Holiday cottage - right to feel annoyed

[Liciaflorrick]

We like lots of people have not had a holiday for 3 years. Booked a holiday cottage (through big company). Am disappointed but am not sure if I need to simply get a grip over the following. We haven’t done a cottage holiday before but even though it was £2000 for a week it was actually cheaper than our normal Haven type holiday (school hols, decent lodge etc)

• arrived and key box instructions not correct (wrong key code) meaning out of hours call to holiday company to sort- took half an hour to fix with hungry kids etc


• House was reasonably clean but not spotless, crumbs underneath sofa and dust in corners, chopping boards with crumbs on, cutlery drawer dirty. I am not a clean freak so for me to notice must in the words of my teen mean it’s quite bad.


• one toilet out of three not working (but town house so means where floor with kids bedrooms don’t have a working toilet. To be fair cottage company tried to sort this but couldn’t and it will have to wait until changeover.


• Clothes left in a drawer with unmarked tablets in one of the children bedroom’s drawers

I don’t know if it is reasonable to be irritated about these small things but have never had the dirt issue etc with other holidays mainly mobile homes etc) . I do feel let down, that having spent £2k (saved hard all year) that it isn’t perfect. Is this simply not possible within this budget?

*irrelevant ffs 🙄😂

We pay around 800 - 1000, Scotland or north England.

never had these issues and I would be pissed ofd and push for partial refund!

Our holiday this year was in a static caravan by the seaside, the sort where the provided crockery is all mismatched and the table wobbles, and it was spotless. We stayed in it last year, too, and I don't know how they manage to keep the upholstery so clean, bearing in mind it's used by at least 52 families per year, all piling in from the beach with damp clothes and with a dog. (But I spotted a cleaner in another caravan with a Karcher, so perhaps that's the answer )

Spotless is a basic minimum. Complain.

Dirty holiday house is totally unacceptable!

even though it was £2000 for a week it was actually cheaper than our normal Haven type holiday

Do you really normally spend more than £2000 for a week at a Haven type holiday? I had no idea they cost that much!

The tablets are shocking.

As soon as you mentioned the keybox I knew what would follow; the first is so easy to get right that carelessness was signalled right from the start

Certainly I'd want some money back and leave an appropriate review, but sadly this is now so common in holiday lets - especially UK ones - that many of us simply don't bother with them any more

UK holidays are so expensive now. We worked out that we would have spent £3,500 on our summer holiday in Devon. £2k for the self catering holiday home, and that was a mid range price, then allowing £150 per day for food, eating out once a day (2 adults, 2 teens). Its our choice to holiday in the UK, but its not exactly the cheap alternative now compared to all inclusive in Spain or Greece.

Like surreygirl1987, I’d be most concerned about the unlabelled tablets in the drawer of a child’s bedroom. All drawers (and wardrobes) should be checked after a let has been vacated to ensure nothing potentially harmful has been left. Depending on the age of the child in the bedroom, thus could have been a tragedy waiting to happen.

@ZenNudist do you have a link for that pleAse

YANBU

with unmarked tablets in one of the children bedroom’s drawers

This would tell me that either the cleaning staff did not bother to do their job or the company's cleaning provisions are inadequate.

One of the NDN's child has been to A&E twice for stomach pumping as once a tablet is coloured its a sweet😬

And the cleaning standards generally should have improved as one of the post-covid selling points was that all accommodations would be given deep cleaning. That business would train their staff to a good standard and have appropiate documentation too.

The toilet not workings should have been noticed and reported by the cleaner when doing the bathroom.

Crumbs and an unwashed breadboard indicate such poor cleaning. People will hate a poorly cleaned bathroom but possible food poison on holidays is a whole different level of ick. The kitchen is the one place that people will always remember as that disgusting house.

The Key box really reflects the overall incompetence, and predisposed the holidaymaker to not accept other substandard provision.

Everyone saying that £2000 for a week in a popular holiday area is extortionate/ridiculous/OP is a mug etc, have you looked at the prices of accommodation in Cornwall and Devon recently? £2000 is normal and in some cases cheap!
Back to the point though; hired holiday homes should be absolutely immaculate for the next guest, so I would definitely chase for some compensation - and demand the toilet is fixed pronto

Regardless of how much you paid, cleanliness and safety is the absolute bare minimum you should be able to expect. Even if it was a really cheap holiday, everything should be thoroughly cleaned and there should absolutely not be bloody medication left in drawers! WTF? That's terrible.

