Vindictive guests

 We've already stated elsewhere on this blog that we subsidise guest stays in the cottage. We're looking to cover costs whilst keeping the property occupied without the longer term risks of tenancy agreements.  Bringing holiday guests into the locality also injects cash in the local businesses. As a consequence our rental fees one of the lowest in the area when compared to the facilities provided. However we still get some guests paying the low rent and then expecting Ritz facilities. They will then approach Sykes to get a discount on the subsidised prices.

We had one pair of guests stay over a year ago who demanded a partial refund from Sykes which they didn't receive even after they sent "photographs" to Sykes. Their main complaint was that the accommodation smelt musty. I guess that is difficult to (dis)prove with photographs.  We didn't get involved in this until their bad review was received by Sykes.  Either side of their bad review on the Sykes website are complimentary good reviews from other guests.

Contractually the guests are supposed to contact the owners first during the holiday stay to seek some form of remediation. The "guests" didn't attempt to contact us.  There were the other vague issues added to their complaint list, such as cleaning etc,.  All this could have been resolved if they'd contacted us during their stay.  

In fact we'd just finished redecorating the entire interior of the cottage about a month before their stay. We'd cleaned the whole cottage after the decoration process.  All of the carpets in the house had been professionally cleaned, prior to their arrival. We also undertaken a Covid-19 sterilisation clean in every room, at short notice, prior to their arrival. This included wiping down surfaces, UV-c light exposure and steam sterilisation

One of the guests has publicly stated in bold type on the Internet, for all to see, that their objective of their holiday was: "...a cheap few nights..." I guess that sums up the whole event. I'm sure a discount would have made it cheaper. As it was they were able bring their two dogs to the cottage for no fee, which saved them £240 in kennel boarding fees.

However not content with a bad review via Sykes, they posted a similar review about the cottage on TripAdvisor some 14 months after their stay. That is plain vindictive. We're now considering legal action against this couple for damages. I've made sure to take full archival copies of their reports.  

They also failed to comply with Covid-19 regulations during their stay and also did not follow the departure procedures with the consequence that we were unable to check the security/state of the cottage when they left.

Cottage cleaning session

 Today's cleaning session, the guests left it generally clean, but there were the usual type of issues:

1. Stain on lounge carpet;
2. Soundbar; tinkered with by guest and left non-functional. The output audio cable had been plugged in the Coax (aerial) socket on the TV. Sound bar configuration had been set to Bluetooth.
3. The neighbour's wooden, fence two palings broken, probably by our guests.
4. Microwave oven left dirty and greasy.
5. Bedroom bedside lamps disconnected.

Meanwhile, we did a swap out of consumable items, wiped down all contact surfaces with isopropyl alcohol or Stakil water based biocide. Each room was treated with 74 Watt Ultraviolet light (UVc) for an average 30 minute exposure.

Ultraviolet lamp in operation, cleaning self-catering cottage

 In these times of Covid-19, we now use the ultraviolet-c lamp in the process of  cleaning. We first suit-up in full body PPE equipment, including a respirator, prior to entering the cottage. As part of the procedure we assume the departing guests could have been infected asymptomatically with the virus. We then progress around the rooms in the cottage giving a timed exposure to each room from the Ultraviolet-C light to help sterilize the environment.

Here you can see the lamp in operation in the kitchen during a recent cleaning session. We move it around during exposure process to avoid shadows and ensure even coverage. During the operation of the lamp we normally keep out of the room and control the lamp using a remote power switch. Usually before entering the room we switch off the lamp. When there is a need to be in the room with the lamp on, we wear full body protection and also a full face visor tested to be safe against UV-C light. We also limit time in front of the lamp. The lamp in the picture is 72 watts/230 VAC. Close up to the lamp, at 30 cm, you'd receive the maximum permitted dose in less than 30 seconds. We also carry dosimeter badges which are checked before and after exposure. 

We have a specialist UV-C meter which allows us to accurately measure the dosage given around the room, and also the impact of UV-C reflection from surfaces. We use the meter to "calibrate" the room and thus verify an appropriate exposure time for sterilization in each room. Typically in our case this is about 20 minutes total exposure time per room to achieve 40 millijoules per sq cm dosage.

