To think many people have confused their paying holiday rental with house sitting?

[HeleenaHandcart]

Back from a week away and I’m starting to give up on UK holiday homes.

I obviously am happy to respect the property and be generally clean and tidy, but more and more I see higher and higher costs and higher and higher cleaning expectations. As well as earlier and earlier leaving times.

I don’t want to work as an unpaid house keeper before a long drive, nor generally add towards upkeep of the house I’m paying a ton for. I used to strip beds for example, but not with kids and an early leave time as well as wanting it all bagged up it’s a bit much before 9am. Frankly I’m not watering anything either. Now as well more and more places say you must leave by 9am, yet can’t enter until 5/6pm due to ‘cleaning’ but you must clean the place fully. Bins out and a list of chores for you.

Last week I was asked to be in for the washing machine repair man even (I said no). It’s not a bloody holiday- it’s house sitting and paying to be a house-sitter. My particular annoyance is stating ‘all surfaces to be cleaned and wiped, including the bathroom’ and they don’t leave a single cloth or cleaning product in the property. It’s like they also expect you to either purchase or bring a house cleaning kit.

Oh and ‘quirks of the property’, stuff that generally requires extra work to use stuff like ‘each day the windows all must be opened for 10 min’, ‘the shower cubicle has a daily water mark spray’ or ‘the boiler needs x, y…’

Its time to go back to hotel stays

No it is not normal to open windows every day. It means there is an issue with damp in your house.

Totally agree with all the comments. It's all well and good asking for the place to be left clean and tidy but to give a 9am kick out time and expect all of that is a joke.

It must also piss off the rentals neighbours too if the hoover is going etc before 9am on check out day every time there's a guest in.

I'm also getting a bit hacked off with hosts saying you can't arrive before 4 or 5pm on check in day due to cleaning. That was perfectly fine during the covid rules but hosts just seem to be taking advantage of it now.

Airbnb hosts have been getting silly with their rental charges since the pandemic when people could only holiday in the UK and were forced to pay it. And they wonder why people are ditching uk holidays now.

Course it's normal - gets fresh air into the house. Nothing to do with damp. Everything to do with stale and musty.

One of the problems is that holiday homes have hollowed out villages and the countryside. There aren't enough locals to service them. The reason why you have to check in at 5pm and check out at 9am is that's how long it takes the cleaners to get round them all. There's probably hall the number of cleaners there was two years ago. People have been turfed out of their private rentals to make room for more holiday homes.

Suppose the possibly older holiday house does not have window vents? And you’re cooking and showering? It would get smelly and fuggy. Surely in summer you’d keep a window open a little in bedrooms at night anyway?

We do not have window vents. Our house is fine. We use an extractor fan in the kitchen if needed.
I only keep bedroom windows open at night if I need the coolness.

I don’t do housework at home..! I do strip beds but dusting..! I don’t dust at home, my cleaner does that. Which I pay well for. And if I’ve paid a cleaning fee, I’ve paid already, I’m not going to do it too

@Stroopwaffels I do not think it is. If it was why all the public information films about opening windows to prevent the spread of covid? If people did it anyway, there would be no need.
I do not see windows in houses near me open except when it is warm.

I would always open a window at least briefly, it’s hardly an imposition. Can’t stand stale air.

@Paq I'm sure you are right, at one time this wasn't an issue as it would be people letting an annexe or spare room or occasionally another local and could do it themselves now they great majority are second homes or bought purely for rental/investment and there aren't enough locals wanting to do the jobs one reason I'm not keen on them and prefer aparthotel or places outside the UK

But that's not your guest's problem - they can't help you have a toddler to look after at the same time. Perhaps you should leave a day between guests if it is so tight.

We usually try and leave on time if it's a 10/11 check out, but we've never managed a 9 check out especially with all the cleaning requirements.

I also hate going to dog friendly places and then arriving to be told they aren’t allowed anywhere in the property other than the small open plan kitchen/diner. After vacuuming, mopping and exiting by 9am we were told we couldn’t come back as dog hair was found in the property…. It was a dog friendly cottage for 2 in Cornwall on a farm!

@Dramadrama That is fine. But there is a difference between a choice and a diktat.

