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

Weve used Classic cottages before and they have quite a comprehensive inventory on their website for anyone wanting that level of detail.

On a completely separate note, off the back of this thread, I was talking with Dsis about a spectacularly awful place we stayed in our teens.(late 1990s) It went down in family folklore. One of the funniest things was that there was a guest book but most of the comments had been scribbled out with black marker pen. One of the few surviving comments was that someone had broken a cereal bowl....so not even a compliment on the cottage! I was astounded that I looked it up and it's still available with Sykes, with good reviews....although pics indicate it hasn't changed all that much from the 1990s!

If you are flying you won’t be wanting to pack your bedding.. and towels 😂

Getting my head round the recycling system of the area drives me nuts sometimes.
And cottages that have nothing to do like games, dvds, books, pens and paper etc.
I oftwn think the owners should stay in their property and make sure it ‘works’ for a week. Little helpful things like hooks in bathroom to hang your stuff, bedside lights you can switch in and off from the bed and extra bedding in case a child throws up or has a nose bleed.

Maybe they don't want to be where you've been? 🤮

We have stayed at Incleborough a few times wonderful times! And the owners your relatives were probably the best hosts we had. From what I remember Incleborough is no longer rented. We always compare a subsequent breaks to it!

What a small world! Thank you, they'll be so pleased to hear that, they really do try to go above and beyond. You're correct, Incleborough isn't rented anymore, it's now my aunt and uncle's private residence along with my grandparents, but they still rent Stable Cottage which is in the same area. Thanks again, I'm so pleased you've had such lovely holidays there ☺️

Yes, the check in and check out times are a piss take. They were changed during Covid on the pretence that they needed longer to clean and disinfect, but they never went back to normal afterwards. You’re basically paying for a whole day that you can’t be in the property.

I also hate being asked to clean, tidy and strip beds when the whole purpose of the inconvenient check in and check out times is to allow (far too much) time for the cleaners. The bed stripping is also a throwback to Covid. Nobody expected guests to do this before.

@SGJ
incleborough is beautiful so they are all lucky! We now need even more bedrooms as we are a large family group that rents. Weve done separate cottages twice but prefer one big house. Send them my regards- Tell them the large Greek family! Can’t say anymore as too outing!

I run a holiday let - the time between 10am and 4pm is needed. Things have changed so much in recent years. It would not be possible to organise cleaners to do a decent job in a shorter window - given changeover days are usually the same and they have to do a couple of places.

Since the advent of social media/air bnb peoples expectations have massively increased. You can see it on this thread. People expect five star hotel but expect you to provide that in a 5 bedroom home that they can check out of at noon and the next lot in at 3pm. We don't ask people to clean - but people leave it in horrendous states. People dye their hair in the bathroom sink using white towels. Leave food and dirty dishes strewn all over the house.

Our kitchen is very well equipped, lots of plates, glasses, mugs, crockery etc. The majority appreciate it - but there are a lot more arseholes than there used to be. We got asked why don't we have a vegan chopping board? The more you provide the bigger headache it can become - the food processor has a blade missing. The Nespresso machine does not have decaf. Can we put another shower in before they arrive so they don't have to share (already 2 showers). Can we give them a huge discount as they work for the NHS. Complaining they had to wait in for a plumber - called because they flooded the bathroom and then asking said plumber if they could sue him directly. The scatter cushions in the living room don't match the photos online. The garden is muddy. It is outrageous we don't have parking for four cars.

The vast majority are lovely and appreciate it is an ordinary 'home' from home. Some people have ridiculous expectations.

And you can't leave 'nice' things as they get stolen. Someone stole all of our LED lights. Steal cookery books, board games, wooden coat hangers, quirky kitchen items. We are at the seaside so left crab and lobster picks - all stolen the same summer. Stole a lovely outdoor weather gauge/thermometer. Stole the White Company towels.

And these comments about dogs - well don't book a dog friendly cottage then. We are dog friendly - it is clear when you book. Most visitors bring dogs. It is very simple to book somewhere that does not allow dogs.

With all the will in the world you cannot 'eliminate' every speck of dust or stray dog hair from a five bedroomed house during a changeover.

People this precious should not be booking holiday cottages.

We’re paying £1200 for a family of
Four in UK in September so £2000+ doesn’t surprise me, especially at a peak time like Easter.

(I know we can cheaper , and I’d say this was a mid-range price).

We leave places immaculate but I refuse to strip the bed.
This is because usually the cottages we stay in have large beds- super king size that are 6ft. And it's bloody hard work to grapple with the bedding (and 4 pillows) when we've got a journey of 6 to 8 hours to do, so leave by 8am.

It's up to owners to pay the cleaners for enough time to do all of this or employ more of them.

I think some owners need to appreciate guests are on holiday!
We don't want to do everything we do at home.

It's enough to have to self-cater, buy food, grapple with strange ovens etc, take the rubbish out, stack the dishwasher, without having to do every single chore.

