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Do your guests leave it clean and tidy?


JJ
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We are now in only our third season of running a gite.

In our terms and conditions we clearly ask guests to leave the place as they would expect to find it, ie clean and tidy.

However, we have noticed this year that a lot more of our clients do not seem to bother doing anything before they leave.

Call me old fashioned, but having used gites for 20 years, I though it was customary to clean up before you leave. Self catering accomodation is not the same as a hotel room or is it these days?

Now I know that the place will get a good going over before the next guests, but leaving soiled nappies in the recycling bag, full dirty dishwasher, unflushed and dirty toilets, full waste bins, filthy cookers etc is not very pleasant.

We do aks for a £100 security deposit for damage or excessive cleaning, but the intention of this was to cover heavy duty cleaning of stains etc.

Are we being unreasonable if we deduct money for leaving the place as decribed above?

One theory is that a lot more people in the UK lead such busy lives that they have other people in to do their cleaning.

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All too often the case I'm sorry to say.  We have four properties and have a similar expectation for cleaning standards by guests.  I would say it's about an equal three way split: one third of guests making a real effort to clean up; one third of guests making a gesture at cleaning that we can just about accept; and one third making little or no effort at all and leaving the house mucky.

As to whether or not to make a deduction from the security deposit, well, I suppose that depends on how mucky they leave it and what you are charging for the gite rental. Our six bed house was left fairly dirty last week but as the guests at this time of year are paying almost £2000 per week for it, it seems unreasonable to argue about a few extra hours of cleaning.  We've only charged guests once for extra cleaning - and that was earlier this summer - and in this instance the house was left in a really disgusting state. It was so bad you wonder how they even lived in it that way, but they must have realised what they had done as I haven't heard anything back from them since I told them I charged their c/card for about £70 !

We do offer guests an optional cleaning service, which takes place on the Friday before they leave, and is carried out by a local agency. Those guests that really don't want to do the work themselves at least have the option of paying someone else to do it - and some do.

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I have reached the same conclusions and this year, I have started offering a cleaning service for a deliberately high €50 supplement.

The previous years, like you, I had relied on people being reasonably respectful but I always ended up spending hours cleaning up after them. No more... I don't expect them to be washing
or even sweeping floors, but I do not expect to be emptying bins or flushing the toilet...

I have now listed specifically what I expect people to do before leaving if they do not opt for the cleaning supplement:[quote]

CLEANING

The gîte was prepared and

checked for you arrival. As part of your rental contract,

you must leave it in the same clean and tidy condition. You will find

the necessary cleaning products in the kitchen and in the

bathroom.

If you prefer not to do any cleaning before your departure, we do offer

a cleaning service for a supplement of €50.

This supplement will be systematically deducted from the security

deposit should the property not be cleaned and tidied before your departure.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

If you have not

chosen the cleaning supplement, please ensure the property is as clean and tidy as

when you arrived.

  • Remove the sheets from the beds and place them with the

    towels in the bathroom where they can be easily and quickly checked
  • Clean all the pans and dishes and empty the dishwasher.
  • Empty all the bins and take away all your glass bottles and

    rubbish.
  • Clean the shower, bath and toilet.
  • Ensure you have not left any personal belongings anywhere.[/quote]

Our first guests this summer were leaving early for a long drive home and did take up the cleaning service.

Our next guests did not, but left the property in a very reasonable condition and I did not have much more to do than the usual
dusting and sweeping.

I do think that being specific allows your visitors to know what is expected of them, other wise they'll say what a Belgian visitor said to me last year: 'But you did not say we had to take our bottles away...'

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We don't run a Gite however we have stayed in quite a few and for us it's a matter of personal pride to leave a place at least as clean as we found it, and sometimes cleaner.

I'm afraid what you are experiencing may be no more than another symptom of the general decline in standards and respect for others unfortunately witnessed in so many other areas of life [:(]

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Clair,

That is what I just love about this forum, you ask a question, and the simple answer is out there, although not always.

Your idea and solution is brilliant, I am sure we will adopt a similar system for our operation.

Mrs JJ who is in charge of all cleaning thinks it is a brilliant idea also, so thanks again.

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Referencing Earnie's post but not taking the original intent of the thread too far off the OP's point (I hope [;-)])... pre-2000 when we bought our maison secondaire, we rented gites over a 20 year period, often several times a year. We made a point of leaving a place as we found it but I certainly didn't feel it incumbent on me to, for eg, clean windows which had obviously not been cleaned for some months. I certainly didn't consider it necessary to spend my holiday ensuring a gite was cleaner than when I arrived. Though, thinking about it, I suppose occasionally they were because sometimes we had to blitz kitchens or bathrooms before we were happy to use them. [blink] These were always Chez Nous gites, never VFB or Bowhills.

