To be puzzled and upset over holiday rental complaint

[violets17]

I rented a villa last month and a week after I had left I received an email from the villa owner's husband saying that I was the messiest renter they had had in 2 years and not to bother trying to rebook (which I hadn't). I emailed back asking for more details and he emailed back saying "it was a mess" with no further detail.

I've really racked my brains and asked my eldest son who was with me to help me remember everything. This is what I did/didn't do:

Positives
I took out all our rubbish and put it in the correct public bins
Emptied the fridge of our leftover food
Put most things back where they were (see negative list)
Didn't use BBQ therefore no mess
Roughly wiped down sides in kitchen
Checked all over for obvious spills/toothpaste etc

Possible Negatives
I didn't put all the towels in the bath because there wasn't instructions to do that so wasn't sure
Left dishwasher running with a few morning things
Replaced coffee I had used with half a jar I had bought, replaced sugar I had used with some sugar packets
Left a lilo (still working) by the pool for next guests
Left a half used bottle of laundry liquid in the laundry room
Left a brand new (unused) insulated cool bag on top of cool box

Negatives
Did not put clothes horse back in correct place
Did not put hairdryer back in drawer
Placed sofa throws on correct sofas but didn't fold them
Didn't wipe outside table (a bit tacky)
Didn't wipe glass coffee table (a bit tacky)
Didn't actually clean anything just looked for obvious toothpaste/spills/toilet stains and dealt with that - ie didn't sweep/mop/get out the cif

I then got a "guest rating" which only gives star ratings out of 5. They gave me the following

Overall experience - 1 star
Cleanliness - 1 star
Communication - 2 stars
Following house rules - 2 stars

I'm flummoxed - house rules were no smoking inside (I didn't), no house parties (of course not), no excessive noise (um - I don't even drink and had no music on).

Communication was ordinary until he emailed me to complain and I asked for details which he didn't give and neither of us communicated further.

This is about the 10th holiday villa I have rented and it has always been positive with owners asking me back and refunding my deposit immediately - luckily there was no deposit with this one.

I know I have given this too much thought but I honestly feel like I don't know what he was talking about. Why did he wait a whole week after I left to email me?

Sorry for long post - didn't want to drip drip

Just forget it and don't go back. They clearly don't value thier customers.

Was he able to see your review before he did his? You only gave him 3 stars. Possibly this was his way of punishing you.

SirGawain - I agree, unless your ‘travelling’ and under 25 when reviews are crucial, I’d just let it go.

I'd take photos on arrival and departure too after getting stung for a cleaning bill when we'd left the place pretty tidy and clean.

I also always cover any fabric seating with towels, put away anything decorative/ breakable and tell my children that if anything gets broken/dirty it comes out of their ice cream money. :-D

Why do holiday lets so often have white seat covers?

Please don’t let it put you off.

We got a low rating last year after we stayed in an Airbnb property in France - we were terribly upset as we’d gone through the entire house and cleaned up. Wiped sinks, toilets, baths, hoovered the carpets, took out all our rubbish and recycling, cleared up the kitchen and wiped all the surfaces AND we left them a glowing review even though there had been one or two issues but we overlooked them. It really left a bad taste after a lovely holiday.

However this year we went to Crete also Airbnb - didn’t do anything more than last year and got a five star rating. Just put it down to experience and don’t let it put you off.

We also take pics of every single room before we leave a property, we don't take pics on arrival unless something is broken.

YANBU whatsoever. This is bizarre! You did the same sorts of things as I do when checking out of a holiday property, and I think it's plenty. Reading this thread I'm wondering if holiday property owners are starting to get a bit CF-ish, they're supposed to be providing a service FFS and surely can't expect guests to do a deep clean before they leave.

I wouldn't be able to resist leaving a pissy review in return tbh, especially as it must have marred your experience of the holiday.

All I can think of is that the unfolded throws looked messy!

I probably would have wiped the "tacky" tables & put the clotheshorse & hairdryer away.

I suppose the lilo & coolbag could have looked like you dumped your unwanted stuff on them.

If you left a bad review though it does seem very tit for tat-and of course you wouldn't be wanting to go back anyway!

Similar thing happened to us this year on Airbnb. We paid over £1000 for the apartment, plus £100 cleaning.

Owner complained that the towels and sheets were dirty (well yes, they were after a week), and the whole house was dirty.

I had wiped down the bathrooms and swept the floors, but there was no mop! Not sure if the owner expected us to go buy one!

Ignore it.

I had a mad experience with a holiday let too. 10 days after I left, they phoned me and accused me of stealing their family silver. Yes. They claimed that they kept their family silver in a holiday let. And that I had smashed open a locked cupboard and nicked it. They also claimed I had stolen books from their library and pictures of the wall.

I phoned the police to report their accusations. Strangely they refused to talk to the police about the "thefts."

Very weird. Some people just aren't cut out to be in the hospitality business.

I'm going on holiday to Spain in August . I don't plan on cleaning at all bar the usual rubbish and tidying up after myself .
I'm going on holiday ffs ... I didn't expect a rating .. do all companies do that??

