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I Love French Guests


Fi
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Have just had the easiest double changeover ever!  It took me 90 minutes to do both gites.  They were so immaculate (and I am Mrs Picky of Pickyland), all I had to do were the beds, replenish supplies (loo roll, cleaning materials, tea towels etc), a minor bit of rearranging of furniture/cushions and done.   Fantastic.  It's 1.30, am about to have a belated lunch in the garden, with a small glass of plonk as a treat, then I might cut the grass (don't actually need to do it yet, but I might as well while I can) and actually enjoy the day.  Hurrah!

And I don't leave a long and complicated list of dos and don'ts - I kind of assume my guests have a couple of brain cells and can work out what is what.   And if they don't know they can always ask - I live on site.

 Am now in danger of being flamed to within an inch of my life but my experience has been that, (with the odd exception of course), in terms of leaving the gites as I would like, the French are the best, then the Germans and  Belgians in joint second, with the Brits and Dutch kind of trailing behind. 

Going to wrap myself in a fire blanket even though it's 32 degrees in the shade[:D]

Fi

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I hope you don't get flamed within an inch of your life!

I understand where you are coming from.  I spent many years in the self-catering travel market and did my fair share of cleaning.  It is a thankless and soul destroying task, but I now find myself incapable of leaving a holiday let without giving it a full clean - I even do the windows...oh dear...I am British as well, what has gone wrong!!! 

There are exceptions of course even to my compuslive cleaning affliction.  When we holidayed in a villa where the cleaning left rather a lot to be desired I certainly didn't feel under any obligation to do the cleaners work for her.  I left it as I had found it - with a cleaner toilet though - complete with dust and cobwebs.  It went against the grain and I had to restrain myself throughout the holiday from donning my cleaning hat.

The basics I would expect from a holiday let are good maintenance and faultless cleaning.  I always used to tell my cleaners that they should aim to make things look as new as possible.  Of course everything is subject to wear and tear, and I think some owners make the mistake of assuming people will accept this and perhaps see it as character.  They won't!  Clean, clean, clean and maintain, maintain, maintain, and remove anything that is past it's sell by date!!

 

 

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I think I may have said this before but my main criteria both as a guest and owner are as clean as possible, if it's there it should work, and a reasonable level of comfort.  In other words, I try and give my guests what I like to find.  I don't mind if things have been used before, that is par for the course, but they have to glow with cleanliness!

Fi

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[quote user="Grimaud dreamer"]

I hope you don't get flamed within an inch of your life!

I understand where you are coming from.  I spent many years in the self-catering travel market and did my fair share of cleaning.  It is a thankless and soul destroying task, but I now find myself incapable of leaving a holiday let without giving it a full clean - I even do the windows...oh dear...I am British as well, what has gone wrong!!! 

 

[/quote]

You can come and stay anytime[:D]

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Your place looks fabulous, I'm not familiar with the Vosges, although I did once work with someone who came from that region and he seriously missed the mountains.  It looks idyllic.  One of these days we will get to all the parts of France we want to visit - too many places and not enough time (or money!!)...

!I agree with you that you can't mind if things have been used as long as they're clean.

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[quote user="Grimaud dreamer"]...I am British as well, what has gone wrong!!![/quote]I think some could resent that remark !

Being dirty and slovenly is not endemic in the British but a disease which afflicts individuals from all countries and is not necessarily connected with wealth either.

We have a basic rule that we leave a place at least as clean as we found it which is I believe is fair and proper. After we have departed rarely will a cleaner have anything to do other then change the beds and towels etc. and top up the consumables. I don't recall ever cleaning the windows though I must say [:)]

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Hey Fi

We had exactly the same this sunday, Two cottages to clean both rented to French and as you say apart from refills and the removal of a couple of hairs they were exactly the same state as we gave them to them in. Fantastic being able to sit back and enjoy the day instead of the usual clean. I did post a few days ago about the Brit guests never being very good at cleaning and its true I'm afraid, At least here anyway. The French we have had this year being our first full year advertising to the french market aswell as the brits we would love to be full of french. They always come and see you before leaving and always ask us to come and check everything is ok. Anyway it always is and they are number 1 in my book for renters. We have had Germans, Belgiums and Dutch also as far as the Europeans go and they are no where near the french for cleaning.

