Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Why no welcome pack?

76 replies

wowfudge · 10/10/2020 07:37

We're away in an Airbnb in the UK and there's no welcome pack due to Covid 19. I realise I may be being dim, but why is this? I can understand not giving you things like loose tea bags, but why not a pint of milk or wrapped items?

OP posts:
BillysMyBunny · 10/10/2020 10:38

Maybe to reduce how often the owners need to go to the shops? They can’t bulk buy things like pints of milk etc so would have to go to the shop before every changeover.

Sheknowsaboutme · 10/10/2020 10:41

My friend owns a holiday cottage and provides a welcome pack of milk, barabrith, wine and individually wrapped coffee/tea

toffeekiwi · 10/10/2020 10:45

@Caspianberg

In the uk I think theirs lots of rental restrictions right now. Every welcome pack would have to be bought and not touched for 3 days before guests, which I guess is a) unrealistic b) off milk
A bottle of long life milk would be within date. We have a milkman and he delivers the fresh milk and also a bottle of long life milk which I keep in the fridge on standby - it's real milk, not the UHT stuff. It's 95p a bottle so not extortionate.
Gwenhwyfar · 10/10/2020 10:49

"Because if it really were the case that you could catch it from groceries or whatever there would be documented cases, and there aren't."

It can't be proven either way, can it?
I've certainly heard of people who claim they went nowhere and saw nobody and caught it from deliveries. Who knows whether that's true or not?

CakeGirl2020 · 10/10/2020 10:49

I stayed in a holiday cottage last week and they had provided a pint of milk, a wrapped shop brought lemon cake, individual tea bags & sugar sachets. Also had a bottle of cooking oil & herbs in the cupboard. Yes When I’m paying ££££ for a cottage I do expect these touches, I mean even low budget premium inn provides tea/coffee.

It’s laughable some don’t provide them due to Covid, so you can sleep in the beds, touch the kettle etc but a pint of milk and you die 🙄

BlackeyedSusan · 10/10/2020 10:52

we got chocolates, wine, and a tin of biscuits. I think we got milk as well. but we always take our own so can't remember. didn't get the usual coffee and tea bags though but did get a bottle of hand sanitiser.

BlackeyedSusan · 10/10/2020 10:54

oh and thankfully no cushions on the bed and no half used jars of food in teh cupboard.

RebeccaCloud9 · 10/10/2020 10:54

100% definitely people are using Covid as an excuse to be tight and get out of all sorts of stuff. My husband works for a business that has done very well during this time, no one on furlough, no loss of business, extra business from Covid. They are not paying bonuses because of Covid.

They are not paying bonuses because they can get away with it using Covid as an excuse.

burglarbettybaby · 10/10/2020 10:55

I think these few little thoughts like leaving tea bags/milk makes such a difference. Most people appreciate them.

RationalOne · 10/10/2020 10:57
  1. Increased cleaning costs and so attempting to cut costs in other ways.
  1. Using Covid as an excuse to drop things they don't want to do anymore.
RebeccaCloud9 · 10/10/2020 10:59

The way people interpret the rules is ridiculous sometimes.

Gwenhwyfar · 10/10/2020 10:59

Having said that, I think it's unlikely and I'd of course accept milk bought by someone else, just like I'd accept milk put on the shop shelf by someone else or touched by the cashier. Other people will always have touched your food at some point. If I have some to hand, I use disinfectant wipes just in case.

VinylDetective · 10/10/2020 11:01

@Gwenhwyfar

"Because if it really were the case that you could catch it from groceries or whatever there would be documented cases, and there aren't."

It can't be proven either way, can it?
I've certainly heard of people who claim they went nowhere and saw nobody and caught it from deliveries. Who knows whether that's true or not?

Anecdote isn’t documentary evidence.
Wheytaminute · 10/10/2020 11:02

It's nonsense

How hard can it be to (if you were that bothered) wash a bottle of milk, wipe down the teabag packet, biscuit packet ?

