What will you expect/ not expect in a UK holiday cottage when they reopen?

[Movinghouseatlast]

I'm just writing my new guidelines for guests as we are hoping to reopen on 4th July. There have been some changes to cleaning etc. I was just wondering what guests will think?

Check in is now 5pm instead of 3pm to allow for extra cleaning.

Guests have to strip the beds and put bedding in cotton bags.

They have to put the rubbish out. I have also asked to leave the cottage as you would wish to find it.

They are asked to leave all windows open.

All extras are being removed- throws, cushions on beds, games, additional kitchen equipment as we just don't have time to wash and disinfect it all.

I usually leave a welcome hamper of an afternoon tea, homemade bread and granola, jam and butter decanted into dishes, croissants. I am still going to do this, but wonder what people will think? I think it is safer for the guests for me to cook all these things than to buy them.

I am only going to provide a few wrapped tea bags and coffee pods- usually unlimited and loose in a jar.

I would be interested to know your thoughts! Thanks.

Cleaning materials to take a good idea.

I don't think I'm going to catch COVID19 from a cushion or a light switch and I don't want there to be changes that take account of that minuscule possibility.

People are going into work in shops and factories etc every day without them being deep cleaned overnight. Why is that different to a holiday let?

This. Exactly.

And someone will have been walking round the shop you went to earlier today, and breathing. Yet nobody has caught COVID-19 from breathing the air in shops after someone else breathed there.
Or from cushions, sofas, duvets, pillows (how on earth could you catch anything from a duvet that's inside a duvet cover), toys, games, the garden gate or the wooden table in the garden, or a peg bag or a washing line.

Most cases are from either being very close to a person or being in an air conditioned space with a person at the same time.
Just don't invite the cleaner in to have a cup of tea and you'll be fine.

It has been eye opening seeing the amount of germ phobia (irrational germ phobia because yes, not being near people and yes, washing your hands and yes, not coughing on people all help). I really didn't think people were like that in the real world! Maybe they all stay in all the time and worry on Mumsnet.

5leafpenguin am not sure self catering is for you!!

It's not that disinfectant is expensive- it's the extra time it takes to first clean with hot soapy water (and that's everything- all surfaces, door handles, switches everything you can think of) and then when they are dry, go over them all again with a bleach or viricidal solution.

Like many of you I think this is overthinking- but if it's in the guidance then it is what owners will have to do.

The suggestions of two lots of stuff (games cushions etc) are good and in my plan.

Quite frankly I just wish everything were back to normal and I could go back to only having to worry about the snails eating my dahlias and the next holiday with the grandkids- but we are where we are so we just have to make the best of it.

I am another person who would like to see one single case that has incontravertibly been caught from a surface. Everyone seems to know someone who knows someone who hasn't set foot outside for ten weeks and STILL managed to catch Covid, but there don't seem to be any 'actual' cases that aren't Friend of a Friend and provably from shopping/mail/cushions etc.

I work in a shop. If disinfecting shopping was so vital, why are shopworkers who are in contact with the stuff all the time, not disproportionately affected? Ditto postal workers?

I am so pleased i do not have to deal with the public in my job.

@averylongtimeago

So, reading the latest posts the MN position seems to be: You want to arrive as early as possible and leave as late as possible- earliest departure at 10am and latest arrival at 4pm. You want everything spotless but not smelling of bleach or chemicals. Your cars are all full so you probably don't want to bring your own bedding or towels. You want all the little extras - comfy cushions (but not in the bedroom) games, heaps of kitchen stuff, dvds, some (wrapped) welcome basket food stuffs.... You don't want to do any cleaning before you leave - some even think emptying waste bins is too much, although most seem ok with stripping beds.

But you don't want to pay extra to cover the cost of any disinfection procedures or the purchase of extra items so the owner can swap stuff in and out each week for quarantine.

Because I expect only the normal cleaning and whatever was advertised when I booked and paid for the service. If you want to charge more for this I'd rather the price is increased so that I could choose whether or not I want to book. The costs of running your business is not the problem for your clients, their problem is paying for the service. No, I don't want to do any cleaning whilst I'm on holiday so pay for cleaning services. I'm there to have a holiday.

If you can't meet the costs of running your business you either increase the cost or you sell up. That's how it works.

Personally if I were such a germophobe I would stay at home. No, I don't want to pack bedding and extra kitchen stuff, then I have to unpack it, haul it back to my home (which is on the first floor and I have to park in the street, a colony flat), so I'd rather pay for these services. I'll find someone who will offer the services in exchange for money.

@ComeBy

I am so pleased i do not have to deal with the public in my job.

It sucks but then, often times, it's a choice. My h hates working with the public so he works nights in a warehouse.

If you can't meet the costs of running your business you either increase the cost or you sell up. That's how it works.

In this case it's not the costs it's the time. Disinfectant is cheap.

As others have said we will have to clean twice. Once to remove physical dirt which is what we do normally and again to disinfect pretty much everything a guest might come in contact with. That's most of the accommodation over and above the kitchens and bathrooms that are sanitised anyway.

Whether guests like it or not, need it or not, we will have to adhere to the new guidelines if we want our liability insurance to cover us. If that's not acceptable then you'll have to find somewhere that cuts corners and lets you in early.

