fudge or biscuits?) is perfect. Loaf of bread and some butter even better if you tell us you will provide!

Staying in lovely place at moment but with note that said “complimentary tea, coffee, milk and chocolates” but was no milk. Luckily we aren’t tea or coffee drinkers so didn’t mind but others would!

Black out curtains! An essential, you would think.

once booked a cottage - turned out to be the SHED adjacent to the cottage - which we had to drive over a cattle grid and a field full of cows with the brambles scraping down our car cos the lane to it was so narrow (DH going garrity at this point) - no phone signal, no wi fi, despite the info on the booking to the contrary, when we arrived finally the owner said ooh no don't follow the sat nav - GREAT - THANKS for that

DD fell over within 15 minutes of us being there and we had to drive 60 miles to the nearest A&E with suspected broken arm

it was a shit weekend in shitville haha - I was the moodiest cow in the field

I never got as far as finding out whether there were curtains or bin bags - we got back from A&E in the middle of the night and went home

No salt and pepper. I'll buy other spices if need be but a box of salt and pepper goes a long way to making it easy.

Board games which are missing half the pieces. I doubt the owners play them to check but it ruins the night when you planned to stay in and they're unplayable. Also lack of playing cards.

The one we just stayed in had very slightly more than 1 loo roll, & half an inch of washing up liquid - also only 4 decent sized mugs - but a boxful of dishwasher tablets, & a bottle of laundry detergent (non-bio only).

Also the kitchen, which opens on to a really tiny back yard with a 20’ high wall covered in creeper, has a 5-bulb light fitting with only 3 bulbs working. Should have mentioned that probably.

And the pop-up bathroom waste didn’t, so we had to lever it out with a knife, & leave it on the side.

BUT it’s a lovely little cottage in a fabulous spot

Over the years I've been building up a list of our essentials in self-catering places - it’s great (as long as I remember to consult it before we set off ) We always now (in UK at least, in the car) take tea, coffee, sugar, bread, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, snacks, food bags, clips & storage boxes, oven glove & decent washing-up sponges (not those useless wet nylon things). Primes the pump

Blunt knives. I had to resort to food prep prep using a bread knife. Drives me potty, why don't hosts provide a knife sharpener?

AliMonkey a chopping board should never be made from glass. That is a worktop protector. Glass is harder than steel and will blunt your knives. Also, the smooth shiny surface means that a knife could slip and cause a nasty cut.

Give me a plastic chopping board that I can put in the dishwasher. That is something I usually take from home.

Each to their own re chopping boards! I’ve used glass ones for 30 years and my knives are sharp (can always sharpen if they aren’t) and not cut myself badly or any more than I did with wooden boards. I hate using stained damaged plastic or wood ones and would feel I had to replace regularly - my glass ones are up to 20 years old and have never needed replacing despite using every day.

Inadequate heating.

Damp houses.

Blunt knives and scissors.

Insufficient pots/ pans.

Lack of coasters for hot drinks.

Things that don't work eg extractor fans

Tiny freezer/ fridge

I wouldn't expect things like dishwasher tablets though.

Am just back from a very clean, warm, well equipped self catering apartment and none of the above applied