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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

467 replies

HeleenaHandcart · 20/06/2022 10:23

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

OP posts:
Classicblunder · 20/06/2022 11:20

KosherDill · 20/06/2022 11:05

I've never understood the urge to rent houses or villas. Give me a good full-service hotel any day!

I don't want to share a room with my kids who go to bed at 7pm. I also have a child with food allergies and it is so nice to have the back up option of cooking for him.

antelopevalley · 20/06/2022 11:21

I only use professional places now. Amateurs who are renting out one place are far less likely IME to be reasonable. They often act like they are doing you a favour.

Caspianberg · 20/06/2022 11:21

Not all places

Ours we only ask for bins and fridge to be left empty. That’s it.

check out is by 10am, check in from 3pm. It takes me most of those 5hrs to clean the 2 bedroom property and get ready for next guests. The laundry and ironing takes me extra time ontop. The garden is again extra time. We charge a normal price, not extortionate, and it will only be rented 10 weeks this year.

BigCheeseSandwich · 20/06/2022 11:25

Yes! Six of us stayed in a place in Ireland that asked us to be out by 10am. They wanted all the sheets washed and hung out, and the house cleaned. We had small children and we did our best (even put the kids in the same bed the night before so I could wash those sheets earlier). On the morning of departure it was raining. No dryer, nowhere to hang the bloody sheets! Me and DH spent a stressful three hours trying to deal with sheets, clean and keep kids entertained in the rain. Had a really narky review about “the state of the house”. The worst thing was we had paid for cleaning! Really soured the holiday.

QuidditchThroughtheAges · 20/06/2022 11:26

@DelilahBucket I was watching a TikTok recently where the air bnb host was veg out out that her guests asked them to turn the heating off in June! As there was no way for them to turn it down because she had the app and they didn't they turned the boiler off and she went ballistic.x

Who needs the heating on in June??

Xmasbaby11 · 20/06/2022 11:26

That sounds awful. We have rented houses in the UK in the last few years and none were like this. We had to take the bins out and strip beds and be out by 10. Any more than that would have really put me off!

NotMyselfWithoutCoffee · 20/06/2022 11:26

I agree it takes the piss.
I don't go to a hotel and expect to clean wtf is this expectation now to clean holiday let's such as cottages, apartments etc.
Taking the bins out, fine but I'm not stripping the sheets and cleaning when it's expected to be included in the price you're paying.
I exclude places now if it they state anywhere that cleaning is expected.

Rosehugger · 20/06/2022 11:27

YANBU - but I don't book any places with excessive cleaning requirements or stupid check in times.

Hosts will become less fussy again as there is stiffer competition for them this year.

NotMyselfWithoutCoffee · 20/06/2022 11:28

Also just realised how many times I said the word expected lol! 😂

Dancingwithhyenas · 20/06/2022 11:29

My aunt and uncle rent out a holiday home through a company. The crazy early entry and exit are all down to the cleaning companys (who are all having massive staffing issues post brexit). It’s driving them mad, especially since often the cleaner won’t arrive until 4pm anyway. They also end up unable to check the cleaners work before the next people arrive which they used to be able to do.

They have started to say from 9am the cleaner may arrive but please feel free to continue to pack up your things and leave by 11am.

FunDragon · 20/06/2022 11:29

I’m with you. I automatically discount anywhere that does the check-out at 9am, check-in at 5pm thing (even without any additional clean requirements) because it’s just too stressful with small children. And as for cleaning - I’m happy to strip beds and put a wash on. I won’t leave toilets dirty or leave any dirty dishes. But mopping and vacuuming is a firm no.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 20/06/2022 11:29

We used to use a lovely local holiday agency. All they asked was towels and bedding in a bag and the place was clean, but not not left spotless. Sadly they've now been taken over by Sykes so I won't be using them again and will need to find somewhere else as good.

TooManyPlatesInMotion · 20/06/2022 11:30

Yes, I absolutely agree.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 20/06/2022 11:30

We never leave in time🥴

Even though we try really hard. We never manage to get out before 10.30. The sky hadn’t fallen in yet!

