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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Dear holiday cottage owners

356 replies

SylHellais · 06/05/2021 23:20

We’re in one, and I felt the need to post a note to all holiday cottage owners as the following issues appear to be inherent.

  • for the love of god, just buy a whole set of matching cutlery, plates and glasses. They are not expensive and it’s massively annoying to see a cupboard full of random glasses and bits of crockery you don’t want in your own house.
  • sharpen your fucking knives.
  • buy a set of three non stick saucepans and two non stock frying pans, one small and one large. They don’t have to be expensive.
  • when women wash their hair, they need an additional bath towel.
  • a plug socket, near a mirror. Thank you please.
  • bin bags. And tell guests which bin is for what.
  • can you please fix all the small things like the seal around the wood burner which fills the cottage with smoke, or the pedal bin which doesn’t pedal, or the radiator which is stuck on full chat because the valve is broken, or the oven which is impossible to work out how to operate.

Your guests will thank you.

OP posts:
FurrySlipperBoots · 07/05/2021 07:46

Have a kitchen sieve! We nearly always end up buying one on holiday.

If you 'provide towels' they need to be proper big towels that actually go round a person's whole body, not just one thigh.

If you say you're pet friendly there should be a way to let dog in and out and keep them contained in a room/s that just have hard flooring. Even if you don't mind about the paw prints on the carpet it makes me feel guilty! You also need to make it really clear if you don't have a natural grass garden - my dog won't relieve herself on gravel, paving or plastic grass.

Just because you own the home and live next door doesn't mean you should feel free to let yourself in while guests are staying in it! We had one holiday where the owner walked in on me taking a nap to shut my bedroom window!! She kept coming in the garden when we were out there sunbathing to pick apples off 'her' tree too! We're paying you to have the private use of the space, now back off!

For the love of God git rid of those floral patterned high back winged armchairs that used to belong to great, great, great Aunt Maud (and smell like it too!) I get you have a tight budget, but a decent modern second hand 3 piece suite or a cheapo Ikea setup is always preferable!

Make sure the fridge is clean. Time and again we arrive to find a skanky fridge waiting.

We need more teatowels!

Be honest in the descriptions and the photos - don't try to hid the fact that the 'rolling fields' behind the house are turned over to a huge campsite, or that the cottage is situated right on a main road - it's better to be upfront and not end up with dismayed guests!

FurrySlipperBoots · 07/05/2021 07:49

Ooo, also, please have a pedal bin rather than one you have to press the lid of (who invented those anyway?!) - I don't want to have to keep washing my hands!!

SpiderinaWingMirror · 07/05/2021 07:57

I'm staying in a serviced apartment at the moment. On my own, glorious. Just discovered that the dinner plates are too large for the dishwasher. Stop the spinny thing going round. Batteries are dead in the remote control for the telly.
However, I am all alone so dont care!

cakefanatic · 07/05/2021 07:58

Yeah I’ve genuinely not had any of these issues in the holiday cottages I’ve rented. Maybe the sharp knives thing. The mismatching plates and crockery is just a bit like home for us. Frying pans are always a bit pants but manageable.

We normally book through the same small-medium sized rental agency, specialising in mid-high range cottages. Cottages kitted out to a similar spec and we know what to expect. Some of the bigger sites have cottages that I would reject just based on the photos alone.

We do cook in the cottage but it’s usually basic stuff. For fancy food we enjoy the local restaurants, or save the 3 course dinner until we get home.

Wildswimming3 · 07/05/2021 08:04

Please don't leave the last guests old food in the cupboards, if you don't want to throw it away you eat it!

BIoodyStupidJohnson · 07/05/2021 08:10

@SpiderinaWingMirror

I'm staying in a serviced apartment at the moment. On my own, glorious. Just discovered that the dinner plates are too large for the dishwasher. Stop the spinny thing going round. Batteries are dead in the remote control for the telly. However, I am all alone so dont care!
Oh this is so annoying

Have you tried turning the plates round so that they sit at more of an inclined angle against the prongs?

Or sometimes you can adjust the height of the upper tray to give more height on the lower one.

BiddyPop · 07/05/2021 08:13

Agree about knives needing sharpening.
Lack of corkscrew, tin opener or bottle,opener (usually at least 1, occasionally all 3)
No wine glasses or just thimbles of glasses, and tiny cups and saucers - lots of egg cups but no mugs.
1 serving dish between 4/6 people.
No chopping board or oven gloves or tea towels.
No extra pillows - 1 per bed/person. Usually no spare blanket either and it can be cold a lot.
Tiny pots.

We don't eat at home every night but we do self cater partly because we prefer to cook at a relaxed pace and not have to go out. So we want a reasonable kitchen.

I now have a box I bring with me, many of the items having been bought in various sc trips as not in the house, of things that we bring with us...from silicon oven mitts to a wash up brings a squeeze bottle of warship liquid, a bag with dishwasher tablets for. Week and washing powder for 3 washes, sharp knives, tin opener, corkscrew, wooden spoon, spatula....

And I have a collection of mugs from buying 1 or 2 in most sc holidays...

And we bring things like extra towels etc regularly if we are in this country or driving by ferry.

Summerfun54321 · 07/05/2021 08:24

Definitely agree the last place I went on holiday I swore I wouldn’t return as the kitchen was so poorly stocked. Everything was half broken or missing or inadequate.

crossstitchingnana · 07/05/2021 08:34

Crikey some of you have very high standards!