Using UV-C light avoids the general usage of persistent biocide chemicals as a film on all surfaces and in the air. This may occur with biocide/hypochlorous fogging disinfection techniques. We don't wish to expose our guests or cleaning staff to these chemicals.  However we do supplement the UV-C by wipedown with a disinfectant on high touch areas and work surfaces. Surfaces of electrical equipment, buttons and switches are sterilized using non-conducting 100% isopropyl alcohol.

The Philips TUV discharge tubes in the lamp have a surface treatment which suppresses the light wavelength which generates ozone from oxygen in the air. However in operational use, there is a tiny amount of ozone produced. You can smell it as a faint odour. While ozone is a very powerful disinfectant, it is not good to breath in. So we ventilate the rooms with plenty of fresh air during and after the process. We also make sure that guests are not allowed in to the cottage until at least an hour after the UV process to allow any residual ozone to revert to oxygen.

Using a UV Lamp for Covid-19 Sterilisation in Self-Catering Holiday Home

We've just placed an order for some Ultraviolet (UV-C) dosimeter labels. It took a lot of research to find the best labels for the job. These labels progressively and consistently change colour according to the amount of Ultraviolet light  (UV-C) exposure. After some dosage calibration using our UV-C meter and lamp we'll be able to easily assess whether the correct dose of ultraviolet light has been given to kill off the Covid-19 virus in the rooms of our holiday cottage.

We'll take a photo of the exposed label after room treatment to record that a suitable dose of UV-C light has been given during the cleaning process. This photo will be incorporated in the formal documentation of the cleaning process. Whilst this label adds slightly to the cost of the process, it will add comfort to guests' concerns about cleaning and will give evidence of good processes in the unlikely event of a dispute.

In our case, testing shows that in terms of effective destruction of virus and bacteria, an exposed light green label (centre of third row in the picture) is a reasonable indicator of 99.99% inactivation/destruction (40 mJ/Sq Cm). Some types of coronavirus take far less exposure to UV-C. Do remember that some computer displays render colours differently. For our purposes we print comparison samples on colour printers using a CMYK colour scheme.

There is also a Health and Safety aspect of limiting the exposure which we discuss here. Using the dosimeter labels can help avoid excessive doses, but good procedures, correct PPE and supporting usage of a UV-C meter is more reliable. Any member of our team not equipped with full PPE will be provided with a UV-C dosimeter badge to wear when the UV-lamp is in operation. In terms of the above labels picture, we regard the second label in the second row as a maximum permitted dose, though in practice we avoid any direct exposure to UV-C.

We can also offer help and advice to other owners of cottages in the locality.

Edit 4th Aug 2020:

Yesterday we found a flyer pushed through the front door of the cottage from a company offering cleaning of premises to give a safe environment. It is the same company who advocate using agricultural biocides for fogging the interior of premises. These chemicals are designated for fumigating barns and cattle sheds.  We don't think we'll be using their services.

Cleaning the Washing Machine in the Self-Catering Cottage

Yet more on preparing to clean our holiday cottage in this era of Covid-19. If you've read our earlier articles you'll see that we've obtained a high pressure steam cleaner and a Ultraviolet (UV-C) lamp, on rental, as required. As part of a a comprehensive cleaning programme between guest stays we'll use a mix of steam, UV-C light and biocide to make our cottage safer for guests. 

In addition to UV-C irradiation of each room we'll be taking some extra precautions in the kitchen. We won't use biocide spray on food preparation surfaces, as we don't want to leave a chemical residue. However for the washing machine we'll sterilise most surfaces and seals with superheated steam. The electrical parts will be cleaned using isopropyl alcohol spray and wipe down. A difficult component to clean in the washing machine is the soap/conditioner dispensing drawer and its housing. Even in non-Covid times these are difficult to clean and often gain a bacterial black mould in difficult to reach areas. 

This is where the high pressure steam cleaner will come into play. Our cleaner steam lance produces a 6 bar blast of steam at 160 C. In our cleaning rehearsals we've discovered the steam cleaner lance is excellent, if somewhat messy, in quickly cleaning out the soap drawer of our cottage washing machine. The heat of the steam kills off any fungal/bacterial residue on treated surfaces. Once all the mould is cleared out, we'll give the interior of washing machine soap dispenser a spray of biocide solution between guest stays. If the black bacterial film returns, we will revisit the machine with the steam cleaner.

The costs of cleaning self catering holiday home for Covid-19

We're discussing with our rental agency (Sykes) what the impact of additional cleaning costs will be when we turnaround our small one bedroom holiday cottage between guest stays. Providing a safe place will inevitably increase the rental charged to guests, when Covid is no longer a concern we can consider removing the extra charges. On the basis of current estimates it is an additional £65 per turnaround.