I was just wondering if cottage owners ever pursue guests who steal things. I appreciate sometimes it might take a while to discover what's gone and then not know who did it but if someone is nicking all the towels then that's pretty obvious. I know they can deny it but is it worth at least letting them know you know? Are people blacklisted?

So what do you do? Do you pursue them via the small claims court? Or involve the police? Surely you don't just roll over and let it happen?

I agree.

The bed changing came about after Covid.

It works both ways.

One place we'd been loyal to for 20 years started asking for bed changes. This was before Covid.

I did strip the bed, because we had a good relationship with the couple running it- who lived on the site - and was disgusted at the state of the mattress cover- it looked as if it never been changed for months - covered in semen stains. I'd always assumed mattress covers were changed between guests.

We never went back and I was upset as we'd got to know the owner personally over the years.

They had a cleaner, so I couldn't decide if she was told not to change mattress covers or if her standards of hygiene was so low she thought it was acceptable.

maybe I should have raised it with them but I didn't.

I'm not sure why many owners haven't got the deposit scheme that they have abroad. Might be because of the legalities of it all , but if people knew they wouldn't get their 100 pound deposit back because they stole things or broke the shower door and didn't tell anyone or left it really minging , I doubt they would ' accidentally on purpose ' steal the towels.
It was really strict at one place I stayed in Andorra (years ago , admittedly ) , they checked the place over on leaving day for everything and then gave you the deposit back once they knew you had done everything required to leave it clean and tidy hadn't taken any of their things. It really was quite strict. Might be harder to implement something like this here though.

2 things:

If we book a 3 bedroom place between 3 of us we want all the beds making up please!

If we book for 2 weeks can we have either a fresh set of bedding and towels halfway through or a discount please?

I think some owners need to appreciate guests are on holiday!
We don't want to do everything we do at home.

It's enough to have to self-cater, buy food, grapple with strange ovens etc, take the rubbish out, stack the dishwasher, without having to do every single chore.

...but is that not the point of self catering over a hotel?
I know friends who say s/c is not a holiday because they have to shop and buy food and cook....so they go to a hotel!
I prefer it because I like having more space, meal times that suit us, go out for some meals but don't have to eat out every day.

I don't do everything I do at home, less laundry, I don't generally clean the bathroom or hoover on holiday, we eat out 3 or 4 times, but accept that there will still be washing up/emptying bins ....because we're self catering...

It is is not new since Covid to strip the beds.

I have been using holiday cottages for over 30 years. Originally you had to take your own bedding, towels etc and pay for electricity by a £1 coin meter. Even in those days you were asked to leave the cottage clean and tidy. Very rarely was there a dishwasher so it all had to be hand washed

I greatly appreciated when cottages started to provide linen and towels and the electricity was included. This change, calculating back, must be over 20 years ago and there have always been instructions to please strip the beds.

@SnaggingaSalmon
Do you not charge for stolen items?? As I said earlier, we are just leaving a lovely home today. Husband broke a wine glass this morning (we were asked not to put in dishwasher so broke washing up). I have eailed owner to tell her and offered to pay!

Also re dogs - I generally avoid ut we booked somewhere erlier this year as it was perfect (taking whole family and position) nd it was perfect - so sign of dogs. Better than Sykes one who didn't say and then was dog dirt in garden!

We choose self catering because we like more space- bedrooms, a lounge, a garden, so we can come and go when we want and not have to sit in a bedroom or a bar/cafe, and because I've some food intolerances so eating out is harder.

My point is that having used self catering for 40 years, owners have got tighter with their expectations of what guests do.

I'm 100% happy to leave it clean. We clear away all the dishes, make sure there is nothing left in the fridge like a stray lettuce leaf, and the loos are clean. We've even hoovered the hallway if we've accidentally brought mud in.

TBH when we leave, it's as clean and tidy as when we arrive.

Putting the rubbish out is a pain because there is no uniformity over recycling in the UK but we do it.

But stripping beds is just too much.

Sorry to disagree but it clearly depends where you have stayed.

I've been using self catering for 40 years.

Stripping beds was sometimes asked, and yes, not everywhere had a dishwasher.

The cottages we use a lot now never asked for bed stripping until Covid and it's now become the norm. They do say 'If you have time we'd appreciate it'.

Well, getting up at 6am to leave by 8am for a a long drive home, it's a big ask especially when the costs are over £1K for a 2-bed cottage.

I’m the same as @PrettyPinkShoes in that I leave a place clean and tidy, ie kitchen surfaces wiped over, fridge emptied, towels chucked all together in bath, stuff put away, dishwasher on. However, I don’t strip the bed either, but will leave it made.

I think this is a relatively new expectation. I see it in mn posts about hosting, when people complain their guests leave without stripping the bed. Shock, horror! I wouldn't expect my guests to strip the bed (or cook, do a grocery shop, take me out for meals etc). They’re my guest, not lodgers. The concept and expectations of hosting has definitely changed over the years.

@PrettyPinkShoes

Always been asked to strip the bed but then never paid £1K for a 2 bed property so must be the cottages I've stayed in