You cleaned windows, joberg?! - jaysus, I pay someone to do that in my own home, there's no way I'd be doing it in someone else's!

We use holiday cottages a fair bit, with dogs, and always make sure we leave them clean and tidy - hoovered, wiped down, everything put away - but there's no way I am going to be doing a 'deep clean' when I'm on holiday. We have never had any complaints, quite the opposite. Surely owners need to have a cleaning routine anyway, so they know things have been done, so it would only be duplicated effort.

If that's what the owners need, I'd rather they built a cost (optional maybe) in to the holiday and let me choose whether to use their place or choose another.

It seriously annoys me that people who rent out their holiday home don’t get a professional cleaner in after each stay. What are they saving £50?
I would expect to arrive to a professionally cleaned place. And I would expect that when I leave it’s professionally cleaned.
They’re just being tight

I always take a video of a rental property before we leave, just in case there are any issues.
That said, I would never clean before we left (I wouldn't book somewhere that didn't have cleaners or let me pay extra for cleaning). I'd make sure it was tidy, but I'm not spending the last day of my holiday cleaning.
OP - they've given you a bad review because you gave them one. I'd contact homeaway again and ask why they haven't submitted your review and ask them to review theirs. Remind them that they are responsible for the content on their website.

This happened to us a couple years ago owners direct in spain. We rented a place with another family we both had one baby each at the time. There was a cleaning charge. We wiped down tidied up but as others said did not 'clean' as we'd paid for it n nothing worse than having to spend last night or day of your hols scrubbing! The place wasn't great either. I was fuming with the owners insults. Now before I rent anywhere I doubly confirm re. cleaning so no misunderstanding! Maybe they were getting you back for the 3 star review?

Bloody hell I wipe kitchen surfaces, throw dishes in the dishwasher, remove and deal with rubbish, towels in the bath and put everything back in its place but I never wipe down bathroom sinks etc. It's hard enough to make the check out time without have to do a 4 hour clean before you leave. I expect some of the large sum of money I have paid to be used for cleaning services.

They sent me the email saying it was a mess before I left any review. My intention was to say nothing and not return. I then wrote a review giving it 3/5 saying it was a nice villa but noisy location, I didn't mention the weird email, I thought it was fair only to discuss the villa and location itself in a public review. Then I got the 1 star rating.

I think they could have thought the brand new, completely unused cool bag and still working lilo was me leaving my tat rather than a little bonus "gift" for the next guests. They could have similarly thought that of the coffee, sugar and laundry liquid. I've just remembered that I used a bag of ice and left a bag of ice - I thought I was being nice but it could have been misinterpreted.

I should have folded the throws, wiped the tables and put away the clothes horse and hairdryer - I certainly will next time as well as taking shit loads of photos! Which would have taken me 5 minutes but equally would have taken them 5 minutes and I PAID to stay there. It wasn't a favour.

Also, although I commented to my son halfway through the holiday that there was a whiff of pee and that the floors were a little tacky I did notice it immediately but shrugged my shoulders, I didn't care enough to comment other than in passing in private to my son.

I think that they have relied upon guests doing their cleaning for them and have been lucky so far. All the reviews that are posted so far (12, all 5 star) comment positively about the petrol station saying it was handy for water and bread. My 3 star has still not gone up, I will chase up HA again.

I stayed in an Owners Direct place in France and cleaned roughly ( swept but no mop and actually removed cobwebs we’d noticed on arrival) yet only got half deposit back as they took a cleaning charge which we didn’t know about. Cheeky

I think the few things you left out and the unwiped tables meant it didn't look imaculate/as you found it, which went down badly. They aren't going to be as relaxed re cleanliness as you might be because it's their business not a home and they will want quick cleaning turnaround for new guests. Did the house 'pack' most Lets have outline expectations on leaving, quite a few I've stayed in ask you to strip beds, empty fridge etc etc? I'd have flagged the smell/carpets in case I was blamed for them and charged.

I think that if the owners of holiday lets want their guests to clean the property before leaving, then they should let the guests know. Okay, OP could have thoroughly cleaned, but it doesn’t sound like she left the property in a particularly bad state. Especially as it’s fairly normal for cleaners to go in and give holiday properties a clean before the next set of guests arrives.

I think the suggestion about taking photos next time is good.

Im so glad this isnt something that happened to us. This thread is like therapy.

I had this - but it was a relatives house who knows Im a clean freak. We figured out it was the cleaner who wanted to charge more hours as apparently many of their guests were scruffs. They got a different cleaner and apparently the guests improved overnight. Funny that :)

We recently had an air bnb abroad. When we left we stripped the beds, washed all towels, cleaned the kitchen, and bathroom. We left in our reviews that a brush etc would be beneficial to sweep up and that certain 'amenities' were not available as it was a new build and they weren't yet installed! (Luckily we weren't reliant on the lift for example!!), and also the 'location' was not as described- distance etc. We didn't get a review, so obviously ours isn't published, now that was annoying.