I wouldn't be bothered about a welcome pack like that as I don't use milk, and don't like instant coffee so would be wasted. I would prefer the French holiday let welcome packs some of which have been epic - a tray of Prosciutto and Melon and a tray of bruschetta (ready for us to bake when we arrived) plus wine.. ;)

I was more upset by a recent hotel stay when the fantastic full English breakfast had been substituted for a continental in a bag, delivered to your hotel room door step. Angry

Gwenhwyfar · 10/10/2020 11:03

"Anecdote isn’t documentary evidence."

I never said it was. My point is that there is no evidence that it is NOT transmitted via shopping, deliveries, etc. either. It makes sense to me to err on the side of caution if that does not disrupt your life too much e.g. if I buy things from the shop and bring them home, I disinfect them, if I buy something to eat while I'm out and about, I don't obviously.

Gwenhwyfar · 10/10/2020 11:05

"I was more upset by a recent hotel stay when the fantastic full English breakfast had been substituted for a continental in a bag, delivered to your hotel room door step. angry"

I sympathise, but I can also see how it may not have been possible to socially distance enough in the hotel dining room if it's very small or gets very busy.

AllDayHappyHour · 10/10/2020 11:07

In the uk I think theirs lots of rental restrictions right now. Every welcome pack would have to be bought and not touched for 3 days before guests, which I guess is a) unrealistic b) off milk

That is batshit crazy 😂. So they can go in and make up the beds or leave new sheets, clean the place, touch everywhere but not touch the milk as Covid only spreads on a milk carton.

FML

loulouljh · 10/10/2020 11:07

Sounds odd//we stayed in one at the end of the Summer hols and the usual stuff was there...including a bottle of prosecco!

AllDayHappyHour · 10/10/2020 11:07

^^ not the mention the supermarket workers who also touched the milk carton.

NewlyGranny · 10/10/2020 11:12

We're just back from a week away in a cottage (going from one low-Covid area to another) and had the usual bottle of wine, litre of milk and a shop cake as a welcome.

I would not have thanked the hosts for leaving other people's part-used condiments in the cupboards, I must say!

VinylDetective · 10/10/2020 11:13

there is no evidence that it is NOT transmitted via shopping, deliveries, etc. either.

That’s because you can’t prove a negative.

yearinyearout · 10/10/2020 11:16

Yes we had the same in our last Airbnb a month ago in a place that said they provide a welcome pack, and I thought it was a bit of a piss take really given the price we paid. I don't buy the "needs to be quarantined for three days" excuse either. We ended up having to go back out in the car for miles to the nearest town to get supplies at 8pm.

Aragog · 10/10/2020 11:19

I know all cutlery, crockery, glasses and pots and pans are rewashed even if clean.

Yes, and then picked up out of the dishwasher and put into a cupboard or drawer using their hands.

Or towels and bedding are washed but then put in beds using their hands. Do you think they wear a fresh pair of gloves for each item?

Do you really think they rewashthe door handles and light switches as they leave after cleaning the house?

And why can hotels etc still have tea and coffee in rooms, etc?

Those who wouldn't pick up a bottle of milk placed there by someone else, how do you function leaving your home? Almost everything has been touched by someone else!

I'd assume it was a cost cutting exercise on behalf of the host.

HaggieMaggie · 10/10/2020 11:26

There was another thread like this recently, we stayed in the lakes in July, welcome pack was included including bread, milk, butter and a bottle of wine and a single hand sanitiser for each person.

IwishIwasyoda · 10/10/2020 11:26

covid being used as an excuse. We went to self-catering place in July and still got a packet of biscuits. Don't see why a welcome pack is any different to place still providing handwashes in the bathroom TBC.

We had to strip all own beds and put towels in a laundry bag though. And for some reason they were unable to reconfigure zip n link beds to a super king size because of Covid (go figure)

Swipe left for the next trending thread