Holiday let, disrespectful guests.

The bad results where lets have been trashed or just not been looked after, is why I would never want to enter any renting market - the state of some houses (and how some people live ) shown on the T.V. programme are heartbreakingly dreadful and beyond comprehension!

No sympathy
You are I assume making a profit?
You are also keeping a property that people could be living in
Again no sympathy

Who on earth goes on holiday and moves the pictures around!!
I always make sure the dishes etc are washed up and out away and vacuum the home - I got an excellent rating the last Airbnb I stayed in

M0nica

If you do not want to clean up and tidy after a stay in a holiday let, then stay in a hotel.

The last holiday let I stayed in they charged a cleaning fee of £150 - too right I am not vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms when I have paid for a full clean

Whilst I fully sympathise with Sago, after the cottage we hired in Wales this year and the state of it I will no longer feel I am a guest I am a customer. I will be treating a holiday cottage as I would a B&B or hotel.
It will be left tidy and everything in the place we found it but I will not be stripping beds and giving a thorough days clean unless it is stated in the hiring requirements and then I will not choose to stay there.
It is my holiday ,the price of these cottages in popular places are becoming extortionate and cost more than a package holiday.
Having said that I do have sympathy for owners like Sago who see the people as guests. We know someone who set up an Air B&B and after the stay of one couple found they had been cleared out of even furniture using a van.

AreWeThereYet

One place we stayed in had a cleaning charge that they said would be taken off the deposit if the place wasn't left clean. I've no idea what they meant by clean - we always wash and put away dishes, clean surfaces, mop up and vacuum spills as we go, put out rubbish and leave everything looking clean when we leave, but we got so paranoid by the constant notices we ended up cleaning the bathroom and kitchen from top to bottom, vacuuming all the way through and double checking everything before we left. We spent the week worrying about breaking anything or staining anything - I don't know why because we haven't done that in any other place. We haven't been back, it was a lovely house but far from a relaxing place to be.

We had this once too.
Could easily have gone back as a fabulous property in a nice spot.

We didn't return.

We must have rented hundreds of holiday cottages over the years and have never damaged anything. We always leave the property clean and tidy, beds stripped, surfaces wiped etc. but wouldn’t hoover unless it was badly needed.
I must admit though paying a housekeeping deposit, on top of an already hefty rental charge, has always annoyed me.
After reading about the outrageous behaviour of some guests on here though I will certainly be more sympathetic to the owners situation in future.

👍
Unfortunately there's often one bad apple, but the other reviews you've had will override that.

Joseann

TerriBull

People who walk off with items such as bath towels, kitchen equipment etc. are thieving, and they know it! The holiday lets we've had, hold a deposit against breakages or damage. People who make off with the owners' property should have that money forfeited.

This.

Sadly we can’t prove a thing, we called in to the property to read the meters as the cleaners were preparing it for the guests from hell and everything was in its place.
Guests will just deny having taken anything.

I’m over it now, I read through the visitors book at all the lovely comments from the other lovely respectful guests and that made me feel better!

I refuse to put stickers on items or signs everywhere, I hate that in a holiday let, we just have to hope we don’t get any more bad guests.

Here’s one of our lovely reviews;

If an owner asks for the person's credit card number you can take a payment for damages. We did so twice, explained why in an email, and those renting didn't even query it.

TerriBull

People who walk off with items such as bath towels, kitchen equipment etc. are thieving, and they know it! The holiday lets we've had, hold a deposit against breakages or damage. People who make off with the owners' property should have that money forfeited.

This.

We have always stripped beds, wiped tops, left everything tidy and certainly cleaned any areas where there has been a spillage - DS, when small, would invariably slop drinks around in the kitchen. However, I would not expect to vacuum and dust. If cleaners are at a premium, then the owner should do this.

Doodledog

I agree, but how could the owner prove anything?

Very difficult, unless there is an inspection before leaving. The cost of that is prohibitive, so losses have to be accepted. But it is a huge shame, and utterly shameful.

