What a mess!

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
JudithandPaul
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What a mess!

Post by JudithandPaul »

Last Saturday our housekeepers went in to do a changeover on the departure of our FIRST guests ( we are newbies at this). Our property is let through an agent and the house is in Cornwall. The couple who had been staying there were retired professionals. The smell that greeted the cleaners was apparently horrendous. The bedding, duvet and pillows on one bed were covered in faeces and just a note left to say that one of them hadn't felt well! It has taken two people about three days to clear it up and getting rid of the smell is difficult. I had to ring the agent and complain, the operator said they would contact the guest. We are now facing a bill for replacement linen and bedding. Our cleaners are experienced in the changeovers business and said that they had never seen a property left that bad and they had both felt physically sick at the sight and smell. Please tell me that this is not going to happen too often or we will just give up! So disappointed, We stay at self catering places and I would be horrified to leave something like that!
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edinburgh
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Post by edinburgh »

Just a quick reply - this has never happened to me. Although I've only been in business since October, being a city location, we sometimes have two or three sets of guests a week. I've never experienced anything like this.

Most guests are incredibly clean. I love seeing a French booking come in, because it usually means the place will be cleaner than I left it.

This is a freak incident and it's unlikely you'll encounter it again for a long while :)
annedab
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Post by annedab »

You poor things - talk about a baptism of fire. Terrible things do happen to some of us from time to time, but thankfully they are very few and far between - it may not seem like it from reading some of our posts, but when you think of the thousands of guests we have collectively welcomed and waved off, incidents like this are a very tiny percentage - we tend not to post about all the happy, tidy people.

Do you or your agents take any sort of damage deposit (sorry, I really tried to find a less appropriate word!) This is absolutely a case for retaining the costs of the replacement bedding and extra cleaning. If not, I would consider sending them an invoice.

This forum is a fantastic place to find support and advice. Welcome, and may all your future posts be happier ones :)
Regards

Anne

If there's no such thing as co-incidence, then why is there a word for it?
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Normandie
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Post by Normandie »

A quick reply from me too: awful though it was, an experience like that is most unusual so don't for a moment expect it to be a regular occurrence and even if someone was ill, that does not absolve them from responsibility for paying for the damage they did and the cleaning that it required.

I hope your cleaners took photos or at least will provide a signed statement as the the appalling state of the room and I would then present the travellers with the bill and pursue them through the small claims court if they refused to pay it.

Excrement smeared rooms are not an unfortunate accident - I'm sure we've all had appalling tummy bugs or allergic reactions at some point during our lives that have left us in a dire state sitting on the loo with face in a basin... or there are some colon diseases - Crohn's (sp?) IBS, diverticulitis - and I'm equally sure we found a way to manage it without trashing the bedding... once we were over the age of 5, anyway. :wink:

Chin up. It is most unlikely to ever happen again.
Last edited by Normandie on Wed Jun 17, 2015 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PW in Polemi
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Post by PW in Polemi »

OMG your poor cleaners!
Don't panic, this is one of those extremely rare incidents - thank goodness, otherwise nobody would ever rent out their property to anybody.
This is our 4th year and we've not had anything other than sun lotion to deal with - fingers crossed that it stays that way.

I hope you took, via your agents, a hefty damages deposit and will claim from it. Being ill and having an accident is understandable - but leaving it for the cleaners to find is simply not on. Wish there was some (legal) way to name and shame, so the rest of us can avoid them like the plague.
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Bunny
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Post by Bunny »

I don't know why but our first guests in both our cottages were horrendous too and it really put me off and wondered what I had let myself in for. Thankfully I persevered and soon discovered this was not the norm. I recently entered my cottage at changeover and it was like a crime scene. Blood splattered everywhere and all over 7 separate items of bedding. It was very unpleasant but it did all clean off and having soaked the bedding in Vanish, it surprising washed out without a trace. Excrement is another matter entirely and I'm not surprised that you just binned it. I would definitely want to charge for that! I can't believe they didn't make any attempt to clear it up themselves, throw away the bedding, inform you so that it could be replaced and offered to cover the cost. Rest assured this is not common - in 9 years I've yet to have a wet bed (God I hope I'm not tempting fate!) Good luck, I hope you can get it sorted, so that you can move on and experience the satisfaction when you will inevitably get good well behaved guests.
kg1
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Post by kg1 »

You poor things - what a start. They could have left a note offering to pay for the ruined bedding at least.

