To hate the holiday cottage clean up

[ClusterBustering]

Every year we go away with extended family to a holiday cottage and every year I dread the last day and thank go we normally stick to camping! It's more effort meeting the rules than it is re-packing a whole tent etc.

Obviously I'd leave a place tidy, wash up and tidy spills etc... but it fills more I end the holiday with spring cleaning someone else's house. Striping beds as the kids mither, floors to clean, bathrooms to go over and alll sorts of rules they add to. AND they are so expensive I'm sure paying a cleaner to go over a tidy house without any significant mess must be well into the price.

It's always a crap end to the holiday going over a list, despite making an effort to keep it tidy through the stay. All before 10am

As others have said - just don't! We've rented our gite out in Brittany for ten years now. Some guests do a lot, some just pick up their bags and walk out. Makes not the slightest difference, we clean them same and think the same of both. I cannot, as an owner imagine having cleaning rules for departing guests. Bet they don't have many returnees!

I have had this in France in a very French holiday complex about 15 years ago. The cleaning supervisor walked around the apartment with you at the end of the stay to inspect your cleaning, including counting the cutlery. A kitchen implement was missing and she started to invoice us before it was found in the dishwasher. At the time I imagined it was the nearest I would ever come to checking out of military accommodation. However, it was a great holiday and excellent VFM - we were the only people from England.

Don't ever stay with a Dutch company in a caravan then. Their inspections are truly terrifying. My floor mopping and shower cleaning were criticised.

I hate cleaning- we have a cleaner at home so why would I go on holiday to do chores that I don't do normally?

Always stay at places that either have cleaning included or you pay extra for it. I love SIL dearly but when we share rentals she's always running round with the hoover cause the menfolk can't follow simple instructions to keep their shoes off inside.

Happy to strip beds - in fact would prefer to do that as it feels less intimate than someone else pulling off sheets that we've used for a week. Also its a task that everyone can do for themselves even youngish DCs.

We recently stayed at a VRBO place in Paris. Very strict rules about what was required on checkout, which included stripping beds, cleaning BR, floors, fridge etc in order to retain massive damage deposit. Rules weren't communicated till after I'd booked & paid. Also expected to buy toilet paper, light bulbs etc as necessary ("treat it as your home"!!). Will stick to airBnB from now on - all charges/rules are clear before booking. I also never again want to have to do that level of cleaning on checkout. Almost missed our plane.

That's why I never go self catering.

One place we stayed in had an option to pay an extra £20 to not gave to bother to clean (obviously trashing the place was excluded) who I thought brilliant.

Given the two disabled adults I would send an email in advance in future along the lines of:

Dear Holiday Let Owner

We are really looking forward to our holiday with you on xxxx, but there is one issue I need to ask for assistance with in advance.

As our party includes 2 disabled adults as well as 3 children, it is almost impossible to do a full house clean on the final morning before checking out, and in previous holidays attempting to do so has really spoiled the end of the holiday. Obviously we will leave things tidy and in their right places. Please could I arrange in advance to pay your cleaner an additional 2 hours at the normal rate to cover the other things that might otherwise be expected such as stripping the beds, mopping the floors etc, which are just not possible for us to manage given the additional caring responsibilities. I am hoping that by arranging this in advance we can avoid the stress that can otherwise come with the end of a holiday let for either we the renters or you the owners.

With many thanks
Cluster

Leave a comment in their guestbook/on-line saying - nice place, nice holiday, but won't ever come again because of ridiculous check out cleaning requirements

Stay somewhere else - I've never cleaned any rental I've stayed in. Just left it tidy.

i use airbnb now and it states whether there's a cleaning fee. i won't rent a holiday place unless there's a cleaning fee for this very reason. the nightmare of packing everything up and doing a proper clean is a rubbish end to a holiday.

We never strip the beds

If ot makes you feel any betger OP we found a can of Brasso under the sink in the cottage we rented last year! We got full depisit back.. swept floors, clean dishes, wiped surfaces but still vaguely wondering what the brasso was for and what essential task I must have missed

French places are notorious for this - clearly French people like nothing more than a good old scrubbing session on the last day of their hols oh and carting their own linen everywhere.

We had a French ski rental once and I'd already paid for the expensive end of stay clean (which I rather resented as it wasn't particularly clean when we arrived - probably because half assed job done by monthe of previous renters).

The rental lady who came for final inspection (again annoying french custom which I didn't know about and as all the best slots were reserved we had the choice of 6.30 am or miss our plane) started to tut about the state of the floor (which was fine) and i had to remind her about the cleaning fee.

Never again - always try to find English owners or at least independent owners rather than a french management company.

