AIBU for not replacing a broken wine glass on holiday?

[OtterlyMad]

My DH and I have just spent a week in a rural holiday cottage. We accidentally broke a wine glass while washing up on the last night of our trip, so we messaged the owner the next morning to let them know and apologise for the inconvenience.

After we checked out, we received a text from the owner complaining that it’s the norm to either replace breakages ourselves or leave a £5 note. Is everyone else aware of this “rule”?Because we weren’t! In fairness I don’t think we’ve ever broken anything in a holiday let before so no experience of this situation. Obviously if we’d damaged something big or stained a carpet or whatever then I would expect to reimburse them, but I suppose I assumed that breakages of small/cheap things like glassware, crockery etc. would be super common and therefore factored into the price. It’s also quite difficult to buy a singular wine glass. Would they not care about it matching the rest of their glassware? Or do you think they would expect a whole new set?

It got broken around 11pm and we had to check out before 10am the next morning, so frankly we wouldn’t have had time to buy a replacement even if we’d known that was the expectation. The rule wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the online listing or in the welcome pack. We also don’t tend to carry cash, so as above, couldn’t have left a £5 note even if we’d wanted to. Most irritating of all is that lots of the kitchen sets were already incomplete e.g. there were only 3 wine glasses to begin with (the property is advertised for 4 people). We didn’t mind as it was just the 2 of us, but it’s clear the owners don’t actually check and replace items that get lost/broken… makes me think we just shouldn’t have mentioned it. Too honest for our own good!

I feel guilty as we strive to be excellent guests, but I also think it’s a dumb rule and I’m annoyed that they’ve cast a shadow over our holiday for the sake of a £1.50 glass (especially as we paid over £500 for the cottage).

Did we act unreasonably?

YABU - the owner is right, and you should have carried change on you to leave in case of a breakage.
YANBU - the owner is being petty, a broken glass is normal wear and tear.

So you think it is ok to stay in someone else's house, break something and expect them to pay for it?

I own a holiday let property. Sadly people tend to treat stuff that isn't theirs with very little respect and lots of stuff gets broken. This sounds like a genuine accident but you never know.
We used to take a holding deposit and deduct any damage or breakages from this. Therefore the situation described by the OP should not happen, however, it was not always apparent when something had been broken.

Assuming no deposit was taken, OP should have offered to cover the cost - if this happened to me I would decline it but for something more significant would look to recover from the deposit.

It's not "someone's house" - it's a business! A business for which the holidaymaker is usually paying a small fortune, and part of the price is wear & tear, minor breakages, etc.

In this situation, yes.
The cost of very minor breakages, wear and tear etc is already covered by the rental costs. No need to pay twice! I'm a LL by the way.

A heads-up that the glass needs to be replaced is always appreciated though.

No one running a holiday let should really see it as their house. It’s a business premises.

Couldn't you say exactly the same thing about the owner?

Not so much these days, but when we used to stay at Haven parks in the late 90s there was always an envelope in your welcome pack with a price list on for breakages. The expectation was that you’d leave cash to cover the cost.

Personally I’d have left a note apologising and some cash.

All the holiday let's I have stayed in, uk and abroad, have signs in the cabinets or on the table saying all breakages must be paid for.

I once broke a wine glass in a holiday let, and I reported it and out of guilt, I bought a cheap 4 pack of glasses as I couldn''t find a single glass replacement. I was horrified when I was charged for replacement sets of shot glasses, tumblers and eightball glasses (wft is an eightball glass?) at a cost of £40! Their rationale was that the new wineglasses I bought did not match the other glasses.
Now that IS taking the piss, and needless to say, I didn't pay up. I went to leave a bad review, only to find other reviews saying that they had form for this sort of stunt.The worst one I saw was some poor sods who had made a stain on a sheet and were charged for not just a replacement sheet, which itself is taking the piss, but also for a new duvet cover, pillowcases and matching curtains!!
The lesson I learned from that was to always read reviews before booking, but still, that takes CF to another level!

I own a holiday let and have not experienced this at all.

The only thing broken in 5 years was a seagull ornament that a child broke during play, they left £10 which I returned back to them. it was an accident and these things happen.

