How would you leave a self-catering house?

[Littlechickenhead]

For transparency, I manage a holiday let (it’s not my house, it belongs to a company) and I’m trying to work out if I’m being unreasonable in applying an additional cleaning charge for some guests. I’m relatively new to doing this so still finding my way.

I’ve regularly stayed in SC over the years and I would always strip beds and leave sheets in a pile next to towels in the bathroom, wipe down surfaces, get rid of food, put the dishwasher on, put the rubbish out etc.

The guests left a mountain of 15 open bin bags in the garden which had nappies, food containers, general rubbish, food waste. Despite instructions, they’d left all the food waste outside so foxes got at it which meant I had to spend 30 mins litter picking all around the house. One bin was completely full of bottles and too heavy to lift. The oven is going to require a professional clean, the fridge and freezer were filthy, there were spills of food/drink everywhere (floors and furniture), blood on the sheets and mattress protectors and dirty dishes in the sink. The cleaning company were (rightly, imo) pissed off. They’re extremely conscientious and do a fantastic job.

The same family have booked in again for next year.

I am tempted to chalk the last one up as experience but ask the agent to apply an additional cleaning charge for their next stay.

Is this really how families expect to leave a holiday let? Or am I being a bit precious and if you pay then you should be allowed to leave it how you want? The thing that keeps nagging at me is that they surely wouldn’t have left their own home like that.

Wash up and put away any kitchenware, wipe kitchen counters and hob, empty the bins, follow any instructions about towels and bedding, leave the place tidy. I wouldn't do any deep cleaning or hoovering (unless we'd happened to make a serious mess somehow).

Dishes in dishwasher and dishwasher switched on. Recycling bins used properly but not transferred to outside bins. Rubbiah transferred to outside bin as required during holiday but not on last day. Fridge emptied, counters cleaned and any spills dealt with. If blood for whatever reason got on bedding yes I would have stripped and put in washing. Am assuming there would have been spares for them to put on. Apart from that I'm not doing anything else - I'm on holiday. It is clear however your waste disposal services don't meet the needs of a full house so these need increased. Unless of course its being run as Airbnb where LA uplifts normally apply whereas a commercial business will have a licenced uplift eg nappy disposal bin.

I would charge them extra for the time you had to spend cleaning up the rubbish bags and the oven.

And not accept future bookings from them.

Of course people don’t usually leave holiday lets in filthy conditions.

I think it does depend somewhat on what the instructions say, how expensive the place is and if a cleaning fee is charged. Are the bin instructions clear?

If we book through AirBnB there's usually a cleaning fee automatically added to the bill so I wouldn't clean but would tidy and strip beds. In any other circumstance I would tidy, plump cushions etc, strip beds, maybe run the hoover around and make sure there's no toothpaste on the basin or dishes in the sink. I'd never leave bin bags anywhere other than where they should be

Sorry no, I absolutely wouldn't be bothered texting for someone to come collect excess waste. Again, I'm paying a small fortune to be on holiday and for appropriate facilities to be in place.

I’ve managed holiday lets for 15 years - this is what the security deposit is for OP.

High end of the market guests don’t expect to strip beds, clean etc - that’s what the final clean is for. But they are expected to put rubbish out etc.

But to be honest - people not bothering to think about foxes re bins and leaving loads of bottles is not abnormal.

If it were me I’d notify that company that owns it that they were bad guests, send them the bill for the clean up and let them decide if they want to cancel the booking. Depending on the platform you can’t always cancel without penalty.

I don’t strip beds but I wipe surfaces, wipe out the fridge and put rubbish in the bin and recycling in the recycling bin. I don’t hoover either. I leave it tidy . I wouldn’t let the house to those people again and deduct their security deposit for cleaning.

15 bags of rubbish in a week?

Absolute refuse to have them again. I'm assuming they paid a deposit? KEEP IT!

As for SC, I would not strip beds, but I would ensure all washing up is done, put away and kitchen/bathroom cleaned. And no shitty nappies left all over the garden... some people are just gross.

Oh, and recycling sorted out too.

Presumably they don’t get their deposit back though if left in such a state?

They still produce rubbish at home and there's still foxes (and stray cats and dogs) in urban environments.

