We just received guidance from the Rental Agency (Sykes) on the health measures needed when the holiday cottage industry opens again. Their current conclusions:
- Provide PPE for cleaners or changeover staff; disposable gloves, aprons, masks, hand sanitiser.
- Clean most surfaces with bleach/disinfectant
- ULV Fogging machine used in all rooms between bookings;
- Change all cleaning cloths, mops, oven gloves, bathmats, tea towels and towels between bookings;
- Change all linen, bagged before laundry;
- Change pillow and mattress protectors between bookings;
- Change gloves between each stage of cleaning;
- Clean high use areas, also ovens, fridges, freezers,toasters, kettles, irons, hair dryers, and vacuum cleaners, bathroom fittings
- Clean controls, books, toys, games
- Clean bins inside and out; empty bins between bookings (note the council only collect fortnightly).
- Clean umbrellas, mops, dustpan & brush and brooms
- Clean garden furniture, Bbq, Sheds, Garages, shared entrances, key safes.
- In addition to soap, supply guests with disinfectant, hand sanitiser, tissues, disposable gloves, new cloths (?), disposable wipes, paper towels; i.e. throw away the unused toilet rolls and paper kitchen rolls after a guest stay.
Note that fogging machines cost around £500 or more, if you ignore the cheaper (unwarranted and uncertified) Chinese Ebay type of device. Their recommendations would also entail expenditure on additional bed and bathroom linen from the current four sets to six sets of linen and towels. The additional cleaning will increase the man hours needed for change over.
We recently had to do an extensive deep clean when some guests decided to smoke inside the property, against the booking conditions, during their stay. It greatly increased the cleaning time from about ninety minutes to five hours work. I'd imagine doing extensive anti-virus cleaning will see similar extensions.
We recently had to do an extensive deep clean when some guests decided to smoke inside the property, against the booking conditions, during their stay. It greatly increased the cleaning time from about ninety minutes to five hours work. I'd imagine doing extensive anti-virus cleaning will see similar extensions.
So far Sykes haven't explained how this additional expenditure will be recouped, they certainly they haven't suggested they'll contribute to the costs. As we currently only make on average £3 profit per day this additional funding will have to come from increased rental charges. The ownership of Sykes changed hands from private equity company Livingbridge for $480 Million USD in the autumn of 2019 and have a reported annual profit in the region of $25 Million USD.
Discussions are ongoing but their initial idea was for us as owners to offer a 20% discount on rental to prospective clients to encourage bookings. It seems like a recipe to increase losses in the face of increased cleaning costs and extended between stay gaps.
Discussions are ongoing but their initial idea was for us as owners to offer a 20% discount on rental to prospective clients to encourage bookings. It seems like a recipe to increase losses in the face of increased cleaning costs and extended between stay gaps.
We've also done some research:
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-52577705
- https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/disinfecting-building-facility.html
- https://www.aftermath.com/blog/the-truth-behind-fogging-cdc-recommended-cleaning-and-disinfection-procedures-for-covid-19/
- http://www.iuva.org/IUVA-Fact-Sheet-on-UV-Disinfection-for-COVID-19
- https://www.pascuk.co.uk/standards
- https://www.independentcottages.co.uk/holiday-blog/coronavirus-considerations-for-reopening-your-holiday-home-to-guests
Edit 02/06/2020: Added details of Sykes
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