Lay My Hat

If guests are staying for longer than a week, do you offer a mid-stay clean?

We usually take shorter stays but have guests staying for 12 nights soon and I am not sure whether to:

A) leave them to it
B) leave out clean linen and towels for them to DIY
C) offer a full clean and linen change half way through their stay

We also have a washing machine, tumble drier and cleaning equipment available in the apartment should they need it.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks

Whether you offer a mid stay clean very much depends on how much you are charging. We are not at the luxury end of the market and I don't offer a mid stay clean - 'self-catering' does what it says on the tin! A friend has 4 star accommodation, charges a lot more and includes two hours cleaning 'mid-stay' which would be, for example, the middle Saturday of a two week booking. A guest can have more cleaning by arrangement and at extra cost.

I offer clean linen and towels on the middle Saturday of a two week booking. It gives me the chance to interact a bit with the guest, OH does the pool while I sort it out and it means that if something is grubby after a week it isn't getting any grubbier in the following week. For a three week stay (rare, these days) I would give them the choice of linen and towels on each Saturday or half-way through their holiday.

No mid-stay clean, but we do provide clean linen (bed linen, towels, tea towels, table linen etc) halfway through a stay of anything more than 8 nights.

And we make a small reduction on the price of 2 week stays to reflect the fact that it costs us a little less.

+1

The only difference to FC is that visitors are offered a mid stay change of linen/towels. To date no one has ever taken up the offer.

+ another 1. And if I was staying in a cottage for two weeks I would find a cleaner coming in at the end of the first week intrusive and would ask them not to.

another + 1. I do provide changecof towels and bed linnen as standard - no-one has ever said they don't want it.

We are in the "self catering is self catering" category and only supply an initial set of bed linen and towels. Our manager offers a service to supply further sets if needed but makes a small charge for that - she also can do a mid term clean if required but that is also chargeable.. As in the high season things dry within minutes rather than hours in the summer, most people seem to be happy to wash their own stuff. We state very clearly on the contract what is and is not provided and this seems to work well.

Similarly we offer to change linen at the mid-point of anything over a 10 day stay. Very often the guests say leave it for them to do, but sometimes we insist we do it, saying its part of the price they have paid, just to check on the state of the place.

Just throwing a few more thoughts/comments into the mix .....

Friends who do a mid-stay clean usually do it by appointment. They agree a time with the guest who will say, for example, "Oh, come at 10.00 a.m. on Saturday, we'll be out." The cleaners arrive only to find the guests have changed their mind - their perogative, of course. So, then the cleaners can't change half the beds because teenagers are still in them, can't clean the bathroom because someone is having a shower/soak, can't hoover because someone else is watching TV, can't do the kitchen because others are having breakfast. It all ends up as a waste of time.

Rarely do my guests refuse a set of clean linen/towels but it will vary as to what they want. Most take clean kitchen towels and if it's been hot and sweaty weather they'll want sheets and pillowcases but maybe not duvet covers as they've thrown them off every night. Most will take towels but perhaps not a complete set.

Many years ago I delivered the clean bedding and the 'lady of the house' asked me to help her with the beds. I couldn't really refuse so we set to doing her bed - the double. When we'd done it she said "That's fine, thank you. The others can do their own." !!

A guest coming into one of the gites we look after requested 2 cleans in 1 week stay. So the house would be spotless on arrival and then 2 cleans in the week close together and again on changeover day. We do not offer this service and they are booking self-catering. The booking was via an agent and the owner has also said no. Why would you want strangers around and sad if you cannot keep it clean with just 2 adults and 2 kids. Dreading changeover day now!

Oh dear, Frenchlady, my alarmn bells would be ringing if someone asked me that, either they are cleaniness fantatics (which is good) or they know they are going to be really messy and want someone to keep on top of it (not good). I would be inclined to want to get in mid week to look around and see what they have been up to!