We've carefully considered the Sykes recommendations for cleaning, ignoring those which are contradicted by the World Health Organisation, to ensure effective but safe procedures for our cleaners. We have decided against the use of fogging devices which leave a residual fine layer of biocide chemicals throughout the premises after application by mist/spray/fog.

To prevent infection passing between sets of guests, and our cleaning staff, we need to undertake extensive and thorough cleaning both inside and outside our cottage. We need to disinfect surfaces that may have become infected. We also need to provide additional disposable protective equipment (PPE) for our cleaning staff.

We already have extensive cleaning procedures in place for our cottage as part of normal rental. These existing procedures have to be completed within a four hour gap between the departure of one set of guests and the arrival of new guests. To complete the additional work for Covid-19 precautions we'll need to extend the turnaround gap by two hours to a six hour period to allow for the additional work. To keep capital costs under control, during the indeterminate period of Covid-19 risk, we have chosen to rent the necessary equipment, for steam cleaning and ultraviolet light sterilisation, on a daily rental rate. The costs of the additional treatment and labour, extra to existing cleaning, is estimated at £43.17 per turnaround.

The cost of additional disposable items, arising from Covid cleaning and safe disposal is estimated at £14.96 for each turnround.

We also need to purchase additional stocks of bedding, linen, towels,  pillows, cushions etc to enable potentially infected materials to be left for a week in sealed bags, allowing any virus to degrade. Our cost estimate for this additional stock is £407.  Spread across the expected lifetime of these goods, that is around £6.98 per week or turnaround.

I've a detailed spreadsheet of all of the cost items. I won't publish here, but it is available for those who might want more information.

Improved cleaning in the holiday cottage

We're planning to reopen the self-catering holiday cottage in September 2020 if the Covid-19 situation permits. We'll need to be able to quickly clean the cottage during turnround between guests. We've already purchased an ultraviolet lamp for general room sterilization, but we also need to have a method to clean surfaces as an integral part of the safety processes.

Those involved in the cleaning work will need to wear protective personal equipment, such as disposable gloves, mask and disposable apron when undertaking the cleaning. So the process we've decided to follow is to first irradiate a room with Ultraviolet-C light for 15 minutes. This will destroy any airborne or surface laying virus particles. We'll then move the UV-C lamp to another room, while  using high pressure superheated steam to clean high touch hard surfaces and soft furnishings in the first room. This sequence will be followed through each room in the cottage.

Dupray Steam cleaner

We'll be using a Dupray steam cleaning kit to undertake the superheated steam cleaning, thus avoiding the use of biocide chemicals for sterilization. Our guests will not have to be exposed to residual chemicals during their stay. It also means that staff engaged in the cleaning process are not exposed to breathing in biocide mists from fogging machines or hand sprays. Whilst the biocides are believed to be harmless at proper dilution, the concentrates are harmful and potentially toxic. The World Health Organisation advises against fogging machines in domestic environments owing to the associated health risks from the chemicals.

The superheated steam cleaning method is also effective at cleaning greasy kitchen areas. The Dupray unit produces "dry" steam at a pressure of 4.5 Bar (65 psi) heated to 160 deg C (320 F).  This is additional expensive equipment for cleaning, there is also an increase in the amount of labour needed to undertake the cleaning work. To recover the capital costs and increased labour, it will necessitate increased rental prices (approximately £60 per guest turnaround to meet Sykes requirements) for our guests, but better to be safe than sorry.

The Dupray unit can be run using soft tap water, but to avoid calcium/magnesium deposits in the unit boiler we'll be using deionised water. There is a company called Spotless Water who've set up "filling stations" across the UK to supply window cleaning companies. Apart from your travel costs their water costs around 5p per litre.

We'll be asking guests to strip bedding at the end of their stay and to seal it in large plastic bin bags as part of the hygiene processes. The duvets (comforters) and pillows will be swapped out on a rotational basis at each turnround, allowing at least a week before reuse. During storage we'll treat the duvets with UV-C light irradiation. Mattresses and seat cushions will be treated with UV-C light or steam as appropriate. This process will have the side benefit of destroying any bed mites.