I agree that there probably has been a general decline in standards and respect for others - but certainly, pre-2000, that was displayed by some owners too. I'm sure that any owner who has thus far commented here presents their accommodation to a high standard but not all owners, in my experience, bother. In my recent experience, in fact, because there's a gite in the next village where I wouldn't even house my dog. The caretaker / keyholder has given up keyholding because she's now too embarassed to be on the receiving end of the guests' disbelief on their arrival.

While some guests are undoubtedly lazy sods, some owners could try harder too. But as I said... none of them are here, I'm sure. [:D]

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Where ever I go be it a friends house a hotel room or a gite I always clean behind me. But I was very surprised when at a gite 2 years ago, and hardly used the place as I was out from 6.30 am to midnight most days, never touched the kitchen I went to leave I stripped the bed checked the bthroom took out my rubbish (left in front of the door as I couldnt find a bin) I went to the owners house to hand in the keys and say goodbye , when I was frog marched back to the gite while every thing was checked and I was told to mop the floor and clean the cooker (not used ) I was a little pissed off and would not go back there again Im afraid, over here in Cornwall you are expected to tidy but had core cleaning is normally done by the owners so I was a little surprised[:-))]     
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I suppose that gites in constant use will be more prone to wear and tear but there's no excuse for leaving them dirty. JJ deduct some of their damage deposit, that is why you take one and just say it is because of the extra cleaning that was required. 

We let our maison secondaire and are now in our 6th year. To date (and touch wood) we have been lucky and guests have left our house in a reasonable state. When they book our guests are told that final cleaning is not included in the price and they are asked to leave the house in a clean and tidy state when they leave. I do tell them that it is not necessary for them to wash the floors and I wouldn't expect them to do window cleaning. We leave loads of cleaning stuff in both bathrooms and under the kitchen sink so they have no need to go out and buy anything.

We have had quite a lot of repeat bookings over the years so I don't think this level of cleaning is too much to ask and as one of the posters (Ernie I think) said surely it is a matter of pride .

"While some guests are undoubtedly lazy sods, some owners could try harder too. But as I said... none of them are here, I'm sure"

A good point Catalpa and hopefully if guests arrive and find a lovely house to stay in they will want to leave it in the same state for the next people.

 

Good luck everyone and let's hope we all have a good Summer with lots of lovely clients.

Bon courage [:)]

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JJ

At first, I thought if people were concerned at the possibility of losing €50, they would be more attentive.

My next thought was that, as I already do some cleaning anyway, regardless of

the condition the property is left in, if I get an extra €50 out of it,

all the better for me... The cleaning supplement is an optional service.

My Dutch neighbours think I was mad to include cleaning within the rental price and rely on people's

goodwill.

They have a much more up-market propery with prices to

match, and have a compulsory cleaning charge of €50, which is paid

by the guests to a lady from the village on departure day.

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Threaten to take money out of the security deposit if the house is not left in a reasonably clean and tidy state (specify what they should do if necessary). Since I put this on the departure notes I've not had a problem - in fact this year the gites have probably been left in the best state ever. I hate 'extras' so do not charge extra for cleaning which I'd have to do anyway.

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We are not gite owners but had a similar experience last year when some (not very close) friends came to stay with us at our maison secondaire.  By the end of their visit, we felt rather like gite owners with mucky clients [:@].  I had to clean and tidy the shower every time they used it before I could have my shower.  They made no effort to help with washing up etc.  They managed to break the loo flush mechanism and said it was our fault for not putting a note on it about how to push it.  They also bent the washbasin "plug" mechanism in their en suite.  The final straw was to find in the bedroom wastepaper basket after they had left:  empty yoghurt pots, half eaten cakes and several items of a female sanitary nature, unwrapped [:@][:@][:@][:@]
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[quote user="Blanche Neige"]

 

Thibault, they sound like the "guests from hell" and obviously they will not get a second invitation from you.

[/quote]

Well, they practically invited themselves the first time[:-))]  Still, as they live in North America, Europe is not on their usual tourist route and I am sure we will be "away" the next time they plan an extended trip.[:D]

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Interesting varied experiences.  We rented our hosue as a gite for 3 seasons before we moved here and turned it into a B&B.  As another poster has said, we hate "extras" whether optional or not in rental prices, so we factored in a full clean each turn-round day by our key-holders.  This used to cost us £40 a time (2000-2002 seasons) but we knew (from comments in the guest book and the keyholders own house) that the place was always immaculate.  We charged accordingly for the gite, always being at the top-end of the local going rates.  Our key-holders looked after two other properties and told us nightmare stories of what they found on turnround day.  Presumably they cleaned these other properties as thoroughly as ours so it wasn't a case of people having less respect for a property because it wasn't as clean on arrival; however, they came across chocolate on dining chair squabs, red wine on cream sofas, dirty nappies left in the bath!!!! Kitchen cupboard door hanging off - real nightmare stuff.  My only explanation was that these other gites were housing 6-8 people for a similar or lower price than we were charging for four and perhaps therefore were attracting a lower end, less respectful market.
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So is Coco saying if you charge top money you get a better class of client?

