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?

Not being properly cleaned is my biggest issue, I think a lot of owners rely on the previous holidaymakers cleaning before they leave. The plates and cutlery are almost always a bit sticky/grubby and need washing.

I don't like it if it's on top of other holiday lets and there's no privacy and insufficient parking.

One tea towel for a week, lack of bin bags, only one loo roll. Crap frying pans that are not non stick. Tiny towels that will barely wrap around my middle (and I'm only size 12)

Over the years I have learned what is likely to be either absent or crap.

So coming with us will be:
Kitchen scissors
Veg knife
Bread/carving knife
Our 'holiday' mugs (which have been bought whilst on previous holidays, and are a peculiar and totally random mis-matched collection of charity shop finds)
Toilet roll
Kitchen roll
Matches
Corkscrew
Clingfilm
Foil
Food bags
Carrier bags
String for making an impromptu washing line & a handful of pegs
Small quantity of washing powder in a tupperware box
Wet wipes
Air freshener
Dishcloths
Teatowels
Washing up liquid
Antibac spray
Wet wipes
Small radio
Screwdriver
One of those cube things for plugging more than one plug in a socket at a time

I can manage to squeeze all that lot in a relatively small space these days

(Do they just take stuff they don't want at home?)

This made me laugh - my own home is furnished with bits that have been retired from the holiday let for looking a bit "tired". That includes, towels, bedding and the microwave along with lampshades cushions and even curtains!

It's the same with most cottage owners I know!

Bad lighting, especially in the bathroom! Dirty kitchen/bathroom (mould etc) and lack of mirrors! We stayed in a place recently that had no floor length mirror, well actually it had no mirrors in the whole place apart from the bathroom cabinet mirror, and the lighting in the bathroom was awful.

Everything was sticky in the bathroom and kitchen

Also lack of plug sockets. And having them in handy places.

-miss-matched glasses, all of which are too small
-small mugs
-thin, scratchy towels
-folders crammed full of local attraction leaflets, several duplicates and lots of out of date flyers
-the 'fridge not being turned on when we arrive
-finding out the garden is shared use, either with other holiday lets or the owners
-no parking

things that have totally enhanced our holidays are
-friendly visiting cat who wants to come and curl up on the hearth, (we've had this a few times, much to ddog's dismay )
-fresh flowers
-little welcome packs -especially home made biscuits/fudge/bread
-bottle of wine
-discount vouchers for local shops/restaurant/attractions
-parking disk for local town
-well-stocked bird feeders in the garden
-spare dog bowls/leads/blankets/towels
-free access to logs/fuel, instead of 'first basket free then buy your own'
-booster button for extra hot water
-lots of nice crockery, huge mugs,generous and matching wine glasses, champagne flutes

We are currently in a wonderfully equipped holiday home. Totally furnished from scratch rather than Granny’s old sofa. Arrived to a gorgeous welcome basket. All basics already here. Glasses, proper mugs, sharp knives, decent toaster. Ice cream in the freezer ( they make it next door), milk and butter in the fridge. Full cleaning equipment in utility room and a Hoover. Decent towels and bedding. Garden, off road parking. Possibly could have thicker curtains in kids room but they’re ok.
Lots of games, DVDs, books, things to do leaflets. Info on local pubs and park.
Pub & play area 5 min walk and park similar.
Only issue is it’s open plan and ds wouldn’t stay in one place for the first two days.

Horrible, mean uncomfortable furniture. I'm just back from a place with a tiny wee chair in the sitting room and a horrible slippery leather sofa. Also tiny mugs, no tea bags, rubbish pots and crockery, 'if you want to buy any of the plants it's £x (they were cuttings) amd annoying 'polite notices' everywhere. Mean spirited and dispiriting. Oh, and expensive.

What was in your welcome basket if you don't mind me asking?im always trying to get this right.

(Do they just take stuff they don't want at home?)

This made me laugh - my own home is furnished with bits that have been retired from the holiday let for looking a bit "tired". That includes, towels, bedding and the microwave along with lampshades cushions and even curtains!

It's the same with most cottage owners I know!

Me too - even down to the toilet roll! Our guests get a brand new roll each time, we use the dregs at home.

Yes yes to sticky surfaces and crockery.

Genuine question though - do owners not check the properties between bookings? Is it all left to a cleaner to check?

