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?

We've been asked to check in at 6 and leave at 9.

I've asked if we can drop food stuff off a bit earlier and explained that we usually run round between 9-10 and do some cleaning ourselves but that's fine as we'll literally just get up and go with the earlier leaving time if that's what they want.

It's mildly irritating but I'll just be so delighted if we get to go that even if both times are hard set, we'll just work round it.

@cologne4711 my family run holiday cottages.
They’re in converted rural buildings. They were not allowed to convert them into housing for local people as that doesn’t provide jobs. They wanted to, as there is a shortage of housing.
They were allowed to convert to holiday cottages.

I've had exactly the same email, 7pm is way too late, we are taking my elderly mum away for a week and she is normally in bed very early. Its a waste of a day as far as I am concerned 😟

I'm going to make a really off-the-wall suggestion here.

Instead of cancelling, leave home late, stop off to eat on the way (picnic, or maybe restaurants will be open by then?), and then when you arrive at 7pm, child/elderly mother/others with early bedtime can simply go up to bed on arrival.

Or do sightseeing in the area, eat at normal time, go to holiday accommodation at 7pm and child/elderly mother off to bed on arrival, if you don't want to 'waste' the first day.

@ChristmasFluff

That suggestion has been made several times on the thread, and many people (including me) will happily do that, but there will be lots of reasons why that may not be a practical solution for everyone.

Yup! Me too, way, way back up thread.

Some people don't want to change their holiday SOP and so would rather cancel Christmas or hassle the holiday home owner, who is only doing what the booking company have advised - after consultation with government, insurers etc.

I don't know why so many are so intractable here, it certainly doesn't reflect similar real life conversations.

ChristmasFluff

Hilarious, 17 pages in and you've popped in with that original plan

@Midrangecolours

ChristmasFluff

Hilarious, 17 pages in and you've popped in with that original plan

And your point is.....?

I'm very lucky that the cottage I've booked (ages ago) has decided to leave 24 hours between bookings, so check-in times will be the same. We're spending our first day doing a long walk so will be hot, tired and muddy by the end of it, and will really want hot showers before strolling to the local pub for dinner. A 7pm check in would be inconvenient but we'd cope as this one's adults only.

When DD was little it would have been a real PITA. She needed to get used to her surroundings for a couple of hours before she could relax and sleep, so she'd have been up until all hours and then overtired and miserable for the next couple of days. We tried to be flexible but she really did need her routine. She's getting better as she gets older.

A 9am checkout would again be manageable but inconvenient. If we can leave a villa at 7 for a flight we could leave a cottage at 9, but it adds stress. I wouldn't cancel, but it would be a nuisance.

God there’s some patronising posters on here. I am well aware of the pandemic thank you. I am well aware of the financial hardship that is being and will be endured by many for months and years to come. Locally I’ve done what I can to support local suppliers and made a monthly direct debit to the food bank.

However, I am not paying anyone else for a service I’m not receiving so why should holiday let owners be any different? They are a business not a public service. I don’t actually care about other people not minding about a 7pm /9 am check out. I do mind very much and I’m the customer who booked on different terms. I don’t feel grateful I’m getting a holiday and so should put up with it - I’m paying ( very well) for it and resent unilateral changes with no option to cancel.

There are plenty of examples of owners/agencies behaving extremely well - flexible about transfers to next year for example so it simply isn’t the case that we renters should pay up, put up and shut up because there’s no alternative.

The problem is that what you were as a service being taken from you is seen as a few hours of your time by many others.

Not a significant loss on a week's holiday.

And yes, covid19.

And not always the property owners choice, as has been explained, many times.

It's up to you how you see it, but other posters are entitled to think you may be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

@TheFluffiestCat when are you going on holiday?

I ask because you say you will "stroll to the local pub for dinner". Pubs might be open by the time you go but will they be serving food?

Most here have been serving food all the time. I don't understand how hard it is to look on local Facebook and see what is available.

That's all we have been doing, mainly because we live in England and have booked in Wales. We have been able to work out a couple of alternatives, depending on the situation when the time comes.

So they've knocked 5 hours off your holiday? Are they planning to refund you any?

Asking for a refund’s really petty, it works out to £46 on a £1500 booking. If you can afford the booking, are you really going to notice £46? If I owned a holiday let and someone was as petty as this, I’d tell them to forget it and take someone off the waiting list. It’s a letters’ market this year.