If you'd paid less for the holiday I wouldn't worry about one of the three loos not working. But at £2K I would be asking for a discount for that!

It shouldn't be normal though should it :/ I think that's the point we're all making which is definitely more to do with the people letting the properties than the OP.

Clothes left in a drawer with unmarked tablets in one of the children bedroom’s drawers

This alone is awful. What if children had taken a tablet? Massive complaint in order. A deep clean between each quest is an absolute necessary part of a holiday cottage business. I would ask for a full refund or you wi take to twitter with pictures!

one of the post-covid selling points was that all accommodations would be given deep cleaning

It's true this is what's been advertised - too often as an excuse for raising prices and keeping guests out of properties for a bit longer - but advertising something and providing it can be two different things

As for the prices, I've no doubt UK hosts enjoyed cashing in when folk had little choice because of Covid, but realistically they were always going to come a cropper when better options became available again

Where are you? With a swimming pool? Hoping to go somewhere with a pool later in year.

Take photographs and contact the letting office now. Don’t wait. You haven’t paid for a broken loo or a dirty property. Tell them you expect the loo to be fixed today and the property cleaned. Then add that you found clothes in a drawer so the cleaner hadn’t checked, and that you found tablets. That is so serious.. Tell them you are absolutely appalled and expect a hefty discount as they have put your children at massive risk. If they try to argue tell them you are considering contacting the local council health and safety department as this is so serious, and will be leaving a factual review.

You have paid a fortune for this holiday, don’t accept any crap

I’d be the most annoyed about the tablets. I have an inquisitive toddler so that’s a massive safety no no! I’d be raising that as my primary complaint. But the other things are not good enough either and I would be pushing for a partial refund of some kind. Make sure you have photos.

Regardless of how much you paid, cleanliness and safety is the absolute bare minimum you should be able to expect

I'm reminded of the sort of guesthouse who used to trail "cleanliness assured" among the attractions (do they still do that?)

It always struck me as the sort of thing that was so basic it shouldn't need advertising, but at least it was a heads up that it almost certainly wouldn't be assured ... unless it was to claim that "our flies are the cleanest in Blackpool" (or wherever)?

Totally unacceptable. I have a holiday home and this would never happen as we put so much effort into leaving the place spotless and welcoming so that the guests have a lovely holiday.

If you leave it until the end, you won't get a refund. You need to harrass the company now: new cleaning completed, plumber etc. Call them three times a day as otherwise they will not do a thing! Unfortunately with those kind of people, you have to be a pain!

I stay in holiday cottages regularly so have experienced a lot of very good and very bad! I would be annoyed but would shrug off the crumbs because I can sort that - it’s annoying but fixable. I’d ask for some money back for the non-working toilet and there would be a strong complaint re the tablets, with an expectation of an additional small refund as compensation for this. I’d also give them a less than sparkling review.

For context - we have just returned from two weeks in a holiday cottage, in the (very beautiful) arse end of nowhere. On day two, the dishwasher flooded the kitchen. By day the owner had had a new one installed. This was booked direct with the owner, who has a few houses in the area and lives nearby.

Argh, that should say by day 4 the new dishwasher was installed. Remote location and they still had the problem fixed within 2 days.

I wonder for how many weeks they’ve been telling guests ‘oh we can’t get the plumber in til changeover’?

I think it's appalling. They want 2 grand for a week and aren't even prepared to have the damn place clean. Absolutely not acceptable. Hold them accountable, they should give a partial refund.

It shouldn't be normal though should it :/ I think that's the point we're all making which is definitely more to do with the people letting the properties than the OP.

Would you let it at £1,000/wk if you could get £2,000/wk ?

The market finds its own level. Too expensive and it won't let. Too cheap and it would let 10 times over.

Too expensive and it won't let

Looking at the number of comments - some of them on here - about "over supply" in the UK holiday letting industry, I'd say the market still has a way to go before finding its own level

Even a quick google shows plentiful vacancies, even in places I wouldn't expect to have any now we're in the school holoidays