Should I charge for cleaning ?

[Dick Smith]

So what do you think of the latest album? I love it - and I played it to a Year 8 class whilst they were working this week and they liked it too. That's very cool, I think.

[Gaskelldj]

Jenny,

 

I include normal end of stay cleaning in my rental rate BUT that assumes they have left the place clean and tidy as found and there is only a need to ensure bathrooms, toilets, cookers and sinks are pristine for which my letting manager charges me 50euros. If it is left untidy, no cleaning done etc - e.g. by your English guests, the letting manager tells me how much extra time that has taken (over about 2 hours for a normal changover) and that is deductable from the security deposit at a rate of 15e per hour. This is set out in the terms and conditions of the rental agreement.

 

Mr G

[cooperlola]

Awful. He can't sing can he -dreadful voice!

[Dick Smith]

Philistine.

I've just made my 4000th post defending His Bobulaciousness - sublime.

[Cassis]

We've got a Mme Zimmerman booked in for next week (seriously).  Sounded very nice on the phone and not at all gravelly.  If she leaves any gravel in the washbasin we'll charge extra, as per my new small print which allows me to add on gratuitous charges for anything I choose.

[Cassis]

Dick - I think you should retire on this nice round number and reappear as a new man.  Or chimp.

[Dick Smith]

Evolve a bit, you mean?

I could move on to Homo Erectus, but I foresee problems with the mods. I had thought of being a Bonobo, but the same problem applies.

I think I'll stay as I am, thanks. Got a banana?

[Cassis]

[img]http://www.gaboalatorre.com/images/D_banana.jpg[/img]

[Miki]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Philistine.

I've just made my 4000th post defending His Bobulaciousness - sublime.

[/quote]

Modern Times is the best Album he has made for many a year and yes, the

signature I have been using for a while now, comes from the album.

How laid back is it Dick eh ! And I swear since it has been playing on

the car CD, the car has become pretty cool in running as well, it is

very effective and I love it and him, as much now, as when I was a very

young man in the late 60's. The Music World owes this man so much and I

find it unreal that it is beyond the comprehension of a human being to

see that but then I am thought to be weird as I don't watch that Maria

crap or Pop blighter or whatever it is called [:)]

[cooperlola]

Just wanted to keep us off the topic of bl**dy cleaning.  Worked, I see.

Maria crap and Pop blighter mean nothing to me either.  Sandy Denny forever.

Love the little red cross Phil, or is it Cassis, or Geordie?

Deb

[cooperlola]

Oh, sorry, now it's turned into a banana!

[Dick Smith]

Transcendental bananananana.*

*One for the Terry Pratchett fans...

[Cassis]

I did wonder how the Red Cross had got in here!  Phil, Geordie, Cassis, it's all the same to me.

[cooperlola]

Had to Google bonobo Dick but no you're right, stick with the chimp! Transcendental bananas aside.

[Dick Smith]

Naughty little monkeys, aren't they?

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f338/dick_at_aulton/bono24-2.jpg[/IMG]

Not as much fun as Phil's get-together.

[cooperlola]

What can Phil's get-togethers be like?  Or perhaps I shouldn't ask!

[Dick Smith]

You know!

[IMG]http://meanderings.typepad.com/meanderings/images/torture.jpg[/IMG]

[cooperlola]

Right first time, shouldn't have asked...

[Cassis]

It is true that the standard of presentation of some quiz shows is well below that demanded by his immaculate Bobness. 

His immaculate Bob(Hol)ness

[IMG]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i26/cassiscassis/bobholness.jpg[/IMG]

The answer, my friend, is beginning with a P.

[Dick Smith]

I always do.

[Jo Taylor]

Blimey.

Someone a long time ago said: "I don't expect fridges, ovens, microwaves, bathrooms etc. to be cleaned" Those are exactly the things I'd like to be left clean. Don't mind them leaving the floors, I'm going to walk all over them anyway.

Pun said: "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. 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."

(Cassis beat me to the tongue & groove!) What experience and understanding? I thought you hadn't started yet? Sorry, Pun, but I do it for the money. That may be an unpopular sentiment but I doubt there's anyone here doing it purely for their own enjoyment. If they want a pampered luxury holiday they can go to a hotel. Of course I want clients to have a good holiday. But, as Croixblanches said:  If people are so keen on a "self-catering" holiday, i.e. one where they do their own cooking and washing up (and in many cases, their own washing and ironing - God knows, they often get quite antsy if a machine and iron don't come as standard) then what's the major difference between continuing all the other domestic tasks that they "wouldn't do on holiday" and continuing to do a bit of cleaning??

