How much to expect to be included within a holiday cottage?

[luckysdadsway]

We are currently away for 7 nights in a beautiful holiday cottage. We paid £2000 for the week.

Little things have really irritated me. There is a dishwasher for example but not a single dishwasher tablet included, a washing machine but no wash tablet, a fancy coffee machine but not coffee pods for it. No washing up liquid, the only bin bag included was the one in the bin. For a family of 5 for the week, one bin bag wouldn't be enough!

The instructions clearly say leave as you found it. I'm happy to do that, but surely if they want me to clean then they'd at least provide a dish cloth and some surface spray? Perhaps I've been spoilt in the past, however I'm sure even a haven caravan we've stayed in had a little cleaning bundle with a dish cloth, washing up liquid etc.

What would you expect to be included at that price point?

As a guest I never would either

I'd expect at least small amounts of these things to be provided, so that you can at least manage until you pop to the shops.

I own an airbnb (run by a professional host) and all that stuff is provided (not 100% sure about washing machine tablets, but I think so). We're a bit stingy on the coffee pods as they are expensive, but there are 8 or so.

@caringcarer will you have just the one holiday place? Are you local to it?

I haven't but I know Sykes charge a lot for people to stay so I thought it nice to provide a few basics in case people arrive late and shops closed. It would cost less than £10.

@caringcarer They've outsourced a lot of their support to AI functions, rather than actual people, which means when there are issues people don't tend to get any helpful reply (if they get one at all) which then pisses off customers and leads to more poor reviews!

I also know of people who have reported that Sykes has held their money (property owners) for extended periods of time before releasing it which has an an impact on them financially.

When I was first setting up our property as a holiday let, I considered using them but they charged twice the amount that the other competitors did (in terms of their fees for maintaining the property and handling things).

Is this more of a hobby for you rather than a business
Because to be making decisions re what you’ll provide without knowing the rent to be charged and costs involved - seems premature

Please do point it out on the review so other people know what to expect and can plan accordingly.

i think at £2k they should have supplied loo roll and a kitchen pack with washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets and cloths/ sponges. It's also nice to get washing liquid to use in the washing machine.

Just got back from 10 days in Spain 2 different places at €2800 so much cheaper than your £2k for 1 week. Both places provided washing up liquid and loo roll aplenty and the first place foil, cling film and greaseproof paper as well as washing machine tablets. The second place was a hotel so it wasn't unexpected that there was no washing machine tablets. Neither place had a dishwasher and neither place supplied coffee. One place supplied salt and kitchen roll.

Same. We always take everything, including fairy liquid and tea towels.
We did have a pleasant surprise at one airbnb as that had a couple of dishwasher tabs, a couple of coffee pods and even some home made biscuits as a welcome.
I would never expect soap for the washing machine or dishwasher tabs tbh. They are facilities available for your use, should you wish to use them, so I don’t expect the consumables to be provided as they are an extra, not an essential.

Honestly I am stunned by this.

Me too

Imagine packing fairy, and tea towels, and kitchen spray etc etc

for a holiday!

It needs to cover it's costs for mortgage and to pay management service. I'll be using it a few weekends and letting my sister and a few friends borrow it too. I'd expect it to make a small profit but I'm not expecting it to make me rich because it's only a small 2 bedroom house, albeit on the promenade with an amazing view overlooking the sea. I'm leaving a box in the small back garden with seaside buckets, spades, rakes, kites, sand chairs, a wind break and other sand toys too for guests to use on the beach.

You must be choosing seriously budget accommodation @IAmComfortablyNumbed to never expected t anything better

I have never ever rocked up and no fairy, toilet roll, dishwater tabs, bin bags etc

because I read every review and only 4.9 and above

suggest you do the same unless you want to carry on this palaver!

Classic cottages iirc provide an itinery of kitchen utensils that come as standard in all their cottages. I seem to remember the o e we stayed in was fairly well equipped, as was toad hall cottages.
We usually take oil, salt and pepper and a sharp knife, but I wouldn't be packing half the kitchen with me. On another thread, a person said they took their own mattress away which is all kinds of mind boggling!

Forget the kites. They’ll get tangled on first use. Waste

the rest good stuff

Agree. It wouldn’t be any kind of holiday for me.

Haven't RTFT but I ran a (big, 4 bed) self catering holiday cottage a few years ago at my previous property.

