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Should I charge for cleaning ?


Jenny P
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Everyone has there own way of doing things, but Mrs MDW do you REALLY charge for chipped plates etc ? Wouldn't you be better to have a 'contingency fund' a charge built into the rental cost.

If you deduct specific monies surely it makes work for you and alienates possible repeat bookers and renters who may just recommend you.?

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I do the same as JonD - I know how long it takes to clean each house after the majority of guests leave - (6, 4 and 2 respectively). Anything over this I deem as excessive. Likewise the extra cleaning of sofa covers (why do parents let their kids eat yoghurt on the sofa? At least I hope it was yoghurt)

I have to say that I don't charge for chipped/broken plates or glasses, though! The tiled floors are very unforgiving. I don't think I own a plate myself that isn't chipped.

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I do not charge for chipped plates - annoying but it happens.  We wait until we see pretty crockery on promo in the supermarket and pay 60 euros for 18 place settings.  This will survive our gites that have eight and six settings (gites for 6 and 4), for probably at least a couple of years despite removing anything with a hint of a chip.  Maybe even an extra year when what is left is combined into the smaller gite if we are lucky.

I do not charge for broken wine glasses - at 5 euro per dozen, am I that desperate?

I do not charge extra for cleaning, and yes MOH and I do spend at least a couple of hours minimum each,  in each gite  to clean after guests depart.  Although we sometimes get wound up at the state things are left in, whether a guest has done no clean or a reasonable clean, it will still get done again.  If we have to spend three hours each instead of two because it is in a bad state, is our combined two hours extra labour really worth that much that we deduct from the deposit and alienate our guests?

So many guests tell us they have cleaned and that we won't need to do anything when they leave.  It may be clean enough for them at home, but it is not acceptable for incoming guests to find the cutlery drawer full of crumbs,  or saucepans not properly washed up.  Bathrooms may have been cleaned but taps don't sparkle, and nobody thinks to empty the hair trap in the shower.  If that is not done, the following guests will find the water won't drain away!  It all gets done again.

We have run our three gites for seven years, and in that time only three times have been able to walk out of a gite thinking it was cleaned to a high enough standard.  Those guests receive a written thank you as it is something so unusual.

We have a repeat/referral rate of 60-65% which we are delighted with.  We feel we charge a fair rental and aim to offer a relaxing stress-free holiday.  Although we are pleased if people have made a real effort to clean, and perhaps less than amused if they haven't, it is surely all part of running a gite business.  If by having to work our butts off every Saturday during the season we have happy returning customers, is it really that much of a sacrifice?  No pain, no gain!

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I agree Judy. I don't charge for chipped plates and bought

an extra set on promo for replacements. This year though we seem to

have loads of wine glasses broken for some reason. I jokingly said to

the first person, that'll cost you a bottle of wine - they said what a

good idea. In the end we gained about 5 bottles! The comment was it was

a better fine than money or replacing wine glasses with the wrong type

and having mismatched glasses.

You sound like you have the right attitude to running Gites -

especially after 7 years - I too feel it's all part of the service.

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Ive sat on this one for a few days having read all the remarks ref should the gite be returned in the same state it was given,

And pre my early retirement from my own built up company employing 15 full time people ,

I can say with both experience and understanding of what having a gite or b&b should be about. PEOPLE,

Yes PEOPLE who for how ever long the holiday is will be having a change from the normal day to day routine they have all year round.

If on this holiday they decided they didnt want to do any house work, but just enjoy a private relaxing time for this short break, then so be it.

I intend to have an 8 hour gap between change overs, and in that time (weather permit) both the inside and out side areas will be cleaned to my standard not the guest who have left (30 min) worth of cleaning work for us to do.

This 8 hour gap will be a weekly or what ever time the change over booking times will be, and thats not bad ,8 hours work every change over.

The most important thing in any financial investement is a thing called the customer and from some of the remarks Ive seen ref this should I charge for cleaning thing, YOU should go back to the question why are you doing this gite in the first place.

Did you think the cutomer was going to spend time cleaning and how did you know they,d clean to your staddard??

I feel some people have lost the plot.

