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 on cleaning, stripping beds, bins etc. I'm not paying what they all charge and then spending my holiday cleaning. TBF none of them have ever complained even when they asked us to stop beds and we didn't. I'll leave it tidy and we'll have cleaned up spills etc, but it will be in need of it's weekly clean.

I find the listings OK though.

My real bugbear is places with a long list of rules or labels with rules.

We run a holiday cottage. It takes us six hours to clean it to the standard we're happy with and so arrival and departure times reflect that.

Visitors either need to leave the place clean, accept the arrival and departure times or comprise on cleanliness. They're all linked. If you want to leave at midday and not clean before you go then there isn't enough time to prepare it to a high standard for the next guests if they're arriving the same day.

If we get through the cleaning earlier or can do it the day before, we always let people know they can arrive early. We also provide a floor plan. 🙂

As someone who lets out holiday accommodation, you’d be amazed at all the various individual and often esoteric things which customers feed back that they’d like to have known / seen / been given information on - and the reality is that you can’t include it all, else the listing would be pages long (and then people would complain that the information was too long and difficult to read.) I do include the floor plan, and I’m always happy to answer questions about the layout and facilities.

When renting other people’s holiday accommodation, I find per-person and per room surcharges grating. I recently went away with three friends to a four bedroom cottage. We were all planning to each have our own bedrooms but the owner wanted to charge extra because they’d initially assumed that four people = two couples = two beds slept in, and argued that using four beds would create more laundry. Second time it’s happened. I am paying the posted price for the use of the whole property, not parts of it.

I have sometimes seen floorplans for larger houses. Most of the time it isn't necessary. If the layout is non-standard eg involves going through one bedroom to get to another, or if the only bathroom is off a bedroom then they should say so (and almost always do) Ditto number and size of beds in each room.

Agree that clear pictures of the bathroom are helpful but you do sound quite picky. I just want to be sure there is a proper shower and that's usually clear enough. The size of the shower and whether there is also and attachment would not be dealbreakers.

I own an airbnb house but it is fully managed by a professional host. There is the usual 6 hours or so between check out and check in, but if people ask for early check in then we can usually give it. It's not that it takes all those hours to clean the house (it is only a 2 bed) but there is just one cleaner doing multiple houses, often on the same day, often at quite short notice. It would be very tricky to manage with a very short window.

Surely you can see that they need time to clean and reorganise and replace and generally check everything before the next guests, that's just basic common sense.

I was baffled recently by the 6 bed house that we rented for 4 nights recently. Loads of room, pretty well equipped kitchen. But only one tea towel! Why???

Many of these places are in rural areas, so the 10AM-4PM changeover period gives rural cleaners plenty of time to drive between cottages, and also time for maintainence to call in for anything urgent that can't wait.

Advertised as having WiFi but it barely works.
Shit uncomfortable sofa that belonged to their Gran.
Teeny tiny cups. Supply decent mugs, please
No instructions for any of the appliances or TV
Heating that barely heats the place
Horrible quality nasty feeling bedding
Rubbish shower that delivers a trickle of water
Stupidly early check out
No mention of the next door loud building work, or that it's on a busy road (actual address not available before booking therefore unable to see on google maps)
Not enough kitchen implements and crap blunt knives

I stayed in a place that had helpful kitchen basics; foil, cling film, oil, salt and pepper...but you were expected to replace the item if it was finished e.g. if the Olive oil ran out you needed to buy a new bottle. So understandably a lot of items had barely anything in them but weren't quite empty . The nearest shop was a 20 minutes drive away.

I also once booked a 2 bed flat for me and a friend to find the second room had no bedding and was asked to pay extra as they had wrongly assumed that 2 people meant one bedroom.

@TheStroppyFeminist Ive just looked at the details for my house that’s a holiday let through a small agent in our village.

We don’t have a floor plan but we do have a clear description as to what is on each floor. In many older properties you don’t get showers with rain heads and hand held. Mine has 4 bathrooms with 1 bath plus a hand held attachment and 3 en suite showers with 2 handhelds as well as overhead. These are not cheap showers! Neither are they massive showers but we have not had complaints!

