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?!

My husband's parents used to let their house they bought in wales to retire to, they used to go down from their house in the Midlands to clean between clients. My husband said they found everything from the house being left gleaming like a new pin to finding the place filthy, including the whole cooker being left caked in grease and burnt on food (and on one occasion finding wax crayon scribbles over a number of the walls), which really made it difficult to make the place presentable for the next people in. (I'm not sure if a cleaning fee was charged but people who left the place filthy couldn't get a rental anywhere in the village going forward as word got around (talking 50 years ago though)).

I imagine that if a cleaner has a number of houses to do it wouldn't take too many dirty houses for a cleaner to get behind in their schedule, so if we have ever rented a place we strip the beds if asked, put rubbish out, and give the place a quick clean including running the dishwasher. I wouldn't mind getting stuff out of the dishwasher on arrival though.

One of the strangest rules we saw recently when trying to find a suitable UK holiday cottage to let was something like:
'There is a cot permanently sited in the master bedroom. Do not use this. It is not for the use of guests. It is for the use of the owner's family only'

We didn't book that cottage, although that was only one of the reasons why.

Was that an AirBnB? I know of a number of AirBnB properties where the owners bunk up with family to cash in on the peak holiday season and some have similar ridiculous rules (and don't pay business rates either).

It will be interesting to see how many of them disappear when the new rules come in and if any are caught out.

I agree op. Tidying, stripping all the beds, emptying all the bins and putting away the dishes is a bit much by 10am. We were also told to ensure that all furniture, lamps whatever were put back exactly where we found them or we would forfeit our deposit. And the cleaning fee was 80 euro!

We booked a cottage that was "Dog Friendly" and had a large garden.
When we got there a note said - Do not let your dog in the garden - Exercise it elsewhere.
They are absolutely within their rights not to want dogs peeing in their garden BUT I wouldn't have booked if I'd known it in advance.

Booked a flat recently that said it was air conditioned. It had a fan you plugged in.

I think many sites remove negative reviews because no mention of either of these in the 5* reviews!

We stayed at a couple of crappy places in Wales & we had to strip the bed. The quilt had suspicious stains on it. They must’ve seen this before they made the bed.

The 2nd place had a list (according to the owner) made by the cleaner. We had to strip the bed, & clean absolutely everything. That place had never had light switches or door handles cleaned in a long time. Plus they charged a £35 cleaning fee!

A relative owns a holiday let and uses a company to manage it, they seem to dictate to her what the guests must do …. To the point where I think they are a bit controlling. She was doing a big renovation and I suggested an electric charging point to future proof but ‘they’ said no as it was too difficult to work out costs. It actually isn’t and the whole area is short of decent fast chargers whilst being popular with people who can afford to go electric. And the check out list does include stripping bedlinen etc. I suspect what my relative pays these agents for the cleaning is more than the cleaners see. 🤔

Yes, not sure what you can do about that. I sleep on a towel at home, but you can roll over and miss it!

Black sheets as well as dark towels?

The last cottage we stayed in was far from clean and pretty shabby. Friends had booked it so I couldn't really leave a bad review. But so many rural holiday houses are bought by absentee landlords, and - mostly because wealthy absentee landlords buy up all the smaller houses for holiday homes - there is nobody local to do the cleaning and caretaking. Which is why I prefer staying in hotels these days.

We stayed in a lovely cottage this year, the price included a £60 cleaning fee. The confirmation email and guest information book both requested that we clean the place thoroughly before leaving!

I did my usual of leaving the kitchen clean and tidy, all dishes washed, all bins emptied and the bathroom and other areas tidy. But I'm not paying £60 and cleaning the place myself!

Last year the place we stayed in requested beds stripped and bedding and towels placed in bags which was fine.

That works if you have a car. Also, some places will only let you use their tips if you live locally and have registered your car and you book a slot online.

I'd hope that the owners/managers/cleaners would take those sorts of factors into account.

You are actually fucking joking?

How many people on here actually think that every single holiday property in the land has its own dedicated set of cleaners?

Do you really not realise that that team of cleaners will probably have half a dozen more houses to get round before you turn up on the dot of 4pm?

No wonder they have to leave specific instructions.

And no, the cleaners are not there to clear up after you and do your bloody washing up. They’re there to turn the cottage around for the next guests.

