What standards do you expect from your holiday accommodation?

[PossibleFusspot]

We're just back from a lovely holiday, staying at a few different Airbnbs. Overall everything was great. However, more than one place had a stained towel (other towels available so we didn't use it, but still) only two/ three pillows on the bed for two people, a noticeable amount of dead wasps scattered about the house, lots of little things that I was a bit surprised about. All of these places had very good reviews - and overall, they were great places to stay.

What standards do you expect on holiday? How do you guarantee places have home comforts, such as enough pillows?!

AIBU?

I expect clean as a minimum and we always bring our own pillows.

That is not my definition of great.

I take my own pillow if going by car, but I’d say 4 pillows for a double bed is enough.

I’d expect (and got) proper cleanliness, extra duvets if in winter. The outside should have kerb appeal, we had a few pots of pretty flowers, made it look lovely. I’d hope for sufficient crockery/cutlery and weird detail, but pictures should be local. The Airbnb we stayed in recently had pictures of Paris, American tourist spots, a mad variety of holiday souvenirs from around the globe. We’re possibly planning on running an Airbnb in a few years, so I’m really interested in this topic!

It wouldn't occur to me to bring pillows anyway, but we were flying so not really practical!

@autumnalmist

That is not my definition of great.

On balance they were great though. Great locations, great well-equipped kitchens, helpful hosts.

Just these few things that surprised me and I'm wondering if I'm missing a trick in booking accommodation.

Has to be spotless. Clean floors, white bedding, nice decor. Agree with pp, local photos, be honest about how far it is from the property to attractions/beach etc.
Supply small basic starter pack, tea, milk, coffee, washing up liquid and sponge- those kind of things.

Not sure if you are just discussing Airbnb or holiday accommodation in general. I’ve only stayed in one airbnb and it was very odd, and DH would not agree to having a family holiday in one, although we almost always stay in self catering.
I’d expect spotlessly cleanthroughout, fluffy towels (without stains), smell free, sufficient crockery and cutlery to not have to put the dishwasher on between every meal, a tea pot and a coffee maker, sharp knives, clothes hangers, a place to hang coats

Decent beds, how on earth can you have a great holiday with a rubbish bed.

My expectations can vary wildly depending on how the place is being marketed and for how much. I've just come back from a holiday where we had three AirBnBs, they all had different strengths and weaknesses, and were at the lower end of the price scale (in a very expensive country). One was tiny but very modern, stylish and central with a great view. A second was a basic wooden cabin with few facilities, a bit rickety, but an amazing view, loads of peace and quiet but shit internet. A third had a crap view on the ground floor but very modern facilities in a nice part of town.

So my baseline is:
Clean
Must accurately reflect the description online
Good communication with the host and clear check-in instructions

So for the basic cabin, we were less bothered by the very spartan facilities because that much was obvious from the description, but were very bothered by the temperamental wi-fi because that was supposed to work but didn't.

I expect extremely high standards of cleanliness and comfort but I pay a lot - I do think it’s one of those “you get what you pay for” scenarios. Having said that I stayed in a hotel recently that was £300 per night and it was dire

I would expect 4 pillows on a double bed. It would never occur to me to take my own - that's what I do when kipping on a mate's settee or floor, not when I'm paying ££ to hire somewhere.

I would expect any provided towels to be clean (don't mind taking towels if it is clear I need to, but if they are provided then they need to be clean, not stained).

To be fair, I wouldn't worry too much about a dead wasp - I would assume it had died there after the clean.

Clean. I wouldn't be checking the top of the curtains for dust or anything but I'd expect the rooms hoovered/wiped etc. in all of the obvious places. Anything stained should be removed.

Otherwise just as advertised. I don't care if something is spartan, so long as I wasn't led to expect any different.

Ooh interesting, we just airbnb'd our actual home this summer while we were away. It was our first time hosting and because we weren't there we had to have massive confidence in our cleaner/co-host.

We did only supply 2 pillows per bed since that's what we use, but there were 2 x spare pillows 'just in case'... Linens are expensive and it was a very finite business plan since we were only away for 5 weeks!

We did the local photos thing :) used a local photographer whose stuff I think is great (and could finally justify buying!)

We didn't do any welcome baskets as it was just too much faff for the already-overstretched cleaner. We supplied good quality shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and hand soap, and loo rolls, plus laundry detergent and washing up liquid. There's also a cupboard full of cleaning supplies :) but we weren't expecting guests to use those!

We totally relied on our external laundry service for stain removal - we literally never saw the linens for 5 weeks so just trusted that they were cleaning them well - not much else we could do.

But when we got home I did feel let down by our (sob, so lovely) cleaner. There was dust on the skirting boards and under the sofas, and mould around the overflow in the family bathroom sink. The guests who left right before we arrived home had only stayed 4 nights, no way these things were clean when they arrived either. She charged us £50 per clean so we were paying enough for these things to be sorted - it's a 3 bed house FGS, not a 16 bed mansion - it's meant to be 5 hours work...

And we pay separately for the laundry service, although she does drop off and pick up on each clean but it's 3 mins away from the house and she drives so that shouldn't cut into the clean time by much!

