how clean do you leave a self catering holiday property

[Foxylass]

Just that really, how much cleaning do you do on a self catering holiday and how do you leave the property when you go?
Do you expect it is ok to not clean up - cos you've paid....? Or do you do your best to tidy up?

[NotMeNoNo]

We would leave it with pots washed up, floors vaccuumed and reasonably tidy, e.g. spills wiped up. But would expect cleaners to more thoroughly clean the bathroom and kitchen, dust and polish and do beds. Unless cottage instructions are different.

The problem with the dishwasher is presumably there might be a number of cottages for the cleaning team to get round, they will be an hour at most in any particular one.

[Wallywobbles]

Most holiday home have change overs on Saturdays between 10 & 5, occasionally Fridays so cleaners are like hens teeth for those slots.

[KeyserSophie]

Holiday house LL here.

We ask people to empty the bins/ put recycling out and to put the dishwasher on before they go. Ours do have time to empty it.

BBQ cleaned to a reasonable degree (i.e not spotless but not skanky and covered in dried on meat etc)

I'd also expect things like toys and beach stuff to be put back where they were (just in the boxes, not mega tidy)

We ask that they fess to breakages- we dont charge but its just so we know that (eg) the fruit bowl is now history and buy a new one before the next guests

I dont expect them to clean or strip beds (in fact bed strippers are annoying as we use external laundry and it gets bagged by room)

Fridge cleared out is nice but often people leave stuff that is edible and our cleaners always like it- one week someone left 100 quids worth of bbq food- can only assume they meant to have a bbq, got drunk and didnt bother

[Katebushey]

That's not the customers problem though, it's up to the owner or agency to address. It's a service industry which frankly I think does quite well out of most customers goodwill.

I paid £2300 for a week in Cornwall last year for a not very special house, I expect to not have to work around someone else's business model and choices they have made with regards to cleaners.

[KeyserSophie]

I would absolutely not expect our guests to "clean". They're on holiday.

[Katebushey]

Keyser that all is very reasonable. I am still smarting from the A4 folder full of instructions left for me last year. Right down to cleaning the oven, no cleaning materials left, not even more than one loo roll or hand wash.

[Somerville]

This admission will probably get me lynched on this thread. But I want to do cleaning on holiday so little that I tend to choose houses based on who is offering an additional mid-week clean. It's really nice having the cleaners in on a Wednesday so it's all sparking again and clean bedding. Bliss.

[KeyserSophie]

Cleaners won't spend 5 hours doing a changeover, they have other properties to service as well.

Ours do! One does 5 and the other does 3. 4 bed house.

[Blu]

Katebushey: I think staying in holiday houses is different from staying in a hotel. You are self catering and living in somewhere as if it was your home, to some extent.

If you are not happy to wash the breakfast pots, or get breakfast done with in time for the cycle to finish by the time you leave, then make sure you have read the t&c before you rent the place.

Ditto plant watering. If you don't want to do it, rent elsewhere, or stay in a hotel.

It's all in the T&c. Look at the detail, if you don't like it, keep looking.

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

A dishwasher cycle doesn't fit into a 5 hour changeover slot?! Of course it does!

But the cleaner is unlikely to be there for 5 hours, they might well have a number of properties they need to get round, and finding a dishwasher in the middle of a long cycle could throw all their timings out.

That's the only thing I've really taken on board from previous discussions about this topic - I now make sure the dishwasher has been on overnight and that we just do an easy tea and toast breakfast with minimal washing up on the last morning.

I think anyone who does hoovering and mopping is bonkers unless they've been busy traipsing mud through the house all week. Unless there are any other specific instructions I just leave the place presentable (stuff tidy/in the right place, surfaces free of muck) but not cleaned as such.

I do leave tend to leave decent food and drink items tidily in fridge or cupboard as assume these can be saved for next guests or a perk for cleaners.

[whensitmyturn]

We tidy up,
Towels in bath
Clean dishes/kitchen sides/table
Clean the loo
Empty the bins
Brush the kitchen floor

No to stripping the beds or any hoovering/dusting. I'm on holiday.

