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.

I hate it when the cupboards in holiday cottages are full of old bottles of oil, condiments etc. Grim. We've stayed in some that were so full there was nowhere to put our own food! Anyway surely you take your own tea etc? I usually take all the basics plus some pre cooked mince or similar for the first night.

We stayed in a cottage in July and there was a welcome pack with tea coffee milk and a cream tea with homemade scones but they had to remove the clothes horse!

Well if they used to do something but no longer do and we've had a global pandemic in-between then and now I'd hazard a guess it is covid related 🤦‍♀️🤔🤷‍♀️

have used this company loads of times and usually get a rather lovely welcome pack.

Perhaps they still provide this to all their other customers but for some reason they neglected to provide a lovely welcome pack for you, in particular, OP. Is there any reason that might be the case?

Sad playground behaviour

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 have a holiday let and still leave a welcome pack, it’s really up to the guests if they want to use it or not. I’ve left games and books, with the caveat that any used must be left on the coffee table so they can be quarantined. They are very rarely used, most of my guests are in party mode, judging by the number of glasses that get broken (it sleeps 12 so attracts groups rather than just one family).

However I do ask that the beds are stripped and laundry placed in bags, as we have been advised that it has to be quarantined for 48 hours before washing. I don’t know what hotels are doing.

It’s not Covid related. We went to a lovely cottage first week of July After restrictions lifted in the lakes. We were left milk, bread, a bottle of wine, brand new unopened individual hand sanitiser one per person, teabags, coffee, fancy biscuits.

As well as washing up liquid, Antibacterial cleaner, dishwasher tabs, loo roll and washing machine liquid tabs.

@raddledoldmisanthropist

have used this company loads of times and usually get a rather lovely welcome pack.

Perhaps they still provide this to all their other customers but for some reason they neglected to provide a lovely welcome pack for you, in particular, OP. Is there any reason that might be the case?

Sad playground behaviour

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.

That made me laugh out loud.

Are all these places that now don't do welcome packs or where you have to take your own bedding passing their savings on to the customer?

Were the consumers donating to them all the months they had to stay closed and for them to be less busy than usual?

It costs pennies to take your own tea, coffee and milk with you. Welcome packs are lovely little touches but their absence isn't exactly a deal breaker.

PIL are still doing welcome packs. Sealed box of tea and coffee and biscuits. Also milk unopened in fridge.

The only change has been check out now at 9am to allow more time for cleaning.

Yes it appears so.

I have been away several times for weekend breaks and on all but one occasion no tea/coffee making facilities. In 2 places they allowed us to order any we required from the bar, in the other we just had to go without! Another place had the usual stuff though...

I have noticed changes on dining out. Some have no condiments and yet other places do and they allow people to share so it appears a bit hit and miss.

It’s covid rules. Should have been explained in cover booking email

Not being told in advance seems to be the bad thing. Withdrawing some benefits/things included is not unusual, such as British Airways ending free teas and coffees a couple of years ago.

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

Um... in the nicest possible way, this is completely un-common-sensical.

We (owners or cleaners) remove all food left, obviously. But a welcome pack is not food left by the previous guests.

We've been to two cottages over this summer and had welcome baskets in both, so must be the company you are using rather than to do with coronavirus..

It’s not easy for property owners to guess guest preferences on milk, tea, cake, coffee, etc. These items are often left at the end of the stay and not used, necessitating them having to be thrown away now. No guest wants to open a cupboard and see left over groceries from the previous guests especially in this pandemic.
We normally leave fresh farm eggs and local speciality confectionary but they are often not eaten...a total waste of money! We have been surprised how any people don’t eat eggs!

Profit margins are diminished with extra cleaning and extra laundry (mattress and pillow protectors also now have to be laundered) it all adds up to extra expense for cottage owners. And if a property owner prefers extra time to clean and refuses back to back bookings in order ensure covid safety, they are clobbered with extra commission with some agencies (and obviously fewer bookings)
In my experience guests understand and prefer the new normal of extra reassurance about covid hygiene, safe in the knowledge that the place is scrupulously clean, as opposed to a welcome pack of the wrong sort of sausages and bacon.
Everybody has different expectations and you can’t please all the people all the time.

@notregistered

Thank you. Yes indeed I thought some of you would have known having holidayed already.

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

Sad playground behaviour

Agreed.

A simple, perfectly sensible question elicits the braying bitches en masse it appears.

@pussycatinboots

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

Op and those of us who go to cottages for our holidays don't expect the owner to do our grocery shop, what a ridiculous thing to say along with your inverted snobbery Waitrose comment. A welcome pack is just that, it tides you over till you can pop to the shops, and after a long drive it is very welcome.
HTH

I leave dishwasher tablets, washing machine tablets, fairy liquid, new sponge and cloth, and a (very nice) bottle of wine and a large bottle of water. For anything food related they need to get their own.

Meant to add, all items such as bottle openers, corkscrews - anything you can think of - are offered.

We have a holiday let. We have stripped out additional soft furnishings, extra decorative pottery, mugs, etc. (as all kitchen supplies, fixtures, and fitting need to be sanitised between guests!). We've closed one room for quarantining bed linens before laundry / steam sanitisation, and we've removed basics that we left in the kitchen (tea, coffee, flour, sugar, etc). Any welcome basket basics that we could now leave involves so much plastic as a lot of it is single use and it makes me feel awful about the environmental impact. We've warned guests about this. We are leaving extra cleaning supplies, toilet roll, etc. and have explained that it will all be thrown away unless they take it with them. Again, so wasteful.

This isn't an excuse for cutting costs. It costs us more to provide fresh cleaning supplies, etc, for every set of guests rather than just have a supply that we could replenish. We're trying to follow the PASC / ASSC Covid-19 guidance whilst also trying to minimise additional environmental impact.

We're paying more for cleaning and laundry (our housekeeper now gets £125 per changeover, and laundry is now approximately another £100 at the only local company around). The whole house is sanitised between guests.

It would be interesting to know if the percentage of cottages that ARE leaving welcome baskets/games/home made cakes etc is the same as the percentage of Mumsnet who are not routinely sanitising their shopping when they get it home?

You're all staying in much posher holiday homes than me. The only time I got a welcome pack was in Eurocamp and I paid £12 for it, which included some of the shittest wine ever created. Although the little salt and peppers were quite useful.

I think it depends on the company / home letter.
We've had two this summer - first with a big company, lots of information beforehand on what they'd removed for Covid reasons (extra cushions / throws, some kitchen equipment, all food from kitchen cupboards, beach towels). This was fine because we knew in advance. We also had to strip beds and bag it all up at the end.

Second let seemed less strict, they left us some milk in the fridge, and we didn't have to strip our own beds.

I'd always take teabags anyway as even if there are some left they might not be Yorkshire Tea.

I noticed our holiday let which usually has a cupboard of full of condiments was empty this year.

They left milk, biscuits, a brand new box of tea bags though.

Having just returned from a grim weekend at a Parkdean hovel, I can confirm the "new covid roolz" also appear to include.

Supplying only 5 glasses (3 wine, 1 gin & two tumblers) in a caravan for 8. Perhaps the spores won't reproduce on so few glasses but would be bonking like rabbits if sufficient drinking containers were provided.

Not providing corkscrews, saucepans, frying pans, baking trays or anything that might be useful for self-catering. In fact, the advice to bring Tea-towels was mostly wasted, as there was nothing to wash up.

Having a cold plate of chips thrown on a sticky table by a stroppy teenager. Smiling clearly being another covid contravention.

Never. Again.