I agree. I used to find it relaxing to stay in a cottage with a bit more space, but all these petty rules and regulations make it the opposite of relaxing. Plus, it's really rare IME for a cottage to be properly clean. One place we stayed said we had to mop all the floors before we left, or we wouldn't get our deposit back. I did mop the floors and they were FILTHY and clearly hadn't been mopped recently by anyone else. The same cottage had mould around the seal on the washing machine and a fridge door that didn't shut properly and an arsey owner and it was supposed to be 'luxury'. That was the last time we stayed in a skanky cottage.

I've always thought the same as you - that cleaners will have several holiday lets to do within that time
(And don't find it especially onerous to strip a bed or wash up after breakfast)
I would feel aggrieved if I had to actually make up a bed though!

Fuck that! As for the person who had to make the beds up when they arrived... I'd be flipping raging.

Not much of a holiday.

Stayed in villas abroad all my life and never been expected to do any of this. We always leave the place tidy, empty bins, leave dishwasher running. But I wouldn't be hoovering, cleaning the bathroom or stripping beds.

Apart from anything I don't want to see he mattress or duvet as I highly doubt they are completely clean.

UK cottage owners are taking the absolute piss... Especially since they also charge a cleaning fee.

Tossers - the make up thing is freaky.

Why do you think the cleaners should have to take your empties to the recycling bins for you? Genuine question.

We've recently stayed in a dog 'friendly' cottage with a list as long as my arm of 'don't dos' when comes to dog which we received 2 days before checking in (so not at time of booking to make informed decision).
I get it and 90% of it we would adhere to as responsible owners without thinking, but advertise as accept dogs, rather than welcome them!!

Ummm, could it be because OP says: "there is no recycling for glass or information about where to recycle"?

Hence I offer this up as an alternative to her taking the empties home with her. Which would be unreasonable. Whereas thinking the cleaners will know what to do with the nicely bagged up empties is more reasonable. Genuine answer.

Sorry I was replying to an answer. but apparently I did it wrong!

By holiday home owner, do you mean small business owner? Who is apparently not willing to do the basic work needed to earn the money. It’s not like they are doing the OP a favour by letting it to them. Crikey you’ll be expecting us to take our food scraps home from restaurants for the food bin soon.

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

but there is no recycling for glass or information about where to recycle so we just need to take them home with us.

So contact the owner or ask. Or just Google the closest supermarket that has recycling bins. It's not rocket science.

We stay in about five holiday cottages in the UK each year and this is standard.

And do you mean the list of rules was as long as your arm, or they just had the three very reasonable rules you listed?!

Blimey.

But I feel all this is quite unreasonable after paying almost £500 to stay somewhere.

I totally disagree. You pay for the hire of a property, not a hotel room! We stayed in a cottage last week for three of us, although it slept five and it was £1,080. We had to take the glass for recycling to the nearest supermarket twelve miles away. Imo, that’s perfectly reasonable! We’ve been there twice before in one of their other cottages; they are the nicest, cleanest and best equipped cottages we’ve ever stayed in.

Even if the instructions hadn’t told us, where the glass recycling was, I’d have looked up online where was the nearest glass recycling to me. Anyone who can post on MN must be able to do that?

Because you are paying for the use of a rated property being sold out as a commercial serviced holiday residence. Recycling and rubbish collection are part of the services provided to rated properties by local authorities (even if the owner isn't paying up for business rates).

I wouldn't expect to have to drive around and hunt for recycling points if I were staying in a hotel or B&B or even a serviced camp site - all of whom provide on site disposal and recycling facilities.

Most local authorities provide recycling bags or boxes to go out on recycling day. I would expect to put the recycling in the containers supplied to the house/accommodation, not to drive around playing "hunt the point" when I've paid to be on holiday.

PP are correct - holiday cottages never used to have all these weird rules and separate cleaning charges and "extras". In my experience it dates from AirBnB opening up the hospitality industry to amateurs who don't expect to run a customer facing service industry business for the money, but just to hand over the keys and collect the $$$ (which is exactly how AirBnB used to advertise their platform in the early days - easy money out of your spare rooms and property).

Its the same mindset which created too many hobby landlords in the residential letting market - want the money but don't know how to run a business.