To be infuriated by my mum cleaning the AirBnB?

[MangosteenSoda]

Tbh, I know I’m being somewhat unreasonable and exasperated is probably a better word than infuriated, but bloody hell! Why?

I’m clean and tidy and never leave a mess or dirty dishes etc. My mum is doing a full on deep clean. Polishing the sideboard kind of thing. Cleaner than when we arrived. Check out time is 11 and she started around 7. Everything packed and pristine by 8.30, then sitting around twiddling thumbs. We are moving on to another destination and have an activity booked en route, so no point setting off early. Would go to the beach again with DS, but she would probably freak out by any sand being brought back in. Arrgh.

I’m hiding in my bedroom with a half packed case, Mnetting like a sulky teen I can hear the sound of elbow grease from outside the door.

Love, love, love my mum dearly and my DS loves a holiday with his grandparents. But this drives me mad!

I had this argument with my hubby recently.

We stayed in a flat for 3 nights via Air BNB. As part of the booking, you pay a cleaning fee of around £40. Despite this charge, I spent a good hour making the place as clean as it was when we arrived. During my clean, my hubby sat in the car huffing about the £40 we had already paid!

All you need to do to leave a holiday cottage in an acceptable state is empty fridge, ensure all washing up done, put rubbish out, no skids in loo. Clean down kitchen counters if you must.

No hoovering, no sweeping, dusting, cleaning bathrooms. It's just sheer martyrdom or pride or something very odd.

@AtlasNeverShrugged

I had this argument with my hubby recently.

We stayed in a flat for 3 nights via Air BNB. As part of the booking, you pay a cleaning fee of around £40. Despite this charge, I spent a good hour making the place as clean as it was when we arrived. During my clean, my hubby sat in the car huffing about the £40 we had already paid!

Why did you do it then? Why couldn't you just accept you had paid someone else to do it?

It is interesting that you couldn't just leave it, even though you know you've paid someone else to do it and they will do it again anyway, so you are wasting your time.

Was it fear what these cleaner strangers would think of you, someone they have never met and if they do meet, wouldn't know it was you who'd stayed there?

@Chicchicchicchiclana

Yes, and of course it is always women caught up in this mindset. My step-mother often talks about cleaning. I just zone out. If it goes on long enough I walk away.

It isn’t. My bloke cleans a holiday cottage within an inch of its life when we leave. I wish he had the transferrable skills to do it at home.

There’s a weird shame thing tied up in this frantic pointless cleaning. Agree it’s an interesting psychological phenomenon and I fear exclusively female…

@MsTSwift

There’s a weird shame thing tied up in this frantic pointless cleaning. Agree it’s an interesting psychological phenomenon and I fear exclusively female…

I just told you it’s not exclusively female. 🤷‍♀️

Exception that proves the rule.

Majority female then. Majority as woman are the ones who feel judged by the state of their home normally as society says its their job to do it.

I dont understand why so many woman view their time to have so little value that they will waste holiday time cleaning when they know someone else will walk in and do it all again within hours of leaving as it is what they are paid to do.

It is utterly pointless activity unless you think it matters greatly what the professional cleaner hired by the rental company thinks about you (when they are unlikely to even know your name).

Absolutely Margo. Smacks of very low self esteem.

In my bloke’s case it smacks of 30 years in the army.

@atleastitswarm

A bit annoying but I wouldn’t let it wind me up this much - just leave her to crack on and go out for a walk!

Yes but after the zillionth time, this sort of behaviour can really grind you down.

I can appreciate it’s a little galling to see someone you love repeatedly labouring pointlessly and spoiling the end of their own holiday to benefit a wealthy stranger.

@Blossomtoes

In my bloke’s case it smacks of 30 years in the army.

So if he can’t switch off his army training when leaving an Airbnb, how come he’s able to refrain from cleaning his own home to within an inch of its life daily?

@MargosKaftan

Majority female then. Majority as woman are the ones who feel judged by the state of their home normally as society says its their job to do it.