Honeycombskl · 07/05/2021 08:41

I've just let my wee place out on airbnb. It was my wee home before I moved in with my partner so I love it and it is full of things that mean a lot to me, like artwork or photography done my now-gone family members. Now I'm terrified of things going missing after reading the things on here from others letting their places out. I also bought in big really cosy expensive towels because I love comfy fluffy towels so thought guests would appreciate them but now I'm scared of them getting ruined or taken. I'm letting it out for very cheap so couldn't afford to keep replacing things if that happens.

Snally82 · 07/05/2021 08:41

Dear guests.

Please don’t break things without letting us know. A full inventory of every item after you check out and before the next guest is impossible.

Please don’t take things home.

Please don’t lose pieces of games provided.

Please check that you have left nothing behind, even if you no longer want your holiday inflatables, they are yours, not ours to dispose of.

Please don’t use our carefully written instructions or handbooks as notepaper, or a colouring book.

Please don’t check out late as you think we won’t notice, the turnaround time is summer is so tricky to manage.

Please don’t drink red wine on our sheets, or let’s children eat or drink things in bed that you wouldn’t at home. Also, please bring a waterproof sheet if you child wets the bed.

Please don’t stock up your home using our supplies of cleaning products and toilet roll.

Please don’t leave your hot hair tools on our furniture, you wouldn’t do it at home.

Please only park outside your accommodation, we get the calls from the neighbours.

Please don’t complain about lack of phone signal when you have chosen a location in a forest.

Most of us do try to very hard but it works both ways.

Thank you

weareallpassengers · 07/05/2021 08:46

@Dogmum40

We own a lodge on a holiday park and I’m forever buying teaspoons , is there a black market for them? Do people et them ? I have absolutely no idea why happens to them but I must get through 10 - 15 a year, every year!!

Luckily everything else matches and there’s full sets of everything but as an owner the teaspoon things drives me insane 🤣

I think I have them..I have a set plus a load of random. .I don't know where they came from!
NoBetterthanSheShouldBe · 07/05/2021 08:46

This thread has reminded me to pack my hair turban (off to YHA shortly) best buy last year!

Woodswoman · 07/05/2021 08:47

@Hyppogriff

And why only one or no tea towels ?!! And a snivelling amount of kitchen roll / loo roll ? And never enough dishwasher tabs if there is a dishwasher ?!
We tried leaving the whole pack of dishwasher tabs, multipack of loo roll, etc in our holiday let, but it surprised us how often these things disappeared with the guests. Guests do some odd things!
Ivebeeninlockdowntoolong · 07/05/2021 08:49

Really good thread. From all the responses so far I can see it from both sides. I think I will book a hotel for my next holiday :)

Frenchfancy · 07/05/2021 08:50

Dear Guests

Please do not use our knives as screwdrivers

Please do not put your nail vanish remover bottle on our furniture

Please take of your make-up with remover pads not our white towels

Please do not leave your left overs in the fridge, no-one wants the half portion of leftover mash or the half eaten cake.

I could go on.

(My knives are sharp, my plates match, we leave 3 towels per guest and a box full of dishwasher tablets!!)

borntobequiet · 07/05/2021 08:58

I pack a little knife sharpener like this, also mini salt and pepper grinders and a small cafetière.

Dear holiday cottage owners
Dogmum40 · 07/05/2021 09:04

I’ve definitely learnt a lot about people owning a holiday let, one guest gave me an extremely bad review as it was on a holiday park (the advert obviously stated this) one guest dyed her hair postbox red and used our white flurry bath sheets to rinse her hair and covered the bathroom with red splashes, one guest stole the sofa cushions and wall clock and yes teaspoons regularly wander off! But on the plus side I’ve had lovely guests that come back time and time again and now I consider friends! Yes I have to replace crockery, cutlery, glassware and pans every flippin year but on the whole it’s lovely meeting people from different backgrounds .. did I tell you all I regularly lose teaspoons 🤣🤣🤣

borntobequiet · 07/05/2021 09:05

Anyone who missed the link posted above by @tcjotm missed a treat

There have been scientific studies done about teaspoon disappearances
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1322240/

midsomermurderess · 07/05/2021 09:05

And no leather sofas.

Howshouldibehave · 07/05/2021 09:07

I have agreed with most of these over the years! We do seats go self-catering, so I tend to pack a sharp knife, a couple of towelling hair turbans, dishwasher/washing machine tablets and two tea towels!

A full length mirror in the bathroom or hall would be great as well. We often go away with other families and there’s always one in the main bedroom but not in any other which is annoying for the couple NOT in the master bedroom.

If there’s several couples or families sharing, having a key in a security lock thing by the door is so much more useful than one set of keys.

Notcrackersyet · 07/05/2021 09:10

@Honeycombskl

I've just let my wee place out on airbnb. It was my wee home before I moved in with my partner so I love it and it is full of things that mean a lot to me, like artwork or photography done my now-gone family members. Now I'm terrified of things going missing after reading the things on here from others letting their places out. I also bought in big really cosy expensive towels because I love comfy fluffy towels so thought guests would appreciate them but now I'm scared of them getting ruined or taken. I'm letting it out for very cheap so couldn't afford to keep replacing things if that happens.
Don’t let your place out cheap. Charge what it’s worth and people will take care of it. In 18 years of renting my ski flat I can count the number of issues I have had on one hand. And none of them were catastrophic.
Dogmum40 · 07/05/2021 09:11

[quote borntobequiet]Anyone who missed the link posted above by @tcjotm missed a treat

There have been scientific studies done about teaspoon disappearances
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1322240/[/quote]
🤣🤣🤣 I love that there’s been a study on teaspoons! I thought there was a black market for them

NotGenerationAlpha · 07/05/2021 09:11

I've never heard women needs a second bath towel to wash hair. Maybe I am not actually a woman Hmm

bishbashbosh99 · 07/05/2021 09:13

Grin jeez, you guys