Holiday cottages for two people

I have stayed in bigger cottages and used more than one bedroom. If you pay for it you're entitled to use it. We usually book through Welcome cottages. Bedrooms have never been locked.

That's disgraceful, what about if you choose to sleep separately, which I often choose to do as OH snores. If there's a sizeable discount for only making one bedroom available then that's fine otherwise you have paid for three bedrooms and that is what you should get. No, it has never happened to me. We always go for a bigger place than we need as we like it to be at least as good as our own home.

Yes! but not the same.

Many years ago we booked a holiday cottage in Devon, when we arrived the cupboards were packed full of the owners food, fine if they were letting it to friends for mates rates, but they weren't, it was through an agency as a commercial proposition and as such the cupboards should have been cleared of all their foodstuff. To add insult to injury they left a note in the kitchen saying we could have a couple of tea bags when we arrived but after that "please don't help yourselves to any of our food" I complained to the agency we booked through pointing out that if the owners wanted the rate they were charging, they should de personalise their property, they had other personal effects around the place it was as if they'd just cleared off for a week!

We only used one of eight bedrooms in Italy once and had a discount.
I think some properties do charge more for more rooms.

Judy, did your 3 bed make up all 3 rooms when you complained?

Yes NotSpaghetti they did. Just to confirm this was when booking direct with the Owners. Now we use a cottage company and have never experienced that problem with them.

We like to sleep in separate rooms due to DH snoring. We always tell them there will be three of us so they make up two beds, the cost is the same.

Still on the theme of holiday cottages, can anyone tell me why owners have seemingly stopped leaving any 'welcome packs' of any kind?

We've visited two in recent months and with the last one, there wasn't even a teabag left, never mind a cake or bottle of something.

One friend has said that apparently it's just an expense owners can do without as demand is currently so high for coattges in the country & they don't ned to do this. However conversely, the costs of renting these places has really increased.

I understand the 'covid restrictions' but if they are leaving everything else out, why have they stopped doing this? It just seems a bit mean to be honest. I always used to look forward to seeing what we'd been left as a welcome gift. (wink)

You're right Judy54. When someone rents a house or cottage they should have access to the entire property unless stated otherwise. I used to make up every bed in our 6 bedroom farmhouse even if there were only a couple of guests staying, and I used to strip every bed and wash the linen afterwards even if it were unused. We also emptied the cupboards of any food left behind by previous guests. No one wants other people's greasy bottles of olive oil or half a jar of jam.
Our guests booked with us direct. We advertised in The Lady.
foxie48 is right to say that most people on holiday want something at least as good a they have at home.

We let out our converted outbuildings, one slept 10 the other just 2. We always left tea, coffee, milk, sugar, freshly baked scones, cream, jam, strawberries and a bottle of wine. We also left 2 loo rolls per wc, kitchen roll, cleaning products, clean cloth and scourer, 2 tea towels, bin bags, we also left fresh bottles of shower gel, this latter was for our own purpose as we found that people who used soap always left a gungy mess of leftover soap and it discoloured the grout so we would tried to encourage with some good quality gel.
When we moved to France and had gites we left pain au chocolat, croissants and local fruit instead of scones.
We also always left a vase of home grown flowers, usually sweet peas.
I think if people are trying to save the costs after pandemic losses they would be better providing a nice welcome pack and adding the cost to the weekly charge, better for business.

I think it’s definitely better for business LauraN. We return to the same place in Cornwall each year and the owners go over and above with hospitality and freebies. Can’t many can be claimed as expenses? If a cottage is clean and welcoming with extras I think it is more likely that it will be treated with care by those who rent it. The owners we rent from don’t struggle to fill vacancies for most of the year (in non Covid times).

We are usually only two, but frequently use a second bedroom as a dressing and storage for luggage room.

The holiday cottage company we book with told me that we’ve paid for the cottage and should be able to use as many beds as we wish. But to be sure I have to mention requiring beds to be made up in both rooms every time I ring ahead to owners to give time of arrival. It’s irritating. And I’m unimpressed with the owners who express their annoyance at having to change two beds! You know who you are in Harlech, and Dumfries.

We rented a 1 bed cottage in Yorkshire last month. Lovely location, clean, well stocked with all you need plus a welcome pack including wine, cake, tea, coffee and milk.
We shall going back later in the year.

Yes, worked out years ago that they only leave welcome packs sufficient for booked guests so I always say that the maximum guests are to be expected. That way you get extra towels too, if they are needed.

My DD cleans the holiday cottage near where she lives so spare a thought for the "housekeepers" please before you start using all the facilities, more than you need. How greedy and selfish you sound.

Strange comment Grammaretto. How is your DD paid, by the hour, or for cleaning the whole cottage, whatever the state it is in, or number of beds used?

But if people are not getting a discount for being 2 for a 3 bed- then they are perfectly entitled to using all the facilities. This is what they paid for, not greedy at all.

I’m pleased to say I’ve never had that problem Judy54, but then I’m usually booking big houses for the whole extended family. When it’s just the two of us we book a friend’s 3 bedroomed cottage and use 2 of the bedrooms.

We always strip the beds we’ve used and do a thorough clean before we leave. I know we don’t have to, but it’s ingrained - and one particular owner was so pleased with the way we’d cleaned his house that we got a discount on the following year’s holiday. ?

I haven’t used rental properties for years as for just the 2 of us they are too expensive
But if you have paid for 3 bedrooms you are perfectly entitled to use any amount you want to
As for the cleaning afterwards in these days of Covid it would make no difference they all should be cleaned and sanitised regardless of wether they had been used or not
It is certainly not greedy or selfish to use what you have paid usually a large amount of money for

Most booking forms ask you to list the names of the people staying. Do you invent extra guests on paper Daisymae and if the owner greets you what do you say to them on arrival? Just curious.
Grammaretto is your daughter not paid the same rate for cleaning the house regardless of the number of occupants? You can have 6 very clean guests or 2 very dirty guests and you never know until you enter the property to clean.

crossed post rosie. I agree.

We use holiday cottages when holidaying in the U.K. because we take our dog.

I book and pay for a cottage - not part of a cottage, which I expect to find at an excellent level of cleanliness and standard.

Neither do I clean the cottage before I leave

The owners and it seems cleaners are taking the pee.

I think really that you must have been unlucky. We usually trot off for a break every 6 weeks apart from the depths of winter, and have honestly never come across this issue.

Northumberland is our next break, and we have booked a whole cottage??, not one minus no use of a sitting room or bedroom. When you think of it, it is nonsense.

The renters were totally out of order.

I was just about to ask to book your smaller outbuilding LauraN…shame you moved to France!

Yes, this happened to us a few years ago. We booked the holiday cottage which had three 'double' ensuite bedrooms. When we arrived the host showed us to our allocated bedroom which was tiny! With hardly any space around the bed to walk, a very small window and a low, sloping ceiling it was really claustrophobic. After the host left us alone I explored only to find all the other bedrooms locked; we had booked the whole cottage too! We won't be going there again.