I dont understand why so many woman view their time to have so little value that they will waste holiday time cleaning when they know someone else will walk in and do it all again within hours of leaving as it is what they are paid to do.

It is utterly pointless activity unless you think it matters greatly what the professional cleaner hired by the rental company thinks about you (when they are unlikely to even know your name).

Agree. And it doesn't actually make the cleaners' lives easier, as they're going to do it all again. I cleaned holiday lets when I was a student. The most thoughtful things you can do as a guest are make sure that everything's left in its right place - move furniture back where it came from, take down the ironing board (pet hate 😉) etc. Wiping down surfaces didn't save me time, as I was just going to do them again. Not having them encrusted with a week's worth of food was good, but pristine was no better than fairly clean.

@Alieninmybody

I'd be inviting your mum to my house for a holiday once a month.

Me too. When can she come?

In our case, while I'm cleaning ready for departure, Mr. Wingedharpy is amusing himself emptying the hoover!

So if he can’t switch off his army training when leaving an Airbnb, how come he’s able to refrain from cleaning his own home to within an inch of its life daily?

Because he thinks it’s my job I guess! He knows I’m not going to clean a holiday cottage.

I wipe surfaces, clean loo and put everything in its place ready for the cleaners and he packs car then we are out of there. Plus often you have be out by 9.30 meaning the cleaning fanatics also have an early start adding to the misery!

It is utterly pointless activity unless you think it matters greatly what the professional cleaner hired by the rental company thinks about you (when they are unlikely to even know your name).

I have done several Airbnb and it is usually the host I get the keys from and give back to so doing a clean right before leaving isn’t necessarily pointless and if everyone was responsible (cleaned up after themselves), it rarely takes long.

Nope, not buying that when charging for a covid deep clean, the owners of air bnbs are just pocketing that money and not doing a clean anyway just accepting it looks clean so doesn't need doing. It's a waste of your time to clean (because it's going to be done again anyway) or you have decided to sacrifice the last morning of your holiday (that you've paid for), in order to boost the profits of the rental owner.

Of all the people doing a proper clean- not just emptying bins and fridge and putting the dishwasher on - have you had a refund for the cleaning portion of your stay cost? I've never heard of that happening.

I think a big issue is that there is no general consensus on what should be done. Often the terms will just say to leave it 'clean and tidy' or 'in the manner in which you found it', what do these even, in reality, mean? A clear guidance of: towels in a pile in bathroom, bins emptied, furniture returned to original location, bed left stripped / unstripped etc would be much easier.

I'm pretty sure if a holiday let owner couldn't show evidence of a paid-for clean and there was some kind of Covid issue, they'd be in hot water. So anything more than sheets, bin, dishes, really is pointless (unless you enjoy cleaning, I suppose).

20 years ago, if you didn’t do a full clean before leaving a holiday cottage, the owner would charge you an extra £40 for professional cleaners. So it was in your interest to do it!

We shared a holiday cottage with another couple once. During the week, DP and I tended to be the ones loading and emptying dishwashers, tidying stuff away after breakfast etc as they had a dog and we did it while they went out to walk dog.

I didn’t mind too much just for the one week, but on the last morning after DP and I had once again rushed around washing up and tidying the dishes, the other couple came back and started talking about “who was going to do the hoovering and strip the beds.”

There was no note about bed stripping or anything left and my view was always leave holiday cottage tidy and clear messes and spillages but other than that, leave it to the cleaners.

The other couple were loudly appalled at us and went on and on about how terrible we were to not do a big hoover and strip beds before leaving. In the end we got in the car and left them to their deep clean.

To this day they go on and have little digs in front of other friends about how we “left them to clean the holiday cottage” - despite it being us who tidied and cleaned away all week while they buggered off on essential dog walks.

@Babdoc

20 years ago, if you didn’t do a full clean before leaving a holiday cottage, the owner would charge you an extra £40 for professional cleaners. So it was in your interest to do it!

This is bollocks.