Holiday lets and cleaning

We have stayed in pet friendly properties with our late dog and not ever had a problem.
However our own holiday let is strictly pet free as I would hate to think of dogs n bedding or furniture, we also try to consider people with allergies.

We've been renting holiday cottages for about 18 years with my DS and GCs. We've had varying standards of cleanliness, one of the big problems being properties which have had dogs in them so we now only do pet-free.
I've never done a huge clean when we left. The usual things get done in the week, surfaces wiped, floors swept or hoovered when the children drop crumbs/food/etc. But just what you would do at home.
Some places have asked for beds to be stripped, some haven't. We always take out rubbish and start the dishwasher. I have never paid extra for cleaning. I have had refunds from holiday companies because the cottage was inadequate in some way.

The first time we stayed in a holiday let was about 20 years ago .In Cornwall .
The day before we left i cleaned the ruddy place from top down washed floors etc .On the norning we left I stripped the beds and put the used bedding in the bath .It looked fine to em and I'm a bit fussy .
The owner refused to give us our depiosit back! Said that a throw she had put over the settee was "crumpled and would need cleaned" I was fizzing .If the throw hadn't been meant for use why was it there.After a couple of phone calls where she was very rude I spoke to a friend who's a lawyer ,HE said let it go it would cost more than the deposit to fight it.He reckoned she did this every time,probably hadn't set foot in the place after we left .
It left a very bad taste

At our holiday let, in the guest information folder, we politely ask that guests leave the apartment neat and tidy and the vast majority do look after it beautifully.

I never pull my fridge out when I’m cleaning, who does that?

Certainly not me, nor the washing machine and cooker neither, but I’m quite sure a few Kim and Aggies will pop on and say how they do this weekly, if not daily!

?

My friend closed her holiday let down after several dreadful guests and the straw that broke the camel's back was a guest giving her a bad review because there was 'rubbish behind the fridge'. Turned out to be a scrunched up sheet of kitchen towel.
I never pull my fridge out when I'm cleaning, who does that!

I shared this thread with my daughter who runs a holiday let and she was horrified at some of the stories. She does her own cleaning and her place is immaculate. It takes her about four hours to do a changeover, more if the beds need to be reconfigured, but nothing is too much trouble for her. She even bakes a cake and provides fresh flowers. Apart from taking the rubbish and recycling out, she does not expect guests to clean, but she sometimes is unhappy to find guests have left their dirty washing up and a load of empty pizza boxes.

Where we live cleaners for holiday cottage changeovers are in very short supply. There are constant pleas on Facebook offering up to £150, obviously from absentee owners. No wonder guests are being asked to do more cleaning themselves! And no wonder owners can’t get people to do the cleaning -or serve in the shops and restaurants - when there is nowhere for such people to live due to the proliferation of holiday homes.

Well, we are off on a cabin cruiser on the Broads over Easter; children and grandchildren. Grandchildren are both a few weeks off their 12th and 15th birthdays respectively, so in many ways count as adults. It will be intersting to see how we get the boat clean at the end of the week.

As handover is 9.00am we will be back in the yard on Thursday night, blitz blitz the boat and pack most of our belongs in the car, have a take way supper and on Friday breakfast will probably be the neighbouring McDonalds after handover.

We have rented many properties over the years and have learnt which companies to use. Some are not clean at the start to my standards especially if they have allowed guests to bring pets. A lovely cottage in Kirby Lonsdale with beautiful views was ok except for a rug on the lounge being full of dog hairs...revolting. We don't rent anywhere that takes pets now. We always clean thoroughly before we leave. Thankfully going to a hotel for Easter.

why not try premier inn; check in is from 3pm, and check out 12 noon.
they are good value and known for their cleanliness and comfort.
they've also guaranteed to interview any ex P&O people looking for work.

The reason I prefer hotels is that arrival and leaving times are often negotiable if you pay a bit extra. This has certainly been my experience in London but have not been since covid. Most are quite happy for you to park your bags and go out shopping,

Standards and expectations have changed over the years.
I have gone to cottages with messages in the toilet, pants and pads for incontinence, and a wardrobe full of the previous occupant's clothes. On arrival after a lengthy journey been told we were double booked and had to stay at a friend's cottage. I have had to clean bathrooms and toilets before the children would use them and it was a given you washed all the cutlery and crockery before using, no dishwashers.
We have left without staying when a place stank of drains and the window propped open with a huge wasps nest.
We now pay premium prices and expect a certain level of comfort and cleanliness on arrival.
I do think it is all down to the owner if their cleaners are not paid properly you get a list of what you are expected to do before leaving, which amounts to quite a lot of the cleaner's work.
I object I am there for a holiday not to do someone's Spring cleaning. We leave the place neat and tidy, bedding in black bags, rubbish in bins, toilet neat and clean.
Some owners are lovely we have had welcome baskets and homemade cakes etc.
I do object if the owner lives nearby their dogs coming and salivating and licking you every time you set foot on the patio, or nearly get themselves knocked down when you are reversing out of your allotted parking space.
If you pay a premium as we all are doing at the moment you expect a premium level of cleanliness and comfort then most are willing to leave it as they found it.

Dylis - Most cottages now expect you to arrive after 4pm and leave before 10am which to me is the first day of your holiday.

As Dylis says, this is getting to the point were you lose half a day of your holiday.

