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?!

That actually wasn't me who said that. I agree with you!

If you accept that all the other waste is disposed of in the "outside bin" then why do you find it unreasonable for glass to similarly be dealt with as part of the service a renter pays for? Put it another way - if there was no "outside bin", then would you (a) expect the holidaymakers to take all their rubbish home with them or (b) expect the owners of the holiday lets you clean to provide suitable facilities for waste disposal

Exactly this. And as I have now pointed out several times on this thread, not everyone has a car! Some people come by train or bus, or may cycle, or get a lift from the airport.

And oddly enough, hotels, campsites and B&Bs manage to deal with bottles. It's just privately let AirBnBs (and their cleaners, apparently) that find it an affront.

God, @enchantedsquirrelwood, you don't need to take glass to the tip! Just to the closest supermarket

Not all supermarkets have recycling bins, and they don't have them for everything. Bottles probably are fairly safe but in my area they don't have them for cardboard.

And once again: not everyone travels to a holiday let by car.

But why is that an extra cost? If I pay rent for the week, that should include normal cleaning and the cost comes out of your profit, like other costs of doing business.

Obviously you take a deposit, which if I left the place a complete mess, you would deduct the cost of putting right from it.

Normal wear and tear comes out of your profits, wilful damage would come out of the deposit.

This is one of the reasons I keep going back to Balmoral cottages every year.

Despite being very much off he public routes, there are not unreasonable expectations like this. They aks for the cottage to be left tidy and for any rubbish/recycling to be put outside but otherwise I find their T&Cs to be really fair and reasonable.

Plus, despite sounding posh the cost of the cottages is also really fair, I think.

Not sure if they rent out cottages on other royal estates (I expect so) but thought I'd mention it.

If glass is tricky to recycle, surely the owners should set up a decent sized bin or box for glass, and they can come along and take it all away for recycling once a fortnight or month whatever? Glass (assuming it’s been washed out) is not going to decompose and stink - it doesn’t have to go out every time the house is cleaned by a cleaner.

I didn't design the Airbnb charging system and I am not here to defend it but I believe the rationale would be that you can apportion costs more appropriately. For example if they were to scrap the cleaning fee and instead everyone increased their nightly fee a little bit, relatively a longer stay would become more expensive. One cleaning fee (per booking) does make more sense than a higher nightly charge across the board a it reflects the fact that the changeovers between bookings are expensive so a two week booking should be cheaper than 4 3-night bookings. You are not paying 'extra' because of the cleaning fee, it's just structured in a way that allows people to more accurately represent the cost incurred and making it cheaper for longer bookings.

Oh no! So sorry. I meant @MsAdoraBelleDearheartVonLipwig !

If there’s anywhere to leave an online review, mention these things so future guests can avoid or at least know what to expect

That's ridiculous. You usually have to check out by 10 so don't have much time to get everything packed up and out and I usually put breakfast stuff in dishwasher and switch on.

Holiday cottages are not cheap. I don't go on holiday to do loads of chores. Tbh I don't even want to strip the beds. I make sure the place in treated well and that should be enough tbh.

We stayed at a cottage recently and the rules and requirements were ridiculous. It was really expensive but the owner said that bookings were down this year. We wouldn't stay there again because there were so many rules. Like if you wanted to use the swimming pool you had to watch a video and confirm you agreed to all the rules. Just don't need that on holiday. We would of course leave things reasonably clean / rubbish in bin / washing up done but quite why I need to strip beds, empty bins, leave stuff in specific places is beyond me. That's what cleaners - as covered by the very expensive cottage cost - are for surely.

I wouldn't strip the beds because I would be worried about finding horrors beneath the bottom sheet and inside the duvet cover. I'd rather not know thanks.

Lately a lot of holiday accommodation providers seem to want to provide no actual service whatsoever to you.

We just stayed in one that left cleaning instructions despite being booked via a website that included cleaning charges. Im fine with not leaving washing up etc but I'm not going to bleach toilets & hoover at 8am for a 9am checkout.

I get irritated by the bed stripping thing too, & prescriptive instructions requiring you to walk a mile away to recycle bottles. Why not provide a bin.

