Do you really want fluffy towels and new linens? What are your limits with country holiday lets?

[cottageinthecountry]

I'm about to renovate a cottage for letting out for holidays. It's in a very rural position and can withstand a lot of wear and tear regarding mud and wildlife. I'm letting it out on Airbnb which has been great but I'm quickly getting drawn into the competitive linen game.

It's a great place for children and pets to charge about in the mud and I'm almost certain this will be brought into the house on a regular basis - it's rural position is its charm. But how do I market something so that people don't expect it to be spotless as a spa resort and give me bad ratings and disgruntled reviews?

I would be grateful if you could tell me what you prefer - a bit of mud and insect life or a spotless haven? What are your boundaries?

[dilyspricelakers]

I ordered fabulous towels from cottonvale.co.uk with my holiday cottage name embroidered on tgem

[cottageinthecountry]

Hellymelly you're too late, the guest hot washed them!

Bumbling, I agree with no cleaning. Pointless to do extra really, that's what you pay for. Disagree about baking though, a good rainy day activity.

I have reduced numbers to 6-8 and changed the price but it's still relatively cheap (and cheerful). We are in discussion with the planning people about change of use, conservation, listed buildings consent etc so one room is on hold until we have more info from the council.

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

Agrre with you, bumbling!

[bumblingbovine49]

Also do people really leave cottages in the same state of cleanliness that they find them in? Most cottages (in my experience) are cleaned thoroughly between lets and that would usually takes 2-4 hours at least . I certainly wouldn resnet spending that amount of time on my last day of a preciou week of holiday cleaning like that

I am on holiday so a major part of what I am paying for is not to have to do my normal cleaning. When leaving a cottage/holiday let, I clean the kitchen by washing up and tidying away anything we have used, wiping down the kitchen and eating surfaces and sweeping/vacuming the floor in the kitchen and living/eating areas. I also empty the rubbish. That is about it. Dusting and mopping and cleaning bathrooms, wiping sown paintwork, cleaning out cupboards and making beds seems pointless since it will be done again immediately after I leave.

[bumblingbovine49]

Good grief. Some of the comments here are astonishing. I don't rent out any cottages I merely stay in them so have no agenda but I really don't give a moneys if something is not to my taste or if it is a but ugly to me when in a holiday let. I like somewhere I don't have to worry too much about keeping clean (no no really posh linen) and I want to be warm so extra fluffy blankets to put on the duvet re great but I usually bring my own of those anyway

The expectations on this thread are incredible. I think £500 for 10 people for a week is fantastic value and would be very happy to pay that even if there were only 1.5 bathrooms. I go away on a family holiday, I go to see the other parts of the country/other places and to sightsee/go out. The place I am staying in is secondary. For a romantic getaway with dh for a couple of days I would be more fussy about the accommodation as we wouldn't be going out much :).

The thought needing baking stuff baking stuff to make a cake is laughable to me. I cannot imagine anything worse than baking a cake on holiday ( and I quite like baking at home) When on holiday, the worse kitchen equipment i have the better as it is more of an excuse to eat out.

Where I am staying needs to be clean on arrival, not too fussy so I can keep it reasonably clean and not too cold (always a problem in late August in the UK). I would never expect a holiday let to be as comfortable as my home to me. Open/log fires are great but certainly not in any way essential or me.

I only post this to show that there really are some people out there who don't have these amazingly high expectations. I do like a clean bathroom and kitchen but really the odd stay hair when I arrive does not have the same effect it seems to have on the majority of posters here. I will now head off to contemplate how "out if the norm" I seem to be.

I am posting this from a lovely cottage in the lake district at the moment and it is actually one of nicest i have stayed in but what will mark out whether we ever come back is if we like the area and enjoy the place, not the accommodation itself.

[hellymelly]

Stained how? I am good at stains! (vintage clothing dealer). Whatever you do don't hot wash them, as that can fix certain stains.

[cottageinthecountry]

Yay we got a 5* from the first guests!

(who stained two double egyptian cotton high thread count damned expensive sheets and a white towel).

[cottageinthecountry]

Yes, ABlandAndDeadly, it's very different to the usual holiday letting business. We still want to keep it as a second home we can go and escape to so it's going to have a feel of sharing, like other Airbnbs. We are also avoiding passing on the 20% fees that most holiday agencies would charge us.

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

Cottage, my expectations for airbnb are that it's someone's regular home - I don't mind drinking out of different sized glasses etc. I feel differently about a "business" holiday cottage, IYSWIM.

[cottageinthecountry]

Sarcy there is a lot of baking stuff, the oven's good. Food processor is old but there is a new electric whisk.

[cottageinthecountry]

We've got lager glasses (one proper pint glass), shot glasses, wine glasses (some fine ones some not so fine), lots of good squash/water glasses, some childrens cups, chunky mugs, fine mugs, a tea set with saucers.

Made the mistake of buying the cheaper cutlery. Flimsy and won't last. Looked good in the box.

But, forgot the egg cups. Actually I did buy some but they had an accident.