It was very rural so I took the view that it was nice to provide basic consumables for a couple of days, then people could stock up when it suited them as everyone went out most days. So every loo had a new loo roll, the handwash was topped up at every sink, we left a few dishwasher tablets and some washing up liquid, plus a new sponge and clean tea towel. We always had spray cleaner in the kitchen and bathrooms with a clean J cloth, too. I always made it clear in bookings what was and wasn't included so it wasn't a surprise when people arrived.

I also made a cake for all new arrivals and left tea, coffee and a jug of milk. There was always at least one spare bin bag and all bins had fresh bags in.

Edit: we also left salt, pepper and oil in the kitchen. People used to complain when we left things like herbs and vinegar, thinking they'd be useful, so we stopped that.

It wasn't a hotel so I saw no reason to provide more than this, and all my guests were happy with this.

And the car must be utterly rammed!

one poster brings an oven roasting dish!

I have a bag of basics that I keep topped up and take with us to any holiday cottage. Rarely need most things in it (maybe the tin foil and sandwich bags). We don’t go back to cottages that are stingy with the essentials, as we often find there are other issues with them like unkempt gardens, broken fences etc, but I don’t expect a full array of spices etc. Nice if it’s offered but not essential. Bin bags and toilet roll, definitely.
I avoid Sykes completely. Accidentally booked an Air BnB hosted by them last year and they tried to insist on overriding with their own T&Cs - register with them, pay a damage deposit of £350 etc. I just ignored it and the owner got in touch as normal, very friendly and helpful, we book direct with them now. Sykes also refused to post my review on Air BnB and tried to make me sign up as their customer - nope! I don’t know if the owner knows that Sykes are approaching customers like this, page after page of the same info and no response to basic enquiries pre-stay.

For self-catering I would expect nothing at all and be pleasantly surprised if there were any supplies available. I usually approach self-catering like camping. Often the contract will say what equipment and supplies will be included. Did yours mention anything @luckysdadsway ?

However, I'd also expect that if the T&C included the property being left cleaned, that cleaning supplies need to be provided, otherwise I will just be leaving it empty with all rubbish removed, but certainly not cleaned.

Well, I don't bring a roasting tin (my mum used to take the microwave to a holiday cottage that already had a microwave she didn't like).

But as above, I keep a small storage box of essentials for holiday cottages. It's 30x30x30cm, and has all the small essentials. It also has a few "holiday only" things like bath toys, balls, a couple of books so I don't need to hunt them down for my son.

It takes up a very small amount of space, and I've always needed a few things out of it.

I much prefer that to having to go shopping straight away because I can't open the wine or having an unseasoned meal or buy a whole box of washing tablets.

Spent the weekend in a very nice Airbnb. Kitchen was well equipped inc a kitchen aid and cake tins, but the grill bit of the grill was missing. Dishwasher tabs (thank goodness as we don't have a dishwasher at home) and bin liners galore but only one loo roll to last 3 of us for the weekend. There were also areas that the spiders had been given free rein in for weeks, clearly missed by the cleaners. Constructive feedback has been sent.

@LandSharksAnonymous is correct. You seriously would not believe the amount of damage that occurs. My property is no longer on Air BnB as we found those who booked through it caused more damage than those who booked through the lettings agency!

We provide tea, coffee and sugar in caddy's in the kitchen. Condiments. Washing up liquid/ dish washer tabs. Basic clearing materials in case of need (would not expect a full clean to be done, though if guest wishes to wipe down counter tops etc, those products are available.) All bins are lined. There are spare bin bags in a cupboard, All loos have toilet roll with a spare. Kitchen roll. The kitchen is fully equipped. There is cling film/foil/plastic zip lock bags in a drawer - though that is because I have left it rather than bringing it home. It rarely gets used! A welcome tray of nice biscuits/cake, and at Easter, Easter eggs for any children staying etc, fresh flowers in a vase. All bathrooms have liquid soap. Plenty of towels.

I don't think it's "one loo roll to last you the weekend". Like the milk and bread it's one to get you started, and then you top up as you need.

We complained once when we got 3 squares of loo roll total and the owner responded "well it is self catering".

Out of interest, what did the reviews say about this place?

I would expect a dish cloth or j cloths, a handful of dishwasher tablets, multi surface spray, bin bags and tea towels. Also a couple of toilet rolls. Hand soap is also pretty important.

I would like to have a welcome basket with a pint of milk, t bags and some nice biscuits or cakes.
Recent holiday let had none of the above but location was excellent so have booked again. I will be better prepared next time.