I would not expect notification of a broken wine glass, the caretaker has a count up each clean and would just replace it.

£5…. They’re having a laugh!

Bloody hell! It pays to read reviews!

Wear and tear should be costed into the price of the key in my opinion.
You did the right thing telling them but one smashed glass is just normal wear and tear.

YANBU - we have a holiday let and regard breakages of glasses/mugs/ as one of the hazards of the whole thing. To be honest, while it would be nice, I wouldn't even expect you to let us know - either we or the cleaner would do a quick tally at the end of each stay and make sure that we're stocked with crockery and glasses, plus useful bits like washing tablets/dishwasher tablets.

It’s a fiver, and you broke something that wasn’t yours. Just pay it.

Why should she pay a fiver for something that doesn't cost a fiver? Especially when she contacted the owner as soon as it happened and they didn't respond, nor did they provide her with terms and conditions in relation to breakages.

It’s a business. If you break a wine glass in a pub do you pay them for it?! No different. Accidents happen and if the owners don’t recognise that then they maybe they are in the wrong line of work.

Plenty of people deliberately missing the point, as is fairly standard for MN. The OP isn’t complaining about having to pay, she’s complaining about the way the owners deal with it and the suggestion that she somehow should have known to have left £5 in cash even though I doubt the glass cost that like it’s some well known rule.

We stay in cottages a lot as we have dogs and children, but I’ve had similarly bad experiences in the last 2 I’ve stayed in.

This is one of the reasons I always try to stay in a "professional" holiday let - one that isn't attached to or part of the owner's own home. I look for owners who have several properties or "hands off" owners who have letting management firms looking after the bookings, cleaning, maintenance, etc. Far too many owners are amateurs who just aren't cut out to run a professional business.

One we stayed at last year was absolutely perfect. It was a block of 9 or 10 individual holiday apartments. Keys left in the key safe. We had no contact whatsoever with the owners. Just given email and emergency phone number of the local agent in case of problems (there were none at all). Spotlessly clean as they had a proper cleaning firm doing the changeovers and cleaning communal areas (stairs/corridors) every morning. Everything worked. Brilliant "welcome pack" consisting of things you actually need rather than expensive gimmicks. A starter-selection of pods for the coffee machine, plenty of washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets, kitchen foil, etc.

Unfortunately a lot of owners won't pay for professionals to clean and look after the holiday let, and as a result, many aren't cleaned properly or aren't checked properly, i.e. TVs that don't work (because no one checked them during changeover), etc.

Exactly this.

I'd much rather go to a Premier Inn or a normal B&B. Other than the fact that you sometimes have a herd of elephants in the room above you in a Premier Inn, it's so much less stress!

I don't see the distinction. The OP was "AIBU for not replacing a broken wine glass". That is, either getting a new one, or paying for a replacement.

Their holiday let is a business. The possibility of a broken glass is a business expense. I wouldn't expect to be charged for a broken glass, just like I wouldn't expect to be charged for a broken glass in a pub. Holiday homes aren't exactly a cheap.option, they've made enough off you, without the massive mark up on a glass. If they're not stocking with cheap IKEA level breakables they're daft

We’ve used National Trust and English Heritage cottages recently. Absolutely professional, great quality and often in really interesting places. I hate to recommend them really as I don’t want to see them totally booked out. They use professional managing agents and ask you to report minor breakages on leaving.

She’s said multiple times that she doesn’t mind paying. She hadn’t gone out early in the morning to source a new wine glass though, which was one of the suggestions that the cottage owners made, so I assume that’s what she’s referring to in her OP.

I would have let the owners know (as the OP did) but I would expect things like glasses to be replaced free of charge if accidentally broken as part of general wear and tear. I’d pay if asked but it would put me off staying there again unless I really liked it.

I broke a glass whilst letting a holiday let. Messaged to tell them and forwarded £10 to their bank account so they could buy a new one and for her inconvenience of having to go buy one. The owner really appreciated it and said most don't even message her to tell her.
Good manners in my opinion as you are being trusted in someone's home and we'd like to stay again at some point so it helps to keep everything friendly and civil.