Any customer that damages items or the building will be charged to put these things back in order,

But every customer who uses our gite will not be expected to spend any part of the holiday getting ready to return to the normal daily routine they have had a break from ie cleaning ready for my next guest, We will do all that and to our high standdard.

The cost of the complete holiday package will be just that, charged as complete.

Ive used some gites since being interested in France and Ive learnt to better all Ive seen and heard and I have one very important start word value for money.

If your going to have any form of making money you must have a plan and to do this you need to do your home work.

befor you start, its no good going into the service industry if you dont want to put the hours in and enjoy what your doing,

Every thing from a welcome to our gite pack to smoke alarms to saftey ref pools etc all comes from having a plan

and ensuring that plan is going to work for both the time you want to spend and the costing, ie will it make money and

do you really want to work with the public??

Well Ive been honest and Im sure some of the gite/b/b people would have had a fit by my remarks but some people cant see the wood for the trees.

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How long do other gite owners normally leave between rentals?  Do you have a day's gap, as Pun is planning?  I always thought that one lot of renters left in the morning and the others arrived at the end of the afternoon, but you couldn't do that if you had 8 hours set aside for cleaning.  It would certainly make it a bit tight.

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[quote user="Cassis"]How long do other gite owners normally leave between rentals?  Do you have a day's gap, as Pun is planning?  I always thought that one lot of renters left in the morning and the others arrived at the end of the afternoon, but you couldn't do that if you had 8 hours set aside for cleaning.

[/quote]
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[quote user="SusanAH"][quote user="Cassis"]How long do other gite

owners normally leave between rentals?  Do you have a day's gap, as Pun

is planning?  I always thought that one lot of renters left in the

morning and the others arrived at the end of the afternoon, but you

couldn't do that if you had 8 hours set aside for cleaning.

[/quote][/quote]

Did your finger slip, Susan?  [:)]

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Pun, I agree with you wholeheartedly.

Thought I would lighten the thread a little with memories of a gite holiday taken in 1994 in the Dordogne.  If anything ever served to shape our attitude towards our guests, this most certainly did.

On arrival after a long drive from Calais, we were not sure of where to go as the signs were rather ambiguous.  We went in the door we thought was the office, and were instantly barked at by  bad-tempered owner 'You are in the wrong place.  This is my living room and you should be in the office around the corner.'  No words of welcome there, then. 

After unpacking, we made that eagerly-awaited cup of tea and decided to drink it by the pool.  We were instantly swooped on by Herr Flick, as he became known during the course of the next fortnight.  'You can't make tea and bring it down here!'  Oh dear, in trouble again, and we've only been here twenty minutes!  We apologised, thinking he was concerned we would break a cup by the pool.  To our surprise, he offered to make the tea himself and bring it to us, and of course he would charge us!

Herr Flick had a rule that regardless of heatwaves (it was mid-August), the pool would be covered at 7pm (precisely) every night.  One night, after he had gone to bed, the guests 'revolted' and removed the cover for a late night swim.  A good time was had by all.  The following morning, Herr Flick visited every gite to interrogate us as to who were the culprits, and to berate us that it had taken him an extra fifteen minutes to straighten up the cover.  He carried with him the evidence of such wicked deeds.  Forget Prince Charming and the Slipper.  Herr Flick was clutching a bra that he had found by the pool and was intent on finding the owner!  Unfortunately, it was a very shy 18 year old Dutch girl who was mortified that her bra should be flaunted in front of everybody.

On departure day, there was no question of not leaving the gite spotless.  Herr Flick would personally inspect every corner and count every teaspoon of each gite, before personally handing over the security deposit cheque.  If you left without his inspection, you ran the risk of not seeing your cheque again.  As he only had one Hoover between seven gites and we all had to wait our turn, we were not amused with the long journey ahead to have to wait to pass muster.

Perhaps we should thank Herr Flick.  His attitutude towards his guests (they were a nuisance, a liability and basically a pain in the ****) made us realise how NOT to treat our guests.  We want people to come to our gites and feel that, in the short time they are here, our little piece of heaven is theirs to share.

