Cottage holiday - Cleanliness

[Spanieljoker]

We have a cottage in the Cotswolds and we had guests staying there. The property is managed by a thirdparty and we had cleaners there staying (4 hours!) and they state they cleaned the property from top to bottom.

The couple left 3 days early because the property was not up to standards…
she claims :

there is lichen on the furniture in the garden

the aga had some dust and one cupboard was dirty (i know this cupboard has chipped paint inside but it was dusted and cleaned) It is an old cottage kitchen and we didn’t renovate

pans with worn nonstick surfaces

floor with paint stains from past decoration

They claim this was too much and they could not have a restful stay and therefore left early?!
I really don’t understand. It is a lovely rural cottage with character. Is this that bad ? It is scaring me and wondering if this business is worth it. If every guest will complain for anything and make our life impossible.

None of that would be acceptable to me, sorry.

Do you live nearby OP? Could you go by to see it for yourself?

I wouldn't find it acceptable sorry, that's basic things that need to be taken care of.

Why don't you try staying there for a week and see how you get on?

I would be annoyed by the worn non-stick coating. You need to provide adequate cooking equipment in good condition. So many cottage owners seem to think that their guests can make do with an assortment of sub-standard pots and pans, I assume cast off from their own kitchens.

I wouldn’t be happy about the dirty garden furniture either, there is really no excuse for that.

@SussexLass87we stay there regularly. Actually 2 weeks before this couple we stayed there. We bought brand new furniture for the conservatory and gardening and we left the property it was looking really nice and was very happy and hopeful 🤣 😭😭😭

It depends what you are charging as well. We go to a place in Cornwall that is very worn out and battered but it is £800pw for a 3 bed on the beach - 1/2 what others nearby are so we do not mind.

As above go stay a week and see what you think.

I've stayed in airbBnB properties that had so many annoying things and the owner had quite clearly never stayed there before.

If people are paying for a week away it needs to be good!

Lichen on garden furniture - not an issue.

paint on floor - guess it depends on what type of flooring and how rustic the cottage is, but it’s not in the “unclean” category.

pans with worn surfaces - it’s probably not something I would bother about but I guess I can see how some would. It always nice to cook with nice cookware when self catering.

In general though if cleaners had been there for 4 hours I’d expect things to be clean.

so it’s either that

a)the cleaners didn’t do a good enough job

b) the cleaners did the best they could but the place needs renovated

c) the guests were too pernickity.

would you feel comfortable sharing some photos? As I say, a lot depends on how “rustic” the place is and what they would expect from the photos (and price)

I wouldn’t leave but the worn nonstick fills me with rage and I’d buy a new one. I wouldn’t rebook because that’s awful.

I think you really need to check the cleanliness and maybe repaint inside the cupboard. Same with lichen…is it a cute bit on a chair leg or all over?

the paint on the floor and similar mean you have to use lots if words like character and rustic and may need to charge a bit less.

@faithfultoGeorgeMichael £650 for 7 nights in prime Cotswolds location ? Sounds like a bargain to me and I had that in mind yes because the kitchen is old etc. So I thought it would be okay but apparently not

I’d recommend not going to your cottage to stay, but stay nearby for the same cost and look with honesty at how it compares to yours.

@faithfultoGeorgeMichaeland it’s a 4 bedroom cottage with a 2 living rooms and a big garden with a lovely view

That's all very nice, but it doesn't mean people should have to put up with worn crockery, paint-damaged floors and dirty garden furniture.

If you're renting property out, you need to factor in replacing and repairing things on a regular basis - in between guests if necessary - you can't just leave it and hope for the best.

@saunalove I shared the cleaners numbers and contacts and asked her to call and they would come and sort anything she is not happy with. Also asked her to send pictures. She didn’t contact anyone l and no picture. She only said I’m leaving early and she was gone 🙄

Sounds very reasonable cost for the area. Nothing on your list would bother me apart from the worn non-stick pans, but I certainly wouldn’t leave 3 days early because of that! If I wanted to stay again I’d let the owner know they could do with updating as a deteriorating non-stick coating is a health concern, maybe.

Exactly this. The price seems very reasonable for the size of cottage and location. Only the pans would bother me

I agree with this too. No pictures of the dust, or lichen, so difficult to know if it was a speck (most likely) or thickly coated.

I’d think it was lazy cottage owning to be honest and wouldn’t be very impressed
Of all the problems listed the pans would be the thing that tipped me over the edge though.
If you are happy to take the rental money off guests you should be prepared to maintain the fixtures and fittings properly as well as keeping them clean

They all sound like easy fixes tbh. If people are paying to stay there why would you cut corners on things like this?

So perhaps there is nothing wrong and she was hoping for a partial refund as she had to leave due to something else?

Wait for the request for a 3/7ths refund!

Well new pans are ordered now. I’ll clean off the lichen and paint the kitchen cupboards and hunt for the paint stains. Just seems like a violent reaction to me and I’m a bit upset as I really thought it was looking really nice. Anyway I’ll take it on the chin

I don't see a problem with any of this apart from possibly the pans. It's good value for the size and it's a character property so it's probably not going to be immaculate. The point about lichen on the garden furniture is over the top on my view.

I've also got a holiday let which we get five star reviews for and we make a real effort with cleanliness but none of this would bother me in somewhere I was staying.

it's a character property so it's probably not going to be immaculate.

Character property isn't a reason for chipped paint, worn pans and stained floors though. To me, character means uneven floorboards because the place is old, an AGA instead of a modern oven etc, not dirt and worn utensils.

When you go to a self catering cottage and the non stick pans are in bad condition I always assume it’s because moron previous guests have used metal utensils. Even if suitable utensils are provided (wooden or whatever) some cretin will always use a metal spoon or whatever. But if owners don’t buy non stick they’re a pain in the arse to clean.

So owners would need to frequently re buy pans.

NB I don’t own a holiday property but have frequently used them. Also my husband often chats to the owners lengthily and have quite a lot of sympathy with them for what issues can arise.