Preparing your holiday cottages for guests after Lockdown

Preparing your holiday cottages for guests after Lockdown. So following the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic that caused the hospitality industry to close for 3 months a few years ago, what changes to cleaning regimes can guests expect on their next visit to holiday cottages in the UK after the 4th of July mainly around the cleaning and items to provide for your guests.

Depending on the type of holiday cottage owner you are, you may be very hands-on in the maintenance and management of your property or decide to have someone else do it for you.

Standard Cleaning Practicalities & Routines for Preparing your holiday cottages

The practical jobs associated with managing a holiday home, for example laundry, cleaning and handovers, are straightforward but time consuming. However, this has changed and even if you enjoy the whole process, other demands of managing your holiday home may take precedence over these housekeeping tasks due to the reality of coronavirus.

In this blog we take a closer look at some of the practical things you should arrange before letting your holiday cottage out to guest post covid-19 which we know will be the new norm. Although some you may have already thought of, others not so obvious, however, all are very  important for a safe and memorable guest experience!

Cleaning

First impressions count and making your holiday business spotless and clean is crucial to your success as a holiday home owner. When a guest enters your holiday home for the first time they should feel as though they are the first person to ever stay in it much like when you want to sell a house and have made it spruce clean for viewers.

If you do the cleaning yourself you might want to ensure you have the best cleaning products and most importantly ones that can kill viruses and bacteria. This could be in the form of sprays, liquids, wipes (protex) and multipurpose surface products which are readily available here at Loorolls.com.

If you have a cleaning company maintaining your cottage, ensure you have discussed what is expected and that they have a keen eye for detail for total peace of mind for all your holiday cottage visitors and will continue to maintain the high standards of your home.

Laundry

Appearances count for everything when you are preparing your holiday cottages. Guests expect to see well presented furnishings that are clean and fresh. In order to achieve this you might be required to iron everything including the sheets if you don’t already do that. As a result if you have a high turnover of guests through your property you will generate an enormous amount of laundry. Managing it all yourself can be difficult and it’s an area that visitors are real sticklers for.

Areas with a thriving tourist economy, like North Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall, tend to have a good selection of laundry companies serving the tourist-focused businesses that operate here but it may be more challenging to find a laundry service in less touristy places or remote locations.

Key safes

A few times when I have taken my family on a well deserved break we have had the pleasure of being met by the cottage owner to pick-up the keys. You end up creating a rapport which is good. However, this could be a thing of the past as everything now seems to be heading contactless. Rather than a ‘meet and greet’ on arrival, cottage owners need to ensure their guest can access their rental via a key safe which needs to be sanitised and ready for when  guests arrive.

Offer hand sanitiser in welcome packs when preparing your holiday cottages for guests

Alcohol hand sanitisers of the right formulation have been proved to be effective in killing the coronavirus and also reduce the virus to background level within 30 seconds. Therefore, when sourcing for alcohol hand gel or hand rub please check that it contains at least 60% alcohol concentration to achieve the desired results. From science we know that alcohol attacks and destroys the envelope protein (vital for their multiplication and survival) that surrounds some viruses, including coronaviruses.

Every booking should receive hand sanitiser as part of their welcome pack which can be used by guests when out and about and should be there for keeping. At Loorolls, we sell good quality hand sanitisers (alcohol) at great prices which can be ordered in bulk with quick delivery.

Summary

Whether you are preparing your holiday cottages and are a hands-on holiday cottage owner or not, the tourism industry has brought in new challenges for their owners. Some obvious changes to be made and  not so obvious, however, all are very important for a safe and memorable guest experience.

Here at Loorolls, we pride ourselves to being a leading stockist of janitorial & cleaning products, feel free to browse our range of products online or call us on 0151 342 2111 to create a trade account and enjoy bulk discounts.