There was one cottage we stayed in (pre covid) where on arrival I had to give the mugs a wash before our first cuppa, then when we wanted plates I had to sort through a huge pile to find ones which were not horrendously chipped (there must have been a couple of dozen all chipped) and most of those dirty too. I just set to and washed us a set of everything we needed and left it on the side to reuse throughout our stay, avoiding the rest of the dirty stuff in the cupboard. If we'd been near a supermarket I'd have gone and bought us a cheap set!!

Admittedly I don't live in a holiday area (although there do seem to be plenty of air bnbs ) but 3 big supermarkets near me have removed all of their recycling facilities (apart from the plastic bag and battery ones actually in the store).

Admittedly I don't live in a holiday area (although there do seem to be plenty of air bnbs ) but 3 big supermarkets near me have removed all of their recycling facilities (apart from the plastic bag and battery ones actually in the store).

It probably depends whether you live in an area that offers kerbside glass recycling, @starfishmummy. Our county doesn't, and all supermarkets have glass recycling points.

People go into business, because they want a better return on their money, than they can get in interest, by leaving it in the bank. They have a figure in mind to make it worthwhile, just like any employee does the job for the salary, they accepted.

Say, the landlord wants £25,000 income pa to pay for their cost of living - if all the customers hiring their cottages refuse to take the glass for recycling and expect the landlord either to buy in a commercial service; or make a trip to the local supermarket with all their customers’ glass; then that reduces the landlord’s profit. The landlord is not running a charity; they are going to put up the prices of their cottages, so they still get their required return.

Customers have a choice - you either take your own glass for recycling or you pay, via increased charges for the cottage, for someone else to do it!

The landlord is not running a charity; they are going to put up the prices of their cottages, so they still get their required return. Customers have a choice - you either take your own glass for recycling or you pay, via increased charges for the cottage, for someone else to do it!

Well, the people hiring the cottages aren't paying the fees as an act of charity either. And my choice as a customer isn't either of those options - it is "Use a hotel instead."

Some of these places really need to go out of business, because they are being run by people who seem to think it's supposed to be an effort-free passive-revenue stream.

That sort of makes sense, although you could just charge a bit more for shorter stays. I used to stay in a B&B which charged £10 extra for one night stays to cover the extra hassle of changing beds etc.

Although I thought that cleaning fees only came in with covid.

I've no idea why I am so invested in this, given I haven't stayed in a self-catering place since 2007!

(well I did a few years ago but it was in the grounds of a hotel so we still got breakfast and didn't have any silly rules)

The landlord is not running a charity; they are going to put up the prices of their cottages, so they still get their required return. Customers have a choice - you either take your own glass for recycling or you pay, via increased charges for the cottage, for someone else to do it

Ah just wait folks, soon you'll have to bag up all your rubbish and take it to the tip after all because the landlords aren't making enough money from the extortionate rents, poor things.

Lately a lot of holiday accommodation providers seem to want to provide no actual service whatsoever to you same goes for a lot of customer "service" providers I think.

We stayed in a lovely apartment recently- and what was refreshing was there were no demands on departure. ‘Please leave rubbish in bins / have a lovely holiday/ don’t worry about cleaning.’ So refreshing. I gave them a 5 star review and will stay there again as I have family nearby.

Cottage owners take note!
I don’t think the weather this year (apart from now) will have helped bookings for next year - people will choose to go abroad. Also the price rises and the ridiculous demands.

Family with holiday let has said there is a drop off in demand for holiday lets in her very popular area, I agree the easier and better experience it is for the renters the better. Being too demanding will be off putting. We stayed in three holiday lets in Tuscany, nine expected beds to be stripped, just a general tidy up and wipe down on surfaces and clear easy instructions for rubbish. Price wise they were similar to U.K. hotspots. Each one you were met at the property and given useful info, some basics in the way of food etc. One even provided breakfast, a huge selection of coffee pods, cereal, ham, cheese etc. If owners want repeat visits they need to make the guests feel welcome.

as I mentioned family member rents out through an agency and they seem to make all the rules and I think are a bit greedy, until they notice the downturn they might not make adjustments including such demands. They also asked for cash for a short stay in another property that family member organised, I was very unhappy about that. No proof of payment, no come back, were the agents pocketing the cash and hiding it from the owner, and did they declare it as income on their tax returns🙁🤔. I would suggest going via reputable website where feedback about unnecessary demands gets taken seriously.