Many places I have stayed in do include a cleaner fee. When they don't, and demand that you clean the place, I ask them to find a cleaner and pay for it. It's my holiday, I am not cleaning the place or stripping the beds! I have to clean it when I arrive anyway, it never feels that clean.

Including the price of cleaning in the fee avoids any argument about the state of the place and ensure we always have a full refund. I trust most owners, but you never know.

Some places are allegedly up market, but the pillows don't have pillow covers (just pillow cases), the beds only have bedsheets (no mattress protectors), the kitchen looks a bit..sticky. It's enough work when you arrive, no way would I do anything when I leave! (I must add the place is at least as tidy when I leave than when I arrive)

I am paying to go away on holiday, and there is no way I have ever done that in a holiday cottage. We obviously leave it tidy, ensure any washing up done and put away, run a hoover round before we leave as we have three dogs. We have never had any complaints.

Have certainly never seen instructions to strip any beds.

Holiday cottages are expensive, I am booking it for a holiday - there is no way I will be spring cleaning!

yes the other side of renting a place where the clients have to clean is it's never clean! i rented a gorgeous beach cabin and it was absolutely filthy. revoltingly filthy. i spent several hours cleaning before i could even unpack. clearly several lots of people hadn't bothered. absolutely disgusting. i emailed the owner to tell her and she said she could only send a cleaner round once a month for 2 hours.

This is madness! I always leave places tidy, beds stripped, dishwasher running etc. Last holiday I swept the floor as we'd dropped lots of sand (hard floor, no hall and near to the beach made it inevitable). But none of us go on holiday to clean also there was a mouldy plate in the dishwasher when we arrived so it's hardly as though it was spotless.

Plenty of cottages don't have these requirements, at least in the U.K. - can't speak for abroad as we tend to use b&bs and hotels.

coddiwomple what is a pillow cover? How is it different to a pillow case?

Blimey, the only time I've ever cleaned is when we've borrowed a friends personal holiday home.

Most places just ask you to: turn on dishwasher and empty fridge, put bins out. I'll normally run the hoover round mid week. I'll leave the duvet pulled back to air the beds and bung the towels in the bath. We are clean and tidy people anyway.

What is on the to do list?

OP Has it not crossed your mind that the Flash is for your use during your stay?

I have stayed in zillions of cottages. I hate it when cleaning products are a) locked away or b) not there at all. Because I do like to give the shower and basin a clean during my stay to get rid of our own muck!

You'd never know we'd been anywhere- dishes put away, bathrooms clean, etc.

I don't strip beds unless asked to because I don't leave any evidence on the sheets that I want to hide and I think it's a step too far to have to strip beds.

We did have to once when the owners asked. I've never gone back because when I saw the filthy state of the stained mattress cover, I wished I hadn't!

(Note to cottage owners- please change spunky mattress covers as well as the sheet.)

I have a cottage too and we expect people to mop up spills, keep generally tidy, put rubbish out. Small children can be a challenge if left to run sticky...that is a bit above and beyond

I do leave cleaning stuff as it's better to have it there. Also a lot of it you'd probably need midweek to wipe down table/ worktops. Clean up spills. I supply a lovely range of method spray stuff and loads of kitchen roll to make it easy.

PollyPerky I have a special product for removing "bodily fluids and other proteins" from gite laundry. It gets used more than you'd think!

I think a lot of rentals say you must leave the cottage as you found it. Which implies having to clean. Most specify no dishes on the drainer or in the dishwasher - put back in their place, towels and sheets in the bath, rubbish out. You are never quite sure just how much you have to do in order to get your deposit back - it's a grey area. I hate it . When the DC were little and we did beach holidays I used to dread the sand - often there was no dustpan and brush and many very expensive places had no cleaning stuff - so you have to bring or buy it all when there. It does put a dampner on the holiday especially when you have forked out well over a 4 figure sum to spend a wet week in England!

Now I'm older I am more relaxed I do the minimum required - we still get our deposit back (but then the DC are older and don't mess up floors etc with crumbs and can help out). It is the last thing you want to do when you are facing a long, long drive home.

I always stress about doing enough too to be honest they will be happy you did it so well (I expect the owners are cleaning it?) but as long as crockery washed and rubbish out they probably wouldn't bat an eyelid. HOWEVER we did rent an apartment on a french campsite and when I gave the key back at reception they insisted on a walk round inspection with me - pointed at a smear on the glass table and made me wipe it, were really funny about the floor not being wet (for complicated reasons we had actually moved out the day before and so it had dried but they did not believe me). Wow that was stressful. They clearly had no cleaners going in in between rentals.