to only do the washing up/put dishwasher on and no other cleaning on departing our holiday cottage?

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

Oh and empty bins?

Just having a week away in a not inexpensive cottage. Have to be out by 10 on the last day, am planning to leave nothing dirty lying around (apart from sheets, obvs) but shan't be doing any actual cleaning either.

That's not unreasonable is it?

Thanks Digging, that's reassuring!

I strip beds - helps ensure favourite toy is not left behind. Bedding and towels left in basket if there is one.
Loo checked, bins emptied. Fridge and dishwasher emptied. Work surfaces wiped (but I wipe after use anyway). Might sweep any floors but not vac or mop.
Tbh we return to the same cottage often and there is not much cleaning stuff provided and I am certainly not taking my own or buying. I assume the cleaner takes his or her own stuff.

A quick dust and vaqqum after emptying bins and stripping beds , wiping out fridge etc .

I strip the beds, dump bedlinen & used towels in the bath, quickly wipe the surfaces, remove any obvious skiddies from the loo, vacuum round to remove obvious crumbs, leave dishwasher on with the last load & take out the bin. Takes about 20-30 minutes at the most, depending on the size of the place & how many people are helping.

"A quick dust and vacuum" constitutes cleaning in my book.

I got up at 7.45am and still wasn't ready to leave until gone 10am. It was quite a big cottage and we had stuff all over the place!

I just remembered that I left the cafetiere with an inch of cold coffee in it. Hope the cleaner doesn't hate me.

I think you sound like you couldn't give two hoots about how to leave a cottage to be honest, OP. The fact that you laughed at someone's suggestion to strip beds and "don't care" about "common courtesy" gives the impression that you think you are so above the mere peasants that come and clean up after you.

I had a Saturday cleaning job in my teens, and I've witnessed almost show home presentation vs urine in every bed and sick left on the floor.

The decent thing to do is to return things to where you found them when your holiday started, make sure dishes are done or at least put in the dishwasher and, if you are feeling generous, stripping the beds is a good help.

Stop quibbling about this. The cost of your rent for the cottage more than pays for the cleaning costs. You don't need to do anything. Just don't piss in the beds and trash the place.

Quite a lot of assumptions in your post there turquoise.

I did do the decent thing with the exception of stripping beds. I was not about to get the hoover out, presumably this is what cleaners are paid for?

*Quite a lot of assumptions in your post there turquoise.

I did do the decent thing with the exception of stripping beds. I was not about to get the hoover out, presumably this is what cleaners are paid for?*

What am I assuming?

A previous poster made a comment about considering common courtesy,
which you said you didn't care about. That doesn't really sound like a nice comment to make. Just makes you sound like you think you're above everyone else.

Of course no one is going to expect you to clean the whole place, but you knew that anyway.

I'm interested in how many people leave the dishwasher on. Clearly we are missing a trick here as we put the dishwasher on the evening before we go and then everything after that we hand wash to get it clean and dry and back in place as we know there won't be any time for the dishwasher. This is why when I go to holiday rentals the first thing I do is put everything in the dishwasher in the kitchen no matter how clean it looks and wash it before using it as I don't trust other people haven't cleaned it properly, but clearly everyone else leaves the dishwasher for someone else to empty.

We sometimes Hoover and have been known to clean sinks etc too but now I try to do the minimum and look at the house literature to check expectations. We only take sheets off bedding if it specifically asks to.

We stayed somewhere last summer that seemed incredibly tight (we had no idea until we got there). It had written throughout the house info everything we could and couldn't do and all the extra charges we would have to pay if we didn't do as requested (eg something like £10 charged extra if we didn't take bedsheets off). I don't mind doing certain things but it felt so threatening and really ruined our holiday experience as we were so worried abt breaking something or not doing something right. It also wasn't very clean and we ended out having to buy some toilet cleaner to use as the loo smelt. What really made me chuckle was in the house info it said if you are cold between the months of April and October you should OPEN the doors and windows TO LET THE WARM AIR IN as they didn't provide heating in those months. Can you even imagine?! Thank goodness it wasn't cold when we went. We had absolutely no clue it was like that before we went and were quite shocked (and glad we took jumpers!).

My parents stayed somewhere in France arranged online through the owner and my mum did a very basic clean assuming a cleaner would clean in between as always, and was mortified when she got an email from the owners saying she would be charged extra for a cleaner because of the state they left the property in (which was basically clean and tidy but on the expectation there would be a cleaner before the next person). She had no idea there wasn't a cleaner in between guests, so use that as a warning to check this as I've seen a few online where you can choose to pay for a cleaner or do it yourself. I'd never choose these places on the basis I'm incredibly anal and would worry how clean the last person would clean the property. It makes such a difference when you have a really nicely cleaned property.

'I did do the decent thing with the exception of stripping beds.'

Same. Unless it were stipulated in the contract, in which case I wouldn't book it. I hate stripping beds. Hate changing beds. I do it once a week at home, of course, and when a guest in someone's home (I ask first, some hosts don't like it) but I hate it. If I am paying to have someone else do it in the money I spend to hire out a cottage, then I don't strip beds or clean. I don't leave the place a state or damage things and clean as we go along (wipe down the sides, run dishwasher, mop up spills, etc), but I've paid to go on holiday, complete with cleaning fee, not to spend my last few hours there cleaning up. Nothing to do with feeling others are peasants, just, well, I paid for the cleaning and if that doesn't include stripping beds then I won't.

