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?

The lateness wouldn't bother me. We deliberately timed it for a late check in so that 2 yo DS would hopefully sleep in the car and just need put to bed when we got there. For a first time holiday, bedtime was remarkably easy since he was so knackered.

Early check out would annoy me more. Yes, you could pack as much in the car the night before but then you've effectively lost that night then as well.

Discount or more flexibility needed.

@Helgathehairy , depends what sort of boot you've got I suppose, ours you wouldn't be able to see suitcases etc

I agree, I would hate this. 7pm is to late and 9am is too early.

BUT. It is probably is taking a lot longer to deep clean at the moment. They may have staff who regularly clean not working. Lots of people rebooking because of cancelled dates, therefore not a lot of turnaround time. The list goes on.

It’s almost as if the cottage owners / rental companies don’t have access to an enormous oil of furloughed workers willing and able to make some cash doing extra cleaning to get the extra done in the same time. Since they’re presumably paying the existing cleaners for extra time anyway, why not get two more people and do the extra in the same time?

Gross no way can every surface be cleansed thoroughly.

Covid is not the fault of the holiday accommodation.

Everyone is having to adapt.

The owners of the let will likely be -
Working at a loss after months of closure
Investing is higher grade cleaning products and PPE for staff
Washing curtains every booking additional to bedding etc due to Covid standards
Not advised to enter the cottage for three hours after last guest left - domestic staff health precautions
Cleaning in PPE - slower and horrible
Putting themselves at risk by opening and cleaning as fast as possible to try to keep their business afloat

And all that for a review that the check in time was changed etc.

Please don’t expect a discount
😢 they are doing this to contribute to your safety

personally i am already canceling my July holiday .Its on a holiday park firstly were going to be queuing for everything including the supermarket,they are not saying anything but the pools not going to be open,they cant social distance evening entertainment its not going to happen,zoos theme parks now have to be booked way in advance and so many restrictions on things like the beach.Why go its not really going to be fun

What do you do at the cottage on the first day? If you check in at 3pm before "using" the day there's not much of it anyway.

We tend to use the day before checking in and go to the cottage around 6pm/7pm so it wouldn't be much different.

It would be the removal of useful/needed "stuff" that would concern me more.

I don't think anyone should expect a discount, even if you don't stay the full 7 nights.

Cottages are generally let week to week, so they won't be able to let out the other night anyway and they've probably had increased cleaning costs, plus have lost a good chunk of their early season income, which the various loans and grants are unlikely to have covered.

What @Helgathehairy said, it’s a small risk but I’d never leave all my stuff in the car in a public car park at a beach, attraction, etc.

I don't see the problem about the 7pm check in - presumably it can be later than 7pm. I've arrived at a holiday destination at 9 before now. I wouldn't like having to be out by 9am but for once I would manage to get and mine up and out early. It's not undoable. What sort of discount do you imagine you could ask for? I don't think you'll get one.

I don't have young children but even I wouldn't fancy 7pm check in and 9am check out. The 9am check out would be a nightmare. 10am feels early as it is,

I'd be looking for a cancellation refund so I could look at alternatives.

Why go its not really going to be fun

Not everyone needs that stuff to make it fun.

Some people will have a lovely time in a new place, enjoying the nature and scenery.

Well, they don't need 10 hours to clean one cottage. But the cleaning company may need 10 hrs to turn around the same number of cottages they used to do in 6.
That's not unreasonable. The 9 am thing is a pain but ok for the sake of an hour. The 7pm thing, I would ask for the owner or cleaner to give you a call as soon as they have done. In reality everyone is trying out new models of work aren't they?

@inpeace a savvy owner would be better off sucking up the extra cost (& as above, they can do that without delaying customers if they simply hire someone else to clean as well - there’s quite a lot of people needing to earn extra cash right now) than unilaterally changing the terms of an existing booking to suit themselves which may mean that they lose the booking entirely.
A vast number of businesses are operating at reduced margins where the alternative is no margin as no custom.
There’s absolutely No need for the extra cleaning to take extra time.

I wonder if you’ve booked with the same company as us Op - I had the exact same email yesterday (Cornwall?) I’m peeved as usually we’d unpack then enjoy our first evening - the first evening is going to be a bit of a write off now. We’d usually leave early anyway but it’s a bit different to feel under pressure to get out for 9am. I may ask for a discount.

As a cottage owner I can tell you the new cleaning requirements are huge.

I cannot possibly complete them safely within a day.
I've moved my guests with back to back bookings forwards or backwards to create a two day gap and will just have to take a hit on the money.

@Marpan

Gross no way can every surface be cleansed thoroughly.

They can if they have the right equipment Industrial steam cleaner will do the job

And surely you just travel to suit the time? Get the keys at 7? When get a chippy tea before hand.

In reality everyone is trying out new models of work aren't they?

Yes, but customers are wary too. It may not take much to make them cancel a booking entirely, if they’re already a bit unsure. Give and take is sensible here.

These poor cottage owners. Damned of they do and dsmned if they don't, it seems.

This really isn't something they've just made up. They're having to adhere to an incredibly rigorous list of new standards.

Oh and I do wonder if we are renting through the same company, they have behaved appallingly to both guests and owners during the pandemic.

I'm only going to go via Airbnb from now on.

We travel 4 hours to Cornwall with small children, but we never arrive before 10pm anyway so that wouldn’t affect us. We always set off in the early evening and put sleeping children into the house. It works well for us.

If this is St Ives (an example I know about because it’s my hometown) then part of the complication is that they are proposing no traffic at all in the town centre between 10.00 and 17.00 (to allow a pedestrian one way system). All the cleaners will be doing extra cleaning and on foot between properties.

All in all this doesn’t seem unreasonable to me, and it’s probably the only way you can have your holiday. You’re only losing 5 hours of accommodation access. You need to chill out and enjoy your holiday!

You'd seriously want a discount for a few hours? After the enormous amount of lost income they have had?

@Helgathehairy

To those people saying to do other activities/go to the beach etc first - would you really be comfortable leaving your car with all your luggage in plain sight? I never would.

Every holiday we take in the UK, we leave home early and have some activity en route, so always leave our things in the car. We're sensible so try to cover as much as possible. Park as close to a wall so boot isn't easily accessible. I've personally not know anyone who has done this to have a problem. I'm intrigued though whether so many people genuinely travel solely to the accommodation on the first day as to me that seems like a bigger waster of the day than not being in a cottage until 7pm! In fact for us, we've regularly not arrived at the accommodation until 7 or 8pm as we've been "holidaying".