To think you shouldn't have to spring clean a holiday cottage?

[Takemetomiami]

Staying in a cottage booked through one of the large companies. I use a lot of air bnb and it's standard to leave the place as you found it which I always do.

In a holiday place booked through a company I clean the sink/loo, rinse bath, make sure fridge and bins emptied, wipe down kitchen surfaces. I assume they have professional cleaners coming in who will do a thorough job.

This morning got email from the holiday company with a long list of jobs including stripping beds, mopping through, cleaning shower, basically "leave it spotless". Is that now expected?

It's polite to strip beds and leave things generally presentable.

Am I fuck mopping or cleaning the shower though. I would guess that the owners don't employ cleaners and are just trying to save themselves work.

I suspect it's a covid thing, cleaners refusing to enter a property unless it has had all floors and surfaces wiped down. They probably do a further clean to sanitise. Visit Britain require surfaces to be cleaned and sanitised.

However it's a bit cheeky imo. Most places just require beds to be stripped and linen bagged, and bins emptied. Cleaners do the rest.

Normal for France but not UK.

I've had this in France too (along with an owner who kept letting herself in and telling us off for things like hanging stuff over the balcony of the stairs.

I would assume the holiday company would have cleaners come in to do a clean in between let’s. I would do the same as you, ie, leave it tidy, empty bins etc but not do a deep clean. The last thing I want to do on holiday is cleaning!

Nope, leave it as you find it but AirBNB and most other sites charge a cleaning fee, or factor that in. Besides which, now with Covid places are supposed to be thoroughly cleaned between lets so they should deffo have people in.
I wouldn't object to stripping beds - we stayed in a place that asked this and left laundry bags for the bedclothes to go into.

Why are some of you vacuuming and mopping?

You've paid for someone to do that!

The martyrdom on MN bewilders me ...

We always strip beds, empty bins, sweep up, clear our cupboards and fridge and wipe down kitchen and bathroom but no I won’t be mopping.

I always strip bed and brush up but wouldn't be mopping out and frankly I wouldn't bother booking somewhere that 1. Expected me to clean to a professional standard and 2. Clearly didn't clean themselves so would be unsure how clean it actually was.

This is why I don't book cottages. Doing a frantic clean on the last morning, against the clock, would ruin the holiday for me. I'd go home stressed I think.

Besides anything I wouldn't want to stay somewhere where I had to rely on the good will of the previous occupant to clean it

* I'm not cleaning a holiday cottage no matter what they instruct. If they told me in advance, I wouldn't book.*

I wouldn’t book it either.

Not normal.

Place we go to regularly asked us last year to bag up towels and strip beds and bag it up-covid related. We were happy to do it. It’s a great place and they have added lots of extra cleaning regulations for covid.

No I wouldn’t mop the floor. I do hoover as I go and wipe down worktops as per usual at home. We are clean people.

I suspect it's a covid thing, cleaners refusing to enter a property unless it has had all floors and surfaces wiped down

We stayed at a cottage managed by Country Yokels Ltd and the cleaners refused to enter the cottage without hazmat suits. It scared the children.

@MinnieMountain

Ridiculous. We’ve been told to arrive later and leave earlier to allow more time for cleaning.

It’s like Covid has become an excuse for ripping people off.

This is what it is. They'll be able to find someone who'll do it, everyone is desperate to get away.

This is standard for France. Which is why French are the best visitors to stay in your rental.

I don't expect it in mine. I only expect not crazy dirty, bins empty and, say, no wet towels on the bed.

My pet hate/disgust is people who eat in bed and spill wine, coffee, etc on the bed. Ugh.

I wouldn’t be booking that.
We did have a holiday key where they said to do all that or pay an extra £60 for cleaners to do it it we got a v reasonable last minute deal so paid the £60.
Are you paying a deposit you won’t get back if you don’t leave it spotless?

Let not key

@theAdventuresofMissBarbaraPym

I suspect it's a covid thing, cleaners refusing to enter a property unless it has had all floors and surfaces wiped down

We stayed at a cottage managed by Country Yokels Ltd and the cleaners refused to enter the cottage without hazmat suits. It scared the children.

Is this a joke?

We strip the beds and leave the bathroom and kitchen clean but we certainly don't do a thorough clean.

We got a stroppy email from a cottage owner because we hadn't cleaned "to their standard". My reply was I have a cleaner at home, I don't go on holiday to clean for someone else and they should employ a cleaner at the price they charged.

We had a list like that last year - and were supposed to be out by 9am.

When we'd arrived there had been toothpaste spit all over the sinks and food and fingernails over the floor.

I'm guessing the only cleaning was being done by the guests. I think they gave us £100 compensation - what was really annoying was that we'd got there early, dumped the car outside and gone for a walk and only gone in at the alloted 6pm entry time (moved from 3.30pm) - but no one had been in the cottage in the afternoon and I would rather have spent that time cleaning it rather than at 6pm when I was hungry.

That's not a holiday!! Is it dirt cheap!?

We booked an Airbnb recently and there's a £30 'cleaning fee' which I was a bit about. Surely if you're letting out a property part and parcel of that is to get it ready for your next guests? I'm not suggesting we ought to leave the place in a state for free but paying for normal cleaning seems a bit much.

I have a holiday let which I clean myself. I expect guests to put the bins out and to wash up and they almost all do. They come for weekends so they barely make a mess and sow gin hours cleaning after a stardust and Sunday night would be awful.

I certainly don't expect mopping or other cleaning and no one has so far! Although I thought one guest had slept elsewhere as she made the beds to hotel standard when they left!

People usually leave it pretty much as they found it but there's often a toothpasty sink, a crumby sofa or a grassy floor. Doesn't bother me as I'm cleaning it anyway! One guest appeared to only eat oranges judging by the state of the (unemptied) bin the juice of which seemed to be splattered everywhere and had turned to concrete once I'd got round to the cleaning

The best one we stayed in we met the key holder there it was a fabulous place. I asked about cleaning at the end and they said’ No cleaning -you are on holiday! You don’t need to do a thing’.
We left it clean and tidy but that was so nice to think it didn’t matter too much.