[SarcyMare]

It all depends how much you are charging, if you are aiming for the bottom of the market i am tolerant of a "lived in" feel, if you are going to use my whole budget i want everything sparkling clean and fluffy.

But please properly equip the kitchen fir both price bands, i go on holiday on rainy days we bake.
I also want pint glasses, plastic picnic ones will do.

[cottageinthecountry]

First guests just arrived, have slept well and seem very happy so far. Lovely people, they really appreciated it and saw past the quirks. Glad we went for quality linens (the grandparents were there), we got cheaper ones for the childrens beds and the difference is remarkable. They said it looks much better than in the pictures! Which is true because we have been scrubbing it up for the past fortnight and it looks a lot better. I have added some more photos (also not brilliant).

I take your point about the gushy writing but there is an element of truth in it.

I absolutely take your point about the rubbish bathroom and kitchen pics, that's partly because we have been staying there and it's hard to get a time when everything's clear and DP isn't in there with the polyfilla/paintbrush/spanner.

Hellymelly regarding pricing issues. It's far cheaper than most properties so I need to make it pay for itself by covering with a cleaning fee. I also anticipate lots of weekend and short stays which means more changeovers and therefore more cleaning. I could bump up the total nightly price but I worry that might put people off. The Landmark Trust I see use the sneaky 'from' prefix before their prices, meaning it looks really good value but when you check for that date and week it's not. I do take your point though that perhaps it should be absorbed into the cost, would probably add 15 per night, making 135 per night, 155 per night weekends. An equivalent Landmark Trust property is asking for about 1300 for a week in summer for four people so I am probably pricing about right.

Cost of the work? Most of it was DIY but probably in the region of 9K for all the materials including new kitchen, bathroom, toilet and furniture and bedding, crockery and cutlery etc. It's been years of working holidays though.

[chockbic]

It seems nice and cosy. WiFi is great.

The living room looks quite tired.

Fluffy towels are go. I want to feel pampered even in self catering.

A basket of goodies in the bathroom would be appreciated.

[hellymelly]

Yes, I think once you've stayed in Landmarks it sort of spoils you for everything else!

[Clarinet9]

Agree not sure about adequacy of curtains in the bedrooms, (TBH I am not keen on leather sofas, look places that don't allow pets and kind of like a TV to be there in case I need it, I also like to be able to get them warm in Winter)
The bit about having a 500 year old cottage and wanting to share it really puts me off (might appeal to Americans?)
The thing I question about the pricing is that it really has beds for 6 but can bunk in a couple of extras yet you change extra for them. If I had 8 I would want a place that properly sleeps 8, have you thought about only charging if the extras are over 12 or something?

What I would really like to ask is whether you had the work (bathrooms etc done professionally) and if so whether you would share any costs (even roughly) for the work and perhaps for the fit out, but I do understand if you don't want to

Good luck

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

Err, dunno, it just is! Maybe as owners tend to be more flexible with short bookings, for which cleaning would otherwise be disproportionately high.

Agree with you about loving the landmark trust.

[hellymelly]

Is it? Why do that? Why not include it in the price? I would be really unhappy paying a charge when I always leave a place perfectly clean. Also general cleaning like sheets should be part of the main charge anyway, as it is part of what one is paying for. I feel conned when extra charges are added and it could just be factored in to the price charged surely?

[ABlandAndDeadlyCourtesy]

Cleaning charge is part of the air bnb pricing model though.

[hellymelly]

I didn't notice there was a cleaning charge. I would really resent that. I leave cottages in the state in which I find them for a start. Anything like that should be factored into the main charge for the building. I sometimes rent houses from a company that assumes there are two of you and adds extra accordingly for every extra person. It makes me feel cross and resentful before I even get there. If i am renting a house for 6 then why should I pay extra for each person over two? It is very annoying, the extra charges thing. With a Landmark, you rent the building, and that is it. Simple. As long as you keep within the limit of occupants, and leave the place as you find it, they are happy.

[JohnCusacksWife]

You've done a lot of work but I have to say I probably wouldn't rent it. Firstly, if were staying the UK and going on a cottage holiday we want to be able to take our dog. The garden looks amazing and the bedrooms look great but the living area still looks like a mix of second hand odds and ends with no coherent style. It also looks really dark which also puts me off.

When I'm going on holiday I either want something better than my own home or something massively different like a tent or a houseboat. And no TV would be a no no for us. We love to sit and watch a film when the kids are in bed. I have to say the cleaning fee is also a bit off putting.

[CateBlanket]

Cleaning fee and security deposit??!!

[cottageinthecountry]

Im going to have to do some sewing, put blackout lining on the back of the curtains. The only east facing window is small and i haven't done that yet and the north facong one gets hardly any sunlight. The brightest room faces West but is quite bright all day.

It is very quiet though, only birdsong will wake you.

Bug obsessed :), I think i am really worried that city dwellers won't handle it. And sometimed there are mini plagues depending on what the farmer's doing to the field.