to be angry with our holiday let guests

[birdladyfromhomealone]

As Holiday makers, have you ever wondered why you are asked to pay a refundable damage deposit?
The reason is - not every one is respectful or treats rental homes as they would their own.
Just a month ago we posted pictures of our newly refurbished studio apartment in our villa in Spain with a brand new day bed that pulls out to two singles or a double.
With thanks to our first guests of this season we will now have to refurb again although the deposit may not cover the cost of their "the bed just broke"
We have a great team of cleaners that keep our Villa in immaculate condition but they should not have to clean up what has been left.
Why would anyone leave a holiday villa in this condition?

Agree etino. The kitchen and fridge are easily cleared with a black sack. Wouldn't most cleaners take home any suitable leftovers. Op , you never answered regarding what instructions for leaving you may or may not have left the hirers or if they paid for end of stay cleaning. If you relied on their conscience you can see from the responses how open to interpretation that is. If they had already paid for it to be cleaned then they will not have done much towards it. Vandalism is different to carelessness or laziness however.

Look, I'm one of those who wouldn't clean a holiday let before I left but even I don't need instructions to wash pots, clear fridge of opened stuff and to leave the work surfaces clear.

And what difference does it make how much OP charges?

@TumbleTussocks “And what difference does it make how much OP charges?”
It makes a big difference. The OP charges to cover the costs, including running repairs and wear and tear. I don’t expect to be charged extra for bin emptying or if I spill a drink on a train, because my ticket covers the cost of cleaning the carriage after each journey.
Ditto I might choose to rent a place with no bedding, or where I have to make up the beds on arrival, but if not I’m paying for the provision and make up service.

You may not but clearly others need expectations to be more explicit. We would wipe down, sweep/hoover, strip beds and put bagged rubbish in the outside bin, but there is normally a folder of information which states the minimum expectations. I wonder if the group renting this villa fell out and noone took responsibility for clearing up the mess.

IKEA furniture isn't real furniture?

Well, that's news to me. Fairly sure I'm sitting on a sofa, but guess I'm wrong...

Ikea is just another of those things that people are snobby about for no good reason, despite never being near the place, or certainly not within the last 20 years.

You know, like Spanish holidays being all about getting pissed around the pool before gorging on beige and chips at the AI buffet or Aldi and Lidl not being 'real' supermarkets and only selling rotten poor quality food.

I bet there is 2 weeks of rubbish. Spanish houses do not have single use bins. Each community will have large bins at the end of the road. These are emptied daily, even on sundays.

In our community, you can only put waste in the large bins from 10pm-6am (summer time only, because of the heat).

These people couldn’t even clear the fridge/worktops. Chances of them walking to the bins - nil.

That is a prime example of what I mean. Each country, even commune has its own methods of dealing with rubbish, and this needs explaining.

Nothing wrong with Ikea furniture, but it does sound as if that particular piece has issues, and if it’s going to be pulled out regularly it’s not suitable for a holiday let.

I've just had to stay in an apartment where the slats of the bed fell out - the slats were thin and really rubbish. It made my stay utterly miserable. I was sleeping with my skinny 13 year old and she couldn't sit on the side of the bed without the slats collapsing. We had to roll onto the bed every night and not put any weight in a single place. Plus the blinds all broke with a single touch... everything had just been bought cheaply and it showed.

I think if that was a bedroom then it should have been a proper bed - a sofa then a decent hard wearing sofa. Or a sofa bed.

The fridge and surfaces are disgusting. I’m not a tidy person, but I’d never leave a holiday home like that.

Breaking the tv connector is really bad, too. How on earth did they break the pool tiles? Unless one was slightly uneven and someone made it their job to dive down and repeatedly jemmy it.

The bed sounds like it has known faults. I’ve never heard of a daybed, and I don’t think you can expect guests not to regularly sleep on a bed. So either get a sofa in there or a real bed. It sounds like the guests misbehaved to break it, seeing as they were quick to ring about other issues.

It’s awful you’re going to have to fork out to fix this. What did they say about their deposit?

It’s hearbreaking when people treat holiday lets badly. I run one that my brother owns and the things I’ve walked in to!

Weeks worth of garbage not bagged but just ON THE FLOOR, a bed completely snapped in two, chairs broken in half, bags of weed in the nightstand, a broken window, a black ring around the bath, the hob so coated in grease it was impossible to tell what colour it should have been, exploded beer bottles in the freezer, burns in the carpet, chicken feathers (???) everywhere.

I get your frustration OP. It’s like some guests don’t understand that this is someone else’s property that means a lot to them. All you can do is withhold their deposit and ban them. We use Airbnb now because it allows you to claim extra money for damages if you can show proof (photographs) to cover costs of repairs. Although even then we’ve had some issues with getting guests to pay for what they’ve ruined. Holiday lets are not easy.