I don't think I've ever spent less than £800 a week for a holiday let. So it really irritates me when the owner decides that 3 dishwasher tablets for the week is ok. I'm not expecting them to leave a huge catering pack of Fairy Platinum (ripe for the taking) but 4 extra Lidl tablets is going to cost about 40p isn't it?

On the flip side we spend less than £500 on a shabby caravan in August, right on the beach. The owner has an honest policy so leaves boxes of dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, cleaning stuff and food ingredients and just asks people buy more if they run out. They leave wine, cake and milk and then have more wine, beers, homemade jams which you can buy by leaving money in a tin. I think the good vibe means people are super honest - we certainly are.

No pint glasses
No instructions on white goods and shower
Blunt knives
One tea towel

On our way home now.
Being asked to bring bedding but not told "double" meant "King size", had to go to nearest ikea. Normally a king sized bed is a bonus.
No washing up liquid. Even some in a small bottle would have been OK.
I take mugs from home these days to avoid tiny mug disappointment.

Blunt knives, dishwasher always needing sodding salt/rinse aid ...

Read a bit more.
I treat self catering like a sort of camping-lite so we did take a decent knife, frying pan, condiments, etc. Unless it's somewhere with a decent list or I've been before. It's hard to please everyone.

... and obviously if you're lucky they've left you two budget dishwasher tablets in the first place

Glass tables. Lots of breakable ornaments and tippable vases.

We're away right now. I know that lots of holiday home owners mean about properties being left dirty, but here, on arrival, there were no cleaning products or cloths, no dustpan, no bin liners, not even the tiniest drop of fairy liquid. I'd always assumed it was in owners' interests to encourage keeping the place clean and so provide at least the basics.

Other current gripes are listing that the bathroom has a bath (one reason we chose this place when lots have showers) but neglecting to mention that there's only enough hot water in the tank to fill it a quarter full. And fewer knives and forks than there are beds to sleep in.

Well I'm in Norfolk at the moment and this cottage is really good. Plentiful supplies, loo roll, toiletries, cleaning supplies, soft towels. Never seen one as generous as this before. Also tea and (instant) coffee, sugar, oil, salt & pepper. A welcome basket with a pint of milk, nice cookies and a jar of home made jam. Space in the cupboards, and enough (8-12 for occupancy of 4-5) of cutlery and crockery, large mugs, 3 sizes of plates, 3 of bowls and even a cast iron casserole (and a Cafétiere, but I had to supply the ground coffee). The knives are sharp (ish). Comfy furniture, plenty of seats for everyone. Ok I'll stop, I did choose with care and it's not cheap. Broadband is good (at least good enough for 4 simultaneous users two of whom are watching YouTube) but phone reception nil (we were warned).
Minor niggles: light curtains without blackout lining, and motion detector switches in the bathroom, which are really handy but go off after 30sec, so if I sit down and relax a bit for a moment I end up in the dark and have to wave my hand to switch it back on. Could do with a few more serving / larger bowls in the kitchen. But I am being nitpicky now.

I'm always very careful to scrutinize the descriptions regarding parking so never had any surprises there.

A few years back I was booking cheaper rentals and my niggles mirror those of everyone above. I guess you get what you pay for? I always take with me a box of kitchen essentials including knives, salt, dishwashing bits, loo roll etc. It's a bonus when I don't have to unpack it. The linen not included seems to be a lot more common abroad.

The bad examples we've had (UK): 4 crap mismatched mugs, one of them so cracked I didn't want to use it, so we were constantly washing cups! That one also had a bunk bed where the bottom space was so low you could not sit on the bed. Probably because otherwise there would not have been enough headroom for the top bunk. Oh and a dubious sofa with a throw that kept slipping off. But the cottage was in a nice location...

But now our approach to holidaying has changed a bit and we spend a lot more time in the cottage so I choose with more care and attention to decor and comfort, not just location and price, and scrutinize all photos and reviews I can find.

Oh and no freezer at all. We ordered fish fingers and ice cream to a National Trust cottage which only had a fridge, no freezer. We were lucky the cleaner was turning over the next door cottage which had the one icebox freezer of the row of 3, and she swapped it.

No hand-soap or bin liners! In an otherwise lovely holiday cottage in Derbyshire!

Oh and yes I know lots of people holiday as adult couples but nobody seems to rent two bed places with twin beds. It's easy to get zip ones and it's very hard to stop siblings sharing a bed from fighting.

@HundredMilesAnHour which mattress topper was it out of interest? On the lookout for one at the moment and you have me sold!