Holiday cottage clear up etiquette

[Justkeepswiimming]

I'm the last night in a holiday cottage. I've swept up and will put the dishwasher on, and will have a final wipe round tomorrow morning, sort sheets and towels into a pile, but that's the most I'll do. Is that reasonable?

I have holidayed in self catering cottages since I was small and I always remember a huge clean up effort before leaving the evening before/morning we left. Part of me resents doing too much these days. For a start I'd like to think the place is being thoroughly cleaned, so what's the point in me doing too much as it will be gone over again.

Also I feel like the checkout time moved earlier and check in moved later over Covid due to cleaning, and has never gone back. How much can you really do as well as getting up and out, before 10? And finally, even 5-10 years ago, self catering used to be the bargain holiday. That isn't the case and more, and frankly at the prices you pay, people shouldn't be expected to do too much in the way of deep cleaning. How much does everyone else do?

I had this experience. I spent hours cleaning it before we left . Some cleaners take the piss I think and claim extra hours claiming the place has been left in a mess. I always take photos now.

We were in a holiday cottage last week. Before we left we took the bins out, wiped down the surfaces in the kitchen, did the washing up and put it away, made sure the inside of the microwave was clean, and generally made sure that everything was superficially clean. We did not do any thorough cleaning but we did leave things generally clean and tidy.

@Thatsthewayitisnt good idea! It's so annoying 🤬

We won’t leave by 9.30 even if stipulated.
10 is the earliest.
we always leave towels in a pile, take out rubbish and I always wipe surfaces daily anyway and keep things clean, so it’s never that dirty.

Put clean plates etc back in cupboards and drawers. Clean surfaces, empty bins. Put used towels in bath. Ensure toilet has no marks or drips in seat. Turn down duvet to air bed. I always get reviews that say I left it spotless. I don’t expect to clean, just tidy . They charge cleaning fee as part of cost.

Things that happened in my holiday let

• Cleaners arrived to find garden littered with empty bottles and ashtrays, and hundreds of pounds of uneaten barbecue food (fillet steak etc) in the fridge- can only assume they planned a final night BBQ, got massively wasted and couldn't be bothered to cook
• A (fortunately dried out) human poo under a bed. Charitably I'm assuming they had a child who took their nappy off
• The people who put all their nappies in the recycling bin- binmen therefore refused it. We had to put it in the car and take it to the tip. There was a heatwave. I almost gag just thinking about it.
• The people who changed an explosive nappy on a cream sofa. Their reasoning: they didn't know the DC had diarrhoea. But why why why would you change a nappy on a cream sofa anyway????
• The people who managed to rip the handle off the fridge. I mean HOW???

So, OP, I think you're doing fine😂

@LaPalmaLlama we've had horrible nappy incidents too. A small bathroom bin designed for small bits of rubbish and sanitary items had three days of nappies piled in a stinking teetering tower for us to deal with.

Another toddler who smeared the sheets and some wall and carpet with 'brown'. It could have been chocolate. I didn't care to find out, the sheets were binned and the wall bleached.

Another delightful family pulled the shower hose off the wall and didn't tell us. Presumably they allowed their child to pull themselves up from the shower floor with it. I found it when cleaning and had to get a plumber out urgently on a Sunday night.

Then the one I mention above with the washing machine that was on 24 hours a day and the shitty review they left us after they destroyed it with child's hair bobbles.

Families with children have been our worst guests and always seem to damage something or leave the place in a shit heap. We've now said 'unsuitable for under 12s' refused bookings from people with kids in tow and allowed people with dogs instead who leave the place absolutely sparkling.

I tend to empty bins in case property isn't let out for a few days and cleaner might delay coming in. Dirty towels (if provided) in bath/shower, do all washing up and clean around sink area. If bad weather and mud anywhere, outside or on indoor mat, try and remove. Probably around it.

I’m genuinely aghast at reading these.

Why aghast? At people leaving the rental in a tidy state?

It was normal to have to do a big clean at the end of a stay 20-plus years ago, but that was when holiday cottages were cheap, and often there wasn't a cleaner at all, so the next guests coming in were reliant on the previous guests for cleaning. Holiday cottages could be - weren't always, but could be - absolutely awful. One of the great things about the rise in standards is not having to do the big clean any more ... and the downside is that they are so bloody expensive now.

I would never stay in a cottage that was only cleaned by previous tenants. That only happens in friend’s holiday homes. Who changes the sheets ? Nonsense.

No at the horror stories of course!

The conversation with the cleaning crew this morning after the last lot of guests left went like this:

Cleaner: There’s a smell in the kitchen and bedroom and there are loads of big flies.
Me: What does it smell like?
Cleaner: I don’t know, maybe rotten food?
Me: Have you checked for dead bodies?
Cleaner: Definitely no dead bodies. I’ve been through every cupboard and under everything.
Me: OK, well, leave the windows on the latch and disinfect just in case.
Cleaner: I have never seen so many flies in a house.
Me: 😞

Oh god, check under the floorboards!!!

Could be a dead rat somewhere.

I’m going there today to check it as fortunately we don’t have any guests in for a week or so. I would have thought that the previous guests would have called me if it wasn’t something they caused and they were only in there for three days. There was definitely no smell when I went in at the start of the week.

These particular guests have stayed before and I had to have words with them about leaving dozens of fag ends all around the back door. One of them also got drugs posted to him which unfortunately for him, didn’t arrive before he left!

Why would check in/out times be different due to COVID?

Because during the Covid pandemic we were advised to leave it empty for an hour, then go in and spray all surfaces with anti viral cleaner, leave it to work for 30 minutes then clean.

We were also told to wash every item of crockery/ cutlery/pans. We had ro wash all duvet/ mattress/ pillow protectors every time. Obviously this all took a lot longer than usual.so check in time was delayed. I think.in the end it was proved to be unnecessary but at the start it was expected. Air BnB for example sent a cleaning protocol to all hosts.

@Priminister i take it you will no longer be allowing them to stay!

I think they might make it onto my ban list.

Ah right cheers. I bet only a small percentage of owners actually did that!

I'd do the same op, sweep up, put dishes in the dishwasher and start that and put the bins out.

Well, I can only speak for myself but I did it until they told us we could stop. We had to fill in a form saying what measures we were taking and then we got accreditation to open after the first lockdown.

At the time we thought we were protecting ourselves as well as the guests. So it wasn't a selfless act!

I would expect all cutlery and crockery to be cleaned by cleaner/ dishwasher during changeovers.