How can we recover bookings after a very poor holiday let review?

[holidaylethelp]

Any advice very welcome and am prepared to be flamed! We have a holiday let in Norfolk near Cromer, quite a long way from where we live. We have always loved it there and put everything we had into buying a small holiday let about 3 years ago. We got a agent and cleaner and it is rented out for about half the year, in quiet times we go and let family and friends use the house. Our cleaner has always been a little hit and miss, at the start of the summer the feedback we had was good mostly 5 star reviews, but as the summer has gone on we have had some really negative feedback saying that the kitchen and bathroom were dirty. We offered compensation and spoke to the cleaner - the guests were happy. We told the agent we wanted to get a different cleaning company and they said they would start looking for alternatives. We have now had an absolutely dire review from the next guest posted on the booking website, saying items in the house were broken and it was very dirty. The agent is annoyed as they contacted the guests on the day they arrived to see if everything was alright but they did not respond. My wife went to see the house today and it was dirty and items in the house had been broken - for example broken scissors, dvd's snapped in two - of course items do get broken and we expect that but we would never leave broken items in the house and always replace items and never charge the guest for breakages, Sometimes guests hide damage (probably thinking we would charge them) and we do not have the chance to replace the item quickly. This guest of course has a right to complain, holiday time is very precious and I am upset that their stay was not perfect. We have sacked the cleaning company, but I am so sad that we put so much into the property, have had many happy guests, and now no one will rent the house going forward because of this awful review. Any ideas how to approach this?

I don’t see how you can improve it when you don’t live near enough to check it properly after every single stay. Relying on a third party to manage it is always risky with these sorts of lets unless the third party works to consistently high standards.

I live in a touristy area and two of my friends have beautiful stone built holiday cottages that are on their small holding farms that they let out all year long. Both of my friends are seriously OCD about cleanliness and used to get 9.9 ratings on Booking.com as they spend changeover day cleaning and washing, so they’re rarely available to meet up with me on those days. These days all their bookings are repeat customers or word of mouth so they don’t need to advertise.

Did you read my post? I do my own cleaning, I run my own business. I was pointing out that cleaning isn't minimum wage in tourist areas.

Snippy responses even when it's totally unwarranted.

Around here it's minimum wage. Nobody wants to do it.

How do you know what the guests paid??
Holiday lets aren't particularly cheap and of course guests should expect basic cleanliness and functioning amenities. It's hardly entitled behaviour to expect such! And if the OP hasn't made a mistake here, who has??

I guess the employment provided by letting agents and cleaning companies in these areas is totally lost on you.

But I agree the owners should be spending more time there and therefore spending in the local economy. We have a holiday place, on a holiday park so not taking property from any locals, and do make an effort to spend in local independent places.

Be careful the cleaning company are not relying on the previous occupants to do most of the cleaning for them.
And how long are the actual cleaners given to do this property before doing another ?
Communicate your standards clearly to the company.
To add, they will realise you live far away. Do some odd unannounced visits from time to time before let’s turn up. It will keep them on their toes if they realise you will do that.

Until last year we had a holiday let that was also nowhere near where we lived, agree with everyone else about answering reviews and explaining. We got a cleaner separate to the management company and met them and sort of informally interviewed them and also made regular trips there ourselves to keep an eye on things. Getting the right cleaning team is key as they also let you know when things are broken/need replacing etc.

Don't say this - there should have been no onous put on them to contact you, it should have been clean. It sounds defensive and that the renters are partially to blame. Accept the issue 100% and set out what you have done so this will not happen again

I once had to put a bad review on a website (multiple issues including being unable to get in at 10pm with kids in car and owner wouldn’t answer phone… entire window unit fell out in my hand… it was BAD. The owner replied and said I had devastated them, offered £200 compensation (I had soent £3700) then delisted it.
im sure they’ve just started again on another site.
I no longer trust the holiday rentals sites we have had a number of issues.

Pretty sure the short term renters spend money locally all the time.

Out of interest - how long does the cleaner have to tur the property round and what are they paid for that time?

Trying to manage a remote business is very difficult. You are basically at the mercy of strangers who know that you live far away. I think you either become more hands on yourselves, or just let it out for smaller revenue to friends and family.

You could always manage it yourself instead of getting other people to do the work while you take the profit.

I agree with those who would like you to sell up and let a local person have a year round home.

As for reviews, a factual reply. So many reviews have a hidden agenda such as seeking a partial refund that I am cautious in believing any.

We go on holiday every year to north Norfolk. I don't know which agency you use, but if it's one that somebody from Cambridge might associate with 'Gonville', we've rented through them several times. We've found them normally very pleasant and helpful, but we rented through them once - granted a number of years ago now - and their reaction was so disappointing when we reported issues, chiefly mould in the main rooms when we had a newborn with us. To be fair, they may well have upped their game since then; we've had no causes for complaint since, so impossible to say for certain one way or the other how they react now when things go wrong.

I agree with PP that it would be worth getting a trusted neighbour/local on-board (maybe even an older teenager, if they're responsible) and asking them to check the place now and again if they're available on a Saturday - ideally after the cleaner has left and before the new guests arrive, or during a period when you don't have any lets - for a pair of independent eyes to check on things. Obviously make it worth their while.

I'd also mention to the cleaners/agency that a neighbour often looks in for you, in case that helps to keep them on their toes a bit; although they must surely realise that keeping the place properly clean, popular and booked up is better for their ongoing business?!

As OP has already said, there is no profit to talk of. Usually, people rent their holiday homes out on the open market when they aren't using them themselves to help break even in affording them.

It also helps to keep the property regularly occupied with people who will contribute to the local economy, rather than leaving it empty - which would also attract criticism from the people who hate anybody with a second home (regardless of where it is located and if the area is unaffordable for locals to buy homes or well sustainable for everybody to reside there happily together).

Haha good idea. Me too OP. I love north Norfolk.

I have a holiday let so I know how disappointing a negative review can be, and sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth. You have two options (1) respond positively to the review stating the actions that have been implemented or (2) if your hol let is a house number, you can add a name and relist as a new offering (ie 8 sandy lane, gets called ‘rose cottage, 8 sandy lane).
however you will lose all your listing and review history. I would opt for (1) unless you really need a clean record.

I think you need to go frequently to check the standard and do deep cleans yourself. The cleaner from the agency may have two or three cleans to do in a day and will want to be in and out as quickly as possible.

Could you leave a card in the house with your email address/phone number asking guests to report damage/problems straight to you? We run a holiday let but do all the cleans ourselves and it's immaculate. As soon as a guest reports something is damaged it's replaced immediately.

It may give a few locals periodic employment but owning additional property (or properties) for short-term rental is undeniably pretty unethical. It removes housing for local people, drives up existing rents and disrupts communities.

it might not affect you personally but it’s a real consequence for lots of people. Many major cities are looking to curtail or ban it because it’s causing so much displacement and economic impact.

ETA you owning a specific holiday property on a holiday site is not the same of course. But the additional employment in an area does not outweigh the damage done by people letting out physical property like OP.

I expect cleanliness wherever I stay, whatever it costs, cheap shouldn’t mean dirty!

I would be personally inspecting the property between each booking and probably cleaning it myself!

DM me. I will send you details of my daughter’s place.

DM me. i will send you details of my daughter’s place.