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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AirBnB/holiday cottage owners 'popping in'

109 replies

bringincrazyback · 27/02/2024 20:38

Wondering what people's thoughts are on this. I'm talking about when the owner pops in on the first day to 'check you're settling in OK' (and, I've always assumed, to check the tenants aren't savages trashing the place 😄)

Also, if you own a holiday property, is it something you tend to do?

Will explain context later (longstanding member btw, not a researcher or anything 😄)

YABU = I like it/do it
YANBU = I don't like it/do it

OP posts:
MarshmallowsOnToast · 27/02/2024 20:40

YANBU

I don't want them to do that. If I was struggling to settle/had issues, I would message.

I purposely look for properties with a key in a lock box so can come & go without interacting with owner.

Saucery · 27/02/2024 20:41

I don’t like it and read reviews carefully to see if it’s a Thing with some owners, in which case I don’t tend to book. But when it has happened the owners have actually been lovely and it didn’t feel intrusive at all. Couple of times they handed the key over, once the owner of the farm the cottage was on popped round and we had a really good chat about the local area and the history of the family farm. I’m still not a fan of the idea of it though Grin

tupperwaretowers · 27/02/2024 20:43

Either meet me at the property to let me in or message to check settled in ok. Don’t pop in, it’s weird.

Skippydoodle · 27/02/2024 20:44

Personally I do not like it at all. However I also run a holiday cottage, & some really do want to see me (especially visitors from USA)and in my welcome email I do say I may pop in and say Hi if I’m in town. If they say they would like to meet then I do (we have often had lots of interactions on the run up to their stay), if they don’t respond to my ‘May pop in’ then I leave them be.

ItsVeryHyacinthBucket · 27/02/2024 20:44

I kind of expect it if it’s clear in the description that the place is attached to the main residence, eg on a farm. If not I’d find it massively intrusive.

Precipice · 27/02/2024 20:44

Not all right. If they want to meet those staying and 'check if they're settling in', they can arrange to hand the key over and show the people around, giving them such information as they see fit.

If 'popping in' means walking into the house themselves, without knocking and waiting, that's totally unacceptable.

blackcatsyeah · 27/02/2024 20:45

WTF no! You might be doing something private!

HelpMeOutOfHere · 27/02/2024 20:46

I really hate it! I like to be undisturbed.

reluctantbrit · 27/02/2024 20:47

We had it a couple of times when the owners lived on the same estate/farm/complex.

But mainly in the first 1-2 days and often only when they spotted us outside/doors open.

Trickabrick · 27/02/2024 20:48

Hate it and actively avoid places where this is mentioned in a review. I’ve only ever had to raise this as an issue once on holiday when the owner kept popping by to do stuff in the garden that really could have waited (think weeding, moving some bags of soil to another location, painting a wooden planter). A quick email to the holiday rental company sorted it thankfully but it was really off putting to be constantly on edge, wondering when they’d pop up.

Cherrysoup · 27/02/2024 20:51

Would drive me nuts. Best one we stayed in, we didn’t see the owners at all. They left a welcome basket, which was lovely. Next one, the owner greeted us, showed us how to access a nice walk then left us to it. Bliss. The last one was invasive, wanted to chat for ages and let his dog get in our dog’s face, which he hated. I had to tell him to take her off him!

Justbeenfined · 27/02/2024 20:51

I own a BnB and live next door to it and never ever just 'pop' over. They know where I am if they need me.

Mouthfulofquiz · 27/02/2024 20:52

If a review mentions the owner popping by then there is no way I’m booking it. It’s so intrusive!

Mazuslongtoenail · 27/02/2024 20:53

I’ve had it where they popped over with things for dinner on the night we arrived and some Mother’s Day biscuits from the bakery and then when we were due to leave with fresh pastries for our journey.

It was hard work communicating as they didn’t speak much English but it was a lovely gesture and by being at the very start and very end it didn’t feel intrusive.

chrisfromcardiff · 27/02/2024 20:56

bringincrazyback · 27/02/2024 20:38

Wondering what people's thoughts are on this. I'm talking about when the owner pops in on the first day to 'check you're settling in OK' (and, I've always assumed, to check the tenants aren't savages trashing the place 😄)

Also, if you own a holiday property, is it something you tend to do?

Will explain context later (longstanding member btw, not a researcher or anything 😄)

YABU = I like it/do it
YANBU = I don't like it/do it

I can see greeting the guests when they arrive, particularly if the cottage is a bit remote. Intro, this is where I can be reached, and that is that. No way would I want the host to drop by.

RicePuddingWithCinnamon · 27/02/2024 20:57

I would hate it.
After hours of travelling you just want to relax and have a cuppa not chat with someone who is deciding if you will trash the place or not.

