SusiW wrote:
Yes, I do leave instructions even down to "please .... all waste bins should be emptied into the black sacks provided " we arrange special collection ..... but leaving dirty nappies in bedroom bins!? There were five adults and just two children, and I gave them an extra day when they asked as they were enjoying it so much and specially travelled down to get Christmas decs in for them.
I would just like to tell them how disappointed I am - sounds a bit pathetic really though
This is a regular occurrence for us unfortunately. With some groups you just dread going through the door because you know what to expect. First the odour of cooking (we often have guests using stone grills) coming from the kitchen and then wondering if the smell of spicy sausage/cheese coming from the fridge will clear by the time the next group arrives in around 5 hours' time.
If there was more than 1 baby in the last group, the bins in the bathroom, loos and bedrooms will often be overflowing with nappies. Even if there are no infants, the bins will usually still be full of used sanitary products after the guests have left. It is a rare occasion when someone has thought to empty the waste bins and bag it all together.
But what is really getting to us at the moment is all the smashed glass, often found at the bottom of the dishwasher when going to remove the filter to clean it out (which we do at each changeover). I badly cut my finger last month on a shard from a broken glass which the guests had put in our recycling bin but had failed to look for the other pieces. We find it unbelievable that on finding that a glass has shifted and smashed inside a dishwasher, that you just remove it and not look for the rest of it, which will be either on the rack or at the bottom of the unit.
We are averaging around 3 broken glasses on each changeover at the moment, and have a huge stock of all the different glasses in the farmhouse that seem to get smashed. The last group that left managed to smash 2 glass tea mugs and fracture another 4 or so long drink glasses (they just returned the cracked glasses to the cupboard). We have an honesty box for these kind of breakages. Of course some leave a lot of coins, others nothing.
This same group also just put 4 bowls back into the cupboard containing the unwashed remains of what appeared to be pea soup. There was no way that you could not notice that they still contained the remnants of thick green soup. Obviously there wasn't time to wash them up before leaving!
The problem we all know is that many guests do not bother to read the information in a holiday rental. For example, we specifically ask people not to use the dishwasher before they leave and to wash up all remaining crockery. This due to the time it takes for the cycle to complete (some cycles are between 3-4 hours of course) and then the time it takes to empty a full dishwasher and put it all away when you are busy trying to get a dirty accommodation ready for the next guests, who you know will probably be arriving within the hour.
These same guests who stayed over New Year also complained to me on leaving that the rug in the sitting room was dangerous because the corner had turned up, and that they had fallen over it. When I inspected the rug, the corner was turned up, but it was not turned up like that when they arrived. A quick bend backwards along the crease and it was flat again. Always amazes us how some people are quick to complain about something which is so easily fixed. It appeared that someone had also fallen over it while holding a plate of food, as there was a large food stain on the rug which we had to remove with a spray as no time to use the wet vacuum cleaner on it before the next guest arrival.
Actually, the guests that were with us over Christmas were so much different and very helpful when the drain in the kitchen became blocked. After trying to clear the block with several chemicals from the local supermarket, we had to give up and call a plumber, and one local firm came out to us even though they were shut because it was Xmas. Two guys spent 4 hours digging up the guest patio outside until they eventually found the huge chunk of gunge blocking the pipe. The guests even helped us out as well and we were very thankful that they were so easy going about it. They also admitted to breaking a few wine glasses on departure, but I just smiled at them and said that after the inconvenience of having part of their kitchen ripped up on Boxing Day, they could have smashed the entire set and we wouldn't have minded...here's to an uneventful 2017!