We are going to a wedding in the summer and are staying overnight for one night one the way down as it is a long trip. We cannot get into our room until 4pm and have to be out by 10 the following morning. Personally, I think 4pm is unreasonably late. We will end up walking the streets for three or four hours waiting to get into our accommodation

The accommodation has no reception so it is basically bedrooms in a large house with a key pad access (I assume). It is also not cheap.

Is this thorough cleaning expectation a new thing? I have been on self catering holidays since I was a teenager and have never had such a list of conditions re. cleaning.

I would always leave the place tidy, pots washed, etc. etc - as other have said, but surely the actual cleaning is the cleaners job.

I'd never do laundry, this must surely go to a professional laundry for hygiene purposes?

Sago

We ask guests to strip the beds and empty the bins and dishwasher before leaving.
I dont expect anyone to clean.
Not had any problems so far??

That's what I'd expect of a holiday let, well done for being reasonable.

Our last holiday let was £2000 a week for a modest 3 bedroom house in Norfolk that slept 6. Entry time was after 5pm, exit time 9am to allow for "Covid standard deep clean" At those prices I will leave the property clean and tidy, and strip beds, but no I'm not washing floors or deep cleaning bathrooms. What do they need an 8 hour turnaround for if I'm expected to have given a professional standard clean? Nobody needs 8 hours to put fresh linen on 1 double and 4 single beds, and lay out towels.
Given that we now know Covid is almost entirely spread by aerosols not contact with surfaces can we expect a revision in the t&c attached to holiday lets?

We ask guests to strip the beds and empty the bins and dishwasher before leaving.
I dont expect anyone to clean.
Not had any problems so far??

Many years ago when the children were young we rented a holiday cottage. When we arrived it was so dirty we only stayed long enough to contact the owner for a refund. We spent the week very expensively in hotels.

I think that in very popular holiday areas, at height of season, there simply aren't enough staff to clean all the houses properly. The 2 I have described were such places.
I think part of it is the clear honesty - which is the main point that biglouis was making.
Had I been told 'We expect you to clean the house thoroughly from top to bottom and leave it ready for the next guests' at least I would have been prepared!

We rarely use Hotels, we go self catering and when we leave we do a surface clean of kitchen and bathroom, strip beds and put used bedding into the bath along with used towels and leave the place clean and tidy. We put the dishwasher on as we leave and take the bin bags out with us.
I’m not cleaning showers, baths and hoovering before we leave at 10am.
The cleaners have from 10am until 4pm to clean and as they say they will ‘cleanse’ everything due to Covid, what’s the point?

There's a cottage where we stay regularly each year. We always vacuum before leaving, strip the beds and remove the towels from the bathroom. As much of that as we can we put in the washing machine and set it going. We leave the rest beside the machine.

Sometimes friend or family come for a few days and leave before us. I always wash their bedding and towels when they leave.

But there are no bands of cleaners. The place is run by a friendly family and I'm happy to ease their workload by doing things that cost me little in time and effort.

The only time we rented a self catering apartment was some years ago in Italy. A very nicely done up apartment with a swimming pool (It was a freezing Easter so that didn't get used!) I met the owner one morning, she was a Contessa and a relative of Pope John XXIIIrd and apologised for the weather.

All the floors were tiled so no problem giving them a quick sweep. When we left we stripped the beds, threw out the rubbish and made sure the bathroom and kitchen were as we found them. No complaints from either side.

I've rented a few holiday lets in the past, I think of late there haven't been stipulations about cleaning, although of course we leave it clean and tidy and strip the beds, put the dishwasher on with dirty plates etc. but it's quite clear from the time lapse between the exit and the new arrivals that's when it's turned around and cleaned properly. The last holiday let we rented in Laugharne in Wales last summer which was perfect and immaculate on our arrival and certainly no stipulations as to clients cleaning the place.

Back in time though I think I remember on occasions that was stated and quite honestly depending on the journey home there wasn't always time to do that thoroughly, I think it's unreasonable to expect that from the outgoing party the place needs to be cleaned to a professional standard for whoever is coming in.

Many years ago we rented a cottage in Devon through a holiday company and the owners left a load of their personal effects, including food. They left a note saying something along the lines of "you can have a tea bag when you arrive but please don't help yourself to anything else" Bloody cheek their food shouldn't have been there. Neither had the place been cleaned. I complained to their managing agents with the comments," this would be okay if they were charging mates rates to friends, but it's a commercial enterprise and they are expecting a rent to reflect that, as such they should have cleared their cupboards and personal items". I was very annoyed with the agents for not ensuring it met the standards they advertised and the owners for wanting their cake and eating it!

This interests me - more folk agree with me than I thought might!
M0nica - if I had a friend with a holiday let who gave me mates' rates, then indeed I would expect to clean very thoroughly; but on the whole that isn't what this thread is about. It's not even really about tidying up, emptying bins and washing dishes. It's about letters who charge a lot of money and expect you to do your own cleaning.
They do sort of have you over a barrel - they never seem to say 'This house will cost you £3,000 for the week, but that doesn't include cleaning, please pay another £100 for that!".
I should add that the only lets I have been in were large family ones!

I take the point of those who would rather stay in a hotel, but I love to shop and cook and choose wine & beer, and hotels seem sterile. I have enjoyed a few stays of a couple of nights in a good hotel and it was lovely, but wouldn't like to stay longer.

This is quite relevant for me: arthritis and other health problems mean our camping days are numbered. We can still happily manage, but know it won't be long before we are deciding about other types of holiday.