Holiday lets and cleaning

Since covid we ask people who rent our static to please leave it as you found it,it helps keep the cost down.
Sadly some decided to steal things like shower mats,bedding,crockery and cutlery.
So weve had to put a £70 bond on the rental price,they get the full bond back if all is well,up to know everyone has had the full bond back.

Yes I prefer a hotel any day.

I don’t see why guests should be expected to do any laundry. There should be sufficient for their needs without washing, and the cleaners should bring fresh for the next guests, or have a locked cupboard for fresh supplies.

Being a single Ive never stayed in a holiday cottage although I have stayed in a static caravan as my sister and BIL manage one in London. They employ a couple of cleaners to clean up between guests and my sis checks each one before guests arrive to make sure its up to standard.

I would not do much more than I would in a hotel. I always leave everything tidy, check all the drawers and cupboards that nothing had been left behind or dropped onto the floor. If stripping bedding was mentioned I would do it but not hoover, sweep, dust or do more than a very quick flick around to clean up anything I had spilled if I had paid a "cleaning" fee.

Some of the things owners complain about are batshit.

Furniture moved around slightly and not put back exactly in the "correct" place

Ditto ornaments nick nacks (why do people have nick nacks in holiday lets) of kitchen items not put back in exactly the correct place. Eg kettle left on counter rather than in cupboard.

Are guests supposed to go around taking photos when they arrive so that they will know "exactly" where everything was?

We used to own a holiday home in Florida. We had property managers who did the cleaning and there were no hard and fast rules about guests cleaning the house and nothing in the terms and conditions relating to that, just to damage. There was a list of things that would be helpful before departure but guests weren’t penalised for not doing it, Some guests would keep the house clean, vacuum the carpets, strip the beds before leaving and make sure all the dishes, pots and pans were washed whereas others did nothing, there were even a couple of occasions when guests used every single towel and left them unwashed, changed the bedding half way through the holiday but didn’t wash it and left lots of dirty dishes. This made it very difficult if there were guests arriving the same day and the property managers would have to take the laundry away and return it later. In the ten years we owned the property we never had to withhold the security deposit. Our philosophy was that people were staying in the house for a holiday, not to do housework and we kept the house well equipped and looked after which they respected.

You should leave it as you find it. My son owns a holiday cottage and many of the guests live like pigs for a week. Disgusting.

I think Covid will be used as an excuse for renters to do more of their own cleaning for some considerable time to come.

We have just returned from a holiday cottage in Dorset. I really resent having to clean through before leaving after paying a ridiculous price to rent. Most cottages now expect you to arrive after 4.pm and leave after 10am which to me is the first day of your holiday.
We had to strip the beds completely and place everything in bags (to be Covid safe apparently). I made sure every kitchen utensil I had used was washed and put away but I will no longer vacuum and sweep floors.

Give me a hotel any day.

I used to strip the beds , but one place I stayed in last year specifically asked us not to.Then in another place , we did strip the beds , and when I asked the management if this was correct he said they would rather we didn’t as the staff had to count the bedding into bags for the laundry so it was easier for them to leave them . I agree with previous posts that as self catering accommodation is so expensive now , we should expect cleaning staff to clean before the next clients. Of course We would never leave washing up , a dirty bathroom or rubbish in the bins , but gone are the days of vacuuming right through.

The last place we stayed had had a lot of rules, we put the bin out on asked day and on leaving - wiped down the kitchen and bathroom and hoovered through and stripped the beds and left the washing in the hall as was asked and we got our full deposit back

I think leaving clean/tidy is just respectful really. Apparently lots of people leave washing up, filthy toilets etc

I would rather stay in a guest house than have to clean a self catering property.

Yes, to no dirty dishes in the sink, everything tidy, fridge emptied, beds stripped if asked, vacuum round, but a definite NO to anything else.

What are the cleaners meant to do?

We have a holiday home in France, which we do not let out, but do invite family and friends to use it for a nominal fee to cover the cost of utilities etc while they are there.

We are quite up front about us not having cleaners and asking visitors to leave the house in the state they found it, and given that everyone staying is known to me or someone who is close to me, the state people leave the house varies considerably from; cleaner than when they arrived, to really quite untidy.

We have never had to pay a cleaning fee when renting accommodation. Even when we rented a seven bedroomed house for a family holiday, we had no problems over cleaning. Everyone cleaned and tidied their own rooms and undertook responsibility for one common space, we waited for the cleaner to come to the house to collect the keys and have a quick look round and she was more than happy with what we had done. On our own we make almost no impresssion on the state of the accommodation in the week we are there and do little more than dust, empty bins and give kitchen and bathroom a quick surface clean before leaving.

We went self catering last June for just a week. Very modern right on the Seafront in Devon.
A beautiful immaculate 2 bed apartment , we couldn't find a Hotel for the dates, so new experience for us.
All we had to do on leaving was put everything in the Dishwasher, strip beds, bag up bed linen and the towels. Empty bins.

I certainly wouldn't want to clean it up, that's part of the deal.

This really annoys me . Last year I stayed with my family in a holiday house in Norfolk with Airbnb . The house was cleanish and tidy when we arrived but certainly hadn’t been”deep cleaned”’grubby carpets and cobwebs in corners . When we left we vacuumed , emptied bins, stripped bed etc . I got a very sniffy message back about the stained carpet and a muddy floor in the porch . I replied that neither was ours , we didn’t use the front door at all and the stain was already there .Unfortunately I didn’t take photos . I got a poor review until I threatened to complain to Airbnb, and she withdrew the review . There was a £60 cleaning charge ( increased as we had a dog) and there was a 5 hour window for the cleaning to be done .We are being ripped off here methinks !

