I want some bin bags and dishwasher tablets - tight arse holiday self catering company

[Pancakeflipper]

Booked a holiday apartment over looking the bay in Wales. Paid over £2k for the week. But has the sea view, parking, balcony.

Apartment is lovely. Very mod cons.

But I'm slightly narked and still narrowing my eyes whenever I walk to the kitchen area....

We are here for a week.
The company renting it out left a bottle of wine.
They left 3 dish washer tablets.

No washing up liquid.
No bin bags.
The shower was full of sand and we found finger and toes nails on the rug in the lounge.
Pillow cases stained.

I think it's cost cutting tightness. And they expect us to leave it sparkling (there is also no surface cleaner)..

Had to go out and buy the bin bags, washing liquid and cleaner.

We stay regularly in holiday homes (have a DC who has medical needs - this makes it easier for both them and me). Never had this tightness.

The prices these places charge these days there is no way people should have to provide these things themselves. Most decent properties ask for a damage deposit. If things are stolen, they can be deducted .

Went to some self catering type place in Switzerland once. No cups. Nobody to ask, eventually found an email address that didn't work. Ended up going to McD, buying a coffee and coming back with the cardboard cup!
Went to a hotel in Portugal this year!

Lots of people are saying they bring a box of their own supplies, but what about travelling abroad? We do hand-luggage only, and I'm certainly not taking washing up liquid or loo rolls with me.

Salt and pepper are annoying ones for me. OK they're pretty cheap, but you only use a small amount and I can't do without them.

Every year we do a girls weekend , Friday to Monday . usually 10 of us, and approx £2500 , varies wildly what you get , this year we had the best stocked kitchen, both utensils and store cupboard food we’ve ever had . The owners obviously leave everything that anyone buys as we had spices , breakfast cereals, tea , coffee , olive oil, orange squash , even chips in the freezer , we thought we’d won the lottery . Funny enough we always take dishwasher tabs and loo roll , but so far there’s always been plenty provided . Agree it’s £10s worth of stuff max

Yes, we rented somewhere in France a few years ago that had no washing powder and only a few dishwasher tablets. I ended up having to buy both and then take them back in my luggage. It was really annoying.

Over the years we have stayed in a lot of self catering holiday accommodation and have often been surprised at the lack of basic equipment, let alone cleaning supplies. We've been to places with three plates for a family of four, one saucepan, one place had a hob but no oven, toaster or microwave, so couldn't even make beans on toast! However, last year my now adult dcs treated us to a big family holiday in Scotland. The house was without doubt, the best equipped sc accommodation I've ever experienced. It was as if the family who lived there had just walked out of the house and never come back. Every piece of kitchen equipment you could wish for - even a Kitchen Aid mixer! Welcome basket with wine food, dishwasher tablets etc. The only thing missing was washing powder if we wanted to use the washing machine. Seriously, it was amazing and we hope to go back again soon.

Couldn't agree more. If you don't want to supply basics like dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid and bin bags LET US KNOW so that we can bring some with us.
I really hate wasting time on the first day of a holiday trundling round a supermarket for boring household products.

The thing is it is really not okay not to supply these things at the prices charged these days. It's just basic. I wouldn't be happy to have paid a lot of money and then find there was no washing up liquid and no washing powder.

The most expensive cottage we ever stayed in had zero supplies of any kind. No bin bags, washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets, also no salt and pepper, sugar, which is usually provided. Even the relatively cheap places are well stocked these days in my experience. You are right to feel miffed.

I find it hit and miss when it comes to household provisions. I do expect the place to be clean though.

Three dishwasher tablets sounds fine to me, one tab every other day. However, bin bags and washing up liquid should be provided. I always take extra provisions with me now, as I’ve been caught out before.

Three definitely wouldn’t be enough for us.
The dishwasher is used daily.

But doesn’t that add to the fun of self catering holidays, scouring an unknown supermarket for washing up liquid, dishwasher tabs and the like?! Bonus excitement plus points if you’re abroad like eg France!

Ooh definitely. I do love a French supermarket.

See this is why you couldn't convince me to switch from a hotel to an air bnb or similar. For €100 a night in most of Europe I can have my room cleaned daily and not have think about dishwasher tablets.

We've recently returned from a very expensive villa holiday in Spain. We were there for 2 weeks.

The only essentials provided were 1 dishwasher tablet and a sponge. They also left us 2 tea bags and 2 pods for the fancy coffee machine.
No salt, no pepper, no sugar. No washing up liquid. No bin bags. No kitchen roll or cling film. No soap and no spare toilet rolls.

We were hoping to relax by the pool on the first day, but instead had to drive to the nearest town and do a supermarket shop just for basic essentials.

Their loss because we loved the villa but will never go there again because of their tight fistedness.

This drives me NUTS. I hate Scrooge supplies in a holiday home. 3 bloody dishwasher tablets? Eugh.

Oops.pressed send too soon. Yep it's gotta be spotless. I hate any sign of dirt.

This! I only stay in hotels for exactly this reason.

I think a lot of these companies do this sort of thing because they can get away with it.

Sheer greed and grabbing as much as they can.

I always prefer self catering when we are on walking holidays because sometimes we come in and are shattered. Just shower and put a ready meal in the microwave.

I always take my own stuff as stayed too many places where what is provided is inadequate. Some things I also have to be careful what we use as my son has allergies so eg we can’t use wipes or fairy liquid and he can only use ecover laundry detergent. We paid £1700 for a nice house in Devon this year and there was lots of cleaning stuff, bin bags, cloths, even tea and coffee. The dirtiness would annoy me more and why would you be expected to leave it sparkling? I always tidy up and have a wipe round but I’m not doing any deep cleaning or mopping floors etc.

At one cottage we rented we had to bring our own towels, though at least they told us in advance. Downside is you have to cart wet towels on the homeward journey, which is a bit ick. What really annoys me is that several rental cottages we have stayed at don’t provide any hand soap. It is always a surprise and so on arrival we have to find a shop open where we can buy some. Seriously, when we are paying hundreds of pounds for a holiday home, is a few bars of soap too much to expect?

This massively pisses me off too. We booked a luxury lodge with a hot tub. They left a tiny amount of washing up liquid but there was no stopper for the sink !!! How on earth we were supposed to wash up was beyond me. No cleaning spray & only half a loo roll with no replacement. 4 of us for 3 nights

I was irritated last time we went to Center parcs to find there was no soap in the villa - and it was one of their fancier villas with four bathrooms so I had to buy five soaps from their uber expensive parc market. I mean CP has always been a piss take but I thought that was really mean. We hadn’t been for a few years, but last time they had small supply of toiletries in each bathroom. They apparently stopped providing it during covid and didn’t bring it back for ‘hygiene reasons’. My arse.

I love a walking holiday - back to a spotless hotel room, shower, room service, watch TV.
No need to worry about bin liners, washing up liquid or sink stoppers.