Why don't holiday cottage companies do these things? AIBU?

[TheStroppyFeminist]

I have been searching for a holiday cottage for next year and so far haven't found the right one but FGS, why don't cottage companies:

1. Show you a floor plan? I want to see where each bedroom is in relation to other bedrooms because of snoring etc
2. Show you the bathrooms properly? I want a huge walk in shower and I want a separate attachment as well but you can hardly ever see whether there is one
3. Insist on a 10am checkout and a 4pm or later check in? It's annoying and we sometimes leave the day before to avoid getting up early

I also won't empty bins or strip beds, I'm on holiday! AIBU? What are your self catering hates?

YABU, understandable, they CBA
YANBU, they really should provide this info

I agree, what says, ‘holiday’ about this set up; 10 am is early to me if you have to get everything clean and put away and perhaps dare to sip a coffee at the same time as absolutely no time to sit down for breakfast. Equally, who wants to shorten their holiday even more packing the night before and ensuring you don’t go out too late as you have cleaning to look forward to the next morning on your ‘holiday’! If you have little kids that get up at 5am it may work well, if you have teenagers that you need to cajole, it is so annoying! Equally, check out at 10 am is standard for ‘30 years’ now, is it, as hotels don’t ask you to leave that early? Decent Holiday homes and cottages are so expensive that if there is a decent hotel nearby I would always opt for that even paying for the additional room for teenagers for a day less is worth it to me as it is quality over quantity! Alternatively, a holiday home/cottage that accepts you leaving the dishes and washing up and bins and linen and bathroom as it is as a maid service comes in like a hotel to sort- we have had that once in the past and that is ok and earns the label, ‘holiday’ IMO. The only time I haven’t resented cleaning the holiday home holiday was when a friend of my parents let us stay for free in their Cornwall Cottage, it was a bit gross and not very clean but at the time we had limited funds as I was in Maternity leave so it was a ‘change’ at least and the change was almost as good as a rest in this case as I hadn’t slept properly for months with my eldest!

It takes me half an hour to get up, showered, dry hair and dressed. You have to pack your stuff, get it all into the car which always seem to take longer than you think it will. Have breakfast. Check the place again to see you have not left any possessions. Wash up, empty bins, strip beds. Without children to cajole, it all takes a minimum of 2 hours. So the latest you can get up is 8am. This is earlier than I have to get up for work - I wfh.
With children it meant getting up at 6am. It is a bit shit.

And I agree I am not packing the night before. We have always tried to make the last night of our holidays special. Not spent it packing and cleaning.

Yes, it takes me about this length of time, even more so when we went with a large group of friends and they had all been out the night before except me so I had to be Captain of the ship that morning cajoling adults and children!

We left our caravan on sat by 9.45- 4 adults and 1 kid, all packed, everything away by 9.45 to be out by 10.
It took me all of 10 mins the night before to pack all of my clothes except the ones I wanted to wear home. Not sure what the fuss is about packing bits the night before…. Dirty stuff is already bagged up, clean stuff folded and back in the case. Job done.

@Noshowlomo no one is talking about packing being putting some dirty clothes in a bag.
In a hotel room packing is quick. A few clothes and toiletries from the bathroom. It is different in a cottage.

I have two sets of cutlery and crockery. However one set is unbreakable for DC. Cutlery is a bit smaller. All goes in the dishwasher. As linen is hired, it’s difficult to control quality. Agent doesn’t own a laundry! Guests can bring their own but agent would link through to linen company if required. All the sizes of beds are clearly shown and we say clearly that the coffee machine takes Nespresso size capsules. There’s also a cafetière. I provide lots of cooking equipment but do want to have food storage cupboards too! Even 2 smart tvs plus one in a bedroom,

I do fully understand it’s a holiday but I could easily live there. I think most reasonable agents and owners just ask for a bit of understanding re cleaning and minimizing mess. I’m generally really pleased with how guests care for our place. My only gripe is where do all the teaspoons go!!! Also when guests break very nice wine glasses, they replace them with cheap unmatching shit! I even have cocktail glasses!

Also, checkout at 10am might have been standard for years but the list of things guests are expected to do before they go has got longer and longer!

And if the guests are expected to unload the dishwasher and replace all crockery and pans in cupboards before leaving, that says to me that nobody is checking stuff for breakages or cleanliness between guests (because if it was all going to be taken out and checked anyway, why ask guests to put it all back as they found it?). Which is lazy and a bit grim tbh.

I actually used to clean holiday lets, on a yurt/glamping site. The best guests were the ones who emptied the bins and fridge before leaving, and did their own washing up (no dishwashers there). Other than that, we didn't really have any expectations.

Please remember, though, with an Airbnb you’re renting a whole place and that living room, kitchen, bedroom/s, bathroom/s etc takes way longer to clean and be ready for you than just a hotel bedroom with an en-suite bathroom

Sorry but this is absolute nonsense. Hotels don’t employ one cleaner per room, they’ll have about 15 rooms each to clean. So does one cottage take longer than 15 bedrooms and bathrooms? There’s really no excuse for such late checkin and early check outs. You’re simply understaffed if you can’t manage a 3pm check in and 11am check out.

Thank you for telling me I'm talking nonsense. Several holiday let owners have said the same thing on here so perhaps there might be something in it. I am guessing you are not one.

Exactly. You've also got to pack up your kitchen stuff, wash the dishes, make your own breakfasts, all whilst having showers and packing clothes, toys, etc. It's completely different to a hotel when you would usually only have a suitcase each, not a car boot full of random stuff, including kids toys etc.