 

PS   Cassis.  We too operate the 10am latest departure, 4pm earliest arrival.  Hopefully able to find out in advance roughly what time they expect to be here so we can prioritise which gite to tackle first.

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Six hours - out at 10, in at four. Except by special arrangement, of course.

 Pun - Eight hours seems a little ambitious. I can't imagine that

many guests are going to be ready to leave by 8am if you were hoping to

have the next in by 4pm. On the other hand, allowing people to leave at

10 would mean keeping everyone waiting until 6pm - often not what the

customer wants! I suppose that you could compromise at out at nine, in

by five, but that looks like the worst of both both worlds to me with

the advantages of neither.

I must say that your post sounds a little high handed considering you haven't actually started taking guests yet.

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I also wanted to say in reply to Pun's post that yes, I agree, running gites is about people and I'm sure that most gite owners want their guests to have a fantastic relaxing holiday. However, gites are not hotels and it is really up to the owner to set the terms and conditions about how the place is let and what services are included. Some choose to offer an after stay clean included, others don't, the same goes for things like bed linen and heating. Guests are aware of that when they book, so if they do stay and somewhere where cleaning is not included, they should do the cleaning themselves or be prepared to pay a supplement. Some people prefer to pay less and do more themselves e.g. the French would rather pay less and bring their own bed linen and do their own cleaning.

We include cleaning, but even then I expect the property to be treated with care and respect by the guests. It doesn't happen often, but you do get the odd group/family who obviously haven't lifted a finger during their stay and leave you dirty pots and pans, stains all over the sofa, sticky sweets under the chairs and tables and babybel wrappers trodden into the carpet. I can assure you that it is very disheartening when this happens  - maybe you'll find out yourself one day!

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Speaking as a customer, I can't see anything wrong with asking the guests to leave the place in a decent state.  I would want to do that anyway!  I might be on my hols, but I couldn't stand to live in squalor for a fortnight....and YES, I'm BRITISH!!!!

Obviously if you asked your guests to do a full spring clean it would be a bit much, but I think what Jenny was talking about was a family who had left the place in a dismal state.  If cleaning materials are provided, I have no problem using them.

For most decent people, mopping the floors and cleaning the cooker and loo really isn't a big deal.  That's what you get when you go self catering!

It seems to me you  people all work really hard for your money, I don't think it's too much to ask that your guests respect your property, it certainly doesn't mean you're not 'customer focused'. 

Keep up the good work [:D]

 

 

 

 

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Speaking as a customer here, I agree wholeheartedly with Pun's comments.  To be fair, I cannot see how someone with three young children getting up for a flight at 3am could possibly have left the place in the condition they found it.  It would have been horrendous getting up at that time with then. From experience, cleaning is hard work with just two young children. However, if I had paid for the cleaning to be done as an optional extra, I would accept this but it should be pointed out on arrival along with mops and buckets.  If I ran a gite however, I would expect to be cleaning the place for the next person anyway.

Just in case I had not read the terms cover to cover, and If I were charged after I left, I would not go back or recommend to anyone nor would anyone else I am sure.  Paying extra for cleaning to someone else's standards - (and let's be honest, you just have to visit a few houses to realise this) is something that should definitely be made very clear and not just left open for someone to read in the small print.

 

Georgina[:)]

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What a sensible and wonderful person you are Rosie.[;-)]

All we ask is, that because we offer a place which is cleaned as good

as is possible before a new client arrives, we ask them to leave it as

they found it. Why not, if one wants to encourage a place to look like

a tip, simply continue to inform guests with a "don't worry we clean it

all for you afterwards" and see what a state it will be left in one

day. It is purely a case of dimishing returns. We have had our places

left as good as immaculate to downright disgusting...never will that

ever be tolerated again.

As Rosebud says, that is what self catering is all about and to be

honest if we billed it in, we would do what our French friend with a

beautiful place does in Provence, simply tell guests that a minimum

charge of 75 euros per hour will be charged for any extra cleaning work

after the first hour. She takes a no nonsense approach and as she often

tells us, she is not slogging her life away to look after people who

have no respect for others properties, payment or no payment.

