Holiday cottage dirty dishes question

[thetinsoldier]

Staying in ‘luxury’ cottage. It cost £1510 for the week.

All v nice, but most of the dishes have been put away from dishwasher dirty - one was absolutely clatter in something brown. Chocolate? The previous guest can’t have failed to see it was dirty!

Both oven trays were oily to touch with encrusted food on them. One was unusable as the surface was peeling off.

There were no wooden spoons.

The two frying pans were badly scratched and unusable.

We went out and bought a frying pan and wooden spoons (which we will take home). Owner is very apologetic and asking what she can do to make it up to us. She has already given us an extra bottle of Prosecco.

What would you want/expect in compensation?!

I think it was sarcasm

I'd suggest perhaps asking for a 10% refund. Dirty dishes and awful cookware for £1500 is pretty shit, whatever the rest of the place is like.

What does this even mean?

I’d accept the bottle of Prosecco and move on. A few dirty dishes and lack of wooden spoons would really not be a big deal. Hardly compensation worthy.

This is unreasonable. Turn around times are often tight. If there was a dirty toilet or the oven was filthy (it is impossible to keep one trays pristine after a couple of uses ) you might have a point. she should reimburse you for missing items but she sounds lovely and very apologetic. Do you really require more than a bottle of fizz? It’s all a bit compo-culture…

Depending on how many it sleeps -£1.5k over Easter is not expensive btw.

We stay in holiday cottages twice a year, cannot say anyone was 100% perfect. We always stack dishwasher before we leave on last day and leave it running, so cleaners have to put everything away, so can check that they are clean. Frying pans, we’ve found are never particularly great and I now take a small one myself. I wouldn’t ask for a refund here, in fact we’ve only once got a refund offered and that was last year, when the owners of the property were building a solar farm nearby and we had constant noise from 8 till 6 for 5 of the 14 days, we asked for £500 back.

I think it’s unreasonable to assume the changeover staff literally remove every plate, glass, utensil etc from the drawers and cupboards to check their cleanliness. They have little time to do the basics- beds, bathrooms, carpets etc. It’s annoying and hopefully the owner will update the pans etc having had it pointed out to them but not a “compensation” claim.

Of course wooden spoons are allowed, I don't think I've ever been to a holiday cottage without one. They are on lists of what owners should supply.

OP, I think the apology, wine and covering the cost of replacement items you bought are probably sufficient.

I think if you raise the defects early, the owner sorts out the problem, offers an apology (wine is a reasonable modest offer) that's the end of it. It doesn't warrant money off really.
I'm in a holiday rental at the moment. There's no bread knife and the frying pan looks a bit rubbish. It's not a big deal. The place is otherwise lovely.

Do you have an inventory list (usually sent before arrival)? If so how much is missing? If the previous guests put dirty dishes away and scratched the pans I would not be too demanding on the owner, and to be honest I always bring my own pans, knives and chopping boards anyway if I plan to cook as even so called luxury places have bad equipment

That amount of money for a week is only really £200 a night. While it's a lot of money all in, for more than one bedroom (I assume?) or at least a whole house. That's not really "luxury" pricing.

I do admit I get annoyed when dishes are put away dirty. I had that in a glamping pod recently but see that as the owner / cleaner's job to check not the previous renter.

Personally I think a bottle of prosecco is not crazy for what was a minor inconvenience really (washing a few pots and buying some stuff you're taking home). You could push for more but really it's more about the fact the first impressions were bad rather than actual financial consequence. You might get more if you push it but I wouldn't bother. I'd put a review up afterwards explaining the issue and how it was compensated though. But it wouldn't be enough to give 1* IMO. Perhaps 3.

I have never been sent an inventory list by an Airbnb owner.

Most holiday companies renting out houses charge you and not a small amount for a cleaning fee. Most have also extended the time available between check out and check in. I don't think this is valid. If they're not allowing themselves time, they're certainly charging for that time.

The term 'luxury' is so abused for holiday lets. Normally, it refers to 10 bedrooms being let for £3,000 a day or basic, modern amenities which you'd expect to be clean, but isn't always the case!