Horrible for your cleaners too. Keep the note they left & persue them for DD retention & don't forget the extra time you had to pay the cleaners for either.
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

Congratulations - your first letting and you've been subjected to something towards the very top of an owner's list of worst case please-God-don't-let-that-happen scenarios. :evil:

No, it's not normal - very far from it.
Send your cleaners a sweetener to keep them on side. Send the guests an invoice for the replacement bedding and additional cleaning time (or itemise it and deduct from the deposit if you have one). Look forward to your next, hopefully potty-trained, guests and file this experience under Shhh - it happens, move on.

Hang around on LMH and be here one day to reassure a new owner whose first letting has ended in a disaster that it does, indeed, get better.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

First things first: this is not normal. You have been profoundly unlucky and please so not assume that this experience is setting any kind of pattern. Secondly this is not acceptable. Having a dicky tummy is no excuse whatsoever for a) failing to make it to the toilet and b) failing to clean up after yourself if you do have an accident. Leaving a quick note of apology about not being well is clearly inadequate and this 'retired professional couple' should be made to pay for the replacement of your bedding and the additional cleaning costs. I am struck dumb (almost :D ) as to how any civilised human being can leave someone else's property in that kind of state. I do not blame you for being devastated, but please do not lose heart.
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

How unbelievably awful for you, JudithandPaul. You struck so unlucky first time round. As all the posts here will tell you, that sort of thing is very rare.

It has never happened to us in 7 years, but there is always a first time, so having read a similar post to yours on LMH, in blind panic, we invested in a waterproof mattress protector to fit discretely under the ordinary mattress protector. It has not been needed yet and hopefully never will.

There is a surprising number of threads on this general subject - I mean waterproof mattress protectors(!) - so, if you were interested, an LMH search might be useful.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Pi$$ is one deeply unwelcome thing, but a dirty protest across your duvets and pillows is quite another. I am really shocked. I'm not sure what kind of illness leads to this spraying of excrement. I once suffered a bout of food poisoning in France that was so devastatingly bad that eventually I had to be admitted to hospital, but through all that I still managed to drag my sorry form to the toilet.
SandyBeaches
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Post by SandyBeaches »

I echo what the others have said - this is an unusual situation. By leaving a note they have acknowledged that there was a problem so you have every right to follow it up.

I would contact them and ask for payment for the replacement bedding and additional cleaning time. At the least they should have cleaned up themselves.

Whether you will get anything from them is another matter. You may just have to write it off.
Bunny
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Post by Bunny »

Came off this thread and went on Facebook and this is what greeted me!

https://www.facebook.com/dj3spearoffici ... 7/?fref=nf

Coincidence or what?!
kg1
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Post by kg1 »

Bunny wrote:Came off this thread and went on Facebook and this is what greeted me!

https://www.facebook.com/dj3spearoffici ... 7/?fref=nf

Coincidence or what?!
Oh Gross!
B&B netherlands
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Post by B&B netherlands »

i suffer sometimes from 'not being able to get to the toilet in time' (related to irritable bowel syndrome) but would NEVER leave the mess i caused, for someone else to clean up. let alone soil a bed and not even TRY to at least prevent further damage.

poor cleaners, having to face this.

in 6 years of B&B and hundreds of guests, really had some issues. but NEVER like this.

i am sure you'll have lovely guests soon, as this is the majority.
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