More are my guests being unreasonable?

[stayathomegardener]

I run a holiday cottage in the UK, sleeps 4 and is next to our house.

Currently have two guests staying so provided the usual 4 bath sheets when they arrived yesterday.
I received this message this morning:

Hi T*,do you have some hand towels and face cloths that you could leave for us. We will leave bath towels outside for you after use for washing and return if that's ok as we use clean towels each night,thanks."

The hand towels and face cloths are not an issue I can give them some of ours and perhaps should consider providing them anyway but daily washing/drying two bath sheets is that reasonable?

For full disclosure the listing states that there is use of a washing machine next door (in our house) and I always say to guests just let me know if you would like me to put any washing on for you.
Tempted to say help yourself to it but really don't want to have to let them in here (tidy up!)
I have yet to respond...

I'd provide hand towels and bath sheets but not flannels.

I would go along with the requests this time, but I wouldn't offer to do laundry again.

If I was renting a holiday cottage for a week I'd expect clean towels and I'd hope for spares (which I wouldn't use unless necessary). I like the suggestion from previous posters to put up a notice about being environmentally friendly and not doing laundry unless necessary.

There is a 2 m high biomass heated towel rail in the bathroom so I doubt damp towels are going to be the issue.

Ive only just got in but no washing attempted today.

You should be providing hand towels. Very bizarre to provide one towel each - you need hand towels for drying hands after using toilet, and ladies need hand towels for their hair. You don't need to provide flannels.

I wouldn't expect a daily towel change in a cottage, just a weekly towel and sheet change and a clean (as you would do at changeover anyway). However, if there is no washing machine and you have offered washing facilties (and they have rented a cottage on that basis) then you need to wash the towels as requested. Perhaps buy a further set so you don't need to wash and dry daily.

Of course I hang my towel up to dry. It's not dirty!

Washing all the time is bad for the environment and is costly.

Ive only just got in but no washing attempted today

Ha! So they're not so picky about daily clean towels when they have to wash them themselves

It depends on your standards. If I'm used to staying at 5 star hotels then I'd expect the full set of towels. And for my towels to be changed everyday.

Agree with others that you've left the laundry issue subject to interpretation by mentioning the washing machine. If I was at a cottage I wouldn't want to go into the owners kitchen / laundry to put the washing on. Defeats the purpose of a holiday. I expect to be waited on when I go away and not lift a finger to do any domestic activity

You have made a rod for your own back offering to do washing for them sounds like you need to increase the towel allowance on every break and you need to change your listing description around clean towels not being provided daily although in a self catering set up I wouldn't expect them to be either

beyoncessweatband
It depends on your standards

If I'm used to staying at 5 star hotels then I'd expect the full set of towels. And for my towels to be changed everyday

My standards are high and I often stay in luxury hotels. I don't demand a 'fresh' towel every day because its not necessary and enviromentally unfriendly. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Even 'good' hotels often have a notice in the bathroom saying that, unless you desperately need (or words to that effect) fresh towels every day, please consider reusing them for environmental reasons.

I've no problem using towels for a few days or weeks at home and am at people recoiling in horror at the thought of using a towel more than once.

Requiring a fresh towel every day seems very arrogant.

I'm happy to use my bath towel, hand towel, face towel and hair turban for up to 2 weeks as I always dry them out properly after use. The concept of throwing a towel on your own bathroom floor baffles me.

However, I hate sharing towels so there's always the quandary about how to separate my towel from DH's in a hotel as it feels wasteful getting fresh towels everyday.

In the Maldives they change your towels twice a day which really caused guilt levels to rise. I used to hide my towels.

I'm buying the detergent and paying for the electricity, so I'll use it as I please

And the planet can just fuck right off.

Why do people never come right out and simply admit: I know that what I am doing is environmentally disastrous but I am just too selfish to give a shit.

OP, you sound like a wonderful host. DO please post a link to your holiday cottage!

I think they are confusing a self catering holiday cottage with a hotel-I've stayed in many holiday cottages and. unlike a hotel , towels and sheets last a week.
However as your blurb says you are willing to put washing on for them I think you will just have to suck it up and hope other guests aren't as demanding. Maybe put a washing machine in the cottage or an outbuilding so guests can do washing themselves?
I think washing bath towels after one use is excessive -as I continually tell my teenagers!

After a shower or a bath do you hang up your towel to dry and use it again?

Of course! Other people may not care about the planet but I do.

Wait! This is a genuine question, do people not wash their towels after every use? Like After a shower or a bath do you hang up your towel to dry and use it again? Like at home not on holiday Is this a thing?
Maybe someone should do a poll, but I'd say this is the norm. That is why there is such thing as towel rails, or bathroom heaters designed to hang towels on.

My extensive research upthread revealed that experts say you should wash them about every 3 uses, maybe 4. The articles quoting that often say "You are probably using your towels more times than you should before washing".

you sound like a wonderful host
Telling her guests to give her washing, then moaning about them being unreasonable online when they do? Wonderful?

I expect to be waited on when I go away and not lift a finger to do any domestic activity

Well presumably then you wouldn’t go on a self-catering holiday would you?

If there is no laundry facility within the property then you need to provide fresh towels daily.

It's a self-catering cottage, not a 5* spa. Should OP also do daily housekeeping, and a turndown service with a chocolate on the pillow?

As you have offered to put a wash on in your information, I don't think they are BU unfortunately. I would delete that piece of info from now on - I've never known towels to be changed in holiday cottages/lodges

YANBU

@ravenmum RTFT

@IceQueenCometh I did, thanks. You do know that abbreviation is rude?

If my host had said they would do washing for me I would interpret that as.... if I had some dirty clothes etc that i needed then they could be washed.

However once again there is a thread that pulls out the entitled, indulgent folks that stay in the Ritz and behave like they are royalty.

I wash my towels every 2 weeks along with my bath mats. Babies towels every 3 uses but they are tiny.

@ravenmum what's your point?

@IceQueenCometh What's yours? I read the thread, what I said is true. A host who moans online about her guests doing what she asked them to do is IMHO not a "wonderful" host. You disagree, fine, but it doesn't change my opinion and there's no need to swear at me.