Cleaning/Damage deposit.

[Donkeybee]

Hi
I wonder if anyone could advise. being new to the French rental market in our first year of business. We take a £100 cleaning damage deposit on our gite. The guests that have just departed have left one of the King sized beds with urinated sheets and mattress protector. Also according to our caretakers have not left the gite as they found it and has taken more hours to clean, which we have had to pay for. Do we keep some or all of the deposit or just put it down to experience and not allow these particular clients to return.

[Hells Bells]

I would deduct for the extra cleaning charge and for replacing the sheets if laundry didn't get out all of the stains. Return what is left, and don't let them back.

[Dusty]

Hi Donkeybee and welcome to the wonderful world of gites ownership. Whilst I agree with HelenB that you do need to hold back some of the deposit to cover your additional costs, did you or your caretaker talk to the people before they left and have you got any evidence of the damage/additional work required. It is always a delicate discussion when holding back deposits and the more evidence you have to back your claims the less traumatic it becomes. The last thing you need is an acrimonious debate between your client and yourself as to exactly the state in which things were left.

[Donkeybee]

Thanks for the advice. I am torn between charging and putting it down to experience. Sometimes yes I should charge but don't have any photographic proof of the cleaning apart from the obvious urinated sheets.

[French Cricket]

So much depends on your contract and your expectations.

Personally, I don't think it's a reasonable expectation that your guests will leave the gîte "as they found it": cleaning holiday accommodation is a very different ballgame from ordinary everyday cleaning and to assume that guests will be willing and able to clean to that standard on their departure day is, to be frank, pie in the sky. For example, it takes two of us 4 to 5 hours to clean our 100 square metre barn (that sleeps 2) each week - and our guests are all adults.

What do your terms and conditions say about how your guests should leave your gîte, Donkeybee?

Although it's annoying, I also don't think that urine on sheets and mattress protector is that much of a big deal, as it'll easily come out. If it's stained the mattress, that's another issue of course.

You'll find that some guests will leave your place clean and tidy, while others leave it less so. That's all part of the world of rental, and over the course of a year it will balance out. If you do ever decide to charge your guests for additional cleaning, you'll need evidence - photos taken before anything is moved, with date and time, for example. But really, that should be an absolute last resort, left for the most serious of neglect.

You perhaps need to sit down and refine your t&c (I can't see any on your website so I guess your guests are sent them separately?) to make clear exactly what your expectations are on departure. But be realistic - your guests are on holiday, after all!

[Ecosse]

Hello and welcome to the French market! We cater pretty much solely for the French market and have found then fabulous guests on the whole so I'm sorry to hear you've had problems with yours.

If it were me, I would only charge for the urine stained bedding as the other is difficult to prove and, unless you leave specific instructions on what has to be done, contestable.

We've just completed our third winter season (we do b&b in the summer/shoulder months) and I have to say, I've seen a change in standards even in that short time. When we started, and taking on the previous owner's bookings, the large families would always have at least one grand-mère in tow, armed with a cleaning cloth and a firm hold on the rest of the group. As such, on changeover day, the gite needed little more than a lick. Now, 'clean' means they hoovered and wiped the crumbs off the surfaces and little else, though some of that could be our fault in that we dispensed with the previous owner's detailed list, as it seemed a little dictatorial.

We now offer each group a cleaning service (option ménage), they can agree to forfeit the 200€ cleaning deposit (100€ for a weekend booking) if they don't wish to spend their final hours of their holiday cleaning. About 70% take us up on the offer, which allows us to hire a cleaner in to help us on busy changeovers. It works out as an extra fiver/tenner per person... I'd certainly pay to avoid the hassle in their situation! Not one group paying for the option ménage has left it in a state - some leave it better than those claiming to have cleaned, so while I would never say it's left in the 'as found' state any more, basically I see it as swings and roundabouts.

One thing... while we are a larger property than yours, I'm surprised how low your damage/cleaning deposit is. We have a separate damage deposit on top of the cleaning deposit, of 600€. Sometimes I feel that that is too low for us (we're 22 beds in winter) but the 100€ you're charging wouldn't cover any significant breakages. I know there's a debate on LMH about the benefits of charging a damage deposit, but if you are going to, I would ensure its big enough to cover a reasonable amount of damage, without being off-putting to the guest.

[Donkeybee]

That's where we differ, not being fluent in French and it seems not that many French Holiday in the North of France, we only advertise in England. Maybe it would be the way to go in the future.
Maybe we will have to look into deposits a bit further.

[Hells Bells]

I've visited that area of France a lot, and there always seems to be plenty of French holidaymakers around.