To ask why people do this when staying in holiday cottages

[TellerTuesday]

I look after and clean a holiday cottage for a family friend.

I'm having to take an early lunch at the minute while I wait for a friend to come and help me because - for reasons known only to themselves - the guests that have left this morning decided that the massive set of double drawers would be better on the next floor up.

You honestly would not believe how often something like this happens! It's ridiculous!

Once, I walked in to find the dining table and 4 chairs missing from the kitchen, they'd been moved up a tight set of stairs (with a turn) and plonked in the middle of the living room.

Please, please, please if you're staying in a holiday cottage, leave the furniture where you find it.

And if you really can't bear the current arrangement and insist on moving things around..... put them back before you leave!

I moved furniture last month for the first time ever. All the sofas and chairs were against the walls in a large room. We made a nice conversational group around the fire( we were in the North) and kept warm. Put it back though.

I've just stopped renting mine out, I didn't even break even this year.

I had a Russian couple move the dining chairs into the bedroom, take paintings off the walls and install mosquito nets throughout the house. They then refused to leave saying they'd give me the nets as payment for extra time!

The last guest put paper drawer liners over.....the paper drawer liners.

We stay in holiday cottages regularly, and I get really annoyed when every single one of the kitchen cupboards is full of random kitchen equipment / crockery / pans etc, and there is not a single empty cupboard to put food in. I definitely reorganise the junk in the cupboards to create space for the food, as I absolutely hate having to have tins, boxes, jars and cereals on the sides… And I don’t put it back how I found it, as it hopefully will save the next visitors some hassle.

Sorry, I forgot I posted this after rushing around all afternoon.

I totally appreciate anyone needing to move anything for children / infants, although it is preferable if you then put it back when you leave.

Check in at 3pm, check out by 10am so fairly standard and not linked to time constraints.

Take on board what people are saying about some cottages not being set up for the number of guests.... totally not the case here. It sleeps 4 (one double, two singles), table with 4 chairs in the kitchen, two seater sofa and two armchairs in the living room.

It's never anything that makes sense for storage etc. Today for example, the chest of drawers (massive sideboard with 8 deep drawers) was taken from the double room, up a flight of stairs and left in between two single beds, the drawers wouldn't even be able to be opened. The room with the single beds already has a wardrobe with two drawers underneath and two bedside tables with a drawer and cupboard underneath.

A couple of weeks ago a bedside chair from the top bedroom, taken down 3 flights of stairs (cottage over 4 floors) and left next to the front door when there's 4 chairs already in the kitchen.

It's also not a pattern of things that are moved. I honestly think people just do it for shits and giggles but I find it extremely weird.

Obviously it's not often large pieces of furniture but it happens far more often than you would think. Usually random things such as a vase of artificial flowers moved from the living room and left in the bathroom. It's just weird and really fucking annoying!

Kids. Have so often had to move items that are really unsafe. We normally put them back tbf!

Are you joking? That is incredibly rude if it is true.

Oh god I hate it when the holiday accommodation just has enough spaces for one person to sit on one piece of furniture in the relaxing area 😂
at home we are pretty much 2 people to each 4 seater sofa, we are sprawlers!
a relative has a holiday house which she offers to us when it’s quiet and we always very politely decline, it’s so uncomfortable! One very small two seater sofa (almost a very wide armchair) and 2 actual armchairs plus a wooden chair to sit on in the front room. Just puts us off so much 😂 we want to relax and be comfortable!!
However this isn’t a dig at you op, we wouldn’t book because we are already a family of 5 but rest assured when we do move furniture we put it back!
some friends and I rented an air BnB a few months ago and didn’t look carefully enough at the photos, it said it slept 5 (which it did) however there was one 3 seater sofa in the living room and that was it 😭 plenty of empty space too, it was so bizarre and we left a review to say so.

"Today for example, the chest of drawers (massive sideboard with 8 deep drawers) was taken from the double room, up a flight of stairs and left in between two single beds, the drawers wouldn't even be able to be opened."
@TellerTuesday Sounds like they were splitting a room for arguing kids/teens. (Should've put it back, though. )

Moving a bed against a wall could be for a child or disabled adult at risk of falls. Frustrating it wasn't moved back, but that does make some sense.