I seem to remember that Centre Parcs asks you to strip beds.

Well seeing as last time we went it was Feb half term and our 3 bed place cost over a thousand pounds for 4 nights so I wasn't rushing to fulfil that request.
Or again they used to ask you to do it at Forest Holidays, but if they are going to make that a thing then it's surely good practice to ensure that the mattresses that you see aren't stained.

I wouldn't leave a rental an absolute state, but on the morning of departure I'm generally packing rather than hoovering. As I say I avoid renting from French companies or individuals now - if staying in France I'll rent from either a British owner or company -which I know makes me a bit jingoistic, but the French have completely different rules about this and due to the self cleaning or large fee proposal, the properties feel about as clean as something repeatedly half heartedly given a once over from guests keen to depart is likely to be.

In Canada we stayed in a number of self catering properties. The only thing they were very keen for you to do was to make sure you'd washed all your dishes so I never leave anything out and always stick it in the dishwasher, much in the same way as I'd not expect our own cleaner to do my washing up.

Roastie, please come and stay with me. I love people who leave the dishwasher running. I know then that those dishes are likely to be clean, assuming it's been loaded well, so I only have to thoroughly check the ones left in the cupboards - and usually have to rewash lots of them. I do pretty good washing up in my house (no dishwasher ) and Perfectionist washing up in my cottage, because I used to get sick of either re-washing or even sterilising dishes etc when I arrived at a holiday cottage. An occasional thumbprint is ok at home, but no way do you some bugger else's thumbprint on your dinner plate!!

I'd be absolutely horrified if I went to a cottage and it had been 'cleaned' by the previous guests.

I'm another one who strips hotel beds before leaving. I was not a chambermaid, but DM was when she was a student so I've inherited her hotel behaviours.

We used to rent caravans (sorry, 'mobile homes') on French and Italian campsites, through Canvas/Haven/Eurocamp etc. We left each one tidy, fridge empty, cleaned out and switched off, loos clean, all rubbish removed etc etc. The reps were often couples. On one occasion the husband was like a sergeant major. The two of them inspected the caravan, stony-faced and made us clean it all over again. We had to waste time locating them to give it a second inspection (with a fine-toothed comb) before we could get our (large) deposit back. We nearly missed our ferry as a result! It was clear that they had no intention of cleaning after we left, and the way we left it was the way the next family would find it.

I quite enjoy stripping beds. It takes seconds. It's not the same as making beds where it takes ages to do the duvet cover and sheets all tucked in. I wouldn't do that.

I wouldn't strip the beds. I leave the kitchen wiped down, oven/hob clean, dishwasher on. Towels all in bath, tables wiped, cushions plumped. Bathroom surfaces wiped,rubbish picked up, but I don't clean bath/toilet/sink. I don't sweep /hoover. I used to be a housekeeper in a hotel and would never expect anything beyond picking up your rubbish and putting wet towels in one place. Unfortunately, puke in the sink and shit stained sheets were an occasional hazard.

I'm too used to be a chambermaid and always strip the beds in hotels and leave a tip in room if I can.
As for holiday lets; beds,hoover, kitchen wiped down and bins.

Surprised at the number who 'do a quick dust and vacuum' What's the point? It's surely going to be done anyway! I think a lot of it is some weird pride that you don't want the cleaner coming in and thinking 'oh, they were a bit muckier than last weeks lot weren't they'.

We had a holiday let for a week in April through a big agency. The instructions were unclear but we interpreted it as needing to do washing up, empty bins and leave tidy. There was a threat of charges for "excessive cleaning" so on that basis we concluded that they would be cleaning. It pissed me off that the cleaning materials there were inadequate even for cleaning as you go along, even though they were supposed to be provided. We had washing up liquid and two dishwasher tablets but no surface/floor cleaner, no toilet cleaner and no broom to sweep the floor.

We, 7 adults + toddler, rented a big house in Dorset last year for a week. Lovely place. We arrived after 4pm, as requested in the t&c, but the cleaner was still busy in the house and we had to sit in our cars for 45 mins while she finished and let us in. Annoying but there you go.

Once in we found a nice long letter welcoming us and a 10 page ring binder style pamphlet - no kidding - specifying what needed doing before we left on the last morning in order to get our deposit back. Beds stripped, bins emptied, recycling sorted, bagged and taken up the lane, fridge cleaned, bathrooms cleaned, laundry room cleaned, floors mopped, carpets (white!) hoovered, toilets clean, curtains closed, cups in the right cupboard, garden furniture in certain place, ect. + stuff i cant' remember now

We had to be out by 10am on the last day, so we all got up at the crack of dawn and did it all - made a joke out of it - but it put a bit of a dampener on the end of the holiday.

The thing which got us was - WTF is the cleaner doing which takes her longer than 10am till 4pm??

I hate the holiday lets with binders full of rules. It's depressing. Especially if you have DC with you.

Why do people put white carpets in them. I have never understood that.