QuidditchThroughtheAges · 20/06/2022 11:31

Very angry not veg out out 🤦‍♀️

Abra1d1 · 20/06/2022 11:32

HeleenaHandcart · 20/06/2022 10:23

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

I agree with you on everything except the windows being opened. That's essential to avoid mould and condensation and hardly a chore.

CaptionChaos · 20/06/2022 11:32

It's about to get worse, various Cornish friends are about to let 'dead grannys' cottage out this summer and their own home whilst they move out to a local campsite.
DD has already been offered three cleaning jobs. Since she can't reliably load a dishwasher, it should be interesting this summer.
However, the branding, flowers on coffee table, scones & high tea laid out looks lovely. Shame they are too tight to get new mattresses!

DelilahBucket · 20/06/2022 11:32

@QuidditchThroughtheAges exactly! We probably saved her a fortune in gas and electricity that week. If we got cold there was a log burner and in a tiny cottage it was more than sufficient. We had the windows open all the time so it got plenty of air in to avoid any damp. We're respectful holidaymakers and that level of control astounded me.

TooManyPlatesInMotion · 20/06/2022 11:32

BigCheeseSandwich · 20/06/2022 11:25

Yes! Six of us stayed in a place in Ireland that asked us to be out by 10am. They wanted all the sheets washed and hung out, and the house cleaned. We had small children and we did our best (even put the kids in the same bed the night before so I could wash those sheets earlier). On the morning of departure it was raining. No dryer, nowhere to hang the bloody sheets! Me and DH spent a stressful three hours trying to deal with sheets, clean and keep kids entertained in the rain. Had a really narky review about “the state of the house”. The worst thing was we had paid for cleaning! Really soured the holiday.

That is fucking ridiculous!! I would have been furious.

Dontgetmestarted65 · 20/06/2022 11:33

We're currently away and have said the EXACT same. I use them because I like having a mix of indoor and outdoor space. But we've stayed in two these past two weeks in different places. And there's loads of broken shit! The last one didn't have bloody curtains in the bedroom and we fixed their door for them and the freezer door was wedged shut with cardboard. Now the fence is broken in the "secure enclosed" garden. These are expensive places and it's just a joke.

I think we're leaving towards holiday parks for the next couple of years, a tidy caravan with some decking will do.

Abra1d1 · 20/06/2022 11:34

CaptionChaos · 20/06/2022 11:32

It's about to get worse, various Cornish friends are about to let 'dead grannys' cottage out this summer and their own home whilst they move out to a local campsite.
DD has already been offered three cleaning jobs. Since she can't reliably load a dishwasher, it should be interesting this summer.
However, the branding, flowers on coffee table, scones & high tea laid out looks lovely. Shame they are too tight to get new mattresses!

What, hot food for tea? Or do you mean 'afternoon tea' rather than high tea? Because having eggs and toast, etc is really getting to ridiculous levels.

Dontgetmestarted65 · 20/06/2022 11:34

Also advertising a 10am checkout then saying you need to checkout by 9am in the instructions that come after you've paid. You can royally go fuck yourself.

HeadOnShoulders · 20/06/2022 11:35

On a recent air bnb booking I just ignored the vacuum property demand. Got an uptight review because of that, but fuck it. I'm not vacuuming a property if I'm paying a cleaning fee. We took out our rubbish, and that's more than enough.

Dontgetmestarted65 · 20/06/2022 11:36

And yes, the horrible mattresses. Why do you expect people to have a worse night's sleep on holiday than at home?!

EmJay19 · 20/06/2022 11:36

Sorry I voted YABU because I thought you were an irate house sitter 🤣

YANBU this is so annoying! I was charged an extra £10 for about 4 extra things last time I did an air Bnb stay and also had to clean and pay for cleaning. Was harassed for extra money after. I called air Bnb who eventually helped and got the hidden extra money back.

I am put off air bnbs bow for sure!