The vase probably needed moving off the table to somewhere out of child reach and the was forgotten about.

Kitchen cabinets are usually a disorganised mess with no space for food. They do get reorganised. I'm looking at you, people with mugs miles from the kettle.

I once stayed in a holiday cottage which must have been owned by someone with an interesting taste in interior decor. It was full of Buddhas and skulls. It was also cold and felt damp. I moved the scary stuff to face the walls (and tbh, forgot to move them back).

We stayed at a holiday cottage this year with extended family. It slept 8 and there was adequate room for everyone to sleep and sit, including an outdoor dining table and indoors, but the kitchen was tiny and a sort of walkway to a living room and bedroom as well as having the back door in it, it was crowded with 2 people in it and there was always someone passing to go in or out of the living room.
There wouldn't be a quick fix to it, the whole layout needed re-jigging but it was a bit annoying

Your dad is either a legend (if the door needed painting and he did a good job) or he's an absolute idiot if he did a poor job.

That's absolutely bonkers lol

This thread is wild. Who is moving lamps around and bits of furniture in and air BnB?! You know it never occured to me to do anything like this, like the thought hasn't even crossed my mind.

There is ample dedicated cupboard space for guest’s food so no need to make space. There is even a pantry with multiple shelves they can use. Space really isn’t an issue here!

We moved a sofa in a hotel room as the aircon unit was on the wall like a radiator and the sofa was pushed against it. The room wasn't cooling as the cold air was blowing into the back of the sofa. We pushed the sofa against the wardrobe as we were only there two nights and didn't need to use it.

We were on the train to the next hotel when I remembered we'd forgotten to put the sofa back 😊

OP if it's a large piece of furniture that requires time or extra help to move back tell the owner you need to charge X more and they will charge the guest with an explanation which will hopefully prevent them from moving furniture in the future.

We stayed in a lovely place in Cornwall years ago and during the first night our two girls decided to move their bedroom around. They were in their early teens and I've no idea why they decided to do that. We let them keep the furniture like that for the week but made them move the furniture back to how it was before we checked out.

I can imagine it must be annoying to have to move furniture back onto another floor. It must have been more useful to them in the new place, I do think they need to return the furniture to its original place before they leave.

Good grief OP - I've rented many many places and always leave them tidy and clean, stayed in an airbnb only two weeks ago and eve though instructed by the owner to leave towels in the shower I felt bad and it was rude to just chuck their towels in there. One Airbnb we stayed at earlier in the year actually left us a review stating that was left untouched. For heavens sake what is wrong with people? I always leave everything in order and even do the bin and recycling if that is possible, I do not expect others to clear up my mess.

@niadainud

Thankfully, he did a good job, sanded it down, removed the door handle, two coats of paint and replaced the handle!
He wasn't very good at sitting doing nothing!
So, if you ever rent a cottage on the edge of the Forest of Dean, have a look at the doors!

I am an expert in stacking twin beds safely in tiny static caravan bedrooms to make room for a travel cot, as the windows are always at accessible height from the bed with no locks. Always put them back though.

We moved the bed round in an apartment in Croatia so we could see the sea. The owner came in during our stay and I felt so guilty. She was fine and we moved it back but people who don't....why?

Yanbu
It's bad mannered.
It's not their stuff, so they should bloody well leave it alone.
They are only guests!

I have a holiday let and no one's ever moved anything significant I'm glad to say but I once lived there which probably makes a difference to how functional it is.

Paying guests.

I think I've only ever moved a chair and a vase in an air bnb / any holiday cottage. We moved the chair around but still at the same table- we wanted to be opposite- and also moved a vase to use said table but put it back before we left. I can understand if people move stuff for some reasons but think it's a bit cheeky not to put it back if it's properly migrated.

My parents have a second home. It's never been rented out but they did let the same couple, their friends, use it each year on an agreement. The wife of the couple used to go in and put her own ornaments out every time and wouldn't put them away again when they left. My mum used to spend the first day of her holiday putting it all away. My parents got fed up after after a few years and stopped them.