If they are going to use the term 'luxury' and charge inflated prices, I'd definitely complain. Even if it weren't 'luxury', I'd expect basic housekeeping to be in order for any holiday property!

Jeez how grabby. Can’t stand people who are always on the lookout for some compensation.

If you insist on demanding money off then one approach is to demand the equivalent cost of a half day of the stay, which surely would have been more than enough for you to sort out a couple of dirty dishes and buy a frying pan.

At £1510 for the week that comes out as £107.86. And you should expect the holiday cottage owner to deduct that from the cleaner’s pay. Well done you.

I don't think £1500pw is that expensive for peak holiday time. Where was this property: popular destination or in the back of beyond? How many did it sleep.

The crockery/glasses/pans etc., should have been checked. Cleaner issue.

Scratched frying pan - difficult to tell without seeing the condition. My pans at home have a scratch or.three - they are more than usable.

Wooden spoon - cleaners should have checked and replaced (£1).

I have five cottages - not UK - I'd have raised it with the housekeeper. There'd have been a new pan and wooden spoon within the hour and the crocs, etc would have been immediately washed. Sadly, some guests are not great.

You'd have been left a bottle of white and a bottle of red (local), the issues would have been put right quickly, and an apology. No discount.

FWIW if we book a cottage, rarely now the DC are grown up, I always pack a decent frying pan and knife. I can't think of a time when I didn't prefer my knife.

No it amounts to £749 for the week at that rate. It’s actually £214 a day at £1500 a week. I would be fuming to find dirty dishes in a holiday rental at that price. I’ve stayed in a LOT of holiday lets too.

Is there a cleaning fee in the price?

Waiving that might be a pragmatic compromise.

Although on the wooden spoon front, there are none in my house. There are no flexible Spatulas or cooking tongs in my parents house. If there are alternative utensils I wouldn’t see that as a gap.

When did you tell the owner?
Presumably not before you went shopping?
If you had complained immediately, owner or nominee may have been able to replace the items you complained about, ran the dishwasher for you and left a bottle of bubbly as a 'sorry'.
Sounds like you did everything yourself, then complained.

Prosecco is a cheap bottle of naff wine by any standard. Did she think she was doing you a favour?
I would want a refund for the non usable utensils and for the stuff I had to buy if I was paying that hard earnt money for a week in a cottage.

I'd think it was a cleaner issue - either they emptied the dishwasher without checking (which is unlikely if the stuck on food was visible) or previous guests have 'washed' and put away cookware. If they've put the pans away damaged too, then the cleaner might have just done a quick visual inspection of the cupboard contents, not a proper check. So I would have had a word about that.
Wooden spoons and the lack thereof I wouldn't make a fuss about, many people don't use them, lots of people barely cook on holiday (unless it's a totally isolated place, no food deliveries or takeaways within miles).

But the bottle of Prosecco is a bit shit. What if you don't drink? I think a small discount, more to show the owner that they ought to be keeping a better eye on the cleaning staff than to recompense would be an idea. Having to rewash dishes is a pain but not a holiday-breaker.

Thanks for all the comments! Interesting to see people’s views.

We stay in a lot of holiday cottages - four this year so far - and I think £1500 for a three-bed is good value, especially the week after Easter.

But the blurb says the kitchen is well equipped. It’s not. It says it’s luxury. This isn’t.

I’ve asked to be refunded for the money we spent on the pan.

PS: I always take my own knives to holidays cottages too.

i have never been sent an inventory for a holiday cottage! And wooden spoons or spatulas are always included in the kitchen equipment. How else are you supposed to stir when cooking?

No cleaning fee in the price; it’s hidden in the cost.

I'd have reported it on arrival and expected them to send a cleaner/replacements same day. If they'd done that I think a bottle of Prosecco is fine.

If you didn't report it and give them a chance to fix it, I don't think it's reasonable to expect anything more now.

Stick everything in the dishwasher except flutes to drink Prosecco, enjoy your nice new pan and wooden spoons and unclench.

Edit: sorry - accidentally posted fat finger gobbledegook putting my phone in my pocket!

15% feels fair enough @thetinsoldier - presumably there’s a dishwasher do you can clean the plates easily enough, but this is definitely something the owner needs to take up with their cleaner.