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’ve stayed in dozens of holiday homes, some Airbnb, most not, and have never been sent an inventory. It’s just not a thing.

Wood isn't unhygienic. In fact, plastic utensils get scratched over time and become harbourage for pathogens. Washing either in a hot wash (at or above 65oC) in a dishwasher will help with either but many woods do have some natural antibacterial properties.

The cleaner obviously didn't check if they were clean. I've had this with my own cleaner, luckily I had time to check it before the guests arrived.

Did she offer to send the cleaner back to wash the dishes? Did she offer to get a new pan and wooden spoon for you? I'd have done that.

This is an accident clearly. Accidents happen and I don't think it's holiday ruined territory

Most cleaning firms wouldn't have a second cleaner on hand with a couple of days of notice.

OP has left now anyway, but this is an impractical suggestion for "recompense"

We had exactly this last week, I asked for a 33% refund (ie one night out of the three nights we booked) because the accommodation was not clean. Basic cleaning had been done but the kitchen was as you describe + dust in wardrobes/cupboards, on blinds, etc.
They did agree to refund us one night (250£).

Owner here. I'm always surprised at the state of cutlery and saucepans that guests have put back in the drawers. I check them on arrival so they can be put back through the dishwasher/soaked etc. I do acknowledge that odd items of crockery may escape my attention if I have a particularly dirty house to turn round. I provide wooden spoons in the hope that guests won't destroy my frying pans.. However, scratched and peeling frying pans are completely unacceptable and would warrant a complaint. I let through Travel Chapter and things like that wouldn't pass my annual inspection. AirBNB don't have such checks.

It's usually in the info folder. Maybe some don't have them these days. The 2 we stayed in last summer did.

This isn't true at all. Just bed linen? I do 4 hours on a one bed cottage and check every item. I'm on lots of owners forums and they do - or pay for- the same.

My friend pays £350 per changeover on her 4 bed cottage.

I have never seen one in the info folder (40+ airbnb trips)

I have stopped booking through AirBNB if I'm honest. I find that there are huge numbers of rules for customers leaving. Asking to take out all waste, leave nothing in the fridge and sometimes even clean bathrooms or vacuum the flat or house. Yet you're also then charged £100+ for "cleaning".

One option could be to ask for a refund of any cleaning fee if there was one. But if it was just pots I'd probably not bother. If it was more than that, e.g. visible dust etc, then they're charging for something they're obviously not doing.

Another observation. Airbnb dishwashers have often been very badly maintained IME.

Owners, please either yourself or your cleaners, regularly clean out the arms and filters. You can't expect your guests to know how to do this for your specific machine and that might be why some of the kitchen items are left dirty.

I can imagine. Some people are just horrible.

It’s not Airbnb.

Yy @Lemonthyme - I have had feedback from hosts along the lines of towels being dirty (after a week’s stay) or there being some crumbs on the kitchen floor.

We won’t leave a week of dishes undone and we will drive around to find rubbish facilities (always annoying if the folder doesn’t say where they are) but I’m not going to run a hoover round and do a towel wash before a 10am checkout when I have paid a cleaning fee.

Then I would suggest a comment to the agent about the poor equipment.

That’s all covered in my op. I did mention it.

This happened because they haven’t built in enough buffer time between guests to clean / check cleaning properly. Were the bathrooms to the same standard 🫤 I would expect a refund for the first night, they should have built in a proper buffer if they aren’t equipped to turn around quickly

I would be concerned that if the cleaners hadn’t noticed the dirty dishes, or checked the cupboards, what other things might they have missed. Bathrooms, bedrooms, living areas.

I've never seen or been sent an inventory list for any cottage I have booked on any platform.

Can I ask who it was?

Although with all holiday lets nowadays, the fact airbnb have undercut some competitors means that many have cut back on checks / oversight.

I don't get the excuse of lack of time between check out and check in either. As the letter you get to decide how long that is and in covid both in hotels and holiday lets, those times increased and haven't gone back. It's not unusual to have to be out by 10am nowadays and not able to be in till 2 or 3pm at the earliest (I've even had 4pm in some places).

I think compensation is reasonable. If I had paid that much it would be a highly anticipated holiday as I couldn't afford that much. To arrive, unpack and keep finding things that leave you underwhelmed, disappointed and wondering what else you might find isn't the vibe. They had their chance to impress you and it didn't happen. Once you've spotted a few areas that haven't been cleaned properly it can make you wonder about the rest.
I cook at home and on holiday, we go on caravan holidays and they've usually got a dishwasher, and all the crockery and kitchen equipment I need and I would certainly expect that in an expensive holiday home. Kitchen utensils are cheap, the owner could replace the pans etc every six months and not fork out a lot. I'm not saying I advocate that as I dislike waste but a roasting tin can be bought for a few pounds in a supermarket.

I want to unpack and feel pleased not thinking FFS, what else am I going to find and eyeing the bedding suspiciously.

I'm surprised how many people say they had a dishwasher in their accomodation/AirBNB/apartment whatever. Many I've stayed don't and IF they do, they leave 1 bloody dishwasher tablet for a weeks stay. Fine if there is a shop nearby to buy more, but its not what I want to do on a holiday.
1 place provided 1 tiny washing up sachet and 1 tea towel for the week! 🙄

was a charge for cleaning included? If so then complain and maybe get small refund ?

Clearly no one turned the dishwasher on, the owner has apologised, it's pretty grim and what was the rest of the property like, was the bedding clean, the house clean. I'd be asking for a 10% goodwill payment and a poor review.

Come and stay with me. I provide as many dishwasher tablets as you want.

If you want a dishwasher you can filter your search.