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

Not everyone is that demanding. I use Booking.com usually and did find a lovely rental last summer, I explained we were coming by motorbike and she provided towels, shampoo etc which they don't usually, no cleaning charge either just one fair rent (£420 for the week, not school holidays) I'm back going abroad and staying in hotels now though

Has anyone noticed the trend on tile tok where Airbnb owners film their inspection of the property after their guests leave!

they expect everything to be immaculate - like it has been professionally cleaned! They inspect the fridge and bathroom and check beds etc. And then pas judgement on their guests if there sink isn’t shining or the towels aren’t folded neatly.

I think the problem is amateurs trying to make a fast buck but not actually wanting anyone on their property.

that’s not a holiday

I've never rented out one of these Air B and B's beyond a glamping tent and you are all putting me off! I don't want to be 'ranked' when I go on holiday, I want to relax. Surely having a deposit, or in a hotel your credit card, means if there is any breakage or excessive mess then additional money could be taken. Other than that, I don't want to clean on holiday! I'm going to stick to hotels, even though it is a bit of pain to pay for two separate rooms. I don't do that much cleaning of my kitchen floor at home!

I got a shit review once on AirnB because i didn’t clean to there stupid standards which was basically a full clean
I stripped the beds put all the laundry in a pile and cleaned the surfaces of the kitchen

but im not vacuuming, taking out rubbish, and making sure the glass shower door is smear free

my reply was I paid a cleaning fee to clean the apartment So clean it yourself I’m not doing your cleaning for you

1000% agree. I stayed in a ‘ultimate luxury’ ‘luxurious cotswolds rental’ type of place that cost £5k for a week. Not very ultimately luxurious when i had to strip beds, prepare the bins, scrub the sinks, wash the dishes and fuck off at 9:30am with the cleaner/manager/owner waiting on the drive since 9.

Yes, checking pools and hot tubs is a requirement. Would you really be happy if the pool was dirty or you got ill because the chemical levels were wrong?

We try to do it when the guests are out of course.

The worst place we ever experienced this was a holiday village in France. We were expected to do a complete clean (despite having paid I think it was about €65 for cleaning) and a member of staff had to come and check it and sign it off before our deposit would be returned.

I wouldn't book anywhere that had a 9am checkout time. That's ridiculous.

An alternative perspective.
I am Airbnbing a flat the moment in between long term rentals (long story).
I'm doing it through an intermediary/management company.
Couple of observations:
The charge to the guest is extortionate. I don’t set the rate, the management co does. But from my perspective, after I pay

1. the Airbnb fee to me, this is on top of what the guest pays Airbnb.
2. the management company fee of 20% of the gross amount ie before cleaning and Airbnb’s fees
3. plus the management co’s monthly fee of £30 (on top of the 20% management fee) I’m lucky if I get half of it of the gross amount the guest pays.

The cleaning fee is crazy. it’s a small 1 bed flat. When I lived there I had a cleaner for a couple of hours a week at £10/hour. It could be done in one hour except no one wants to work for an hour so I paid for 2. The cleaning charge to the guest is £76.
The cleaning company presumably get £76 for what could be at most 2 hours work.
The management company also take 20% of the cleaning fee so in effect I also pay around £15 for cleaning.

Most people now try to complain about something in order to get money off the extortionate fee they’ve paid Airbnb. I don’t blame them and it works every time. However the amount they refund to the guest comes out of my net income, after the air bnb fees and after the management company fees all of the gross.
So every time someone complains (sofa not comfortable or “not enough pots and pans”, in reality there are adequate pots and pans for 2 guests but not for 6 guests that they had for dinner) and they get a refund, I’m down another 20/30%. I don’t blame guests for trying their luck to complain. The pricing is crazy.

Point being, between the tax, the mortgage, the crazy utilities prices at they moment (and guests all seem to have heating on 24/7 despite being 20+ degrees here every day); and the amount of things I have to supply, Airbnb has been a massive money pit. I earn less than I do when the property is rented to long term tenants despite the headline figure indicating that Airbnb would earn me twice what long term tenants pay.
Never again.

I would always put my own rubbish out, ensure any remaining crockery has been put through a dishwasher cycle (without necessarily waiting for that cycle to complete or unloading it) and leave the place in a reasonably clean state. If I've spilled something, I'll clean it up. That is basic courtesy.

Beyond that I won't go. I've never used Air BNB, but if this is becoming the norm in that particular sector it certainly sounds like one to avoid for the future.

UK holiday homes are now priced exorbitantly. The current state of airports suggests that others have reached a similar conclusion, are unwilling to encourage the home-owners with their enormous CF on pricing, and are voting with their feet by going abroad.

