Holiday let without even a tea bag?

[notregistered]

Is this another Covid rule? Really very surprised to arrive to find nothing.. have used this company loads of times and usually get a rather lovely welcome pack.
If it is Covid related... how ridiculous.

All the games/DVDs etc again I don't think there is any blanket rule, because:

Cottage 1 had DVDs, board games, magazines and a drawer full of local leaflets.

Cottage 2 had DVDs available on request, but no magazines, no leaflets and no board games.

As with most things Covid-related, it seems there were some rough guidelines that were up to the cottage owners to interpret.

We had two lets in august. One had a welcome pack (and yes, condiments in the cupboards and dishwasher tabs and washing powder etc) the other one nothing except cleaning stuff. We had brought everything anyway.

@puffinkoala

And I know about a B&B where the host makes lovely cakes to welcome people and pastries for breakfast. According to their social media feed, she still is. So if she can. so can everyone.

Is she in Dungeness? If she is I have stayed there and she is the sweetest person, not only home made cake in the rooms, but a bowl of fresh fruit, a dish of sweeties, a jug of fresh milk, a carton of orange juice and a bottle of water in a mini fridge in the room. Honestly, I have stayed at 5 star hotels that give you less.

In addition to freshly Baked bread at breakfast she also gave each guest a little home baked something for a mid morning snack.

Oh and the second one had binned games and cards The previous people had left. (they were in the communal bin)

Excuse me if I'm missing some subtlety, but isn't the plan to dunk a teabag in a mug/pot of boiling water? And fry sausages/bacon? As covid risks go, that really would seem pretty low down the list of things that're gonna infect you no?

I work for a holiday cottage company so can only speak for ours.

All owners have the option (during “normal” times and covid times) to have either a company branded welcome pack containing individually wrapped tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits, milk (and a cleaning pack) left by the cleaners, or owners can provide their own hamper type pack, which quite a few do. Some owners don’t want to have the added management expenditure and have no welcome pack at all.

This can then cause a disparity with guests and even complaints or bad reviews on social media from people who have stayed in one property within the brand then (understandably) expect the same welcome pack or hamper in every property.

I can only suggest that upon booking (if not in any confirmation details) to make a request before arrival as to what will/won’t be provided. That would settle any confusion. It could well be a covid measure, but my hunch is this is the reason.

At a holiday cottage where I stay often - same selection of wrapped tea bags & coffee sachets - enough to get you started, & homemade cake.
No eggs this year, but that's due to lack of laying hens rather than covid; some delightful week-old baby chicks though.
No wooden spoons or spatulas - I think covid-related, no bedside lamp (no idea!), no books.

@pussycatinboots

This company usually provide tea, coffee, sugar, milk, bread, butter and wine. Often cake. Sausages, bacon.

Is it only the Tea Bags that have pissed you off, or have they failed to stock the kitchen and fridge with the contents of Waitrose?

What on Earth do you mean?

Ignore the idiots OP, it was a perfectly reasonable question. I reckon they've done it to cut back on their costs - good excuse to blame Covid. How can sealed tea/coffee/cake etc be a risk? Absolute nonsense.

I suspect this is just a cutback, rather than really Covid related.
Why would covid stop them leaving a pack of teabags and a pint of milk in the holiday let?
What significant difference in terms of the virus, is there between leaving a welcome pack, and you buying your own 'welcome pack' (basics).
TBH I understand the lack of games more so, as they are left in the holiday let, and may have been used by previous guests, although I think even this is a bit OTT.
However, it is unlikely (if not impossible), that your unopened pint of milk , will have been used by previous guests

We got a welcome pack at our holiday let: wine, biscuits, milk, teabags and instant coffee. Didn't use the teabags - brought our own, but there was no cutting back due to Covid. Mean excuse, imo. Teabags are no more likely to transmit coronavirus than work surfaces and bedsheets. They go in boiling water.

We’ve been to lots of holiday cottages and it varies a lot to what is left. We are going to the same cottage we went last year, although no food or drink was there for us, there was cleaning products, so I hope there will be some this year. We are supposed to get an information pack from the owner, but despite giving her our email address twice, we have heard nothing. We always sort out the rubbish and this year will put used sheets and towels in bags provided.

