Caravan holidays are awful unless it's your own caravan

[landhill]

Not long home from a weekend stay in a caravan owned by an individual but let out as a holiday rental, this is not the first time we've booked one but it will be the last. It was dirty, smelly and gave me the ick just knowing others had stayed in it. Does anyone else struggle staying in places that are well used? I took my own bedding and towels but it still felt yuck.

I didn't feel clean after showering and was sure to have sliders on and not walk on the carpets but honestly it was not enjoyable. The reviews and photos were all positive yet it was old and not that well cleaned. Have we just had bad luck?

We've stayed in cottages too and I've found them just as bad. I do not like staying away from home so maybe it's me that's the issue but I miss my clean home, I miss having all my stuff and just need sleep as well or feel that relaxed when staying elsewhere.

I'm trying to give my children experiences and make memories and they really enjoy it but I just spend the whole time wanting to be back home. Am I a rubbish traveler? Am I doing it wrong?

Please tell us more ! My niece was a chambermaid for a well known chain and she used the dirty towels left by the occupant, to clean the toilet and shower as she said it made the job easier

For £300 over 3 night it sounds a bad experience. Do not let if put you off.

Was this a one off private rental? If you go to a site that let and prep their own modern vans you might have a better experience.

Looks like my preconception of Haven holidays was wrong! I suppose that costs have gone up so much recently that few UK holidays are cheap now...

I've always enjoyed my caravan holidays. But you do have to be fussy about the site - new caravans, widely spaced, maintained grounds, nice views etc. Recommendations from people you trust to have the same standards as you.

I think you just need to spend more.
We stay in a lot of cottages, all clean and well kept.

we’ve only ever had problems with airbnbs so avoid those, but the one we did stay in was clean.

alternatively, just accept that you’re going to spend the first couple of hours cleaning a cottage/caravan you check into.

I think you either need to spend more or lower your standards, sorry. We do self-catering for every holiday, usually a flat or house, and have yet to find one that I felt was less clean than my own house, but that may say more about our housekeeping than standards of accommodation!

That’s bad luck. We had some lovely stays in privately owned caravans when ours were little.

This is one reason I loved having a folding camper when my children were little. 1. nothing to clean and worry about breaking. 2. only we had ever slept on the mattresses 3. it was all ours so if there was any damage it was our stuff 4. no possibility of a tv so we had two weeks of screen free time.

I've been away in a few hotels and b&bs over the past few years as my children are now grown ups but hate the knowledge that you are in a bed someone else has been in, and walking on carpets that haven't been cleaned in ages. It wasn't a relaxing break so now Ive got my own caravan

It was a Parkdean one in Yorkshire

If you can't afford to go on a more expensive holiday, have you considered camping? You would still have to put up with grotty toilets and showers, but at least you would be sleeping in your own sleeping bags that you know are clean and cooking on your own camping stove with your own pots and pans and plates etc. It would be an experience for your children and you would only have to put up with the toilets/showers for a very small percentage of your time away. The cost of the camping gear would be recouped quite quickly by the amount you save on caravan hire.

Same here, we go at least once a year, my kids love a caravan holiday. We take the dog so pet friendly vans and they've always been spotless. Also use Away Resorts and they're fab too.

Definitely not a cheap option in school holidays anymore though.

If you rented it privately op you need to take it up with the owner.

My son and his friends had a weekend job in house keeping in a 4 star hotel chain when they were at uni years ago. They were trained to clean the baths and showers at room changeovers with the used towels before putting them in the laundry. Those gleaming hotel baths might not be as clean as they look. Buffed to a shine by a bath towel that a previous guest has used to dry their arse 🤢

"I know I'm extreme but that's how I feel."
You are normal, those places you described sound horrible.

that is a shame as we have had wonderful caravan and chalet holidays. the worse were Haven but a lot of them were budget so I guess you would get what you pay for so to speak. Worse still were Pontins in recent years though when I was a child they were brilliant. Butlins might be posh hotels now but they are not brilliant either.
in the past few years we have found a chalet owned by a very nice couple in our favourite place Clarach Bay in Borth, which we always book. its like walking into a 2nd home which is lovely. its clean well equipped (last year I cooked a Xmas dinner there) the shower is easy to use and clean, ditto the beds etc.

We used to stay in Hoseasons static caravan holiday parks and they were spotless when you turned up and in good condition. Not stayed with them for 7 years.

We use Air BnB a lot and often use statics. We haven't had a bad experience. Some have been more "professional", others are clearly someone's home. Maybe this isn't for you!

We bought our own touring caravan because I can't bear the thought of sleeping in beds that many other people have slept in!
I read somewhere that the average hotel mattress has over 300 people sleeping on it during it's lifetime.....🤢

But your own caravan/motorhome. We just did, and we love having our own little clean tranquil haven. Start with a cheap used one to see if you like it, also gives you an excuse to redecorate/refurbish it to your own taste and standards.

We stayed in an air bnb last year, a nice big house in rural Wales. Iy was a nice house but dear God it was in serious need of a good dust! Also I felt the need to run everything through the dishwasher as everything didn't feel clean enough for me. Im not a snob as my house is often a bombsite

I simply can't see the point of caravans no matter who owns them. If you have a reasonably sized house why on earth would you choose to squash into a tiny space with no room to swing a cat. My idea of hell on earth.

I simply can't see the point of caravans no matter who owns them. If you have a reasonably sized house why on earth would you choose to squash into a tiny space with no room to swing a cat. My idea of hell on earth.

I simply can't see the point of caravans no matter who owns them. If you have a reasonably sized house why on earth would you choose to squash into a tiny space with no room to swing a cat. My idea of hell on earth.

Sorry.

It sounds more like the issue is with that site/owner. A better park would have excellent cleaners. It’s only as icky as staying in a hotel room. It’s all about how good the.cleaners are.

How do you all cope with restaurants, where people have used the cutlery, staff touched the glasses etc? Did you use cash in the past, despite knowing other people had handled it? What about supermarket trolleys?

I like my house to be clean but do think some people on MN have unhealthy attitudes to hygiene