To wonder how clean a holiday cottage should be?

[user1471558723]

We stayed at Centre Paris with another family some time ago. The experience was spoiled for me because the lodge that we stayed in wasn't as clean as I felt it should have been. It wasn't anything really drastic, it was things like, the kitchen was generally grubby, there was a lot of food debris including pieces of whole sweet corn in the dish washer filter, and lots of slime, the dishwasher itself smelled horrible, there were food crumbs in the cutlery drawer, there were tea stains on the cups and plates, the sofa and carpets were stained and there were crumbs etc down the sides of the sofa. The whole place downstairs felt it needed a really good "bottoming". We did complain and the cleaners came back and did a cursory clean.

We are going on another self catering holiday soon. I wouldn't go looking for dirt e.g. Running a finger along the tops of doors etc, but I would expect the fridge, dishwasher, cutlery drawer, and bathrooms to be spotless, and for there to be no obvious fluff and crumbs etc under the beds and sofas.

AIBU?

YANBU! It should have no visible dirt. The odd cobweb or bit of dust is excusable, but this sounds horrible.

A lot cleaner that that.

Sounds horrendous.

Basically they need to ave sent in a professional cleaner to do a decent job, not just rely on the previous occupants leaving it “as found”.

It should be clean to the point where you don’t question or even think about the level of cleanliness. Or to put it another way there shouldn’t be any dirt whatsoever. What you’ve described is disgusting.

Spotless clean. There should be no visible dirt anywhere. And if you go looking for dirt/dust/mess it should be hard or impossible to find!

Much cleaner than that!

I would have asked to be moved to a different cottage (if available). I’ve arrived at a holiday before and there were hundreds of spider egg sacs (shudder) and the place clearly hadn’t been cleaned for some time.

Was on a large holiday park, and ended up with an upgrade to a lovely clean chalet type thing.

Just returned from a cottage rental and the place was spotless. I would have been so unhappy if it had been dirty. Centre parcs is so expensive I would have been really angry with them more so as that their whole business not an independent

The private ones we stay in have always been spotless. Centre Parcs... well even though it was an executive lodge.... was grubby and tired. They get something like a 2hr window to clean before the next guests. I could see crumbs etc.
If you go with a private renter they have much more pride in everything being well tended.

YANBU. Especially considering what you have to pay at centre parks!

We stayed in one with Sykes cottages, and it stunk of dog pee
I also kept getting bite marks every night.
I would expect it to be clean and smell nice.
Yanbu to expect more

I have had the same experience at Center Parcs ( bin not emptied from previous occupants , tooth paste on sink etc )
I think Center Parcs standards are quite poor , and we haven’t been there since !
I have a holiday cottage , and it is much , much cleaner than that
A professional cleaner goes in and cleans from top to bottom
It takes 2 hours ( and it’s only a 2 bed cottage )
No dust , crumbs , fingerprints or cobwebs will be left
And definitely no toothpaste smears in the sink 😀

Same as previous posters - I've had some nasty experiences at Centre Parcs regarding general grubbiness and dirt.

I've a 1 bed holiday let which guests always leave immaculate and I still spend at least 2.5 hours + cleaning it each week - couldn't bear anyone to find last week's mess lying around somewhere.

Holiday let owner here - YANBU. There should be no trace of the previous guests. I get five hours between guests on back-to-back changeover days (assuming the outgoing ones leave on time and the incoming ones don't rock up early!) and if all three bedrooms need a full changeover, it takes me most of that time. If I've got a few empty days then I give it a full move-all-the-furniture-out-from-the-walls blitz and so far that's mostly kept on top of things.

Should be spotless. I have a 2-bed holiday cottage and spend 4+ hours cleaning it each changeover (although that time includes bed changes, restocking, welcome packs etc). I expect I spend 3 hours on the actual cleaning. It's the kitchen that takes the longest. In contrast I spend 2 hours a week cleaning my much larger family home. Holiday cottages need to be much cleaner than your own home!

Should be spotless. We went on a haven caravan holiday a fee weeks ago and I kept wondering the whole time how they manage to keep it as spotlessly tidy as it was, it was like every inch was brand new. Hopefully you'll have better luck next time!

I’ve just left mil’s holiday cottage spotless all surfaces slpashbacks, windows and cupboards cleaned. However is a while until the next paying guests so mil will go before they arrive to dust and make the beds fresh etc.

So spotless

YANBU at all!
That’s just not acceptable. Their prices are a disgrace and even more so if you get there and their accommodation is as skanky as this.

I know someone that used to work as one of the cleaners there and she said it was ridiculous the workload and time they were allowed. So perhaps no surprise. People are paying thousands to stay there during school holidays so I am amazed they’d get away with it but who knows......

It should be close to spotless. Certainly no food remains anywhere or visible dust.

Spiders have a habit of materialising from nowhere and leaving a new cobweb within minutes of cleaning!

It should be sparkling clean when you arrive. Center Parcs isn't cheap either!

We stayed at a cottage in the New Forest recently that had quite a bit of dirt and fluff on the floor behind the sink (they'd cleaned the bathroom, but obviously missed that bit) and a dead mouse in the cupboard with the extractor fan!

I stay in holiday cottages at least once a year, and they've always been spotless on arrival. So nice.... it's better than home!
I'd be really annoyed to find any of them even a little bit grubby. Somewhere like Centre Parcs, totally unacceptable.

I did stay in a cheap ski lodge in France this year where cleaning was optional. It cost extra if you didn't do it yourself at the end, and if you did do it yourself there was a 30 second quality check at the end. Needless to say, that place wasn't the most spotless.
and DH polishing glasses with dirty bath towel was a bit grim
However, unlike CP, it was cheap.