Sorry, but that is rubbish, the better off are used to employing cleaners in their own homes, so even less likely to leave the place clean and tidy.

The class os clients has got naff all to do with it.

Rant over.

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I don't think price has anything to do with it but class certainly has.  My nightmare clients are some English upper middle class types who leave the room like a tip and treat me and hubby like servants.  Favourite clients are at the other end of the English class spectrum, and usually (but not always) from the North.  They leave the room looking as if it has hardly been used and even (God knows why) make the bed before departing!!

Our Dutch, Belgian and French clients usually leave the rooms in a good state.  Obviously used, but tidy and easy to clean.  The French tend to strip the beds for us.

V.

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[quote user="JJ"]

So is Coco saying if you charge top money you get a better class of client?

Sorry, but that is rubbish, the better off are used to employing cleaners in their own homes, so even less likely to leave the place clean and tidy.

The class os clients has got naff all to do with it.

Rant over.

[/quote]

I don't believe I mentioned the word "class" anywhere in my posting, or that I rented to "better off" people.  What I did say is that I charged top rates for a gite sleeping only 4 people and that the people that were prepared to pay top rates obviously respected my property more than those that were looking for a cheap and cheerful place that was the same price but took twice as many people. If my property was left in a clean and tidy fashion 100% of the time and our keyholders told us that probably 80% of the time the other gites they cleaned were left in a state then I can't be talking rubbish can I?

In fact, the place that was left with the dirty nappies in the bath and the cupboard door pulled off was being rented by a solicitor and his family and a barrister and his family - neither wife worked, probably had nannies and so had no idea what to do with a dirty nappy or how to clean a house. [:P]

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The one thing a lot of gite owners seem to forget is this, the CUSTOMER is on holiday and we do not  ask them to spend the last day of the well earned rest cleaning our gite,

We heve a set condition we want all our customers to share, this is our standdard of cleaning and not someone,s idea of how they think it should be.

so far this year we have had two rebooks befor the customers have even returned home.

 

The second mistake a lot of people make (besides not even being in the country) is not allowing enough time for change/overs,

Why not have a days gap between change over times if you feel your causing yourself stress by trying to do a record breaking time for change over. the same day as the previous customer is leaving.

Our gite is clean, very well furnished, and the ground are also ready for the start of a holiday/pool clean and p.h.ect all sorted

a welcome pack provided and a nice vase of fresh flowers displayed on the coffee table,

"Why," because the customer is the most important part of our efforts, without a happy customer you,ve nothing.

 

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Well said Pun. We felt much as you, that if people are on holiday they shouldn't have to spend time doing a lot of cleaning (and besides, they may not do it as well as I want it done!) that's why we factored in a full and proper clean by people we could rely on, in the price.  We also always left fresh flowers, a welcome pack, 2 cold beers and a bottle of cold wine in the fridge.  A large percentage of our guests were repeat business - I wonder why?[8-)]
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[quote user="Pun"]

Our gite is clean, very well furnished, and the ground are also ready for the start of a holiday/pool clean and p.h.ect all sorted

a welcome pack provided and a nice vase of fresh flowers displayed on the coffee table,

"Why," because the customer is the most important part of our efforts, without a happy customer you,ve nothing.

 

[/quote]

I agree with all of the above, but it really sounds as though you only make an effort with the grounds and the pool for the arrival day. Surely the chemical balance and cleanliness of the pool is something that should be taken care on a daily basis, not just for the arrival?

Pun, you are in your first season. Wait until you get your first guests who don't respect your property and leave it in a totally unacceptable state. There aren't many people like that, fortunately, but they are out there, I promise you.

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Pun"]The one thing a lot of gite owners seem to forget is this, the CUSTOMER is on holiday [/quote]
The same customer who has agreed to leave the property in a clean and tidy state on his day of departure...
[/quote]

I always leave , rubber gloves, wellies, and a powerwasher as part of "The Welcome Pack"

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I think owners expect renters to treat their gites as they would treat their own homes.

The problem is that too many do exactly that.

A surprising number of affluent families live like pigs and cleaning only gets done by the  hired help.

So why wouldn't they expect the  gite owner to clean up after them?

As someone said the customer is king.

A friend of ours remarked that "People who have time to clean cookers must lead very sad lives"

 

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