Although it goes without saying that anyone with standards would clean and tidy before leaving the premises {especially under the C19 restrictions}, does not the daily amount charged [which in some cases is pretty high to our way of thinking] cover the cost of basic cleaning before the next tenants arrive?

I would not clean a holiday let. Surely that's what you are paying for? I make sure that everything is put back where we found it, Kitchen would look ok, wipe down sink and surfaces, bins emptied and put out but would not dream of getting the vac out, TBH most places don't have one. Made me laugh years ago at a NT place where the message from the house manager said something like please clean before you go as our cleaners get fed up leaving the place nice and tidy only to have to clean again a week later......

My DD runs a holiday cottage management service and could write a book on the things she’s seen in bedside cabinets in the last 8 years! Underwear, condoms, sex toys, sanitary stuff - all used...?

Her cleaners expect to empty bins, fridges and ovens, strip beds etc but surely there’s lavatory etiquette where a backward glance after flushing let’s you know if you’re good to go?

I used to be very thorough when leaving holiday accommodation leaving it as least as clean as it was on arrival. These days with sky high prices I wonder what we’re paying for. They ask you to arrive later and leave earlier to allow for ‘deep’ cleaning yet seem to expect you to do the job for them. I would always leave a place tidy, washing up done, bins emptied etc. but draw the line at more than that when we’re paying more than £100 per night in a caravan for instance.

10 years ago!

It’s one thing tidying up before you leave and I would always wash any pots, empty bins and strip beds if asked to. But I draw the line at doing a thorough cleaning if I have paid a cleaning fee in addition to the rent. I would not expect to do a deep clean after staying just a few days in a cottage.

But it’s the same with rental property, so many landlords try to keep part of the deposit for minor reasons. My daughter took a landlord to court to get her deposit back when he refused to return it because she did not submit a receipt from a professional cleaning company when she left the flat. She had used a friend, who ran a cleaning company specialising in end of lease cleans but only paid “ mates rates” so there was no receipt. She did eventually get all her money back but I had to lend her the security deposit for her new flat as it took so long.

The first time I stayed in a holiday let was about 10 years, and I couldn't believe the standard of cleanliness we were expected to leave the house in - I am sure it was so the cleaners could simply glance over and 'check' it, rather than clean.
And no, it wasn't clear in the original T&Cs - just fairly obvious things were mentioned then.
It was near a beach, and of course we had a nice barbecue on the last night and family went for a walk on the beach. They had already booked to leave that night, and we had to leave early the next morning. I had expected to give it a once-over and swipe, but to adhere to the 'rules' we had to get up at 5am to spend an hour:
Stripping all beds and putting laundry in bags
Cleaning all bathrooms and kitchen surfaces and leaving nothing out
Throw away all cloths used, all teatowels to be washed, dried and replaced in drawers.
All rubbish to be put in plastic bags and put in bins.
Cleaning all drawers and cupboards (I'm afraid that I simply gave those the once-over)
Sweeping the yard
Vacuuming the floors and furniture (any sand meant lost deposit)

Of course I don't expect to leave a 'mess' (and I know some folk do) but given the enormous amount we were charged, I expected to leave the place tidy, and 'ready to clean' rather than do the cleaners' job for them!

We rarely stay in such places - actually just once since - and as the family were on tight schedules, DH & I decided to spend the morning of departure cleaning, and go to a hotel for the night to enjoy ourselves!
Actually that was the time we were threatened with losing our deposit as the people who came in complained. Fortunately I had taken photos of the house when we arrived - it was OK but not pristine, and we left it better than we found it. The owner had to go and sort it out, and although she didn't say so, it rather confirmed my view that the 'cleaners' just come in to make up the beds and put out the towels. She apologised and we got our deposit back!

And Redhead56, if I ever say this to anyone, they usually give the same reply as you do! I don't think I'm that slovenly, and as we usually camp, I certainly run a tight ship.

And yes, of course, especially now I am older and less mobile, family would arrange to do the cleaning.

But to me, I don't pay that amount of money (some thousands for a big house) to be the cleaner!

A few years ago we were invited to stay in a static caravan on the same holiday park as my OH brother. Brother would regularly do odd jobs when he was staying at his caravan and his friend was abroad and agreed we could use his in exchange for brother doing some work for him. We had an idea what the going rate was and before we arrived decided between the two of us that we would pay.

On arrival I wished I had stayed at home, it was filthy! All the work surfaces were greasy along with the cooker top, the oven, the sink........you name it, it was all covered in greasy residue. I had to set about and completely 'bottom' before we could even have a cup of tea! I so wanted to come straight home! Brother invited us to his caravan for a quick meal before going to the on site club house; his caravan was no better. The following morning he came to ours and was aghast at the clean fresh smell, he said 'oh, did you need to clean up?' He knew darn well we had to!
Consequently. I am well and truly put off these static caravan parks, I'm sure some are delightful but they're not for me!

Completely agree Redhead. It’s common decency to leave a place as you find it, providing that you find it clean and tidy. Definitely wouldn’t leave dirty dishes in the sink, my rubbish in the bins or an unflushed toilet. Yes, I’ve seen that happen.

We own a cottage that we leased in Wales long term not holiday let. Now we quite often rent a cottage elsewhere for a break ourselves. It’s not even about terms and conditions in my eyes. It’s common courtesy to clean or tidy up as you found the property. I couldn’t leave somewhere dirty or unkempt it’s not the way I was brought up.

You only have to go to public toilets anywhere to witness the mess people leave without a care in the world for others.