To not clean a 1 bed flat if I'm charged a £30 cleaning fee for a long weekends use

[speedyboardersuzanne]

I stayed in a one bed for a long weekend. Everything was left pretty much as I found it apart from I stripped the beds and because we were running late I didn't have time to do the breakfast pans and dishes. It did need a bit of a clean after we were gone, but no more than two hours to get it back to being perfect.

Owner is being assey with me saying I left the bedrooms in a state, kitchen dirty with dishes and the whole place dirty. Apparently I should of left it as I found it, ie cleaned. But surely as I'm being charged a cleaning fee I shouldn't need to clean?

30 would cover 4 hours of cleaning IMO, and no way did it even need half of that.

We rent out a holiday home. Cleaning is included in the basic rental. Dont expect beds stripped but I would expect washing up to be stuck in the dishwasher. I think some owners do skim the renters because they dont want to pay for a decent clean between lets. I have 2 cleaners who turn it round in 4 hours (and the laundry goes out) so it's 8 hrs work but they do a deep clean every time. If I stay somewhere I want it to be immaculate, so I provide the same. I would not dream of expecting my guests to clean.

I assume the cleaning fee is to wipe out fridge, put away clean dishes in dishwasher, do laundry and towels and scrubbing toilet and bathroom. Not to tidy and wash dishes.

If I had to pay a cleaning fee upfront, I wouldn't have bothered as it was covered and included in the costs. If the owners really want to keep the money, they can easily clean it themselves.

Had this while staying in self-catering in France. List of stuff to be done before leaving, on a sheet printed in English. It included polishing all surfaces and cleaning the floors. It was very specific. At least stuff was provided. tbh I wouldn't stay there again as I'm on holiday and while I leave things reasonably clean and tidy, its the owner's job to clean between guests, not mine. ie the owner has to prepare their property for the next guests coming in, not me.

Paying for cleaning on top is just taking the piss. The owner surely factors cleaning between guests into account. And making a fuss over dishes not done is just petty. Sure, its annoying, but is it worth getting into a battle about?

As an owner I expect it to be left as a reasonable person would leave a hotel room, so I wouldnt expect them to clean anything or strip beds, but I'd prefer it if they could maybe clean skid marks off the loo and mop up spillages, chuck rubbish in the bin etc. I'd be a bit "ffs" about the left over washing up but I wouldnt kick off about it.

If there is a cleaning charge then you don't need to do any cleaning, obviously of you spill something you wipe it up but you shouldn't need to do any cleaning.

Should have done the dishes though, they orobably can charge you for the 15 mins extra cleaning for that.

This has made me worry now - must check what the cleaning policy is for s/c cottage we have booked for next year !