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?

Am I missing something here, can you actually go on holiday next month? I know some hotels have said they are open from the 4th but I hadn’t officially heard you could stay away overnight so all a bit vague. Apologies if I’ve missed it but I’m pretty keen to use our weeks leave from 4th July to go off but haven’t dared rebook anyway as I thought you couldn’t holiday yet.

LaurieMarlow Fri 19-Jun-20 08:58:53
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.

true i agree there but how can you relax ,cooking every night .I love to cook but i also like to go out to eat and relax.Wile being on holiday after a nice day out at a place of natural beauty i maybe exhausted want to go to a restaurant. Enjoy time with my family .We cant do that in these times

the freedom to choose and not to think about social distancing would be relaxing.

constantly having to think is this a good idea ,will my other half have to wait in the car with the baby's wile i go queue for the supermarket.

or what if i just want to go look round a tat shop with my family just for fun.More queues for every shop

its not just o its going to be boring i need stuff to entertain us its about being able to not constantly think what we can and cannot do

I feel sorry for local attractions,shops,businesses that are going under there are people losing jobs over lack of tourism .

Sounds like they need to employ more cleaners.

@rosydreams

LaurieMarlow Fri 19-Jun-20 08:58:53 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.

true i agree there but how can you relax ,cooking every night .I love to cook but i also like to go out to eat and relax.Wile being on holiday after a nice day out at a place of natural beauty i maybe exhausted want to go to a restaurant. Enjoy time with my family .We cant do that in these times

the freedom to choose and not to think about social distancing would be relaxing.

constantly having to think is this a good idea ,will my other half have to wait in the car with the baby's wile i go queue for the supermarket.

or what if i just want to go look round a tat shop with my family just for fun.More queues for every shop

its not just o its going to be boring i need stuff to entertain us its about being able to not constantly think what we can and cannot do

I feel sorry for local attractions,shops,businesses that are going under there are people losing jobs over lack of tourism .

And all this for a virus which 0.04% of the population have, most of whom mildly.

You're not unreasonable OP.

7pm is too late for check in. I would deal with 9am, it's not ideal but pack the night before, breakfast in the car is doable.

I would contact them and ask if you can knock the first day off your booking as it's pointless now and leave early to get there first thing the following day.

I say suck it up OP, they need to do extra cleaning - it's a pandemic.

I think you're fortunate to be taking a holiday! 4 hours drive is fine - not really an arduous journey.

Your child will be excited anyway, and may not have gone to bed on time.

true i agree there but how can you relax ,cooking every night .I love to cook but i also like to go out to eat and relax.

Well me too, but surely it’s obvious that some people don’t mind this or will use takeaway options.

Holidays will look different this year. For some, it won’t be worth the cost, but for others it will. I don’t think that’s very controversial.

It seems more sensible for cottage owners to leave a full day between bookings.

I was thinking of booking a cottage but I think there'll be a lot of hassle still and a staycation it looking more attractive.

@Lalalamps

Sounds like they need to employ more cleaners.

Seriously? Many tourist towns have thousands of holiday lets. And not that big a permanent population. Most of whom will have jobs other than cleaning. Where do you think holiday home owners are going to find thousands more cleaners all available on the same changeover day?

I don't know where the cottage is but I presume you have chosen a pleasant area, maybe somewhere you know. I think you could have a relaxing time. There will be some places open to eat out and you can buy food in the supermarket to put together nice meals without much in the way of cooking, probably barbecue in the back yard. Beaches are open. All you need is good weather!

I don't see a problem.

YANBU if they can’t let you check in before 7pm then they should change the check-in until the next day and refund you the cost of a night.

It seems more sensible for cottage owners to leave a full day between bookings

That wouldn't work either, because you'd either have to let to people for 6 days instead of a week and then people would expect a reduction, which would impact the property owner's business as they'd still have extra cleaning costs.

Or keep all the bookings at a week at a time, but one will be Sat to Sat, the next Sun to Sun, then Mon to Mon and so on. Which obviously wouldn't work as people will have arranged time off work etc. And it will still be on reduced capacity as there will be fewer weeks booked overall.

Not all cottage owners have received no income, there have been grants available for them.

Still shit for everyone concerned though.

Haven't RTT but it may not just be cleaning time, rather a 'gap'. When we run clinics, we space them in time as well as one element of a COVID-management strategy. Our clinics might be 10-20 minutes duration only and given the previous occupants will be occupying the property c24 hours a day and so will you, I don't think the changed arrival and departure times in the context of an infection-management system seem unreasonable. Hope you enjoy your holiday, OP.