I don't believe a multigenerational family who've rented a holiday property really have no experience of the basics of dealing with bins properly.

I own a holiday cottage and they wouldn't be coming back ! I don't expect it to be left cleaned but i do expect it to be left tidy, we don't ask guests to strip the beds but we do ask for dirty towels to be left in the bath but some people are truly disgusting

I’d sort the rubbish and put in the appropriate place ( skip , bottle bin etc )
Towels in the bath , I don’t strip beds , just check I haven’t left my nightie there
The dishwasher stacked and running
Kitchen sides wiped down , floors swept or quickly hoovered

I’d cancel that family for next year , and let them know why

I do what's asked but would expect to leave it tidy and with washing up put away, bins emptied and beds stripped. I'd run the vacuum round. We normally stay in quite small lodges so it's not a burden.
A large/ expensive place I would leave tidy but expect their cleaners to clean through to their required standard. I'd report exceptional stains or accidents such as when one of the DC had a nosebleed over the bedding.
OP you should unbook those guests.

They were disgusting.
I always leave a place clean and tidy. I wouldn't hoover but would sweep up anything dropped, wash plates , wipe down surfaces etc. I put towels in the bath but don't strip sheets.

I look after holiday lets and we do ask that guests leave the place as they found it. This doesn’t mean that they have to deep clean it but at least have the decency to leave it clean and tidy. There’s no way I’d be accepting that booking again, awful people. How bloody rude and disrespectful to leave someone else’s house looking like that.

Then again we have found that people seem to think that because they’re paying to stay somewhere they can treat it as they like. Bloody filthy, mess left, dog paw prints on white bedding, dog mess in the garden, washing up in the sink, bins full of rubbish and not put outside. Bit grubby really. Yes we’re there to clean the holiday let but don’t take the piss you scummy lot.

Oh and thanks to those that do have the decency to clear up after themselves. Very nice of you to hoover, although obviously we’re going to have to do it ourselves anyway. Although I do have to wonder why some people take the time to hoover an entire house but not take five minutes to strip the beds. We can have twenty beds to strip in a day and that wouldn’t half save us some time.

And my personal bugbear is arriving to find a full dishwasher. Sometimes still going. We have to stop it, empty it and wipe and dry it all and put it all away. When we’ve got six houses to do between the hours of 10am and 4pm, all these extra jobs take us a lot of time whereas it would take you ten minutes to wash up before you go home. I wish the owners would stop asking people to put the dishwasher on before they go. But that’s just me.

As an Airbnb super host I ask guests not to strip beds because they always transfer hairs to the duvets, run the dishwasher because they always leave something out and I like to ensure each booking has all the cutlery/glasses/china in there freshly washed and never clean anything, the majority of our damage is the use of incorrect cleaning products.
Recycle correctly and empty the bin and I'm happy!

I would make sure rubbish was put in the appropriate bins.

I would leave the house tidy, with all cutlery and crockery washed and put away.

I would deal with any exceptional incidents occuring such as bed wetting/period leakage/spillages/excess mess from a party etc.

Apart from that I consider it part of the rental price (and cleaning fee) to deal with bed stripping/hoovering/routine cleaning and dusting etc.

I always clean from top to bottom when I leave a house sometimes I leave a thank you gift for the hosts...

I always like really clear instructions on how to leave the house. If they aren't there then I'll do what I think needs doing:
Strip beds
Take rubbish out
Clean surfaces and showers
Clean and spillages
I wouldn't usually mop and vacuum unless we'd made an obvious mess.

They sound like entitled, disrespectful dicks and I would definitely cancel their future booking.

And tell them why too!

As we found it in terms of tidiness. Wouldn’t expect to clean though as there’s usually a cleaning fee included.

Don't you have it in the contract how the place should be left? And what the penalty is for not complying.

Most places I have stayed in want the dishwasher run, the bins emptied (to the correct place) and the fridge emptied.

I wouldn't strip beds (unless asked) but I would wipe everything over and sweep, and try to leave the place looking as near as possible to the way I found it. Towels folded in the bath, Fridge, bins and dishwasher emptied.

I think YABU about the blood on the sheet though. Periods happen and so do leaks.