So roll on next year for more french guests I say. Nothing against the brits really as they do bring us business, But I just wish they would leave the properties as found which it does state but we never ever thought they would be until the French[:D] We love um.   

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As someone from UK who has always left properties in a very clean, tidy state, I'm glad of the qualification from Thebiga - 'here anyway'. I know there are many more like us who do this and get owners to check etc. Obviously not all!

My only experience of people leaving things in a state was on a campsite in the Alps years ago. We had an adventure by being 'couriers' for the summer for an operator on a small French-owned site. We were responsible for 9 tents and 4 mobile homes, with staggered dates for arrivals and departures, with UK and Dutch guests.

The UK visitors were mostly OK to good and the Dutch mostly good at leaving the accomodation clean and tidy. The worst was a Dutch family, who stayed a fortnight, and who were disgusting. When they left it took us two of us 7 hours to clean up after them. We started at the footpath with a shovel, cleaning up rubbish from meals - bones etc. Everything supplied was dirty, and I carried every single item from the tent to wash up - by hand, of course. The cooker, fridge and BBQ were awful. People came past all day commiserating with us, as they had been a totally unpleasant family. The Dutch visitors were ashamed that the family was Dutch. All other Dutch people we've ever met on campsites over the years have had spotless accomodation, with a floor cloth inside the tent to step on to etc.

I don't think I'd like your job - not on change over days, that is. I wish you all clean, tidy visitors for the rest of the summer - with just the booked number arriving.

Jo
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It wasn't meant to be a serious remark - more tongue in cheek than anything and just responding to Fi's experiences.  I understood what she was saying as if you have experience of different nationalities and the way they leave rental properties the Brits don't always come out top...but it is a generalisation, some are great.  Lets not get too heavy about it eh?

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Hello AnOther

It wasn't meant to be a serious remark - more tongue in cheek than anything and just responding to Fi's experiences.  I understood what she was saying as if you have experience of different nationalities and the way they leave rental properties the Brits don't always come out top...but it is a generalisation, some are great.  Lets not get too heavy about it eh?

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Hello

I've never stayed in French self catered holiday accom without 'having' to clean within an inch in order to get your damage deposit back, on the other hand in the UK you are generally not expected to clean in the same manner when exiting as cleaning is usually included. This may account for your differences in attitude to how the place is left.

Panda
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[quote user="Russethouse"]We're not particularly dirty people but I wouldn't want to spend the last day of my holiday cleaning, I'd rather pay for someone else to do it![/quote]

I'm not suggesting that you should, and I always opt for the "forfait menager" when I stay in gites, but emptying the bins, checking under the beds for abandoned knickers and tissues (don't go there[:)]), removing skid marks from the loo/toothpaste from the basin, and maybe getting rid of the worst of the debris from the floors in my book comes under the heading of "civilised behaviour".  I have a separate charge for end of stay cleaning (expected by eurofolk who are 90% of my business) - if they choose to do their own end of stay clean and save themselves 40 euros, it should be a proper clean - I don't mind doing windows and the like, but the floors should be mopped, cooker, fridge and bathroom cleaned, beds stripped and bedding folded etc.  My idea of heaven on changeover day is the hum of a distant hoover at 7am.  If they choose to pay the charge, I fully expect to do the cleaning (with the above-mentioned caveats).

Fi

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When I think of all the times in the past we have cleaned madly before departure and left the place gleaming ...! Would have hated the owners to think we were dirty and thoughtless. As a gite owner I now know that not everyone feels the same! Apart from some Americans, all of our guests have been Brits, so I cannot compare with French, etc. I do have to say that most are OK, but some people have no shame.

Diane
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