To think holiday cottage company is taking the p**s

[HettyMeg]

We don't stay in holiday cottages very often so I don't know if we are a bit out of touch. But the one we're staying in has got a list as long as your arm of things we need to do before check out, including strip the beds and place all bedding and towels in a bag for laundry. It also says categorically do not put glass bottles in the bin, but there is no recycling for glass or information about where to recycle so we just need to take them home with us. If you get makeup on a towel you will be made to pay for a new one, which seems OTT to me as they can surely wash out a bit of foundation?!

24 mile round trip by car. What are hikers/back packers/cyclists supposed to do?

It also makes a farce of recycling when you have to do a 24 mile round trip to recycle a couple of bottles. You might well choose to drop them off if you are going that way anyway - that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is to have to travel there to access a basic service which should come with the property.

What are hikers/back packers/cyclists supposed to do?

How do they get to a cottage in the middle of nowhere in the first place? Anyone staying somewhere like that is pretty much guaranteed to have got there by car, ergo will be leaving by car and can drop the glass off as they go home. It doesn’t matter what rates are being paid for a property if the local council doesn’t provide the service.

It also makes a farce of recycling when you have to do a 24 mile round trip to recycle a couple of bottles. You might well choose to drop them off if you are going that way anyway - that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is to have to travel there to access a basic service which should come with the property.

Have you ever stayed among thousands of acres of countryside in the middle of Scottish mountains and sea lochs? What facilities do you think there are - no mains water or gas or sewers, and a private road to get there, never mind glass recycling?

As far as I am concerned, complaining about having to take a couple of glass bottles for recycling is a first world problem; and why go on a cottage holiday in the first place, if it’s all too much?

There is a world of difference spending half a day traveling to get somewhere from a station or bus point in order to spend a few days walking, and spending half a day of your short holiday traveling to a recycling point.

Yes I have and mostly with a car but not always. I'm familiar with houses without gas and with septic tanks and little or no mains services - I have one.

Paying for a holiday service I expect to leave it in generally good order and use receptacles provided for rubbish and recycling. I expect the service provider to take if from there.

You haven't addressed the issue that driving a 24 hour round trip to drop off bottles in a bottle bank is pretty much the opposite of "green". It would be greener to leave them in the general rubbish (which apparently can be collected in the middle of nowhere or did you take that home as well?)

Business rates for commercial properties are all well and good but if the local council don’t do kerbside glass recycling, all the whining in the world isn’t going to make a recycling facility at the cottage magically happen. Somebody has to physically take the glass away and it won’t be the owner because nine times out of ten they don’t live in the area. So if it’s completely beneath the guest to get rid of all the glass that they bought or brought with them, guess who’s going to have to find time in their busy working day to get rid of it?

And no, it isn’t down to the owner to pay more money to get more cleaning hours. The cleaner simply won’t have the hours in the day to give.

Business rates for commercial properties are all well and good but if the local council don’t do kerbside glass recycling, all the whining in the world isn’t going to make a recycling facility at the cottage magically happen.

Exactly that. Isolated country cottages are by their very nature inaccessible by any means other than car. The nearest railway station can be 50 miles and we’re supposed to believe anyone uses the train and a taxi to travel to them? Ridiculous.

If glass needs to be taken away it should be stated in the initial listing. "Due to rural location guests will need to dispose of any glass recycling created during their stay " or similar. Then people can decide if that's a deal breaker for them.

I’m put off air bnb or similar rentals for this reason. We were about to book a bungalow for 2 nights for a family wedding but then on reservation they added a £110 cleaning fee. For 2 nights?? It’s ridiculous.

Reading all the posts makes me think I'll check requirements in future before booking a cottage stay. I've stayed in Airbnbs extensively and I expect to be a lot more DIY in those setups, but this was a cottage run by a holiday property management firm, so I expected more. Absolutely no issue tidying up after ourselves and leaving the place in a decent condition as I would do even if leaving a hotel. But to ask these extra steps, I think, is asking too much.

To be fair the cleaning requirement is no different if you stay 2 nights or a week. It still needs to be cleaned and the beds need to be changed, sheets and towels laundered etc.

And no, it isn’t down to the owner to pay more money to get more cleaning hours. The cleaner simply won’t have the hours in the day to give.