Paper or cardboard items which may have been handled by guests such as books, kitchen towels, will be disposed of, or swapped out as appropriate. Crockery, glassware and cutlery will be soaked in bleach water and rewashed before return to the newly steam sterilised kitchen cupboards/drawers. Saucepans will be heat sterilized. Bins will be emptied and steam sterilised, with any rubbish awaiting collection sealed in new bin bags.

Using a UV-C meter during room sterilization

Using UV-C light to sterilize the rooms of the holiday cottage, as part of a cleaning programme between guest stays has its advantages. It doesn't leave a chemical residue and doesn't increase humidity.  The process is quite fast, depending on the power of the ultraviolet lamp deployed. However it is not without risk to the operators of the lamp. There are fairly strict EU and USA regulations relating to the health and safety exposure limits for ultraviolet lamps. During use you need to wear protective clothing and goggles/face shields to avoid exposure to the light. 

Here's one example: Artificial Optical Radiation Directive 2006/25/EC is 30 J/m² at 253.7nm for a daily 8 hour work shift.

At a distance of 5cm, the ultraviolet light intensity of the lamp we use is around 17 milliwatts per square centimetre. This would exceed the daily safe allowance within a minute if exposed directly to the UV-V light output from our lamp. The further you are away from the lamp the intensity starts to decrease quite rapidly. The shape of the lamp reflector affects how the intensity of UV-C is distributed. Reflection from surfaces can also increase the indirect exposure.  As part of the safety procedures the operator should not be in the room when the UV-C lamp is switched on, unless fully protected by UV-C PPE gear. UV-C can be stopped by fairly light protective gear, but you need to keep it away from bare skin and the eyes. The light kills virus/bacteria by damaging the DNA/RNA within the organism. You don't need your own DNA being damaged.

However it is likely that situations will arise when you need to measure the intensity of the UV-C light to make sure you do not exceed the safe limits of exposure. We purchased a specialist UV-C meter to perform these measurement and to also test the safety level of any PPE equipment that we wear. You cannot detect UV-C light by your normal senses. We test UV-C radiation levels before, during and at the end of a sterilisation session. We also document those levels. We also record our tests on PPE equipment. 

We purchased a laboratory quality meter. It is a General Instruments UV512C meter.  We purchased it via Cole Parmer in the UK. The following link will lead to the Philips Lighting  advice on using UV-C for disinfection.

These people https://uvcdosimeters.com/uvc-100-dosimeter/  provide dosimeter dots/cards. We are currently checking price and availability.

At last a genuine UV-C Lamp to disinfect the cottage

At long last, after previously buying a fake, I've found a UK based supplier to provide a UV-C lamp unit, 230V AC and 72 Watts power.  It uses Philips lamps, not some obscure Chinese make, so it should be possible to get spare light tubes when you break them. They are not LED, but mercury vapour discharge technology.

If found a few other suppliers, but they were either asking "Covid Prices" north of £500 or were awaiting stock, but no firm delivery date.

I've ordered a UV-C lamp and a tripod stand, which should arrive in a couple of days via DPD.  I took the trouble to research the company and also phone them to discuss my requirement. They can be found at https://uvcleanlight.co.uk . Remember if you use this type of light wear appropriate PPE to protect yourself and others from the UV-C light as it can damage your eyes and can cause long term damage to your skin by altering your DNA.

It takes about 15 minutes to treat a room, depending on the size of the room and the power of the lamp. The process is very much:

1. Position the lamp
2. Prevent unauthorised access during the treatment
3. Leave the room, and make sure other leave too.
4. Switch on the lamp
5. Avoid the temptation to peek and switch off the power after the due time
6. Return to the room 

The UV-C light is also effective in killing the eggs of fleas, mites and moths; but needs a longer exposure. This could be handy in treating an infestation if you allow pets in the cottage.

Edit: 26/06/2020

The new UV-C lamp has arrived. It is sturdy and well constructed. Including the purpose made tripod, shipping and VAT the bill was £266.  For safety purposes we use a UV-C meter to check exposure levels.

Using a UV-C (Ultraviolet) Lamp to sterilize holiday cottage

Fake UV-C germicidal lamp from China

Earlier I mentioned how we are investigating the use of Ultraviolet lights to sterilize the holiday cottage after a guest stay in these times of Covid-19. I purchased via Ebay a 60W Corncob "UV-C" lamp based on UV-C LED technology. It was despatched from China. Little did I realise that it was a fake, and while it produces a bright blue light there is little UV-C light output by the device. This makes it useless as a biocidal lamp.

