To think self-catering places should ditch these Covid era things?

[Rainallnight]

We are staying in a (pricey) self catering cottage for half term.

we are required to strip our beds and put the linen into laundry bags before leaving. I don’t want to do this. I’m on holiday.

And check in wasn’t until 5pm for ‘extra cleaning’.

Two plus years of Covid have taught us hat it’s an airborne virus so opening the windows is the best thing you can do.

These other measures are unnecessary and are now there for the letting companies’ convenience rather than infection control.

It is driving me mad. AIBU?

Cleaning companies have teams of people that turn round several cottages on handover day. My cousins cottage takes X4 hours, multiply that by several cottages and a team of (say) 3 doing each then you can see why they ask for as big a window as possible.

Where i live there is a gross shortage of house keepers due to the declining population caused by the explosion of holiday lets.

YANBU we have just stayed in a self catering cottage in Devon, check in wasn’t until 4pm, but we actually came home a day early as check out was 9am. We have three dogs and couldn’t find anywhere else for the dates we wanted or we wouldn’t have booked. The place was full of dust gathering seaside themed tat so no extra cleaning done as far as we could see.

Maybe chose a hotel instead then.

I worked in tourism until this year, self catering holiday homes, on a hugely popular, small island, tourism hotspot. I also run my own housekeeping business. Last year, despite paying almost double minimum wage, neither the holiday home company or my little company could find more than a handful of cleaners. Normally we like to give cleaners 2 houses a day, between 10 and 4. Last year we were having to ask them all to do 3. Could you clean 3 x 2/3/4 bed houses in a six hour period?

on top of that, we were still having to sanitise after the clean last year, which does take longer. So normal clean, then go round again with the sanitising spray.

A 5pm check in is irritating, but on our little island the shortage of housekeepers is massive.

Now more people are going abroad and U.K. holiday spots have a less captive audience they will have to go back to sensible check-in and out times. I wouldn’t stay anywhere with a 5pm in and 10am out time.

Premier Inn check in is at 3pm. Never been 4pm ime.

My sister works in the industry. In the area they are in about 40% of their staff were from the EU and about 70% of new staff. Now almost no new staff are from the EU and they struggle to recruit. Covid hasn't helped but in the main we can thank Brexit. It's only going to get worse.

I dont mind a 5pm check in - in fact pre covid that's what time we'd arrive anyway. Means a leisurely start to the day, missing the worst of the traffic (because everyone else wants to get there early). Getting off the motorway or main roads to find lunch and maybe exploring somewhere else on our way.

Good points Molly. I shall be more understanding of late check-ins in future.

We're due to leave a holiday cottage tomorrow.
Check in was 5pm but we were here an hour early and the keys were there so we let ourselves in.
Check out is 9am tomorrow. Doesn't say anything about stripping beds but we have to put the rubbish and recycling out, wash and put away pots, empty the dishwasher and leave the towels in the bath. The instructions say to leave it as we find it but I draw the line at scrubbing bathroom, mopping floors and hoovering.
It's not dirty just used.
On a brighter note we were left milk in the fridge and a cream tea on arrival.

I don't mind reusing towels in a hotel to save on cleaning - but FGS give me somewhere to hang them where they'll actually dry! Went to a v exp hotel in Brighton last year, family room, bathroom size of a cupboard & of course no window in it, so everything just hangs there limply mouldering.

I agree that a 5pm check in is too late now. Enough already.

I'm fine with stripping beds - I always have done. What I'm not fine with, though, is getting an email marked 'urgent' the day before I'm due to leave the cottage, reminding me (in bold red letters) to strip the beds "to keep our housekeepers safe". Fuck off.

I'm also not fine with having to look at big posters by all the sinks telling me how to wash my hands. I'm on holiday FFS.

@QuestionableMouse

I said it had moved back to 3pm. It was 4pm for a very long time through covid. Obviously now it's changed your screenshot showing the time will say 3pm.