One on a Scottish Island a few years back, took the bloody biscuit.
It had 2 Romanian older teens living in a shed at the bottom of the garden. The girl cried a lot and was clearly unhappy.
A coach load of American tourists queuing up to use the loo in "our" outhouse (this was apparantly a longstanding arrangement with the owner). The tour leader even informed me that they were running out of loo roll and asked me to get another 😳
A photographer who asked me to take down a washing line as it spoiled his view of a waterfall.
It was a nightmare and to top it all, the cottage had fleas.

@CanaryShoulderedThorn oh my word that sounds like hell on earth! Did you complain??

Yeah I don’t bother with air bnb and the like for these reasons.

It’s either resort type self catering places or hotels.

As a pp has said, I do think that’s long been the norm in France including for caravans, but I personally don’t like it.

Air bnb etc aren’t even that cheap any more! And you pay a cleaning fee, which should cover cleaning.

I love Airbnb as we are a family of 4 and places we have stayed in have separate living areas (sometimes two), a kitchen, more than one bathroom, often a pool etc. However, we don’t tend to spend less than a hotel, and we normally stay in places that are only used for holidays, not someone’s personal house that they also live in.

I’ve never had to do anything more than a quick wipe around, take the rubbish out and leave the towels in a pile and I wouldn’t dream of doing anything more than that, especially as you always pay a cleaning fee.

Me too. I’m so over Airbnb having spent every day of my break a few weeks ago chasing the host about things not working/missing. On my day of departure I eventually got a refund but it was hassle I could have done without. The one before that different issues but hassle. Heating not working. Wait in for boiler man etc. F off I’m on holiday.

The stripping of beds that was introduced as part of covid makes no sense to me other than getting guests to do some of the work.

I’m in a hotel at the mo and it is bliss. No instructions about recycling/putting bins out/watering plants/tubs etc 😎

We’ve had too many poorly equipped kitchens and a lack of basic health and safety to bother with Air b n b anymore.

In Japan, they changed the law a few years back so that you cannot run AirBnB unless you are registered as a "minshuku" (a kind of hostel or proper BnB) with the local authorities, which requires meeting a whole bunch of requirements. It has helped keep AirBnB very minimal and I think that is a good thing.

Someone above mentioned aparthotels and I think that sounds like a good model. I'd also like to see more "connected rooms" setups in hotels, where the children can sleep in one room accessible only by a door leading into the main room where the parents sleep.

Aparthotels are fab where you can find them (although still smaller than a good Airbnb) but I guess what I like about Airbnb or other house type places is that they’re so different. We recently stayed in a place in the Blue Mountains and it had a massive beautiful kitchen, lovely living room, four double bedrooms, two bathrooms, a hot tub, garden, view over the wilderness, massive balcony and it cost us $350 per night (about £220 I believe?). Hotels just can’t compete with that.

We’ve also stayed in beachside houses, a flat overlooking the Eiger and a lovely home with a pool and tennis court in Byron Bay.

@minuette1 - well it is my guests problem. I ask for check out by 10am, and check in after 3pm for a reason. My guests usually stick to it happily. It’s just someone above who says they can’t be bothered. I don’t ask for any cleaning done by guests.
I charge a reasonable rate and no extra cleaning fee. Otherwise I would have to put costs up also to other guests to allow for that one who doesn’t abide so I can pay a nanny or cleaner €20 per hour x5 ( so an extra €100 on every stay). That’s why others have increased rates and then people also moan.
My rental is part of my own house, it’s for me to make a little money. It’s not a luxury 5 star hotel.
I don’t have back to back bookings, but sometimes people ask to add an extra day or two due to plans changing. Again, I try and accommodate this for people and that’s when I might get same day changeovers. If I have a 4 day gap, then I do let guests know they are also welcome to arrive a bit earlier or leave a bit later

I could also speed up ‘clean’ and allow you in at 2pm instead of 3pm. But then you also wouldn’t get things like the welcome hampers, kids toys and high chairs brought in you want, the beach stuff cleaned and checked in cellar. I would just have to take all that off list of what’s available as not time to do. I provide, for Free. People book family run places for that reason, the extra touches, the family vibe. That includes my Toddler being on site. If you want no one on-site, then book a remote private villa ( for 5x the cost)

@Caspianberg most reasonable people don't have a problem with a 10am check-out. I think it's been standard in every holiday rental I've stayed in and it's never been an issue, even when our children were small. I don't like hanging around on my last day anyway - can't relax when there's a long journey ahead.

YANBU!

I've stayed in a handful of Air BnB over the last several years but none post-Covid

Shocked at the list of tasks some of you have had to get done whilst on holiday!