How do you leave the villa?

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:03 pm

I know there are some owners around so maybe they will chime in. I never saw in any villa books what is expected upon check out in terms of sheets, towels, etc. I never know exactly what to do? Put all towels together in bathroom? Near washer? Strip the bed? Run the dishwasher?

Normally if dishwasher is full or very near to,we run in while we are packing up. But not unloaded it.

As for towels when there was a large designated laundry area I put everything there. Otherwise left in bathroom.

What do you do?

Laura T · Post by **Laura T** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:21 pm

I normally wash all the beach towels the night before we leave.

All linens and bath towels are stripped and left in laundry room (or on bedroom floor when the laundry room was in a dark, damp basement-like area.

All dishes are loaded in dishwasher, which we run when we leave.

All garbage taken with us and dumped in the local dumpster.

So pretty much what you do. I always think that the more we do, the less time the cleaning folks have to do (if there are several loads of laundry, means the cleaning people are there for many hours...or have to leave and come back). Can't clean everything, because we usually are out pretty early and just not enough time.

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:26 pm

Wash beach towels. Not sure have done that but I can. Good idea!

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:48 pm

I'm weird so I do as much laundry as possible...beach towels, bath towels, and dish towels...the only thing I skip is sheets. I don't know why I spend so much time doing laundry in paradise when I don't have to do so. I did it before I was a mom, so that doesn't explain it

ski2play · Post by **ski2play** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:17 pm

The villas we have stayed at, listed check out process.

Pretty much as described above, laundry - minus sheets, clean kitchen, all furniture back in original places if moved, and garbage bagged and dropped at dumpster.

needmesomesun · Post by **needmesomesun** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:34 pm

We leave the dishes done (but not necessarily put away if they are drying), wash the beach towels, and start the sheets and bath towels. We alert the management company that we did this so that wet things aren't left in the washer for more than a few hours. We also take all the trash to the dumpster.

I'll never forget arriving at Pebble Cove Villa on our first trip. They let us arrive early to drop off our bags while the house was being cleaned. The previous renters had left a complete and total mess for the cleaning person to deal with. It sticks with me to this day. A huge pile of dishes overflowing from the sink onto the counter, trash, towels everywhere. I have no idea how the cleaning person dealt with that in such a short amount of time. It really only takes a few minutes to push a little laundry through and make certain your dishes are taken care of. They have plenty of cleaning to do aside from those two things.

toes in the sand · Post by **toes in the sand** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:40 pm

We do dishes & put them away. We clean out the fridge and take the trash with us to the dumpster. We don't like dirty dishes or trash to sit while we are there and don't want to leave them for an unknown period of time before some comes to clean. We leave the dirty linens and laundry so that whomever cleans can do them with whatever else they need to wash. We also feel that they will be able to do it in the most efficient manner for water conservation. We put the things we have used such as books & CDs away where we found them. I walk through the outdoor areas to leave furniture either how we found it or in the best situation in case of rain or a storm. We make sure things like beach chairs, coolers and floats are clean and put away. We secure the house and make sure that if the villa has AC that it is off as are the lights and any electric appliances.

Jumper · Post by **Jumper** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:49 pm

I do my best to leave the villa in the same shape as when I arrive, the only thing we don`t wash are the bed linens. My wife says I go overboard, but I always think if I owned the property, how I would want it taken care of. I wash , dry, and roll all towels, all of the dishes are cleaned and returned to their original location. The kitchen is completely cleaned, all trash is removed; The bathrooms are cleaned. I have total respect for the villa owner and the cleaning people.
My mother ran a cleaning company in Ocean City Md. and I used to help her clean condo units during the summer(30yrs ago), and it was amazing to see the condition some people left the units in.
It`s actually surprising how many people are total pigs and have no respect for others , it really makes you appreciate decent people!!!

jayseadee · Post by **jayseadee** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:59 pm

We do dishes, but have never done villa laundry. We may have stripped the bed on occasion. Put away anything we used and will sweep if we can find a broom.

SandyPants · Post by **SandyPants** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 7:39 am

We were specifically told not to do any laundry when checking out; the villa management had other arrangements for doing the washing due to water conservation as someone mentioned.

Rules have varied for all the places we've visited over the years but the common denominators seem to be taking the trash out, doing the dishes (sometimes just running the dishwasher is OK, sometimes they like everything put away), and cleaning out the fridge.

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:49 am

I am probably in the middle when it comes to effort upon leaving.

We take out the trash every day during our stay so at most, there might be a wine bottle and a couple of random paper pieces in the trash. I don't sweat taking that with us if the jeep is packed full.

We generally only cook breakfast and I clean the kitchen up every morning so the kitchen is as clean when we leave as when it was upon arrival. I load and run the dishwasher but don't worry about it if it isn't unloaded before we leave.

I used to run a load of towels until I was told by a cleaner that she has to wash all the towels even if someone says they already washed them.

I don't strip the bed.

And speaking of towels, why is it villas don't have decent towel bars or other means to let towels air dry? I reuse my towels at home and would while on STJ but I have yet to stay in a villa that had enough towel bars. At best, there are a few hooks but those aren't enough to let a towel fully dry overnight.

ETA - I haven't ever seen a "closing" sheet on STJ that outlined expectations.

We were spoiled on VG and Anguilla with daily housekeeping.

needmesomesun · Post by **needmesomesun** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:50 am

I'm just wondering, aside from doing a full load of laundry, what other ways would someone do laundry that conserves more water? The settings on the machine?

needmesomesun · Post by **needmesomesun** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:55 am

PA Girl wrote:And speaking of towels, why is it villas don't have decent towel bars or other means to let towels air dry? I reuse my towels at home and would while on STJ but I have yet to stay in a villa that had enough towel bars. At best, there are a few hooks but those aren't enough to let a towel fully dry overnight.

The last few places we have stayed had these retractable clotheslines that you pull from one area to another. They were great, except when there were high winds and the clothes/towels blew all over the ground, or when you are away from the house and it rains, knocking the clothes/towels into a puddle on the ground.

Xislandgirl · Post by **Xislandgirl** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 9:04 am

I don't do the laundry for some of the above reasons.

Some houses wash the linens, even if you say that you washed them.
Some have an owners closet with a complete 2nd set of linens and the laundry is brought to the laundromat, so I don't want to start the laundry and mess up their schedule.
Also, if no one is coming in after you, the laundry may sit in the washer for a while and need a second washing.

We do strip the beds and leave them with the towels.

The kitchen is always left clean, all trash, including bathrooms is taken to the dumpster.

Deck furniture is put back, we always move it around.

lazylane · Post by **lazylane** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 9:05 am

Well, being in the rental business myself, I tend to clean everything (and sometimes it looks better than when we got there!!!) BUT, we do not do the villa laundry. I saw in another post that one person said even if they are washed, they will be re-washed. We have learned that people "say" they are washed, but not to our standards and bedding needs to be inspected before laundering so I do not strip beds. I think some companies use off-site laundry facilities maybe with high efficiency washers.

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