I think this is pretty much a British trait. The Brits charge a lot

more in general than many French owners, so perhaps there is a guilt

complex that one feels that at the high price often charged, they

really can afford to clean it afterwards and as I said before, that is

the surest way to end up with Brits coming here in ensuing years with

the attitude that sod it, let the stupid owners do the cleaning, as

that is what our last one said should happen !!

If its on the T&C's, that's what one should stick by....................

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Hi   Jon D.

Many thanks for your valued reply, just one question.

you say on page one of this topic the cleaning should be part of the cost, (as Ive said this is just what we will do)

But you go on to say, some people leave the place in a mess and some leave it as if no one had stayed. (Q) Do you give a refund to the guest who left it like nobody had stayed, after all they,ve paid in the booking price for you to clean after they,ve gone havent they?

regards Pun

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I  did say my remarks would open a can of worms ref  cleaning by the customer, and it did,

So this has so far been a very awake call to both questions for future customers to ask and the gite owners to ensure they make clear when Terms/con,d are presented to the customer,

I myself wouldnt have any idea of the living conditions or cleaning standards of the person renting and so will stay with the all cleaning done by us the owners and to our standards and the 8 hour cleaning and sorting out any problems times ie out by 9am in no sooner than 5pm, this way the new customers will have a clean/aired gite with all checks done on all saftey alarms ie pool/fire alarms and a wecome pack and very important a welcome smile,

 

I couldnt do all of this in 30 min period.

Thanks for all your comments on this subject.

 

subject closed regards Pun.

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Hi  Cassis,

The times are out by 9am most people have a long drive anyway and in no sooner than 5 pm,

this ensures we have the time to make the start of the stay special for the arriving guest, if the people leaving have left us with any problems that need out of the way sorting, such as wine staines on the 3 piece, or such problems I feel you cant have these sorted if you dont give yourself a chance,

And you wouldnt feel  very special if I was showing you arround your French holiday home with wine marks all over the settee, would you?

As I said plan and  and plan again,

You know as well as I do so many people come to France and buy places that need tons of work and money spent on them,

And these people go diving in buy them and then the real problems start, WHy because back home in the U.K. ETC they didnt even change a light bulb let alone sort a roof tiling job out,

This again is lack of planning and more of dreaming, Well     Cassis my friend its the same with serving the public and Gites, you have to plan.

I hope you agree speake to you again soon.

 

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Hi  Judy c,

Many thanks for your support on this one, as I said I did sit on this one for a day or so and said how I feel it should be run,

If they had an M.O.T. for gites here in france, a lot of them would be off the road ,

 

once again thanks.

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Pun,

you will find that most people find it a struggle to get organised to leave by 10am, let alone 9am. I don't think that deadline is very 'guest friendly' especially as a lot stay on BST for the duration of their visit.

Georgina

I appreciate your point on the cleaning, but what's to stop you giving the place a quick clean the afternoon before the day you leave? It doesn't have to be done just before you leave. That's what I used to do when I stayed in gites before becoming an owner myself (with 3 young children to look after).

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I hope it's easier to get people out of gites on time than it is to get them out of a B&B.  I probably know less than Pun about doing gites but I know people are hopeless at getting away from a B&B on time.  I bow to those who have are in the gite business and are running them successfully - I wouldn't dream of pretending I know more than them.

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Hi  Susan H,

Many thanks for your much needed reply,

I,d like to reply to both parts, (1) terms and conditions would be agreed  and understood by both party,  My interest is to give these guest a stress free enjoyable holiday and in the T &G it will say we dont exspect any guest to clean," your on holiday."

(b) Leaving time, due to the fact that dept 23 is some 400miles from the port of calais, We have friends staying with us many times and all want to leave pri 9am,  to get to the ports for early evening crossings, ie 6pm on wards.

also coming from the opposit direction is again around 9 to 10 hours allowing for stops and  traffic. Again planning

but from the time you arrive here we want people to spend time enjoying both all the gite has to offer and this part of france.

 

I hope this has given you a thought or two as to how and why.

once again many thanks for your thoughts.

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