Can OP really be blamed for not saying how much she charges? Given some of the replies on here, if it's a lot she'd no doubt be told "why should they clean when they're paying THAT" and if it's modest the answer would probably be "you can't expect them to respect something that's sold so cheaply"

I'm wondering if anyone - agent, neighbours, whoever - actually saw the renters? I'd love to know if they were obvious, rowdy knuckle draggers or something else entirely - though of course neither is a guarantee of what will actually happen

The kitchen and fridge are easily cleared with a black sack

That's why I would rather sort the food out myself here in the uk, you have to recycle other wise the bins wont last, and it's not fair on the next people to have over flowing bins.

I once stayed in my friend’s holiday home in Spain. I left some really nice wine for her, and for the housekeeper, and toys and chocolate for her kids, with a note. She had a family stay from Owners Direct before her next visit; they stole all the stuff I’d left, even though the note explained what it was for.

Some people are just nasty.

I said upthread that I think that responsive are negative because you mix up what might be legitimate issues with trivialities.

You’re complaining about the tumble dryer filter?!!!!!!
Who expects a guest to clear that?

And saying the leaflets are screwed up? What a load of nonsense. They’re messed up - would take 30 seconds to straighten.

I’m over invested in this post, and irrationally annoyed!
You have a 5 bed room property, according to previous posts where you have mentioned this place in Spain, but are now complaining that the booking for 9 made use of all the beds!
The day bed looks flimsy, regardless of what you paid for it, but nowhere have you explained that it as clear to paying renters that the room should not be used to sleep in and the so called day bed is off limits for actual use as a bed.
You haven’t told us what instructions or advice was left for your tenants, and even if you had bothered to translate or even leave advice about rubbish collections , emptying the fridge on the day of leave etc
At a guess for a place this big, you have pocketed at least £2000 per week, plenty enough to cover cleaning, and the comments about broken pool tiles point much more to shoddy choice if workmen, likewise the so called sockets pulled out of walls. I’ve had this happen to me when taking a uk adaptor out of a shoddily constructed villa.
And do not even get me started on your complaints about stained white cushions, and used bed linen! Do you provide a mid stay laundry swap, or even offer a mid week clean for this boutique style rental?
If not, do you supply cleaning materials, washing powder etc ?
What about leaving a file of useful local information, not a pile of crappy leaflets?
By the way, posting from a holiday rental in Spain, where all Of the above has been provided.

I too am over invested in this thread.

I burned 6 croissants this morning reading it.

Has anyone else picked up on the dust on skirting board next the the wooden floor?

All the leaflets for guest attaractions screwed up

But they're not. They're maybe a bit untidy. OP seems fond of hyperbole.

Lynette - I spotted that yesterday at 16.02 - wasn't sure if grime or if the paint was missing.

Are the bed slats actually broken or have come away from the frame? If broken wouldn't they be snapped in the middle, indicating someone standing on the bed. Even then you wouldn't expect them to snap. The frame itself looks like it's been pushed the wrong way perhaps and has bent.

As someone said I bet this villa cost £2k for the week and it's not high end luxury in decoration or furnishings. If that's the price that's great but it's the reason I won't get a villa anymore as it just seems to expensive for what you get. Then, despite assurances, the pool isn't heated which is usually why I've had villas in the past and suddenly what seems a good idea isn't. Of course, £2k between 10 people is cheap but price/value or whatever the equation is hasn't ever been worth it to me with a villa as I usually holiday just 2-3 people.

I don't think the thread went the way the OP wanted it to and hasn't come back.

I think drink had been taken......

We have been to many holidays let’s and generally treat them as our own, I clear up as I go along and empty all food when we go with the exception of sealed wine which I leave on the side as I just can’t bin it!
Sometimes I can’t take it to the bin as the bins are full and in that case I’d leave it bagged to be taken out .
As for breakages they do happen usually small things which I would leave a note about same as any thing broken when we arrive which often happens I inform the owner so they don’t think it was us.

I think breaking a bed is pretty bad and they should have mentioned it .

Several times I’ve had note from the owners thanking us for taking good care of their place .
It must be tough renting out property and I often think our damage deposit wouldn’t cover half the damage we could do .

Some people are just filthy, mucky animals. You have to wonder how they treat their own home. There are decent people though - if we’d rented from you, we’d have left it just as we found it, but that’s just a matter of our own personal pride and standards. Sorry that your lovely rental was slightly trashed :(

I'm sorry to say this.. those beds are terrible. I had one when I lived in a small room and the slats all broke really easily. And I certainly wasn't jumping on it. They are poorly made. I wouldn't advise those in future.