AirBnB/holiday cottage owners 'popping in'

[bringincrazyback]

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

wow @Scaffoldingisugly . Did you get any compensation or anything? Did you leave a review?

I wouldn't like this; but I wouldn't book an AirBnB anyway, for other reasons (primarily the effect short term lets have had on the city I live in, and elsewhere).

Wouldn't be for me. I'm renting the property to get away from people. I do not want to interact with the owners, I want my time in a place I want to be, with who I want to be with. If find it awkward as hell inviting them into their own house for a chat about stuff I don't care about.

I would absolutely hate that. I would want to be left alone. I had a landlady a while ago who would keep coming round to see if everything was ok with the property. She would complain about stupid things like clothes being draped over a chair. It was incredibly annoying

Sounds similar to somewhere we stayed. Last morning the kwner must have been looking out for us and must have seen dh go out to the car early. She appeared at the door before iam saying she needed to strip our beds so she could launder the sheets for the next guests. I was seeing to toddler ds and wasn't even dressed - checkout was 10am!

We had planned to have breakfast there before we left but loaded up quickly and went to the local cafe! Maybe she was trying to hurry us out. (These days I'd stubbornly stay until 9.59!!)

I probably am anti-social, but when I go on holiday I just want the time with my family, and I don't want to have to make the effort to be polite and chatty with total strangers, no matter how lovely they are.

I once rented a very large house in Snowdonia for a group of friends to holiday together. The owners lived in a converted stable block next door. They made intrusive pop ins every day. Including late into the evening.
10 days after we had left, and with them having had another guest in between, they phoned me saying we had stolen pictures off the wall and the family silver. This is despite them having watched us pack up and leave, so they would have seen if we had walked out holding their paintings. She threatened to phone my Army Reserves Commanding Officer, so I reported her to the Police.

Meeting on arrival is fine, exchanging a bit of chatter if you bump into each other is fine. The owner lying in wait to accost you every time you leave the property or arrive back is not!

Finding things moved when you get back from a day out is also not on! If I wanted someone to tidy my book and cardigan away I'd stay in a hotel with daily housekeeping.

Popping in on arrival or the first day is fine as long as they leave us alone thereafter.

We’ve known each other for so many years that one pop-in just to the kitchen doesn’t bother me a bit. We enjoy the lovely scones and appreciate the thoughtfulness.

...or shagging!

You’ll be ok now.. Current best practice adherence to the new fire regulations does not allow us to leave candles in the holiday cottage and guests are not allowed to bring their own.

I rented a gîte from an elderly couple who lived in the attached house. They were very friendly but not the least bit intrusive and I only saw them when I went to ask how to work the (top loading cylinder) washing machine. I certainly wouldn’t want people popping by when they felt like it.

Ugh no hate this!
One place we rented actually said in their listing: other than coming once to water the garden we will leave you in peace to enjoy blah blah...'
She came to 'see how you're settling in'
She came to 'take the bins out'
She came to 'take the bins back in'
She came to 'take the fire extinguishers for a check'
She came to 'return the fire extinguishers after the check'
She came to 'drop off some veg she picked from her allotment'
She also did come to water the garden even though it had rained the day before.
Told her I'd deal with the bins. I told her no thank you to the offer of veg.
Drove me nuts.
Just leave a phone number and I will get in touch if there's an issue. Arrange fire checks when unoccupied. Leave instructions for bin timings. Do not come unannounced.

@crackofdoom and @ShareTheDuvet - a room in someones house of course you expect to interact. A cottage on its own - no. I'm not antisocial, if I met you in the village shop great! Happy to have a quick chat. But it certainly removes the 'home away from home' if I'm expecting someone to come by any minute to do something - because frankly it just feels like you don't trust me and want to check out that we are behaving.

It's not about being antisocial IMO. Holidays are expensive, time is limited, and it's supposed to be a time when you can do exactly what you want. If that's meeting and chatting with new people, fine. But it's also fine to regard a holiday as downtime and not to be keen to give any more time than necessary to making small talk with strangers one is never going to see again.