How do you know?? We have a cleaner and if we asked her to stay an extra hour she would. Weird that you think you know how much time a random cleaner at a holiday let you've never visited has.

I agree with the PP that taking away your glass recycling is ridiculous and the owner should make arrangements for it or make it clear in the listing that guests are expected to do it.

All the people complaining about how much work goes into running a holiday let... Or the priceless 'having to find time in their busy working day'...

It's a business!!!!

You are not doing it out of the goodness of your hearts, you are charging people money to 'holiday' in it. The clue is literally in the title. The cost of earning that money is having to do a bit of work.

Of course people should respect the property, leave it tidy and secure, not abuse heating and be careful with belongings. But they should NOT have to do the damn cleaning. Price it into your business model and if it's not achievable then the business isn't viable.

The entitled people here are NOT the holiday goers who don't want to do a full clean before vacating. Good grief!

Agreed - hosts are providing a service, not doing guests a favour.

Having said that, I don't have any issue in hosts providing a lesser (and therefore cheaper) service, as long as it's really clear to the guests before booking what's included and whats not so they can make an informed decision.

It's clear that some holiday cottage owners regard renters as an annoyance and forget they are actually paying for the privilege of staying there.

You can usually tell in the tone of the house instructions which unfortunately aren't usually issued until one has paid up.

So " Sadly due to rural
Location there is no glass collection so we'd be grateful if you can dispose of that yourselves. Nearest recycling point is X . Thank you"
Is very different from " No glass to be left in the bins as this is not accepted. "

You haven't addressed the issue that driving a 24 hour round trip to drop off bottles in a bottle bank is pretty much the opposite of "green". It would be greener to leave them in the general rubbish (which apparently can be collected in the middle of nowhere or did you take that home as well?)

See my previous post:

The glass recycling was at Tescos in the nearest town. We went there every day to eat what we consider is the best and cheapest seafood in the UK?

Even if we had chosen to stay in the cottage all week, we still had to go through the town to get home!

It’s irrelevant to argue it’s greener to leave glass in the general refuse, when we drove past Tescos every day!

When we drove past all the farms, they had their wheelie bins out one day a week, so something went round collecting the general refuse.

Hike/backpack/cycle - with their backpack/bikepack!

They won't have space for a load of bottles.

Or they may get a lift from the local railway station.

Anyway, I won't change my mind on this. If you charge £££(£) on renting out a property, you can manage the bottle recycling. It's a service, you're not letting me stay there for free.

If you know people are arriving by car, you can put it in the instructions and say where the nearest bottle bank is. If you are in a tourist town in Cornwall the chances are the bottle bank is walkable. If you are in the Scottish Highlands, less likely.

Because thats part of the job? They have to empty the bins, why wouldnt it be?

I find the fact that about 90% of holiday cottages ive stayed in, don't have a full length mirror or a sharp knife way more annoying than having to strip beds or wash up breakfast things.

I would object to taking recycling miles away if it was not convenient, but that's never come up in the places I've stayed. (usually book with holiday let agencies rather than air bnb if staying a week) With air bnbs I usually message the host to ask about rubbish disposal if it's not made clear.

They won't have space for a load of bottles.

They obviously had the space to transport them to the cottage. Empty’s easier, they’re lighter.

Most people on holiday want a break from domestic work and errands. I wouldn't go out of my way to take bottles to a recycling bank.

I've never stayed anywhere where we've had to strip beds or unload the dishwasher before leaving, I barely have time to load the dishwasher and checkout by 11am (I've also never stayed anywhere with a 10am check out time - but see lots of that in the comments). I'd personally cancel and stay elsewhere..

I should have said £110 cleaning fee is extortinate full stop. It became £1000 for a weekend

The owners don’t want weekend stays so it’s a deterrent. Same as a tradesman who doesn’t want a job will quote an extortionate price in the hope you’ll just go elsewhere.

It costs a little more than that to clean our Airbnb and launder the sheets and towels. We pay our cleaners £15/hr. We could get people to do it for less but it's an important job and we value what they do. It sleeps 10 people though so per person it works out quite reasonable IMO, I guess that's a matter of opinion though and other people may feel differently.