Holiday cottage welcome pack

[kennycat]

I realise im
sounding massively spoilt but I’m really disappointed with my holiday cottage.

the main thing that annoyed me from the outset was the welcome pack, or lack theereof.
There was a little packet with
2 teabags
2 coffee sachets
4 uht milk sticks
2 sugar sachets
4 lotus biscuits

not even a pint of actual milk in the fridge.

what would you expect as a minimum? I’ve never had this small amount if
aruff. I was rather hoping for at least a small bottle of wine and/or a little pack of supermarket own biscuits.

am I being a spoilt brat?

ih and the internet is utterly hopeless, the telly needs reboot g on an hourly basis and the oven is at least 30 years old. It’s not as wide as a frozen pizza!!

You really aren't supposed to leave wine in holiday cottages. Some local authorities are really cracking down on it as it can fall foul of licensing laws if its expected as part of the package.

I don’t expect anything to be honest but things I really appreciate are toilet rolls, washing up liquid, a new wash up sponge, and good instructions for things like heating, bins, etc. So not so much of a welcome but practical, though I would imagine self caterers know they need to provide their own boring basics. Everything else is going to be to personal taste, so can just create waste.

I would expect as a bare minimum, a jar of coffee/ tea, bags,cooking oil, salt and pepper and loo roll. The rest I bring but it’s always nice if there is milk.

The company we use in the UK - their owners tend to leave as standard: tea, coffee pods, milk, butter, cheese, savoury biscuits, sweet biscuits, jam, chutney, home baked scones, bread.

Also well stocked with dishwasher tablets and loo roll (usually enough of both for the week) and they leave little hotel size toiletries in the bathroom too.

Oh, and a vase of flowers!

The last Air BnB we stayed in didn’t list any extras. So we packed the milk, the oil etc only to receive a text asking what milk we wanted etc. All very nice but pointless when we are on our way and have packed!

I expect nothing and with people having various food preferences/diets, there would be lots of items spoilt.

I prefer having dishwasher tablets, good handsoap, some basic things like kitchen roll, foil,baking parchement and lots of crockery and cutlery.

In my family/friendship group I have vegans, vegetarians, lactose intolerance, gluten free, diabetic and non-drinker. So milk, bread, biscuits, wine, jams etc would often be left and it would be a waste.

Haven't seen a welcome pack for years. Even in France where they always used to leave wine and homemade jam I don't seem to get anything now. I would be a bit annoyed by the tv and wifi but these things often seem to be quite rubbish in a holiday cottage unless you've paid for high end.

Nice! Can you send me a link to your cottage?😅

prefer having dishwasher tablets, good handsoap, some basic things like kitchen roll, foil,baking parchement and lots of crockery and cutlery.

Yes, I think this is more useful. Like I said in a previous post, we arrived very late on a Saturday and was good to have some food for breakfast next morning. However there was no washing up liquid, cloths, dishwasher tablets etc. (Luckily there was loo roll - we have been to places too stingy to provide that!)
We bought all that stuff in the supermarket the next day, only to go to the resort office on Monday where they sold a cleaning pack with a few consumables for €10, way less than what we spent on whole packs of things.

We are in a holiday cottage at the moment and one of the welcome packs includes dishwasher tablets.
There isn’t a dishwasher here! 😂

The last holiday cottage I stayed in there was a lovely huge homemade cake and flowers. Sadly it didn’t go anywhere near making up for the fact the cottage was a dirty shit hole that we ended up leaving after 3 nights!

I don’t really care about welcome packs I would rather bring all consumables and arrive at a clean place that vaguely resembles the photos on the website.

Really? Didn’t know that.
im
just a bit disappointed really. I mean if all four of us had travelled for a really long time to get here and we couldnt all even have a cup of tea it’s a bit pants to only have 2 teabags and 2coffee sachets. 😩

I was pulxx sc not even call this a cheap holiday compared to others I’ve been on.

also discovered no soap, washing up liquid , dishwasher tabs or bin bags.

hopefu The day improves from here on.

We have holiday accommodation. Over the years our welcome packs have evolved. I don't automatically include milk any more as the majority of people would not use it. I now ask in my pre arrival email to let me know if guests would like milk and if there are any dietary requirements, as I would change items to suit. 99% of do not request milk or advise any requirements.

So my standard welcome pack includes a variety of tea bags, coffee, hot chocolate, coffee pods, local waffles & crisps. Plus loo rolls, oil, salt & pepper.

Unless the owner has an alcohol license they are not allowed to leave alcohol.

We went to a ‘Luxury lodge’ recently. There was nothing, but you could pre- order a welcome pack from a local company. Other places we’ve had meat/cheese platter, wine, milk, etc. It does vary.

At least you could bake yourself a hot drink on arrival. I guess with the cost of living, this is one area where hosts can cut down on.

Holiday cottages don't have breadmakers. 😅

I strongly agree with this!

This clearly isn’t France where you often have to pay extra for bed linen ( yes…really ) and make sure you ask about if beforehand. Also in France bring your own toilet roll…. Honestly though , we’ve rarely come across much being left in holiday cottages and we don’t stay in very cheap ones either 🤷‍♀️

What a waste to leave sonething that will spoil before the next guests if it's not sonething they use.
So, we have binned food kindly left for us before, because it's not something we use (and it's been mentioned several times already).
Waste isn't a great thing either.

God this reminds me of the last place we stayed where there was a pack of fruit cake from a local shop. It had obviously been laid out for the last few families, of whom none had eaten it, but must have picked it up and put it to one side then put it back on the table when they left (as we did). The poor thing was so squashed and battered looking even if I'd liked fruit cake I wouldn't have eaten it!

Hope you found some more ☕🍵 and enjoy your holiday OP 😊

I don't expect anything. I bring everything I need and am pleased if some extras are supplied.

I prefer just a good supply of cleaning products if they want me to keep the place clean.

Milk, butter and biscuits etc are a huge waste as we don't eat them. I'd rather not pay for this as part of the package.

I expect nothing and am delighted with anything. My favourites have been a few local treats and a pint of milk.

Last one I went to left a generous amount:

Wine
Coffee capsules
Pint milk
Tea/coffee/sugar and lots of basics like salt/pepper/gravy granules etc.
Freshly baked cookies
Dog treats
Lots of dishwasher tablets/full washing up liquid/washing power/cleaning stuff all well stocked in cupboard/cleaning cloths etc.

The coffee capsules were good otherwise we wouldn't have been able to use their coffee machine but the rest...as we didn't know it would be there and we bought our own stuff/had it delivered.

What it lacked was enough loo roll (we had to go out and buy that - never had to do that before and it was a PITA as Devon...). It was also irritating that they left only 3 sets of towels for a place with 3 double beds (there were only three of us but we got no discount for it being half occupied (also paid full height of summer rates so £££) - again, never had that before). I would much rather have had enough loo roll for the week (especially as there were only 3 of us!) than wine/cookies/dog treats.