Laundry service - a good idea or not?

[rosebud]

My cleaner - who has just resigned - was very bad at spotting marks or stains on bed linen. She wasn't that great at ironing either!

I am about to embark on finding a new cleaner but have wondered about using a local laundry service (collection, washing & ironing)

This would probably cost more but there might be more people interested in the work without the washing & ironing.

Anyone else use a laundry service?

[Nightowl]

no, but I do use a local launderettes service wash and they are very good and very reasonably priced. A lot of launderettes will iron, if you (or your cleaner) is able to drop laundry off and collect it, you might find it quite reasonable.

[SandyBeaches]

We use a commercial laundry service as we have two cottages which sleep a total of 16 between them. I've used two or three different companies with varying results. I would say that the commercial laundering process is quite hard on laundry. Expect plastic poppers on duvet covers to melt. We replaced ours with metal ones - hours and hours of fun sewing for me!

Have 3 sets of everything. One on, one in the wash, and one spare for those occasions when it doesn't all come back. Things get lost, and stuff does come back still dirty sometimes or with stains on which I take home to get rid of. We sometimes get other people's stuff instead of ours! Or if a stain doesn't come out the laundry will keep it for a re-wash.

This sounds a bit negative, but it's not really. I'm making it sound worse than it is. Just extra things you might have to consider. There was the time the driver went on holiday with our keys so that no-one could pick up the laundry, and we were away, but thankfully my cleaner drove over and sorted it out.

[Yorkshire Lass]

I use a commercial laundry and can only speak very highly of them. They are in my opinion incredibly cheap (72p a sheet, 84p a duvet), they collect and deliver to the property and if they can't get a stain out they put a post it note on it to highlight for me. I would agree with SandyBeaches that the laundry process is quite hard on your linen and you do need 3 sets. I think I am very lucky as the owner has become a real ally as we've bought more holiday lets and has even warned me about a rogue cleaner we had for a very short while who was putting her own laundry in our bags (that's another story!). I'm sure they all vary but ours is a gem.

[barbersdrove]

I agree with everything the last two members said. I too use a commercial laundry. I've found the same re it being hard on the linen but it's still very much worth it to me. If I had to choose between using the agency for cleaner or the laundry service I would choose the laundry every time. They can turn it around in 24 hrs if necessary too.

[newtimber]

If you do short breaks back to back and the laundry is collected/returned once a week, then you actually need 5 sets of everything - I didn't believe it at first but when I was running short, I realised this is actually the case.
Say your laundry is collected on a Thursday and you have long weekend bookings and weekday bookings (Mon-Fri).
Then potentially 2 sets are taken on the Thursday (one from the people leaving on the Friday and one for the people who stayed the weekend). On Friday, you have a dirty set to go, the following Monday another dirty set to go and there's a clean lot on the beds.

[la vache!]

I know people who do this but I guess it depends on your financial situation. I use a laundry to clean the duvets and pillows but it would cost me over 450€ a month to get all the bedding (let alone towels) done. Plus I would need to buy a third set of everything as it would take a week to return the washing, which would cost a fortune for 18 beds and 24 people. My margins are too tight to afford to pay that sort of money, sadly. Fortunately I don't mind ironing!

[Joanna]

We use a laundry service for our Devon cottage. They are used to dealing with holiday lets and the service seems to be very good but it does work out quite expensive.

In Chester the cleaners do the laundry which works out cheaper but they aren't as good - we've had more lost or mixed up items there and occasionally issues with laundry smelling of cigarette smoke because it's been sitting in someone's house for a while during the quiet season.

The benefit of separating laundry from cleaning is that you don't have all your eggs in one basket. If the cleaner's sick, for example, someone else can step in and you don't have the problem of the cleaner having all your clean laundry. On the downside you've got 2 companies to deal with and co-ordinate to make sure that laundry is collected and dropped at the right times. You definitely need at least 3 of everything.

[rosebud]

Thanks everyone.
Yorkshire Lass you have a real bargain there!

My initial research found it would cost substantially more ...

The logistics are tricky as I live a 3 hour journey away. Unless the company can pick up on a changeover day the cleaner would have to store the dirty linen or I would have to find a space for storage - not easy!

[Joanna]

In the Devon house we have a handy shed that the laundry is left in so the laundry company don't have to go while the cleaner's there and also don't need to go through the house so they won't disturb any guests that might be in residence.

In Chester one of the main reasons that we're still using the cleaners is that we don't have anywhere to store laundry outside the house. We have been considering putting some sort of small shed or large locker at the front of the house but it needs to look OK as well as be secure and so far we haven't found anything that fits the bill.

Another option is to ask the cleaner to collect the clean laundry on her way to your house and then drop off the dirty on her way back. Of course this would only be practical if she happens to travel in the direction of the laundry and she may also charge for that service.