Holiday home left in a real mess

[BigOldOakTree]

I wonder if I can call on the wise of Mumsnet to help me with a question? I manage a couple of holiday homes and we've had a very busy Christmas. I'm not new to this and know the ups and downs of this business. Our guests in one of the cottages over Christmas were given a complimentary welcome pack on arrival, I'd checked beforehand and they were vegetarian so it was catered for their diet. The cottage was decorated with a real tree and I went to a lot of effort to make it warm and welcoming for them. It is a five star holiday cottage and they paid quite a lot of money to stay, but they did receive a lovely property (in my opinion). It's not my cottage but I take a lot of pride in making it nice.

There are a few basic instructions, nothing too bossy, but the main one is please bag up your rubbish and put it in the outside bins on departure. When I went in to clean it after they'd left I've never seen anything like it in three years. It was utterly disgusting. All of their rubbish was in the house, some bagged, some not. They'd moved furniture around. The bathrooms were not fit for a dog. The kitchen was full of dirty pots and pans, food on the counters. The place was a real mess, not just the things I've written here. I couldn't believe two adults and two teenage children (older teenagers) could make such a mess.

We won't withhold their deposit as it could all be cleaned (even though it took me 7 hours to get it back to how it should be) (3 bedroom, 3 bathroom cottage). This is because it will only lead to a negative review and that is so damaging to the business, but am I being unreasonable to think this is out of order?

@OneStepSideways most airbnb's or holiday lets we have stayed in don't ask you to check out until 11 or later (occasionally 10am). We don't think that is early.

We keep the place clean during our stay. Hoovering if we make crumbs, wiping the kitchen sink and worktops. Wiping the shower every day.

On the last evening we clean round so we only need to strip the bed and give the kitchen and bathroom a quick wipe and put loo cleaner down the toilet.

Just because we pay a cleaning fee doesn't mean we are just going to be lazy and do nothing.

I ask my guests to check out by 10am purely because the cleaners need to get in and out as quickly as possible ready for the next guests to arrive, however we have had occasions where new guests are outside a cottage in their car waiting to get in because the cleaners have been dealing with a skanky mess and haven't managed to free up the cottage

We used to have, amongst other things, a camp site. There was a shower/toilet block accessible from the camp site. 2 toilets, 2 shower cubicles and 2 basins. We lived on the property in a seperate house. There could be up to 7 families camping at a time.

I was always up at 6 at the latest to go down and clean everything in case of any overnight "issues". Replenish loo rolls, mop the floor etc

One morning there was a knock on our door (we did b and b too so were in the middle of breakfast). A little delegation of ladies stood on the doorstep. Apparently, there was a smear of toothpaste in one of the basins and coud I please come and sort it out

put the towels in the washing machine and turn it on

Oh lord. Please don’t do this. The cleaners take all the laundry home, they’re paid to do this. If the cottage is the first one on the list and they can’t open the washing machine because it’s mid cycle and full of water it’s going to seriously put them behind. Or they’ll have to make time later for running back to pick them up.

Do some people not realise that the cleaners have several cottages to do in one day and have to get them all turned around between 10am and 4pm? We don’t have all day to do one house!

put the towels in the washing machine and turn it on

Oh lord. Please don’t do this. The cleaners take all the laundry home, they’re paid to do this. If the cottage is the first one on the list and they can’t open the washing machine because it’s mid cycle and full of water it’s going to seriously put them behind. Or they’ll have to make time later for running back to pick them up

^^ This, a million times over!

It all reminds me of another thing, though.

Namely: guests who are renting high-end holiday lets expect white towels and linen, which I duly provide. But how do they think that their hair dye, fake tan and make-up will wash out of said items? Is the expectation that we just throw away all the towels and sheets after every guest?

I have genuinely wondered this, every time I have to buy new items.

I doubt it, but they will think you factor in replacing items through wear & tear into your prices.

Dunno how many people have white towels at home?

It's pretty bastardly to use holiday let towels for hair dye, tho.

Unfortunately some people are peasants.

Sorry to hear of your issues OP. It's particularly frustrating to read that you feel you couldn't (quite rightfully!) withhold the deposit for fear of a negative review.

'bastardly', @category12 . I love that word and will be using it forthwith.

Wear and tear is fair enough, but having to chuck stuff away after every couple of guests is not.

Guests, please use the make-up wipes that I provide, or bring a dark towel if you know you're going to spend your holiday weekend dyeing your hair black.

Very funny story of my cleaner calling me ( I was cleaning my other let) to tell me that a whole set of sheets were ruined and that I had to come to see the mess.

"Someone has had sex on their period, there is blood everywhere, even hand prints on the side of the bed. They are filthy, disgusting skanks" she said

I arrived and gently told her it was fake tan.

Almost anything comes out with Platunum Oxy Action.

The things people leave in the beds are incredibly vile and I don't think a hefty price would compensate for the assault on a cleaners brain
So please guests and partners make sure you dispose of your contraceptives and do not leave them for an unsuspecting cleaner to remove.

😂 to the period/fake tan story, @Movinghouseatlast

Sadly some things are impervious to said laundering product, though.

Agree, @PortiaCastis . I always appreciate it when guests remove their anal beads. This is not a joke, unfortunately.

If they give a negative review respond with posting pics of how they left the cottage so everyone can see how’s they’ve left it

I wouldn't post pics - it'll put people off booking. It doesn't matter that it's cleared up, people don't want to think of it that way.

I've done holiday home management and they're taking the piss. I would have withheld a fair amount of the deposit and explained why. A single bad review will not damage your business if you respond with photographic evidence and a professional courteous reply.

Oh Good God Holiday what a find how grim, we've never found anything anal thank goodness but did once find a rabbit!

The cleaners take all the laundry home, they’re paid to do this.

Or they take it to be laundered. I volunteer for a charity that runs holiday homes and we take the laundry to the launderette to be professionally laundered.

Bar them from booking again and pass their name on to other companies.

Villas in the States, bag rubbish, leave no dirty dishes, pots, pans etc., pool towels into the washing machine if possible, leave all areas free of excessive mess. We've rented through a lovely couple and have stripped the sheets when we had time.

Forgot, empty fridge of food, sometimes given to the neighbours, I usually leave non perishable stuff, it's up to the owner/manager what they do with it.

We always do a quick clean before we leave a holiday cottage. Doesn't take long a quick wipe in kitchen and bathroom/toilets, bins out (unbelievavle that people wouldn't take their own rubbisb out!) And when we stay near a beach we hoover as sand gets blooming everywhere!
We go to two cottges fairly often and now go through the owners rather than the holiday let agency, the owner knows we will leave it in a clean condition and we get a discount not going through the agency so works well.

I always hoover, strip the beds, wipe the surfaces, quick clean of the bathroom & kitchen - I thought that was standard, but I was surprised at the comments from the last few places we've rented about how nicely we left their places - it's made me realise that some people obviously don't!

It's different if you're in a hotel, but surely if it's a villa or something, you generally leave it how you found it.

what's the difference with a hotel? You pay for a service, you are not employed to clean. At the same time, there are people cleaning after you, so you don't leave the place in a state either. Hoovering and stripping the bed is a step too far for me.

I have never mentioned that I think guests should hoover or strip beds before they leave. That's why I'm employed, but I do expect them to leave it in a reasonable state, with their rubbish bagged up and any furniture put back where they found it. The guests I was writing about left the place in a terrible state, I don't think this is fair on the cleaners and regardless of what they pay, they don't pay to leave it in this state.

Regarding a hotel stay, there is usually no cooking facilities in a hotel, but bathrooms and bedrooms are the same.