This situation seems to be par for the course, with pub menus still pared back to their bare bones, appalling quality of service across most of the hospitality and travel industries, and far higher prices charged for a poorer level of service. COVID lockdowns have made them lazy and complacent - COVID started out being used as the excuse and has quickly become assimilated into the norm.

Hope it hits the worst culprits where it hurts: in their pockets.

@Movinghouseatlast you do not need to check chemicals in a pool every day. And if you need to come in during the week to do so, this should be stated clearly in the rental description.

@JimTheShit It is a business. If you want to pay a management company to do the day-to-day management, your profits will be less.
And kitchens that have the bare minimum are a pain. If you have enough pots and pans for 2 people to cook one meal but no more, it is not enough. Aside from having guests, plenty of people want to cook enough for two meals at one go. I hate properties with only a couple of small pans. It costs very little to buy a few bigger ones from ikea.

Last holiday we went on was a 10am check out which was fine. However they wanted us to clean and pay a cleaning fee.
I swept the floor and wiped the bathroom over. I told them I didn't have time for anything else and we were paying for a cleaner.
They were pissed off but that was their problem. Decided holidays with 3 children was too stressful so don't care if they leave us a bad review as we won't be going on holiday for a long time.

Totally agree. The late check in and early check out is so annoying too because they’re dictating when your holiday has to end. I mean, yes you can go out and leave your stuff in the car but it’s far nicer having a base.

Yes to this.

You must be out early but cant get in til 4 or 5pm for a small 2 bed apartment that doesnt take long to clean, oh and you are expected to leave it basically already cleaned when you leave.

Completely agree with you OP, and it’s absolutely extortionate to stay in the UK now, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable not to expect things to be shabby (eg broken leg on settee). I find stripping the beds a bit grim- unless the mattress/mattress protector is pristine underneath, all it does is remind me that other ppl have slept here, with a few dodgy stains/hairs for good measure. Far better not to know frankly! More likely to rebook…

Nowhere in the booking did it say they would be checking daily. And really they could have had a consistent time, that we could plan around. I booked a house in the middle of nowhere because I have 2 autistic children, something I had mentioned to the owner prior to booking.

I filter out properties with unreasonable cleaning demands and mostly avoid those who ask for a ‘security deposit’ (apart from a favourite very small company who I know pay you back promptly and don’t make up stuff to take from it).
I do strip beds - takes minutes. Wipe shower screen as we go along, like we do at home. Will vacuum as we have a dog and we do it twice weekly at home anyway. Annoys me when the property vacuum cleaner stinks of everyone else’s dog, though 🤮and when the bag/cylinder isn’t emptied.
The only thing I don’t do is mop.

It used to be a pita getting out by 10 when DS was younger, so I can see why it’s more difficult with children who can’t get themselves up and ready.

The problem is often that the cleaners have to do multiple properties on change over day. Thus early checkout late check in.

No.... the problem is owners/booking websites are trying to pay too few cleaners to do too many properties on one day....

I do strip beds - takes minutes.

If it takes minutes, why can't cleaners do it

Is this just an AirBnB thing?

I have stayed in quite a few holiday lets in the UK - two in the last year - and have never seen such unreasonable demands. We have never booked through AirBnB though.

The most we have been asked is to strip beds and empty bins. However, I do usually make sure things are reasonably clean and tidy before we go anyway. No kids or pets so we don't make much mess.

Also I have never been told I have to leave earlier than 10 and can usually arrive by 4pm. Sometimes we have got there a bit earlier and there was no problem. In fact the last place we stayed at in February, our departure day coincided with Storm Eunice and we were in one of the red zones. The very kind owner said that as nobody else was due in for two days we could delay our departure or even stay an extra night if we were worried.

My sister is an AirBnB landlady and I am pretty sure she doesn't expect this much from her guests. She cleans the place herself after they have gone and it is included in the rental

they wanted us to clean and pay a cleaning fee

I never understand this ... if guests are expected to do a full clean themselves, what the hell is the cleaning fee FOR??

Unless it's to bump up the profits beyond the headline price, in which case surely it'll only die down if people refuse to book?

Airbnb has gone massively downhill since a lot of 'professionals' got in on the game in certain locations. Personally I think properties should be limited to no more than 60 nights a year- and no more than 30 days of that can be June/July/August/September . That should help cover off all the second owners who want to rent out to cover their costs but deter those who are effectively causing an acute rental housing shortage in prime areas of demand.

The breakdown of Air B&B’s charges given by a previous poster just shows how out of control some of these holiday key prices have become. Does anyone know of a website where owners advertise their property directly? We used to always rent through an Owners Direct website for France.

That’s terrible.
People need to start including this in their reviews of the place, it would really put me off and perhaps highlight how unreasonable they are if every visitor did it!

Holiday key? Should have been holiday let!