To think that a 7pm check-in is too late when you have young kids

[sqirrelfriends]

I woke up to an email this morning from the company I booked a holiday cottage with for next month.

For corona reasons:

7pm check in (instead of 3pm)
9am check out (instead of 10)
Removal of all high risk items (they mentioned board games and the DVD player but I would imagine it's going to be barren)

We would have to drive about 4 hours to get there with a young child, 7pm just seems too late to me to check in, and equally 9am is too early to check out, especially with all the extra stuff we would need to bring. Am I being unreasonable to think it would never take 10 hours to clean a cottage? And would you be cancelling?

Spidey you don't have to justify yourself because of one holier than though poster. It's perfectly fine to own a holiday cottage FGS!

In addition, my main property is a 2 bed flat. The second property is a 1 bed flat. The combined value of both is probably less than the value of a lot of people's main property. But because I chose to have 2 smaller properties rather than 1 large one, I'm seen as privileged!

Thank you @HesterShaw1

We have a holiday cottage booked for the Summer and have been asked to arrive 1 day later than our planned arrival date to allow for deep cleaning after the previous occupants depart. We have been compensated for the loss of one day and although it's a shame we'll only get 13 instead if 14 nights it's a compromise we are willing to make so that we stay safe and still get a holiday.

Cancel! You’ve lost the entire first day

Is because they need more time to clean between occupants?

I agree, very strange times but I would say 7pm would be the latest I would want to arrive, if it was 9pm THAT would be too late.

why not have more cleaners working core hours as presumably most cleaners only want to work certain hours

Because it would cost more and then people would be bitching about how much more expensive the properties were. They can’t do right for doing wrong.

Very unreasonable. Holidays are not going to be any fun with all of this going on. At that price I would be looking for some money back if you still feel you want to travel.

i think people should give holiday lets some slack here-either ask for a time change or let it go

people seem to think everythign will be back to normal in a month-it wont

It would be even better if you put it back on the open market for sale or rental to LOCAL people to LIVE in. Don't expect people to feel sorry for you, you are massively privileged to own a second (or more) home

Our holiday cottages are converted byres (sheds). The only reason they got planning permission was under farm diversification rules. No locals lost out on housing, but whole family of locals are no longer living on the breadline by trying to make a living from just hill farming.

I do think it's odd to cancel because of losing 4 hours of a booking. And surely it wouldn't matter if your child went to bed late for one night? We usually don't turn up till 4 anyway and never think of that day as a full day.

While it’s super annoying for you, the accommodation has to be thoroughly cleaned between guests. It takes time. Just be thankful you’re still getting a holiday and go with the flow.

Why would paying an additional cleaner to work between 3 and 5 cost more than playing a cleaner to work between 5 and 7? I dont believe the former would cost more than the latter. We rented a cottage for a week a few years ago and it was my birthday the first night. My sibs arrived at 3 and prepared dinner. That would be impossible if 7pm check in

Why would paying an additional cleaner to work between 3 and 5 cost more than playing a cleaner to work between 5 and 7?

You’ve missed the point. The property has to be left empty for a certain amount of time after the cleaner’s left. Hence the later check in.

Our guidelines state the property is left empty before the cleaners go in.

YANBU

7pm check in is rubbish when you've got young children

As for 9am check out, is quite frankly utterly anti-social and would put me off staying in a hotel! we struggle with 11am check out, with 2 young children!

Left empty and airing for 3 hours before the cleaners can enter (precaution against airborne droplets)

Left empty for 1 hour after cleaner has left (less empty time needed here, since cleaners will be wearing PPE so lower risk of expelling airborne droplets)

One extra hour for the extra disinfecting of touch points, putting all crockery/cutlery in the cottage through the dishwasher anew, and other covid steps (which from the guidelines I've been given, appears to involve a great deal of changing PPE for each different cleaning task, e.g new gloves for emptying clean dishwasher)

The cottage I have booked say they have purchased some kind of fogging machine to use before cleaners enter that kills all bacteria and viruses

I had 3 sons with 21 months between each. We would travel in their pj’s, stop a few times on the way down to be sure he is asleep when we arrive. Get his bed ready and unpack car while he is asleep then just carry him up to bed without disturbing him. Then have a G&T. If he is so reliant on routine every single night you are making a rod for your own back. Mine would sleep anywhere so long as it was in their travel cot with their teddies.

We’re all in this together And we should feel lucky if we get a holiday this year. I personally can’t see what the problem is. . We often don’t check in somewhere till that time as it then means you get more from your first day. You can go somewhere for the day. Treat yourself to a meal, then when you get there, you haven’t got to eat. I am sure your kids can survive one slightly later night.

I'd likely cancel but that's only because I'm very rarely able to go for a full week, usually a long weekend.

People will cancel and others will be fine with it (as we can see on this thread). It's all a ok personal choice.

I don't understand are saying you are loosing a day of your holiday. As a PP said you are only loosing a couple of hours in the cottage. Surely you go somewhere on the way and don't go straight home as soon as you've vacated the cottage? I think you are being a bit precious!

I'm due to be going to a haven park in September but I need to wait till the first week in August before I get an email telling me what's happening. If I get told there is no entertainment etc and its self catering and take aways only I'll be asking for my money back.

I'm not spending 70 quid on train fare to go and sit and look at 4 different walls. The holiday itself wasnt expensive but I've saved quite a bit on spending money so that'll go towards something else.

There might be some other factors at play too. I live in St Ives and the town council are planning a vehicle ban in the town centre between 10 and 4 in the summer. That means visitors won’t be able to access town centre properties by car during those hours so check in/out times will have to change. Also the poor holiday let cleaners will have to move between the properties on foot. Madness!

For the hard of thinking, I'll repeat again that these check-in rules and the extra cleaning are (a) mandated - the owner has no choice (b) will cost the owner money and (c) are for YOUR safety!

While I take your points, what do you mean when you say it’s mandatory? It can’t be a decree from the government because the government hasn’t given holiday accommodation the all clear yet. Do you mean it’s the agency you’re with who’s imposed it, or is it advisory guidance from an industry body like Visit England? And what does the guidance or rules actually say? Does it actually specify 9am check outs and 7pm check ins? Or does it simply say something like ‘longer turnover period to facilitate deeper cleaning’?

I’m not saying this is what you’re doing but I get so sick of people making up rules then saying ‘it’s mandatory’. My son’s nursery have been terrible for this. ‘It’s mandatory for children to have their temperature taken on arrival.’ No actually, the government guidelines actually specifically say you shouldn’t take children’s temperatures on arrival. What you mean is, you’ve decided to impose a policy to assuage staff anxiety.