I don't get the moan. Covid is still around and most likely will still be next month. Some people are ok with it and prepared to go on holiday. Fine, they are able to.

But to expect no change is unreasonable. There is no reason why check in would now be at 7pm but for the fact that its been identified that this the time required to do the deep clean required.

I don't get the whole my baby needs to sleep at 7pm. Its a holiday, things can be flexible. Is it really so bad that they might to get into their bed 1/2 or 1h later? Of course you can make the best of the day before checking in. They might agree to keep your suitcases.

If it's going to cause such a fuss, then going on holiday during the Covid period is not right for you. Wait until things are fully back to normal.

I think if you're having a holiday this year you need to accept that is going to be different. I'm sure the holiday home owners would rather it was normal too, but it's not. So a late check-in and early check out are small inconveniences for a holiday when most other people have had them cancelled.

It's a holiday. I can't see the big deal. Arrive in the nearest town at 4pm. Buy for a picnic, have it on the beach, change your ds into his pyjamas, check in, read him a story while your DH brings in the bags. Put him to bed, unpack, bottle of wine for 8.45pm.

And as for 9am check out, pack the night before, tidy round pm, and go. We are usually away with the dawn chorus on return from holiday. If you've only a 4 hour drive spend the day at the beach first.

I think you are over thinking it. Have a lovely holiday and be glad you are going.

I agree with the previous suggestion - email and say it's too late so you'd rather arrive the next day (with that night knocked off the price) and then they have a whole 24 hours to clean

And they will offer the next day at 7pm [confused}

The timings aren’t a problem but we always used the first day as a day out and did something on the way and just arrived late anyway, did dinner and went to bed.

Early morning is not that good but doable.

For me the really issue is that they take away lots of items and make the cottages bare. A friend was told they would remove all blankets and cushions for the sofa, kitchen was stripped to virtually just glasses, mugs, plates and cutlery plus two pans and two pots. They were encouraged to bring their own stuff for preparing meals.

And that was originally a high end expensive cottage.

Wouldn’t it be better if the owners invest in 2-3 sets and exchange than taking everything away?

Why is a DVD player more likely to kill you that the toaster, or the kettle, or the door handles? I don't get that!

[quote Tiktokcringeydance]What@Helgathehairysaid, 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.

We drove 6 hours to cornwall once but as we left at 5am we were there by 11 and we couldnt get in our accomodation til 2 or 3pm. We went to a nearby beach. I would obviously take my bag with purse/phone etc but I didnt feel that suitcases of clothes and towels, bags of shopping or kids games would be that desirable...maybe I'm being naive...?[/quote]
Great but there are no public toilets currently open. So are they just meant to not go all day?

Unfortunately this will be because of the deep clean needed due to coronavirus. I own a holiday let and the firm who do my cleaning are asking for 72 hours between guests and deep cleaning. It was one of the reasons I decided to suspend bookings for the summer.

Like a couple of others I would ... more about the fact you are paying for a day you won’t really be using.

I don't get that at all! Nobody arrives at a holiday cottage or hotel at the crack of dawn. Usually some time in the afternoon. So what have you lost?

We have a self catering holidy booked and are expecting a late check in and early check out. We have a dog. We will have a 5 hour drive!

We don't see how we would be missing a day of our holiday... just look at a map and do something before unloading the car! You pay by the night for holiday cottages... you aren't losing one of those.

Early check out? Pack the night before, find a place to go out for breakfast.

If there is a real problem, talk to them. They may be able to juggle their cleaning rota for you!

@ThighThighofthigh

It seems more sensible for cottage owners to leave a full day between bookings.

I was thinking of booking a cottage but I think there'll be a lot of hassle still and a staycation it looking more attractive.

Off topic, but so pleased to see someone use the term "staycation" in the way I always understood it, I.e., you stay at home and have days out. The media now seem to use it to mean a holiday in the UK - to me that's just a holiday!

I don't think reasonableness comes into it.

They have changed the start and end times for your holiday and you are now less willing to go on it for its current price. You're not obliged to go. It's supposed to be a holiday! If you're dreading it as proposed, you should ask to change the times or have a reduction.

On the other hand, the cottage owners have overheads, other cottages to clean and a living to make, and it's up to them to decide whether it's better to be flexible with you or to let you cancel and open the slot for a replacement booking.