It's like when you book a holiday with a 12 noon flight both ways and they switch you to a 6am flight out and a 9pm flight home... Even though you have the same number of nights the travel inconvenience is such that it has a knock on effect on the holiday.

Pre kids (and even with an under 1) arrival time is not so much of a problem. Between 1 and 6/7 you can really stuff up sleep for a decent chunk of the holiday if DC are that way inclined...

Last couple of holidays have been a learning experience...

Of course, they could refund 5/163 of the cost of the holiday to account for the slightly fewer hours that the property is available, but then they'd be within their rights to add on the extra cost of cleaning that's been imposed on them by industry guidance.

Or renters could be a bit more accommodating and just take the property as agreed with the slightly shorter hours.

@sqirrelfriends sorry I think you’re being unreasonable just put your little one in their pjs, eat on route and make sure their bed routine stuff is in the car.

Have everything packed the night before up at 07:00 quick breakfast and leave.

What’s the problem?

I'm not asking for a refund, it's not the cottage owners fault.

I'm asking to defer. As other have mentioned, there are a lot of people desperate for a holiday and I'm sure they will be able to fill the space easily.

At this point I don't want to go on holiday, I booked last year when we were meant to be going as a group which we can no longer do because of Covid and I would rather have the holiday I booked even if it's later.

I'm also concerned that nothing will be open, locals may be hostile and yes, DS's bedtime. I've noted the suggestions about getting ready in the car but none of you are familiar with my DS who needs a solid routine or else he just refuses to sleep.

I've also seen suggestions to enjoy the day at the beach or a local attraction beforehand- unfortunately we won't be able to do this because we will have many hundreds of pounds worth of bikes on our car roof. Also, toilets.

I understand hostility from the locals and 7pm being late for a young child, but 9am in these circumstances is reasonable I think.

The issue of toilets was raised in one of the government briefings which was evaded by whichever minister it was that day (notably a man so someone who may not understand some of the reasons women needs toilets at no notice).

I'd hope another family could take the booking but perhaps if not, you should go and try to minimise the difficulties.

The issue of toilets was raised in one of the government briefings which was evaded by whichever minister it was that day (notably a man so someone who may not understand some of the reasons women needs toilets at no notice

Well quite. I wonder how many of the council officials who've decided "they can't afford to open toilets" are men too.

Visit England guidance is not legally binding. Their guidance is just box ticking with no evidence. And as I have said a million times on here now, there is no point using anti-bacterial cleaners against a virus so just be sensible. If you normally clean properly it should be fine. There are hotels I would be more than happy to stay in because they are spotless. There are others where I might think "hmmm maybe not".

I haven't RTFT (got to p5). I own a holiday cottage which is usually rented out. I have just checked my local council's website and that of the 3rd party company that handles some bookings and neither has any information or guidance on extra cleaning or different arrival times.

Either I'm missing something, or companies are making it up on the hoof. Nobody has said anything to me about steam-cleaning curtains or soft furnishings between guests or cleaning everything twice. Please could someone point me in the direction of this guidance. The only information I have is my 3rd party company saying no bookings prior to 4th July, and my local council saying we have to stay shut until further notice. If we want to accommodate essential workers, we need to contact them.

We don't use an army of cleaners, or indeed a cleaning company. We do it as a family. It's a 2 bed cottage and if we work well together, we can clean it and do routine maintenance in the 5.5 hour window we normally have. When people take the piss and leave late, often leaving it in a right mess, and the next guests rock up at 1pm hoping to "just drop off the bags, oh and we'll have a quick cup of tea", things can get a bit tricky. Obviously if they ask first, we try our best to help.

@Malbecfan - Not sure where you are, but this is the new protocol for Scotland (and, apparently, Wales): www.assc.co.uk/policy/cleaning-protocols-for-self-catering-properties-in-the-context-of-covid-19/

Under 'Cleaning Protocol', there are a few useful downloads - the guide, a checklist, etc.

I think that you are making it into more drama than necessary tbh

I agree.

Just spend the day doing activities, go out for tea and feed him and put him in his PJs before you put him in the car again. Then straight from car to bed surely?

Bring all the stuff in once he's in bed.

Last day - pack your clothes and as much of the car as you can the night before again, once DS is in bed.

Not that difficult surely?

Thanks @Gruffalo. I'm in Devon. Just stunned having now read the thread. We have availability but TBH, not sure I want people in at all. Most of our guests tend to be older, with a few families across the summer holidays. The older people are staying away, and not that many attractions for families are open yet. Hoping it stays that way - it's nice not running into tourists all the time.