Holiday lets

I have worked in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years.  I consider myself to be an expert on the totally, ridiculous, stupid, demands that holiday makers often make when on holiday.

Stuff like - 'Why is the toilet paper blue? We thought it would be white.  Are we entitled to compensation?'  And that question was in the days when coloured toilet paper was very trendy.  And even if it hadn't been...........................  Does it really matter what colour toilet paper one wipes ones bum with?  At least they had toilet paper?  Which is a lot more than most people had when I first started working in the holiday letting industry.

20 years ago most people who rented a holiday home had to bring their own bedding, their own toilet rolls, their own washing up liquid and towels and t-towels.  And if you had a washing machine in your holiday let, it was considered 'luxury'.  As was a TV, a video recorder....................... and wifi hadn't even been invented.  Well actually it probably had, but only for the 'yuppies' who came on holiday from London.

..............And actually can anyone these days remember what YUPPIES stood for? - Young upwardly professional people - and that's as far as I remember. Haven't got a clue what 'IES' stood for.  Time to do a bit of googling.

Not sure where I'm going with this RANT?...........................

..............Oh yes.......................... Holiday lets...........................

Why is it that people who go on holiday chose not to respect one's home?

I have been away from my home for a few months now and to make some money I decided to 'holiday let' it.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmm  Best laid plans and all that.

Being an 'experienced person in hospitality' I thought I knew all the pitfalls.  And to be fair I think I probably do.

The problem is.................. holiday makers do stuff that they don't actually even know that they're doing?!!

For example -

They change the furniture around.  Holidaymaker thinks - I'll just move a couple of chairs into a different position and I'll just move the coffee tables and I'll just reposition the table that the DVD is on so that................................  So that what?????????????????

..................Totally oblivious to the fact that doing this has scratched, marked, flaked the painted floorboards.  Will they admit to any of this? - of course they won't.

..............And holiday makers don't EVER like the cupboards where one keeps the crockery.  So they decide to re-organise everything?!  So when the owner returns to their home, where they had a system, they find everything in disarray??? Instead of there being a couple of empty cupboards for holiday makers to put their foodstuffs, these are filled with things like egg cups and teapots. And having left the property with more than 6 mugs on a shelf, one returns to find 2 mugs sitting on the draining board and no other mugs in sight anywhere.

Why do holiday makers do this?

When I go on holiday and stay in a holiday let I try and leave everything single thing as near to perfect as I possibly can.

And the other thing....................... Even when you have photographic evidence; they still deny it???

It's like.................... here is what my property looked like when you arrived and here's what it looked liked when you left.....................

.....................Oh you haven't bothered to open any windows or ventilate the place.  All you've done is crank up the heating to full, close all the curtains and blinds, have really hot showers without using the extractor fan.............................  And you haven't  noticed that all the bedroom walls have turned black and the shower curtain is riddled with mildew

And then the visitor says, ' Oh, I didn't notice anything?'

Seriously??!!  How could you not???????????????????????????

................And being a very 'on the ball' letting person, I always contact my visitors the day after they arrive to check that everything is OK.  Every single time I have done this, my visitors have replied, 'Yes everything is hunky dory'.

.............................And then........................... when they leave....................... they leave me reviews saying such things as; 'the bed wasn't very comfy' or 'there were cat hairs on the rug'.  Bed not comfy?  Check out the rest of my reviews that say that the bed is very comfy.  And surely that's a personal preference thing anyway?  Cat hairs on the rug?.................. in a property where a cat has never, ever been?  Seriously?!!

Sometimes I think people just like complaining for the sake of it?!

It just really annoys me that when people are asked if everything is Ok and they say it is................  Then they complain on a public review?!!

There again, I guess we're living in an very 'online' world where people are too scared to talk to anyone?   They probably think that by responding to messages that everything is OK and then posting online reviews that there are things that they don't like, that they can remain anonymous.

..............But do you know what?.................. the next time anyone who rents my house says that everything is OK and then posts a bad review online..............  I am going to name and shame them.

Rant over!!!