VickyEadieofThigh · 27/02/2024 21:01

We rent cottages in the UK quite often and prefer the ones with a key in a keysafe so that we never have to meet the owners. We had one last year where the pair of them turned up one afternoon to do the garden which really pissed us off as we had to meet them. They were out there all afternoon. Put us right off ever renting it again. It was a "dog friendly" cottage and our rescue is afraid of strangers so we had to keep her away from the windows as she'd have been terrified.

Original poster
bringincrazyback · 27/02/2024 21:25

Relieved by these responses - I wasn't sure if I was being an antisocial cow! 😄

I've got a holiday booked next week, and just noticed when reading through some of the reviews for the place that someone had a 'lovely pop-in visit from the owner on the first day, very thoughtful!' pulls face I don't mean to be churlish, I think these things probably are meant hospitably most of the time, but it's not ideal for me because I have a sleep disorder which means my sleeping/waking hours are a bit unconventional sometimes. Part of why I go away by myself every year is to rest, so I let myself sleep in if I need to, and there's a high chance I'll be caught in PJs or even between the sheets if anyone pops by in the morning!

Stupidly, it's only just occurred to me that I could probably have added a note about this when making the booking, but then again that feels like assuming the owner is going to intrude when they might have no intention of doing so. I've had similar experiences to pps in the past, with owners being non-intrusive but turning out to be really nice if they did make themselves known - I used to stay somewhere the owners always left a bit of cake or something which I thought was lovely, and they didn't intrude either - but last year (staying at the same location as I'm going to this year, but a different property) the owner did 'pop in to make sure I had everything I needed' - luckily I was up and dressed, but I could have easily not been. 😄

The property has a keysafe so at least I can just let myself in and chill when I arrive. I'm going to set my alarm the first night just in case, though. 😄

OP posts:
Londonrach1 · 27/02/2024 21:28

Popping in is strange and tbh rude. Leave feedback to warn others

Scaffoldingisugly · 27/02/2024 21:30

Drove 400 miles including a ferry crossing to be faced literally with the host from the kitchen window.. From her kitchen window.. Honestly could have cried.. Her ddog barked all night for 10 out of our 14 night holiday..

JKFan · 27/02/2024 21:44

It hasn’t occurred to me to be bothered about this when the owner has called round on the first day to check everything is in order but reading some of the comments makes me realise just how much some people would have been horrified by the last experience I had of this.
My mother and I rented a cottage in Scalloway on Mainland Shetland. The owner kindly allowed us to go in early as our ferry arrived at 8am. He had been delayed by bad weather in Aberdeen and called round fairly late that evening to see all was OK. We offered a cup of tea and he settled down for the evening. He was very entertaining and informative but we did comment afterwards that we hadn’t expected him to stay quite as long. It’s a few years back, but from memory he left at going on for 11pm. We’re both people who go to bed much later than that, but it could have been an issue for some.

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 27/02/2024 21:47

No, don't set an alarm - don't spoil your break on the off-chance they'll disturb you, you'll be on edge the whole time and not relax at all.

Stick a note on the door saying you're a night shift worker (or something equally as unremarkable), and catching up on sleep so please don't knock.

cauliflowerqueen · 27/02/2024 21:54

I don't like people I know dropping by without warning (yes, I'm one of those Mumsnetters, unapologetically antisocial unless it's on my terms), so some stranger doing so when I'm meant to be relaxing (and paying them handsomely for the privilege to do so in their rental) would be most unwelcome.

If you need something, you'll contact them, not the other way around!

cymraes12 · 27/02/2024 22:00

Last year we rented a lovely cottage for a few days, noting it had a key safe so we wouldn’t need to interact with the owners. Or so we thought. On our first morning there, I woke up to an email from the owner saying he was very concerned as he had tried to ring me multiple times the previous evening to check everything was okay when we arrived, but hadn’t got through. We were in the middle of the countryside so I had no signal, unsurprisingly. The email asked me to call him ‘urgently’ so he could check everything was okay. I emailed back explaining we had no phone signal but all was well, and received a reply saying he really would have rather spoken on the phone, in quite a snotty tone. He then proceeded to email me every day of our stay to say he’d been trying to call for a ‘daily check’ of whether everything was okay and please could I call urgently. A pity as it was a lovely cottage but we wouldn’t stay there again or recommend to others as totally bizarre to be made to feel awkward for not having a daily chat with the owner in a cottage that he must have known had no phone signal on at least some networks.

purplehotdogs · 27/02/2024 22:05

Why don't you just message the host to say you know they like to pop in on the first day but you'll likely be sleeping so will message them to confirm everything's OK and there are no problems?