Managing the changeover - sharing our thoughts here

Agencies and other headaches, keys and cleaners, running costs and contracts...in short, all the things we spend so much of our time doing behind the scenes.<br>
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

Doesn't sound to me like you've gone mad at all Anne. All sounds incredibly sensible. And for our own sanity I think it's vital we too feel comfortable with what we are doing. We have a new Action in town and I've never been in - and I've been reluctant to investigate post-lockdown as I tend to spend the minimum of time shopping so go for shops I know, but maybe I should investigate. I too am putting together a "household items" pack just for an individual household and putting it in a pretty cardboard box (virus lingers less on cardboard).
ARealHighlander
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Post by ARealHighlander »

"At the Safe2Stay HQ we have heard of a lot of businesses out there that are claiming their products offer up to 7 day or 30 day protection but be aware some of these claims have little or weak scientific evidence that can support their claims. The tests carried out are lab based and usually have little significance to real-world examples. "

so while it looks like good stuff, there is no guarantee how long it will last.
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

The question about what to do with linen mid week has been raised in the UK & Ireland section.
viewtopic.php?p=364443#364443

I'm also posting my answer here:
I am NOT asking my guests to strip their beds at the end of their stay. Instead I will ask them to leave everything in situ. I am fortunate I have at least a week between bookings so I am leaving the cottage untouched for three days before I go in to start cleaning and washing bed linen.
There is increasing evidence that this virus is airborne, which means that there needs to be a special protocol around the handling of linen. It's important that used linen is NOT shaken out and I cannot control my guests behaviour in this regard.
The Scottish protocol has a good suggestion which is to roll linen away from you so you are minimising what lands on your own body.
Like others, I will have clean linen for the mid-week already in the cottage for them to change if they want, plus linen bags in which to put their dirty linen. They will have to store the dirty linen in the cottage until they leave. I won't be taking it from them during their stay. That just increases the risk that I am transporting the virus back to our main house.
I think Kathy has a good point about whether they can wash their linen themselves. (Certainly ours can and probably will want to.) If so, they need to be instructed to wash their linen on a HOT wash - 60°C - no being economical in this environment. Bear in mind that in an ideal scenario you would wash the changed linen AGAIN after they have left as you cannot trust what they have done. (As we are supposed to do with ALL the crockery / cutlery etc.)
gardenboy
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Post by gardenboy »

Thanks very useful posts, I have a first booking coming up next week so am agreeing protocols with the guests directly.

Fwiw

All non essential fabrics and cushions removed
Guests make own beds, strip post stay and launder themselves
Contactless entry and exit
No entry for 3rd parties unless emergency
1 week gap between lets
All plates and cutlery dishwasher at 60 degrees before and after

Pretty sure that's all I can do, guests seem happy.
Fingerscrossed
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Location: wales

Hairdryer??

Post by Fingerscrossed »

We have been advised by our letting agent Cottages.com to remove games, dvds,books,leaflets etc as they are hard to include in the new covid cleaning regime . They also include the hairdryer in this list.
Am I bring dense here. Can I not wipe the handle with the anti viral wipes? I thought it might be that the virus (if present) would be dispersed through but they suggest guest could bring their own, so not that.
Has anyone else removed this?
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

I agree Fingerscrossed - I'm leaving both of mine. They will be wiped over thoroughly.
It may partly be the sheer quantity of things we need to clean that leads to suggestions what to remove. I'd prefer to offer them mine rather than have them bring yet another thing into the cottage.
I'm also offering them in advance a list of our DVD library with the option to choose one a night which I will then clean and leave in the cottage for their arrival. They may not need it - there's so many channels on smart TVs these days.
Parrotperson
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Post by Parrotperson »

Interestingly Fingerscrossed we are also with Cottages.Com and we were told to leave the books!!!

I seriously think the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

We've also been told that if a guest needs to self isolate in our house and that continues into the next booking period they will be expected to pay for that week or weeks. Wonder of they're telling g the customers that.
Fingerscrossed
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Hairdryer??

Post by Fingerscrossed »

Parrotperson wrote:Interestingly Fingerscrossed we are also with Cottages.Com and we were told to leave the books!!!

I seriously think the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

We've also been told that if a guest needs to self isolate in our house and that continues into the next booking period they will be expected to pay for that week or weeks. Wonder of they're telling g the customers that.
I agree cottages.com said to remove books if only a few but leave it if a library with a note saying not sanitised. I decided in the end to split my supply of books, dvds and leaflets in half. Half placed in drawer with note saying not included in cleaning regime but being rotated so guests can access if they wish. The other half is quarantined to be swapped on changeover.

I'm not sure guests would be informed by cottages.com that they would need to pay if longer stay needed due to self isolation and likely owner would need to do it! Hopefully will never arise!
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

I removed all our books because one of the key issues about becoming infected is the length of time in contact with the virus and the amount of virus and it seemed to me that someone reading a book is (a) spending a long time with it and (b) likely to leave / receive a significant amount of virus on / from the pages.
And anyway increasingly our guests who read a lot come with their kindles loaded.
I did prepare a DVD library list and offered them the chance to choose a film for each day they stayed. I would just clean the cases of those they chose and then leave them in the cottage. The following guests would not have the choice of those titles.
No-one in fact has bothered with the DVDs.

Our latest guests left this morning and I asked them to open all the windows and leave the shutters ajar and to also leave all cupboards /wardrobes / drawers open so they can air. I also asked them to take everything away with them, or throw stuff away. I'll go in and start cleaning Tuesday. Hopefully there will be no half used bottles of shampoo / mayonnaise / etc.
Our (English) guests who were supposed to be arriving next weekend have now postponed until next year. I don't have any more bookings but have re-opened my calendar - who knows?
Sam V
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Post by Sam V »

I'm on a Facebook airbnb hosts group. It actually astounds me how many hosts are making minimal changes to their change overs and procedures, same day changeovers with only an hour extra either end, etc. Even happy to have guests leave food behind for them to use themselves, and tge same pillows being used, clean covers, etc., for the next guests who had used them just that morning!
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hydroland2
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Post by hydroland2 »

I decided eventually to close for the remainder of the year and cancel/postpone existing bookings. Most guests had already cancelled or postponed anyway, so I didn't have much left for this year. I was prepared to make changes that would hopefully work for safety of guests and us, but my partner has become rather paranoid over the coronavirus situation so it was obviously not going to work out.

So cancelled/moved bookings, closed calendars - all fine. Then this morning - a booking from b.com for 2 weeks time! Arrrghh! I've had this happen a couple of times in the past with b.com when my closed dates have magically reopened. So now I've had to try and contact the guest to explain they should not have been able to book. Extra nuisance as the b.com system doesn't seem to be delivering messages to guests at all this year. Is there a way to actually suspend a b.com listing as blocking the calendar doesn't actually seem to work?
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