We had a lovely holiday in a beautiful farmhouse in Tiverton this year, it was so well stocked and comfortable, we loved it. We left it clean and tidy, stripped the beds as asked and left in good time. We met the cleaners going to the house )they’d for a quick turnaround which we’d known about) and spoke to them. We had a lovely message about how grateful they were about how we’d left the place. It didn’t take long at all. Mind you we paid £300 cleaning costs as part of the price!

No idea! DD Apart from blacklisting them, I imagine they could deny everything.

Recently a couple were caught on CCTV walking out of a hotel with bags bulging with many of the contents of the room. When the hotelier released the footage on FB she was visited by the police who advised that this was causing the former guests distress

I agree, but how could the owner prove anything?

People who walk off with items such as bath towels, kitchen equipment etc. are thieving, and they know it! The holiday lets we've had, hold a deposit against breakages or damage. People who make off with the owners' property should have that money forfeited.

I'm sure everyone has their own way of doing things, and none or right or wrong. My point is just that I don't think that setting the dishwasher away before leaving and letting the cleaners empty it and put away the dishes is anything other than reasonable. Not leaving them dirty in the machine. Not leaving them scattered around the house. Not stolen and in the back of the car. But in the process of being cleaned .

Doodledog

*Guests were never asked to put the dishwasher on before leaving but they always did anyway just like we always did when we stayed.*
It's perfectly reasonable to expect the dishwasher to be loaded and switched on, but IMO not to expect guests to wait for it to finish, empty it and put the dishes away. The last time my group went away we washed up by hand so we could be out on time - it's not a massive deal, but it does make for unnecessary stress, and when people are supposed to be on holiday I don't think it's necessary.

The dishwasher would always finish its cycle while we were having our showers and loading up the car. I expect that’s what most guests would do but I expect there were some who just put dirty dishes in the dishwasher and left and who could blame them with often a very long journey ahead of them.

We used an agent to manage the house for us.

Makes sense about stripping beds and airing.

As for dishwasher, we have often stayed in places where it is requested to put dishwasher on and wait for it to finish and put everything back. We just do this as soon as we have had breakfast, whilst we get on with packing and clearing the rest.

On two occasions, we didn't have time to do this, so we told reception or e-mailed owner to explain we had to leave early, and offered to pay a little extra. On both occasions, we were told not to worry, and that the cleaners would be notified. We left them a tip.

As a volunteer Director for a really nice Country Club- I was totally amazed at what some people did. One family swapped all the cooking pots, which were VERY high quality, with a cheap set bought at the local Coop. Others stole all the LED expensive bulbs and replaced with normal ones! Top quality towels and bath robes would walk- and the expensive soap dispensers. Others parked muddy mountain bikes inside the hallway, on new carpets, and against the walls. Just incredible. And yet, the vast majortiy was respectful and took good care.

The only was to avoid would be to have inspection before they leave- but the cost in staffing would far outway the cost of replacing and cleaning after the few bad ones! shocking, truly.

What a horrible start janita, hope future guests are better.

Sago

I wrote previously that I didn’t think paying guests should have to strip the beds, your comments about letting them air made sense, hadn’t thought of it like that.

I think there are two separate things happening here - one is guests who dirty, disrespectful and in some cases downright criminal, and the other is owners who expect paying guests to do unreasonable amounts of cleaning. Both are wrong, and one doesn't compensate for the other.

My guess is that most people are happy to clean up after themselves and leave the place tidy. But they are on holiday, not at home, and don't expect to be doing more than that when it comes to housework.

I hope you get your money back somehow, Sago, and that you are somehow able to get it back from your thieving 'guests'.

but I should have added, but you do have my sympathy. I had a flat I let out by the year, for several years and I had two lovely Irish boys as tenants one year. Completely unhouse trained. Back home their mammies made sure that their blue eyed boys never did anything for themselves.

They ruined the beds and bedding because it took them several months to getting round to buying bedlinen, burnt the bedside lampshades by letting the bulb touch the shade - and leaving it there, burnt out the grill on the cooker, forgetting to turn it off one night. All the hob handles melted in the heat and - as we discovered after we had paid back a small proportion of their deposit, the overnight grill incident also did damage to the consumer unit, the electrician doing the electrical checks before the next tenants discovered this and that had to be replaced and it cost over £500.
Tthe rest of my tenants were fine.

janita I think you have jsut been very unfortunate.