Out by 10am, in by 4pm are the absolute bog standard arrival and departure times. Pun said: "REF times if people arrive after the time we expect, thats no problem, we are ready, we,re not letting anyone down and these people will be made welcome as will the people who want to leave early in the morning befor the 9or 10 am period, if needed"

I'm sorry, this just made me snort. How rude of me. But do you really believe that that's where the problem will occur? It's far more likely they'll leave late and arrive early. Or MUCH later or MUCH earlier. You wait until you want to go out on a Saturday night and those nice people who said they'd arrive at 6pm don't turn up until 9.30, or 11.30,  saying "Oh, we stopped to eat!" Pun, I don't want it to seem as if I'm getting at you but you really need to get real. Please don't try to advise others until you have at least a few lets under your belt.

Pun: "kingsize slay bed" [:-))][:'(] - and once you're ready to prepare your T&Cs do, please, have someone proofread your copy.

Perhaps I sound a little jaded. Well, it is near the end of the season. And the seemingly perfectly reasonable people who left yesterday appeared to have cleaned, but they must have sent a gremlin around afterwards who put spent matches, waxy ear buds, snotty tissues and wet teabags in the bins after someone else had removed the liners. Then the gremlin went to the lavatory and did the most humungous big stinky sticky poo which wedged itself in the U bend, then squirted blue stuff down after it. That took me half an hour to dislodge; and an unforeseen trip out to buy a new loo brush. After 17 years of this I really dislike picking other peoples' pubes out of the bath plughole. That's the reality, not floating around in a white dress gently deadheading roses while smiling sweetly at lovely guests as some seem to imagine!

Jo

[CatherineS2]

Well said Jo!

I think you have managed to put into words what a lot of us gite owners with genuine "experience and understanding" have been thinking as we read some of the comments on this mammoth thread! (Remember - "gite" is the operative word here, not "hotel").

My thinking is: "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 Great! Lovely! Good for them! They should pay to stay in a hotel.

If, on the other hand, they want to pay a lot less and stay in my house, then I will do everything I can to ensure that they will have a wonderful holiday, but in return I would expect them to keep to their side of the bargain - and if they have chosen to not take up the optional paltry £30 final cleaning charge then I expect them to leave the house in a reasonably clean and tidy state so that our cleaner can make sure that the house is ready for the next guests within a couple of hours (as opposed to the 4-5 hours that she would spend if final cleaning has been requested).

[Blanche Neige]

Jo and Catherine

very true,

and excellent comments from both of you[:)]

[Will]

I think it's time to don the French pedant's beret again (before Dick or anybody else does) and point out that the true translation of 'gïte' is 'accommodation' - so it applies equally to hotels and B&Bs as it does to self-catering holiday cottages, which I think this topic really concerns. With the two former categories, cleaning is definitely included (and I speak as one who has done B&B) whereas with the third, it is appears to be somewhat optional.

When the 'optional ' bit covers obstinate poohs and scroggs in the shower, then I can see why it is tempting to charge extra.

[Jo Taylor]

Hmm. Pedant-ing back at you, isn't it more like "resting place", "shelter" or "lodging"? A sort of stopping-off place on a journey? Perhaps a native French speaker can give us the subtle nuance. However I think everyone knows what's meant by "gite", even non-French-speakers, especially since Gites de France appropriated the word in the early 1950s. Incidentally, the Gites de France contract used to set out in no uncertain terms the clients' obligation to clean before leaving. Here's Article 8 from one dated 2000 (a relatively recent one, I'm sure it was more stringent prior to that!): "An inventory is agreed and signed by the tenant and the owner or his / her representative on arrival and departure from the gite. This inventory constitutes the only reference in case of litigation concerning the condition of the gite. The condition of the premises on the arrival of the tenant must be satisfactory to the tenant. The cleaning of the property is the responsibility of the tenant during the period of rental and before his departure. The charge for any cleaning necessary is stated in the description of the gite."

I don't charge extra, but I wouldn't hesitate to deduct from the deposit if it was left in an obvious state. Usually it's fine, usually you can tell from a quick glance or three, the example in my last posting was out of the ordinary. I'd  heard a distant Hoover (music to my ears), smelt the sweet scent of Cif as I walked in, and was lulled into a false sense of security... the lurking submarine came as a horrible surprise [+o(] ! Put basically, I just want people to clean up their own muck, not spring clean - I'm going to do routine cleaning anyway.

Perhaps the French have an inbuilt expectation from 50 years of Gites de France; I also think that many, many Brit owners come to France, find they can make a barn into a gite or have a couple of rooms for B&B and earn a bit on the side - "that's nice, it's just like having friends to stay!" - without getting too far entangled in French regulations and bureaucracy, but haven't really a clue how the hospitality industry works and wouldn't be able to sustain their activity on a proper business basis.

I used to do B&B too, but we became tired of having our privacy compromised and sleep patterns disturbed (and other earning opportunities intervened). In all fairness, our house isn't laid out in a way that enabled us to retain separate and private accommodation, then we acquired two new dogs and they ate the dining room...[blink]

Jo