OP, it varies from holiday property to holiday property.

According to the Covid-safe guidelines set out by several holiday let advertising platforms, owners are supposed to remove all soft furnishings (!), books, toys, throws etc - i.e. anything that could have been touched by anyone else.

Guests are supposed to strip their own beds and bag the laundry up.

Welcome packs are supposed to be outlawed, along with tea, coffee etc.

However: none of this is law. It's advisory.

I am providing everything that I normally provide, on the grounds that if guests don't want to use a fresh bottle of milk that I have touched while putting it in the fridge, they can just leave it. Ditto cake (sealed), biscuits (sealed), wine.

Teabags and coffee (instant, pods and beans) are all available as normal, in glass jars. The usual staples (olive oil, salt and pepper, a few tins) are still there. Nothing perishable, obviously. People can either use them or not, depending on their preference.

I do not ask people to strip the beds, as they are on holiday and my job is to make sure they have a lovely time (especially when so many of us have had a horrible time). So I do this as normal.

My properties were spotless before Covid, and so I am not making any particular changes there.

One change I have made is that I provide individual hand soaps, shampoo and shower/bath stuff, as I think people probably would prefer not to use a soap dispenser which someone else has used at the moment. Not very environment friendly, but I didn't think I had much choice.

My general feeling, and this has been confirmed by guests who have stayed since July, is that people who are vulnerable are probably not going to be happy to stay in someone else's property regardless of whether the tea bags have been exiled or not. That being the case, I am offering guests exactly the same experience as they would have had before March. I'm afraid it seems you struck unlucky, OP.

@Theimpossiblegirl Those check-in and check-out times are ridiculous!

What on Earth do you mean?

Self catering means just that. I take everything I need (salt and pepper, tin opener, bedding and towels) and buy food as soon as I get there.
They are hiring you a cottage, they are not feeding you as well.
HTH

Owners of holiday letting cottages are expected to comply with standards set by either, the advertising group which manages their lets, and/or their local tourist board.

There are  variations  between   companies, and between different  area tourist boards.

Then you're clearly not using the holiday let's that others do. Like I said, they USUALLY provide the above. They don't now. The question was was it COVID.

It didn't ask for your opinion on what should be provided.

I'm a little perplexed by the bed stripping as we had to do that in both self catering properties we stayed in this summer, along with late check in/early check out. But then I've stayed in two hotels and neither have insisted on bed stripping and we didn't have to check out until 11.

I wonder if they alternate the room usage in the hotel, but suspect they don't, so it does seem as if self catering has to do a lot more extra cleaning than hotels.

The place I'm going next week has emailed to say they won't have fresh items (milk/bread/butter) in the welcome pack but there will be a voucher for the village shop.
I can't see it matters either way but it's crap if they didn't tell you what to expect. Or was it in the small print of your booking?

Well op we’ve have just come back from a cottage holiday and we got tea and coffee and sugar and....biscuits!!!

As it happens I am currently buying a holiday let - so on various other forums.

Generally, welcome packs are 'out', and anything left by the previous holidaymaker is disposed of.

The online travel agents (ie Sykes cottages etc) are tending to require this for C19

@Redtartanshoes

I think w lot of companies are using Covid as an excuse to make cut backs and. Save money. They could buy a pack of tea bags, some coffee and milk for about £4... but I guess not doing that could save a couple of hundred pounds over the year.

This. We stayed in a hotel a couple of weeks ago, there was a kettle, tea bags, coffee, milk, sugar. A lot of holiday lets are taking the piss now. Lesson learned, next time, stay in a chain hotel. Often cheaper, too.

We are in the middle of a pandemic. They have to deep clean between each use, that no doubt would include removing all food left etc. So no welcome packs at the moment

Surely it’s common sense

We got tea bags, coffee and sugar provided in our AirbnB last month.

And the hotels don't make you strip beds, clean, take the bins out, etc.

Then you're clearly not using the holiday let's that others do

Which is why the answer can only be "check with your owner/letting agent".

I wouldn,t expect it unless the bumph told you they were providing it. We stayed in a place over the summer and were left a bottle of wine. It was gross, tbh they really shouldn,t have bothered, found reviews said the same. (Besides that it was a very nice place.)