Holiday cottage equipment....

[1hamwich4]

Just want a second opinion here. There is no drama, no outrage, no tragedy. We will not be complaining or anything. Yes, it is a first world issue.

We have just arrived at our holiday cottage. It is in the middle of a National Park, first week of the school hols, so not particularly cheap.

Which of these items would you expect to find in your cottage?

1. A few Tea bags
2. Pint of milk
3. Toilet roll
4. Guest soap
5. Washing up liquid/few dishwasher tablets
6. WiFi

If you can be bothered please tell me the order of likelihood that you might expect these in. I'm curious to know whether my reaction on arrival was reasonable or not...

Definitely toilet roll. Wifi if it had said upon booking. It does fuck me off if there is a dishwasher there and they only give you one tablet. And one bin bag. I tend to take a few dishwasher tablets, loo rolls, bin bags in case they're not provided. And I definitely don't leave any behind in these circumstances.

Toilet roll is essential - anything else is a bonus, but IME there's almost always washing up liquid because the cleaner uses it.

Loo roll, anything else would be a bonus.
I wouldn't have booked it if it didn't have wifi!

All of it. Plus a bottle of wine.

Tbags
Milk
Toilet roll
WiFi if advertised as havingWifi
Washing up liquid/dish tabs are nice

Was there an option for a welcome pack?

We let properties in France and provide tea, milk, sugar, coffee, washing up liquid, dish tabs, bog roll, wine.

For £25 they get bread, milk, cheese, ham, fruit, soap, matches, eggs, juice, and a few other bits.

Our last cottage holiday I took all of those things because I didn't expect them but was pleasantly surprised they were provided

(Except WiFi which I did expect but only because it was listed)

We own a holiday cottage and we would provide all of the above. Plus coffee, some local produce, some flowers, washing powder and a welcome card. Guests are paying a lot of money and it's only a few quid out of the owners' pocket to show how much you value their custom. Is the house with an agency? If so they'd have made it clear to the owner what should be provided for guests. I can't believe how stingey some people are.

Loo roll but usually they only leave one so you provide the rest. Wifi if particulars stated it but no the rest you usually provide yourself. Sometimes there's soap and washing up liquid but only if previous people leave it. Last 2 places have left us a bottle of wine as a welcome gift but I wouldn't expect that - nice though.

Toilet roll and WiFi

I would hope the others might be there but wouldn't be surprised if they weren't.

We stayed in a holiday let in Cornwall recently. The owners had left - tea, coffee, milk, sugar, fresh bread, homemade scones, jam and clotted cream. There was also loo roll, hand soap, dishwasher tablets and WiFi. Was very impressed.

I'd expect all of them. But British hospitality is always a bit.....lacking. We fly in from overseas and come straight from the airport to our holiday cottages, so having tea bags and milk is most welcome and it would really annoy me to have to buy things like salt and pepper which I would hardly use, but equally wouldn't be able to take home.

Definitely loo roll and soap.

Washing up liquid and teabags I'd hope to find but prepared for there not to be any.

Milk would be a nice bonus, as would wifi (everywhere I stay recently never has wifi, I almost don't bother asking now!)

We go to lots of holiday cottages. To be certain of getting wifi you need to check at booking. I can't remember any of the cottages not having loo rolls and most have had washing up liquid and a couple of dishwasher tablets and many have had liquid soap in the bathrooms and kitchens. Teabags and milk is now the norm in the cottages we rent but it wasn't a few years ago. We often get a bottle of wine, cake (homemade if we are lucky) or biscuits and in a couple a treat or two for the dog. The one we are going to next week always leave dishes of sweets and chocolates out as well. We do have our favourites so return regularly though so might be well treated because of repeated bookings,

Oh and a bottle of red and white wine.

Yes, biggles thank you for saying that! We often have flowers, bread and butter which is lovely, not expected but a nice touch.

Well when we stayed in a cottage in Wales at Easter we had all of the above plus a hamper of Welsh specialty delicacies and two bottles of wine.

However just back from Villa Plus holiday abroad. Not enough toilet roll for the bathrooms, no hand soap, no dishwasher tables, no salt or pepper or indeed bin bags. Nada in fact. The 35 pound welcome pack meant we got one bottle of nasty rose plonk and a few random groceries probably costing about 10 euros.

In terms of the items you listed. The only one that I'd see as non negotiable is the wifi - we only book places that have it and pay a premium as a result, I'd be very annoyed if it wasn't there.

Everything else is a bonus, so in order:

1. wifi
2. toilet roll 3)guest soap
3. washing up liquid 5 & 6 ) joint equal teabags and milk as no use one without the other.

Just loo rolls and wifi if it was mentioned in the advert. Anything else is have taken with me,

Should say, we've only rented in Italy and France but I'd assume uk was similar. I'm so fussy re tea and coffee I'd always take my own anyway. Not fussed re wifi - holiday for me includes no internet.

If wifi was important, I'd have restricted my search to cottages that stated they offered it, it's always specified and commonly not present.

Otherwise, one loo roll.

Um, have experienced one dishwasher tablet, we usually take them with us.

Have experienced all those and more but wouldn't expect any of them.

Just toilet roll. You would only expect wi-fi if it states in the blurb, if it doesn't why would you expect it? Never stayed at a cottage in this country but stayed in loads in France. I really don't even get the expectations of tea and milk, never mind wine!

1. Toilet roll
2. Guest soap
3. Washing up liquid/few dishwasher tablets
4. WiFi (probably wouldn't book unless it has it)

I agree that it's annoying not to have enough dishwasher tablets - they only cost about 10p each. I think there should be at least one a day. I also agree that it's great if there's salt/pepper/foil/bin bags.

I've done a number of these over the years

1. A few Tea bags 50/50. some do, especially the higher priced ones
2. Pint of milk rarely
3. Toilet roll usually some left from previous occupiers, we never took our last roll home.
3. Guest soap rarely, but I take my own for sensitive skin anyway.
4. Washing up liquid/few dishwasher tablets usually some
5. WiFi I've found this is usually specified on the particulars when looking for a place online, so I pick a place with this included. Many cottages don't have wifi.

Toilet roll, the rest is up to you.

1 toilet roll is all I would expect. You wouldn't even get that in many caravans.

Thanks, that's really interesting!

What we actually found was

1. A few sachets of instant coffee, one (count it!) of sugar
2. Some of those rather nasty UHT tubs of milk- about five I think
3. Half a loo-roll (four bed cottage!)
4. About half an inch of hand soap in a pump dispenser
5. About half a teaspoon of dishwasher powder in a specially labelled, quite large tub
6. (I did the numbers wrong in the OP!) WiFi

I was a little bemused to go to use the 'welcome' pack and find it lacking a tea bag. And- half a loo roll??

The WiFi was a pleasant surprise but the rest of it looked, well, a teeny bit stingy really. Several hundred quid for a week and they couldn't spring for a couple of tea bags on top of my origami'd teacher towel?

I suspect the housekeeper got distracted from the look of things!

Would expect:

Toilet roll
Guest soap (hand soap, not shower gels/shampoos etc)
Washing up liquid and dishwasher tablets

Most places have a small coffee/tea selection but I wouldn't expect fresh milk, possibly just those rank mini creamer pots if you're lucky. WiFi is usually specified when booking so it wouldn't be something to expect or not, you would know if they had it before getting there.