This is a picture of the lamp I purchased:

I was alerted to the possibility of the fake, by this Youtube video:

I'm in dialogue with the Ebay vendor to assess their reaction. So far all they have claimed is that the have a CE certificate, with no offer of a refund.  The image they sent me was of a certificate issued in China about two weeks after the date of my purchase. On investigation the tests performed by the laboratory in China relate only to electromagnetic interference with other devices and the level of "flicker". The CE test did not measure the UV-C output from the lamp.  I am arranging for my lamp to be tested against a laboratory UV-C light meter. At a cost of £850 these meters are not cheap, and finding a company to perform the test was a challenge, but I am expecting to receive the results in a couple of weeks..

Here's an expert view on using UV-C for disinfection: http://www.iuva.org/IUVA-Fact-Sheet-on-UV-Disinfection-for-COVID-19 

and a different Youtube lecture  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqSHPKicIbs

Edit: 25/06/2020

Amazon introduce a campaign against counterfeits, unfortunately this will not guard against products that make fake claims about their capabilities such as these "LED UV-C" lamps. Their measures only relate to protecting trade marked original goods. I eventually purchased a genuine UV-C Lamp from a UK supplier, details here.

Edit: 01/07/20

We've had the results back from the laboratory.  From the fake corncob lamp the UV-C reading is 7 microwatts/Sq Cm (254 nm UV) at a measured distance of 5 cm from the bulb. From a comparative "daylight white " 5 watt LED domestic bulb the same 7 microwatts/Sq Cm. In other words the fake UV-C corncob lamp has no more disinfecting power than a normal LED bulb.

By way of comparison a 73W mercury vapour UV-C germicidal lamp gave a reading of 7.17 milliwatts/sq cm measured at the same distance from the lamp surface. It is about 1000 times more powerful.

Edit 10/07/20

The vendor has disappeared from Ebay; though these fakes are still on sale on both Ebay and Amazon.  I've reported a few cases but Ebay and Amazon do not appear to be interested.

UV-C Sterilising Holiday Cottage

Our rental holiday cottage is closed at the moment due to the Government legislation to reduce the spread of Covid-19 infection. So no bookings are being accepted by Sykes. We've been planning for when bookings are once again allowed. Holiday makers will no doubt be nervous about using premises that will have been used by strangers just a few hours before. We'll be planning on having a minimum of a one day gap between bookings. This will give us the chance to give the property a good wipe down with  good disinfectants. We're also purchasing an Ultraviolet lamp (UV-C) to help sanitise the property. 

We've had one on order from China for some weeks now and a package arrived a few days ago. Unfortunately they sent the wrong device, a small USB 5 watt lamp, which is not suitable for sterilizing rooms. We've reordered an even more powerful lamp. This one will be 60w and should be able to treat each room in less than an hour, though we'll need to ventilate the rooms for a few hours to vent the ozone produced by the lamp.  We've already purchased some UV-C safety goggles as this light can severely damage unprotected eyes.

Edit: 26 April 2020

The re-ordered bulb has arrived and is undergoing trials (it turns out to be a fake, see below). It has multiple small UV-C LED chips on it's surface giving a total of 60W (230 VAC) of light.The cost including shipping was less than £30. In terms of electric lighting it is very bright and powerful, given that normally we might have only 4 x 5 watt LED bulbs lighting a room. The UV-C lamp we've obtained has a remote control switch which makes it a lot easier to use safely, but we always wear protective goggles if power is connected to the unit even if the lamp itself is "switched off".  It is a very easy way to sterilise keyboards and mobile phones without causing damage.

Combining UV-C lamp with wiping down key surfaces with disinfectant, we should be able to make our cottage safe for new guests within a couple of hours. According to the manual it only needs 15 minutes exposure in a room, but we take 2 or 3 sessions with the lamp located in different positions to avoid shadows.

Edit: 20 May 2020

It turns out the 60W UV-C light is a fake and produces no UV-C light. The classic Chinese supplier using Ebay to distribute goods. We're still investigating, so more on this later.

Edit 26 June 2020

We found a genuine UV-C lamp with a UK supplier. Details here.

Edit 6th July 2020
We now have a proper UV-C meter to check exposure levels. Details here.

Edit 25th July 2020
We've located and ordered some UV-C dosimeter labels to help us check the correct ultraviolet treatment has been delivered to the rooms.