Btw does the owner popping in still not bother you if you're getting changed/showering/cooking or eating/enjoying 'bedroom time'/in the middle of a massive dump at the time? Truthfully? Or if you're only half unpacked and the place is untidy? Or if you're still in bed?

I've stayed in quite a few Air BnB type houses. Mostly I've never met the owner, though normally there's a few messages back and forth about arrival arrangements/dodgy plumbing etc.

One place was next door to the owners. We met them in the garden/driveway quite a few times and it was lovely to chat. They didn't "pop in" though!

Could you write a note before you head off on your holiday and pop it in a sandwich bag (just to keep the note dry if the weather isn't supposed to be great where you're taking your break) then affix the bag to the door of the property (once you've let yourself in). The note could say that you're so looking forward to the break, you are disconnecting from all social media and you won't be answering the door during your stay. If there are any issues, could the owner please write a contact number for them so that you can use that but apart from that, you'd really appreciate being left to enjoy the solitude to be able to relax and enjoy the location/enjoy the break.

Address it to the owner of the property before putting it in the sandwich bag and using something like white tack or bluetak to fix it to the door. It might be a little more secure than a post-it note on the door.

Would that work do you think?

She also fertilised the garden when we were there without telling us

Pleeeease tell me she didn't do it 'organically' herself, cutting out the middleman entirely

I think some of these people are probably quite lonely and frame the idea to themselves that, by offering accommodation, they'll be meeting lots of new people all the time. In reality, of course, that usually turns into 5 minutes when people arrive and then another 2 minutes on the day they leave; so they feel the need to engineer lots of 'reasons' for more interactions.

It's great for them if they're "Our door is always open" kind of people, but they need to realise that many people aren't like that at all, and find it stifling when they feel they've been tricked into paying for a holiday with strangers, rather than just with their family/friends.

Of course, they can always read the room and, if their guests clearly do have the same desire to mingle with them all week, all well and good. They may well end up with the same ultra-social guests returning year after year, whilst many of the more reserved/privacy-loving people flee at the end and vow never to book that place again and leave reviews to warn others - so I suppose, long-term, it's a kind of win all around.

People's view obviously differ, but for me, I have no problem with the genuine 'bumping into' occasions. When they live next door and happen to be going out at the same time as you are, notice that you're clearly off to the beach, tell you you've got perfect weather for it, wish you a good day and then you part company.

It's definitely the intrusions and made-up 'reasons' for 'needing to' come over and bother you all the time. Nobody wants to feel that they've booked a 'home from home', but then feel they can't properly relax, chill in their PJs, have it 'lived in' and not immaculate all week, do private things, use the shower, have sex, walk around naked or whatever. Why would you pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds for a week or two in a home that is more restrictive and less private than your own home?

A quick pop in is nice and gives me the opportunity to ask the sort of question that isn't worth messaging over. We once had an owner show us a scrapbook about the conversion of our cottage which was interesting and we've had homemade cake delivered. Much better than an impersonal drop box or late arriving key holder leaving you worried you'll not be able to get in.

YABU

@RamanaBanana
I don't want to stand chatting to you, I'm not the least bit interested in you.
I'm here to relax on holiday, not entertain you.
We stayed at a place once where the owner thought he could just turn up when he pleased, until my husband angrily asked him what the hell he was doing, was he trying to catch our teenage daughter naked or something?

You and your husband sound utterly deranged accusing the guy of paedophilic behaviour for popping around to his own property. He was probably not in the slightest bit interested in you either but wanted to check the house/see if you'd settled in etc.

I hate this and now ask questions to check it's not likely to happen. Have stayed at too many places where the owner is constantly skulking about, eg I'm lying by the pool and there's a cheery "don't mind me!" as the owner turns up and starts deadheading flowers, or I'm making coffee in my pyjamas and the owner lets himself in to check the post. Just fuck off, I've paid for the whole place, not to share it.

I expect this stuff set out up front eg "owner will visit to water plants once a week, cleaner will visit once a week". Anything else and I will complain.

To add- I think a lot of this is down to amateur letters who fancy a bit of money for nothing but haven’t grasped that, if people are paying for exclusive use, they actually expect to get what they’ve paid for.