Checking out. I’m afraid it’s a shortage of cleaners. We do get beds made and have ultra high standards. With check out days being Friday or Saturday, staff are rushed off their feet! We provide a food starter pack and regulate temperature in the house. We make sure it’s beautifully presented for all guests. We ask that’s it’s left neat and tidy and appreciate no rubbish. Guests have to pass our bin area to leave the property so taking out rubbish I don’t see as a big deal.

I think the photos are accurate and the agent knows the house well. So I’d use a smaller agency and ask about details you are unsure about. We find we cannot list all our extras and hopefully guests like what they find.

YANBU. The last place we stayed in offered late checkout (1pm rather than 10am) for an additional £40. We were happy to pay it. It was a third of the room rate for an extra night but meant we could get up late and have a nice brunch, and still plenty of time to leave the place in a decent condition. Check-in was quite late though (5pm) but that didn't bother us at all as we were arriving late evening.

I own a holiday home lettings agency in the Highlands. We have flexible check in/out times. Don't expect guests to strip beds etc because they are on holiday. I want my guests to relax and enjoy themselves. Floor plans is a good point, will implement them.

You are being somewhat unreasonable, I used to manage a holiday let and those times are so the cleaners can get in and clean, they have lots of properties to get round on Fridays and the place I worked at was huge, I do think 4pm is quite late though for most properties but no matter what time you give someone will always turn up earlier and expect to get in.

The one I managed did have a floor plan, I think some booking sites require it.
we never asked anyone to strip beds etc but we did ask that they took out the bins (wasn’t bothered either way on the last bin though) and stuck all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

We're going away next weekend with friends, and I'm planning on taking with me a number of essentials from the kitchen at home - a saucepan large enough to cook pasta for six, a large baking tin, my knife sharpener, Italian coffee pot , possibly more. We'll be in the middle of nowhere and we all like to cook.

But my main gripe is that for a house which takes four people, you get four of every item of crockery, etc. Why not eight? We end up running the dishwasher half empty.

Also I really don't mind doing things like emptying bins and taking rubbish out so long as it's fairly easy. Big bin just outside the property, fine. Trekking down 3 flights of stairs and across a busy lane - less fine, especially because I've got two small children underfoot while I'm trying to clean up and get us out.

@TheStroppyFeminist
Landmark Trust provide floorplans.

As a carer, the floor plan is a real want. Would make choosing a property so much easier.

So many 'cottages' say disabled access but forget steps / narrow doorways etc.

Another no no is shingle drives as they are impossible to push a wheel chair over.

I did some holiday let cleaning over the Summer hols, most money I've ever earned per hour! Definitely agree about cleaners having to do multiple properties and needing the time. One day I had 1x5 bed and 1x2 bed properties to do in a 5 hour window, that doesn't leave much wiggle room!

I find self catering pnn my aces in France more demanding than the UK. In the uk, as long as beds are made, plates in dishwater (switched on), and the place is reasonably tidy, you’re good to go. In France, they want the place cleaned and tidied.

Tea towels are a bug-bear of mine. always take my oldest and scruffiest and usually end up leaving them there.

Just booked a lodge. . On receipt of the payment, got a really useful leaflet availed back, detailing the usual contact details , local sights, etc. but also what would be in the cottage in terms of Washing up
liquid etc.

But makes it really difficult for people to get up, have breakfast,
pack, and clean the house.

Crap tin opener and not enough loo roll

Sorry, my comment was just a general whinge!

There are only so many self catering accommodation cleaners, and a house or a flat takes a lot more cleaning than a hotel room. So a six hour 'rest' period allows a cleaner to do two properties.

I agree that some airbnb requests are OTT, but otherwise I think that the check in and out times are reasonable. I've just come back from a holiday somewhere very popular with self caterers,and I found myself wondering how these agencies or owners find enough cleaners! Especially since half the population is holiday makers, so there won't be that many locals to clean all those houses!

Thankfully all the properties were left in a good condition.
When I stay somewhere I usually strip the beds, and always make sure I've washed-up and sorted recycling. I draw the line at hoovering though!