Oh my mistake that an old email, perhaps it was 2020 or maybe even early 21 or just the London hotels but I definitely had a check in time of 4pm

YANBU there is essentially no real Covid-based reason for extra cleaning time or for guests to strip their own beds. It does seem like they are just doing it to make things easier/cheaper for them. Yes you can take your business elsewhere, but it's the sort of thing you may not realise until after you've booked. I own and Airbnb and guests don't strip their beds and normal check-in is 4pm but often possible to be earlier if asked. I think 4pm has always been quite normal for self catering places

It's never been something we have ever done in a holiday cottage and never been asked to either. Infact the only reference I've ever had drink a holiday rental accommodation was to NOT strip beds beforehand.

The airbnb we stayed in last year had no strange covid rules, but it was a family renting out their own house for half term. This year we've just returned from an airbnb run by a company. They advertised it with a check in time of 4pm and check out at 10am. We got an email two weeks before saying 'the Covid' meant check in at 5pm and checkout at 9am. No issue with 5pm but 9am was a bit of a pain.

Agree with the bed stripping thing - it's an added hassle. We stayed somewhere recently with a baby, toddler and olde r hold and checked out is 10.

Packing, tidying, pushing rubbish out, breakfast and getting all the children ready and car packed for 10am and then stripping beds - just no.

We've always stayed in cottages where you strip the beds before leaving. Yabu

I use self catering cottages a fair bit - 4pm checkout seems failrly typical now, rather than 2pm
TBH, I'm usually so disorganised with last minute jobs/packing, despite good intentions I'm rarely there before that anyway.
I'm just back, left yesterday - no idea what I was supposed to do with bedding - if I was supposed to strip it, I didn't.
There was salt/pepper, other condiments & basics left in the cupboard - if guests are risk averse, no one is forced to use them. could have done wihtout the previous guests mouldy bread though

Booked a caravan with 10 in and 4 out, only for there to be a message on the email the week before saying it's actually 9 and 5. I called them, my DH is on meds and can't get up and be with it that early. Luckily it had gone back to the original and they hadn't removed the message.

5 is a real pain, completely knocks into dinner time.

The suggestion “if you don’t like the check in times don’t go” is a bit drastic if everything else is great but you have this one minor annoyance that could easily be improved on. Reminds me of the usual OTT advice given on here like when people have neighbour disputes and people advise “just buy a detached house in the middle of nowhere” or, as I spotted more recently, if other passengers on a plane annoy you simply “hire a private jet”.

If the property is perfect apart from the check in times it’s fine to point out this drawback. It’s not all or nothing. Sometimes you can discuss ways to improve things rather than have a “fuck it all” approach whenever something small doesn’t go exactly your way.

I also think the “covid” element is what bothers people too. I feel like I’m being bullshitted when it’s used an an excuse now, like business don’t want to take ownership of their shortfalls and have no intention of trying to restore better services because they’re blaming something out of their control.

‘The suggestion “if you don’t like the check in times don’t go” is a bit drastic if everything else is great but you have this one minor annoyance that could easily be improved on.’

I disagree. Bad checkin and out times are a deal breaker for me. There are usually more accommodation options available close by so I have no interest or time to contact owners to negotiate better times.

I’m not getting up at stupid o’clock to do half the cleaning for the owners before I check out. I’m also not sitting around all day waiting to check in unless I can leave my luggage behind counter and can still use the facilities far earlier.

A 5pm check in is robbing half a days stay off me. I was looking to stay somewhere near Stratford-upon Avon for a night and and the cheeky buggers of one place wanted £300+ for a 5pm checkin and 9am check out. So £300+ for 16 hours of which the majority would involve sleeping and then trying to get the family sorted at sparrows fart to leave like it’s a school day. No thanks. Best thing would be for people to not book these places then they’ll stop their ‘coz Covid bullshit’.

Yanbu. We've just been away for one night and there was an instruction sheet which included a request to strip the 6 beds. I didn't do it. I'm away to relax not to strip beds.