It's only a matter of time before the first Daily Mail sad faces of family x suing a cottage owner when they've picked up Covid-19 on holiday and grandma has died. How they'd prove that is another matter but still...

We also have a duty of care to our cleaners - very few comments here take account of the risk that you, the guests, pose to them. Stripping the beds will cause the virus to become airborne and is a huge risk to them even masked. We can mitigate this by asking guests to strip beds but it seems a significant number of you are not willing to do even that.

Apologies to the few considerate sensible ones on this thread.

Time is money, though. Adhering to the guidelines means either hiring in more staff and bumping up the costs or offering the later check in, which again, fine, as long as it's advertised accordingly. Plenty are fine with paying for the extra costs because they don't want to do it themselves or pack extra belongings. People who don't want a 5pm check in or a 7pm check in will find somewhere else to lodge. No one is saying otherwise. If it doesn't work for them, they need to find somewhere else to hire for their holiday.

The OP asked for peoples' opinions and thoughts, if business holiday let owners want to get huffy about those opinions, perhaps it's time to consider other options.

Who wouldn’t strip beds? I do anyway and always have.

I argue your logic though. The virus isn’t airborne. It’s not doing to spring up form a sheet being wafted around. It’s droplet borne. I am not a fluid dynamicist but do droplets of body fluid fly up from sheets being striped from beds slept in several hours earlier? Seems unlikely.

Saying that, people who want OTT cleaning beyond guidelines like fecking sealed boxes with lists on when they were disinfected, the sanitised welcome basket with individually wrapped and sealed packaging (more stuff to chuck in the bin but if you die of climate change, at least it's not Covid) had better be prepared to pay for that extra service.

@AnneBullen

Who wouldn’t strip beds? I do anyway and always have.

I wouldn’t. I hire places with a cleaning charge, so I don’t expect to be doing any of that myself.

We’re a clean and tidy family anyway so we don’t make mess but if I’m on holiday and I’m paying for the place to be cleaned afterwards, I’m not doing any of the job for them.

@DisobedientHamster

Saying that, people who want OTT cleaning beyond guidelines like fecking sealed boxes with lists on when they were disinfected, the sanitised welcome basket with individually wrapped and sealed packaging (more stuff to chuck in the bin but if you die of climate change, at least it's not Covid) had better be prepared to pay for that extra service.

Nobody brings bags to the supermarket now. They all buy new plastic bags. It's like they can only worry about one thing at a time, and Covid has won, to climate change's loss.

Plus I have to handle the plastic bags so it's an extra point of contact, but they don't seem to think about that.

I have to say I'm surprised by all these people who normally have check-ins at 2pm and 3pm. Pre covid the standard Ive seen is 4pm entry.

I would want a discount for a 5 pm booking. That's too late. 3pm is pretty late but 5pm is taking the piss. And if you're steaming curtains and mattresses won't they be wet? Have covers on the bed and change the curtains to plastic or wooden blinds for easy cleaning.

I bring my own bags to the supermarket and don't buy new bags

I am thinking that in a pandemic most cottage owners would gladly and happily do their best to ensure their guests do not catch the virus and keel over and die. I am detecting a certain tight arsed meanness to it all. Lets add 3p for the cleaning the doorknobs as I had to clean those on my way out, 5p for the extra strong disinfectant etc.

If you are truly this sad about protecting your guests from a virus that could kill them, then it says more about you than anything else.

NO ONE is expecting a full deep extermination of the premises, together with steam and boiling every inch of the bloody cottage, not to mention the garden. No, all that is needed is to be extra careful when it is cleaned, wear gloves, take precautions and make your guests aware that every effort has been made to keep them safe via a standard email or a letter on the kitchen table. Thats it!!!

If you are really struggling to offer such basic service and kindness maybe it is the wrong industry for you.

I would expect a nice clean property as I would at any other time. I certainly wouldn't expect anything g over and above. An afternoon tea or little welcome pack would be lovely and a nice surprise.
I can't believe some of the things being suggested on this thread but it is most entertaining.

I'd be a bit gutted about the 5pm check in and removal of items like cushions. Especially if sofas arent very comfy without them.
What if it's raining heavily? Would you still want people to leave windows open?
Also wouldn't be very happy about stripping beds tbh. It is supposed to be a holiday after all.
I agree if people are that worried then they probably shouldn't be going away in the first place!
Which kitchen items are you removing?

NO ONE is expecting a full deep extermination of the premises

well, as a previous poster states, their business insurance expects this.

I would just continue with whatever you do normally. A later check in will be inconvenient for a lot of people. The welcome basket also sounds great, don't see how it's different to eating a takeout from a cafe.

Personally I just want it to be normal. Normal amount of cleaning as it would have been, normal decor and and the usual 3pm check in / 10am check out. I don't think I'm going to catch COVID19 from a cushion or a light switch and I don't want there to be changes that take account of that minuscule possibility

Amen to that.

The welcome basket also sounds great, don't see how it's different to eating a takeout from a cafe.

lancaster Cafe’s are held to strict hygiene, health and safety standards.

Some random who has decided to be an amateur business owner and rent out a self catering property isn’t. They don’t have rated kitchens and nobody knows where the foods been or how it’s been handled previously.