Hello
we recently had a lovely family of seven rent our house but although they spent most of the time out sightseeing when they left the house smelled really strongly of spicy cooking and the walls in the hallway were literally covered up to 3 ft high with fingerprints, greasy handprints and some pen or pencil marks. Two of the guest bath sheets which match the room were also missing.
we know we have to expect some wear and tear on the house but even though we have had almost constant traffic through the house from contracting teams we have never been in a situation where we cannot rent the house immediately after a guests stay. Are we naive in expecting consecutive rentals to be the norm? it is now day 5 and the smell is lessening but would still be something we would have to mention to the next guests.
We were happy to overlook the taking away of toothpaste, shower gel and almost two thirds of a pack of dishwasher tablets but the missing towels we enquired about. We also queried what had happened with the washing machine, as water leakage is noticeable on the kitchen ceiling meaning we had to check the lights. Finally we informed the guests that the paintwork would require a freshen up an d that this was particularly galling as the whole house had been repainted only two weeks previously but would not be able to rent the house out until it was refreshed again to cover the children’s handprints etc
The guest who booked denied that any issues had happened with the washing machine, they had not removed any property and they did not agree that the house was requiring any extra cleaning. So I confirmed we would go through ABB resolution for a satisfactory outcome.
so although we know they used half a bottle of concentrated detergent and probably had a suds overspill we cannot prove the washing machine leak it so we have left that. We did not have any rule about spicy or strong smelling cooking (we do now) so although we would have expected guests to realise that we would need to rent out again as soon as they left and perhaps take this into account, especially as our kitchen has no door, they didn’t so we have to suck this up also.
I prepared a claim and asked for the £40 to cover the half day for our decorator yesterday to put the walls back to our usual standard and £35 for replacement towels - acknowledging that they could have been packed by accident or even left at the lakeside during one of their day trips. I have had no response from the guest but have received £35 in spite of me sending 13 photographs of individual and groups of marks on the walls!
it seems they have accepted responsibility for the towels. What do I do about leaving a review?
Any other advice - this has really thrown us as the contractors have been so clean and so simple to work with!