[Katebushey]

Actually Blu the folder was there when we arrived, not in the T&C when we booked.
Obviously we wouldn't have booked otherwise.
Thank you for clarifying that it's not a hotel, I wondered why no one was answering my calls for room service...

[Nicpem1982]

We leave them as found, I will happily mop etc if we have trapsed mud through but generally we take our shoes off at the door and put slippers on (as we do at home)

we tidy as we go and use bin liners to remove rubbish daily so a quick whizz around before we go is no drama really.

Fridge is cleaned and usually switched off and left ajar and bedding isn't used as I like to take my own same as towels

[TartYvette]

I rent out a holiday property, I expect it to be left tidy rather than clean. I am, after all, going to clean it myself! What I don't want to find is red wine on the sheats, rubbish on rather than in the bin and things like pools of water on the floor. After that everything you do is a bonus. I have had guests leave the place as though they've never been there but really they are on holiday and imo they are paying me to clean. I also hate when I rent a place and am expected to scrub the place before I leave. Respectfully tidy is plenty.

[TartYvette]

Sheets!!! And I don't ever expect the bed to be stripped.

[Stilitzvert]

I empty the fridge, put the towels in the bath, empty the bins and make sure it's tidy with no washing up and I may give the floor a quick sweep but I certainly wouldn't clean it, that's what the cleaners come in to do.

[Mehfruittea]

I take my handheld Dyson with me and always leave dishes done, surfaces wiped etc but I don't do a full clean. I'll bag up rubbish and empty fridge etc. I might leave out a pack of biscuits or something nice we haven't eaten! I don't strip the beds unless asked. I couldn't leave it in a tip!

[Costacoffeeplease]

I look after holiday apartments in the Algarve. We don't expect clients to clean during their stay or before they leave

Our maids go in every 3/4 days to change the towels, beds are changed weekly, and they clean as well. Stripping the beds doesn't really help as then we don't get to see any stains that need to be dealt with

To be honest, even if our maids saw you mop the floor or wipe down the worktops, they'd still do it again as they have their own way of working and their own standards

[RockyBird]

No cleaning unless there's something I've messed, which would be cleaned at the time.

Beds stripped if asked and towels in bath or in washing machine.

Rubbish in bins etc and dishes done.

[CocktailQueen]

Beds stripped, bins out, kitchen tidy, dishes done. I don't hoover.

[SilenceOfThePrams]

Depends what the owners want and what instructions they've left.

We stay in a holiday home let by a charity, it's let at cost, no profit, and it asks you to leave things in a certain way - all used beds strolled and please put the first load of sheets in the machine, and a few other things. Happy to do that to keep the costs down.

We rent a luxury cottage and pay through the nose for it at a different time of year. They just ask that used beds are turned down so they can see which have been used.

In both places I leave the dishwasher running as we are barely finished breakfast before we go. In the first the cleaner is there as we leave, to take the keys, and is always thankful that we've started the washing and emptied the freezer. In the second, we close the door and run, but the owners are always in 30 minutes before the next guests, to light the fire and set the tea things, so if the cleaners didn't have time to empty the didhwasher, I imagine they would do that at the same time.

I am certainly not washing and drying everything by hand whilst also rushing to be out of the door by the time we are usually thinking about getting dressed...

[Efferlunt]

Strip the bed, take the bins out and make sure everything is washed up and put away. That's it no actual cleaning. That's part of what I'm paying for.

My MIL runs a holiday cottage and she never knows what she will find when guests are gone. Most are great but others leave piles of washing up etc which is not on. What really annoys her is people who don't acts as considerately as the would in their own homes. For example she leaves the gill lined with foil and more foil available if it needs changing. However people often chuck the first lot after they have cooked their first batch of sausages and and don't bother to replace for the next lot. This means a weeks worth of minging grease that needs cleaning when this could have been easily prevented

[Doilooklikeatourist]

We have a small (2 bed ) holiday cottage ,
In the T & C we ask that you leave the place tidy
So far so good
We're in our 4th year .
Some people strip beds , don't mind if they don't
We leave dishwasher tabs , fairy liquid , Multi surface spray etc

[PollytheDolly]

Leave it as I found it, or as near as possible