Anyway I'm rambling... My point really was that lots of hosts, like us, have lovely homes and are really house-proud and want guests to have a lovely time but we can't do everything ourselves so we delegate and - especially over this crazy summer - all the cleaners are wildly over-committed with 3-4 turnarounds in the same hours between check out and check in... It's a hard thing to control!

I only expect clean and smell free, and a comfy bed.

I'm only ever in the property to sleep and out the rest of the time

...and to comment on your three quibbles specifically:
Stained towel - not good, breaks the 'must be clean' rule.
Two pillows for two people - not bothered by this, British people do seem to like an over-average number of pillows - was this in the UK? In many countries one pillow per person is completely normal.
Wasps on windowsill: not happy about that, suggests the cleaning wasn't very thorough.

With AirBnBs abroad it's often fun seeing other countries' ways of living and their quirks. Two of our three accommodations recently had not one but two cheese slicers apiece, but no pasta strainer. And all three had no dustpan and brush, leading us to wonder if they're just not used there... It's all part of the adventure. Maybe I'd be a bit more tough with the criticism if I was paying 300 quid per night for a place - don't think I've ever stayed anywhere that expensive, by choice.

I project manage an AirBnB, theres no dead insects after i've cleaned!
No marks on towels, mattress protector, bed linen, oven gloves or tea towels.
Toilet roll, handwash, washing up liquid, and new sponge. J cloths, dishwasher tablets, Olive oil, salt, pepper, tin foil, kitchen roll, tea, coffee, sugar, milk, vase of flowers and Welsh cakes all provided.
No grubby finger prints on anything, clean skirting boards, no cobwebs, crumbs in toaster etc, basically spotless is what you should expect imo.

@Lonecatwithkitten

Decent beds, how on earth can you have a great holiday with a rubbish bed.

Agree - so many places just have a double bed too, so anyone who sleeps in a king at home has to downgrade their nights sleep!

I want it to be nicer than my own house.

Spacious, cleaner wouldn't be hard cos I'm a slattern by MN standardspreferably with an open fire or a wood burning stove for cosy evenings in if it's a countryside stay. Nice welcome pack with local treats. Loads of lovely towels. Excellent powerful shower. I'd never book anywhere that was just a double bed, must be king size minimum anyway.

I probably have pretty low standards.
Can I sleep there comfortably is main one.

She charged us £50 per clean so we were paying enough for these things to be sorted - it's a 3 bed house FGS, not a 16 bed mansion - it's meant to be 5 hours work...

£10/hour is on the low side for a cleaner.

I won’t stay anywhere unless there is a minimum of a king size bed. Preferably super king.
And a decent shower with good water pressure.

@HundredMilesAnHour

She charged us £50 per clean so we were paying enough for these things to be sorted - it's a 3 bed house FGS, not a 16 bed mansion - it's meant to be 5 hours work...

£10/hour is on the low side for a cleaner.

I doubt the cleaner took 5 hours per clean if there was mould on the overflow and dusty skirting boards

I doubt the cleaner took 5 hours per clean if there was mould on the overflow and dusty skirting boards

That's the whole point. If you're underpaying your cleaner, expect them to cut corners. Big corners in this case.

@WoolyMammoth55

Ooh interesting, we just airbnb'd our actual home this summer while we were away. It was our first time hosting and because we weren't there we had to have massive confidence in our cleaner/co-host.

We did only supply 2 pillows per bed since that's what we use, but there were 2 x spare pillows 'just in case'... Linens are expensive and it was a very finite business plan since we were only away for 5 weeks!

We did the local photos thing :) used a local photographer whose stuff I think is great (and could finally justify buying!)

We didn't do any welcome baskets as it was just too much faff for the already-overstretched cleaner. We supplied good quality shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and hand soap, and loo rolls, plus laundry detergent and washing up liquid. There's also a cupboard full of cleaning supplies :) but we weren't expecting guests to use those!

We totally relied on our external laundry service for stain removal - we literally never saw the linens for 5 weeks so just trusted that they were cleaning them well - not much else we could do.

But when we got home I did feel let down by our (sob, so lovely) cleaner. There was dust on the skirting boards and under the sofas, and mould around the overflow in the family bathroom sink. The guests who left right before we arrived home had only stayed 4 nights, no way these things were clean when they arrived either. She charged us £50 per clean so we were paying enough for these things to be sorted - it's a 3 bed house FGS, not a 16 bed mansion - it's meant to be 5 hours work...

And we pay separately for the laundry service, although she does drop off and pick up on each clean but it's 3 mins away from the house and she drives so that shouldn't cut into the clean time by much!

Anyway I'm rambling... My point really was that lots of hosts, like us, have lovely homes and are really house-proud and want guests to have a lovely time but we can't do everything ourselves so we delegate and - especially over this crazy summer - all the cleaners are wildly over-committed with 3-4 turnarounds in the same hours between check out and check in... It's a hard thing to control!

Did the £50 include her doing the laundry as well?

Ignore my last post, I see the laundry is done separately!

🙄