10am certainly hasn't been "the norm" for decades as some suggest. We've been having 2 or 3 UK breaks in UK holiday homes for around 20 years. 11am was the norm for most of that time. It was definitely Covid that brought it forward to 10am and owners have just continued with it. The extra time was to allow the property to be ventilated and allow for better cleaning, and also to allow a bit of time between guests leaving and the cleaner arriving so that the cleaner would have less exposure if the guests had been infectious.

Most of the hotels we've stayed in over the same period have a 11am checkout, or easily made later upon request at reception!

Of course agents are understaffed! In Cornwall it’s a massive problem. Yes some students will do it but there are big problems with recruiting staff! Most people know they need more staff but they aren’t there. I think I need to sell our house!

It doesn't take 5 hours to clean a cottage. I think what's more likely to be happening is the cleaners are doing more than one cottage at the same time, so will spend and hour or two in one and then an hour or two in another. If repairs are needed, it's unlikely the same cleaner will be changing a dripping tap, screwing a new hinge on a door, etc., so it's not as if it's the same person doing repairs and then cleaning!

These days, most places don't have fixed "changeover" days anyway - it's a bit antiquated now when everyone moves in/out on a Friday or Saturday. Looking at the popular booking sites, it's all very flexible, so there will be void days between lets for repairs, and "professional" cleaners will be cleaning seven days a week, and not trying to fit as many in as possible every Saturday like they used to have to do.

I don’t know how people can take 10 minutes on this stuff and not resent cleaning on the last night of the holiday.

It's just stripping the beds and a bit of last minute washing up. It's never been the big deal for me others seem to find it. 20 minutes tops.

10am departure has always been the norm in my experience in 20 years pre Covid. When we had small dc the 10am rule was a pain but it's fine now- there's really not that much to do pre departure- I do obviously leave a clean kitchen, empty bins and put bin bags out, but leave the actual cleaning to the cleaners.

Emptying bins and wiping surfaces down in the kitchen is barely cleaning imo. We've never done any more than this and never had an issue. The only concession we make on leaving day is not having a cooked breakfast.

Well not if you have three families staying together and young kids mess everywhere- toys and clothes drying still on racks and a messy bathroom. I can understand it may take 20 minutes in a tiny place but not in a big place with a few bathrooms.

I have to say I do think people are making a meal of the packing and having to leave by 10am thing. I guess if you have a big family and loads of toys you might have quite a lot to do.

But I do pack my case the night before (and then still go out for a nice dinner etc) even if we are leaving later in the day, so it's done. And if you can fling things in a car, it's even easier!

Stripping the beds and last minute washing up is fine. Having to hoover, take the rubbish out of bins and potentially take recycling somewhere else, is not fine. That's what the landlord/lady charges the rent for. They seem to think that it should all be profit. Nope, profit is what you take out of the rent once you've paid for the cleaner, loans for refurbishing the place etc.

@Nadeed i know that, we had a load to pack up, clean, food to sort, towels, child’s stuff, but you can do some EASILY the night before that takes minutes. I did the clothes, my husband grabbed a load of rubbish and took it to the bins, in laws did the dishes and kept some out for the morning. All this took about 20 mins for everyone and didn’t have an impact at all, and was super handy for the morning. Out of the caravan by 9.45 then after getting up at 8.00am. Wasn’t an issue.

Yes! The reviews were lovely for the last place we stayed, ‘kitchen best equipped I’ve ever seen’-for cleaning products, yes! No cafetière or coffee machine, dummy me for not asking when it wasn’t mentioned. Oh well, I wanted a new one anyway!

Exactly @parkrun500club ! Not an issue. Wasn’t an issue when we went twice last year either:

That's true. I use airbnb/booking as my initial search engine for accommodation. But then see if I can find it cheaper elsewhere. Sometimes possible, sometimes not. But the point is there is no easy way to find accommodation in the first place if it is not on the big websites. In the UK I know of a few cottage companies, but more often I am booking outside the UK so wouldn't really know where to start.

The other factor is that many of the cottage companies require 7 day bookings, starting at a weekend, at least in high season, which is almost never what we are looking for.

I actually can't think of any bad airbnb experiences and I've made many, many bookings. They've all been at least good enough, and often amazing. Maybe I choose well. Maybe I'm not that picky. Maybe I've been fortunate, I don't know.

I just don’t see tidying up and cleaning as a ‘holiday’, you work hard for the year if it is the main holiday and I want it to be an indulgence I suppose. I want to read a book, go out to eat, walk along the beach or explore a city and have fun! I think self catering has a place, when DC are young and need space to play and their normal food nd nap and go to bed early but those shackles are off when you have teenagers and they can stay out late with you and want to eat in restaurants, visit galleries, even have a glass of something with older teens. It is just much more of a holiday in my mind with no housework drudgery. I have only been on self catering holidays recently as they are with friends and obviously it is more convenient but my DH loves cooking as he doesn’t do it much back home as works away a lot so I don’t need to cook so it isn’t so bad.

It's easier for a hotel precisely because they are bigger. They can maintain a team of cleaners who can between them manage even on the busiest day. And because you have more rooms and shorter stays (and because even when people stay the night the room needs housekeeping anyway) the variation in work from day to day isn't so high. So the team won't be too underused and they can plan ahead for peak periods/days in a fairly predictable way. Airbnbs don't work like that. There's a lot of fluctuation in demand from day to day and it would be totally uneconomic to have a big enough team of cleaners to do it them all in a couple of hours even at the busiest times. And yes, you can use agencies, but they won't always be able to provide exactly the cleaners you want at the exact time at short notice. It's tricky. And surprisingly expensive.

We recently stayed at a big house air bnb but all the cutlery was antique silver but looked all tarnished and every knife was a butter knife so we had to buy our own cutlery. We also had to buy a couple of pans as their pans were rusty old shite