Arrived at holiday cottage and no towels!

[savingin2018welltryingto]

So we have arrived at a holiday cottage, we have stayed at many in the past and there are no towels. Although bizarre I know this happens ocassionally so went back to check the listing and there's no mention of this.

We are miles from anything so suggestions on a post card for showering tomorrow morning - the curtains?! Just kidding of course.

What's the most random thing you've found missing? Before this it was hand soap which I found ridiculous given the price.

@tinlegs

Spring Mill?

I always bring towels and loo rolls, even if towels are provided I'd want spare clean ones and more if using for beach/pool.

And soap.

There are plenty of reasonably priced s/c cottages and appartments, costing nothing like £1400 p/w. Just check out one of the numerous websites offering them - there are loads. One of my favourite places that we stayed at was here:

www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottages/highlands/sutherland-caithness/ad3-berriedale-beach-house

It comfortably slept 5, everything was provided, fully equipped kitchen, glorious views and max price of £625 p/w in August.

Washing blowing in the wind near the stream!

Amazon for towels? and get the delivered to the cottage?

"We went to France last year and there were no towels or bed linen."

We stayed in this lovely ground floor appartment two or three years ago:

www.visit-somme.com/aux-tresors-dapolline/acheux-en-amienois/hlopic080v5096eq

We had to pay extra to hire the towels and linen, but even with that it only cost us about £900 for a fortnight in July, which for the quality of the appartment was an absolute bargain. That was the time the 5 of us bussed it from Liverpool to Amiens via London, for £256 total return. It was a fun experience.

Liz that is gorgeous. Long drive from us though!

Another one in the 'have never stayed in a self-catering place with no towels' camp. I'd be pretty pissed off if they messaged in advance to say to bring our own towels, and furious if we just turned up and there were none. I wouldn't say we pay top prices, either - we do a lot of Airbnb apartments and I've never stayed in one of those that didn't provide towels.

Maybe it’s the area I like that costs so much. SW near beach, I can’t find anything for £400 a week.

Actually, what does aggravate me about SC is the lack of info about what's provided in the kitchen. If they could just say 'we provide salt, pepper, a few teabags, a pint of milk and enough dishwasher tabs for three days' or whatever, that would be great. I've been to some where there is literally nothing and others where there's a full complement of condiments and a cupboard full of cleaning stuff so I've wasted money buying more.

I have to agree with that. I don't mind/care what is/isn't provided, but I want to know. I'm happy to take my own tea pot and towels, dishwasher tablets, etc., but it's annoying not knowing, so I have to take it all with us, and even more annoying bringing it all back again unused when the cottage has been fully equipped. Far better to know what's provided so I don't need to take everything with me. I also like lots of pictures so there are no nasty surprises. Some listings are really amateurish and poor and there've been plenty I would have booked but didn't when the photos have been poor or the description looks as if it's been written by a 5 year old - easy enough just to move on a book one that looks more professionally run.

Another ridiculous one was where they described the kitchen as being fully equipped not only with utensils etc, but also as including a full range of condiments, and packets/tins of basic foods in the cupboards.

In reality, the cupboards were full of half used open packets of cereals, pastas, sugar, salt, and a few dozen tins of beans, soups, which were past their sell by date. Clearly, rather than throw away what previous guests had left, they just left them. In particular there was a packet of corn flakes which was 3 years past it's sell by date and a tin of prunes 5 years old. The cupboards/drawers were also filthy with crumbs etc so the owners/cleaners clearly didn't bother cleaning or emptying them.

Even for things not out of date, would you really use anything from an opened packet left by someone else - you don't know what they may have done with it or their hygiene standards etc. yuck.

@Liz70 thanks for that link! DH has a friend with very limited mobility after a stroke, & wants to take him on a WWI battlefields visit - your place looks ideal for him

I did get a mite hacked off a while ago after booking quite a 'luxury' property in Dorset, town centre, short walk to shops and beach. It was a 3 bed and evidently intended for families with children - we had dd, SiL and 2 very little Gdcs with us.

In a pretty expensive seaside rental for families, I really would have expected a tumble drier, or at least a heated airer, for drying beach towels. As it was, although there was a large balcony with a washing line, it was virtually impossible to dry them overnight - there was rain or drizzle on and off - hardly unusual in the U.K.

I had a minor moan at the time on, ahem, another forum, where most replies told me I should expect no such thing - 'Back in my day we were only too grateful for sod all...' etc.
Wouldn't have minded if I'd been paying relative peanuts, but I wasn't. Still, largely my own fault for not checking beforehand.

I can understand not providing towels for taking to a beach or pool - but tbh calling it luxury and then not providing basic towels is odd. I have staying in a number of luxury cottages in the UK and most go over the top to make you welcome. The last one had a local food hamper waiting for us!

Have stayed in s/c with and without towels &/or bedlinen. Sometimes it's optional. Recently there is a company supplying these and holiday letting companies charge a mark up, included in the fee. Private landlords more likely to not provide, but it should be clear.
Don't put sandy towels in the dryer!
Coffee prep always rubbish. You can make coffee in a jug and use a tea strainer

Our family has a little flat in Andalucia near the beach too. It is not rented out though. Family (and there are lots of us!) use it in rotation.

We all contributed to buying the stock items, towels, sheets, etc. enough for ten people even though it sleeps four (six if kids use an air mattress).

We also pay for a cleaner/bed/towel changer to come in a few days before the next contingent arrives. Very good.

The deal is to leave a fridge full of wine/Cava and some beers, water, milk, butter, bread in the freezer, tea and coffee in the cupboard. You know, enough to keep you alive if arriving late at night. Supermarket is two minutes walk (when it's open!).

I did say in an earlier post that if someone is renting out their house/flat that they should state quite CLEARLY what visitors must supply for themselves. That is where this rental fell down I think.

Anyway, I am sure OP will enjoy the break eventually!

I rented a room in a family home while on a language course and there were no towels provided which I thought was pretty mean, especially considering they knew everyone on the course would be coming from abroad and probably flying. There were also mushrooms growing in the bath which was... interesting.

Hm. Underfloor heating and Nespresso machine but no towels = all fur coat but no knickers, as my Mum used to say.

Stupid and overpriced.

I've never stayed anywhere SC that doesn't provide towels, except the one place in the New Forest. We're SC this summer though so this has been a timely reminder to check.

We occasionally rent out our shared family flat abroad and that includes bed-linen and towels.

I haven't taken towels on holiday since the 70's
They have always been provided wherever we have holidayed

There are only the two of us and no pets - we like anywhere drivable from southern England. 😊

We managed to get some from Tesco and nobody replied!

I run holiday lets for city breaks and we always provide towels, hand soap, washing up liquid, washing powder, kitchen paper, those kinds of things. I feel these are essentials and I wouldn’t be expecting people to cart towels with them on holiday especially as a lot of our guests come from abroad. I’ve found that if it’s not included in the listing some people don’t expect it to be there though so I list what is there to avoid confusion.

I'd say about 50% of the places I've stayed provide towels. But as we don't drive so travel by train we always check if its not clear as I don't want to lug stuff that we don't need to. Most places that don't provide towels (and the odd - cheap - one that doesn't provide bedding) will do so for a small fee. We use a fairly large agency in Scotland each year for a family holiday and towels NOT provided in any property- but they make that clear.
Best ones also leave tea, coffee, sugar, milk and bread - and even a bottle of wine and/or homemade cake. And they weren't necessarily the most expensive places.
Worst one (not the cheapest) was on Jersey - no loo rolls, no washing up liquid or cloth (no dishwasher either, but that doesn't bother me). As it was somewhere that did short lets and I was only there 3 nights by myself I was a bit peeved at having to go and buy a full size bottle of washing up liquid and a pack of 4 loo rolls (smallest pack available in the tiny Co-op) just for 3 days. So now I ask EXACTLY what they provide!

Do people really nick three dishwasher tablets?

Yes I'm afraid they do - and lots of other things as well. I searched high and low for a corkscrew in my own holiday let to no avail. I had to pop out and buy a new one.

I didn't replace the chess set, backgammon, cribbage board and draughts that were taken though. They lasted less than 6 weeks.

People will take anything.

We have just got back from 2 weeks abroad. Booked 3 airbnbs. First two were lovely - everything you could want.......arrived at the third after a long, hot drive. As I have my priorities right, the first thing I looked for was a corkscrew. Nope, no corkscrew. We messaged the owner (who lived on-site) in case it was an oversight. No reply and phone went straight to voicemail. Set off into the city, 20 mins walk in 100 degree heat and bought a corkscrew in a tacky tourist shop (no other shops available). Came back, drank wine. Sorted. In the morning we realised that there were no plates apart from some paper/plastic ones presumably left by previous guests. Only one bowl, no bread knife or chopping board, no dish scourer. One small saucepan and one frying pan. No cooking utensils whatsoever. Plenty of towels though and we still managed to have a fantastic time.