I have to admit that one of my secret vices is watching too much daytime tv. 

As a child, I always preferred to watch TV rather than listen to the radio. And even when I was doing homework and exam revision, I’d always have the TV on.

Fast forward to running a B&B, the TV was always on as I prepared breakfast and went about the cleaning. Just for background noise in an empty house really.

However everything has changed in the last 8 months. Lockdown has had the very welcome side effect that my husband is working at home, rather than spending the week working and staying down near Heathrow. And one thing he’s never liked is the TV being on during the day!

So the TV has remained off and I’ve not really missed Phil and Holly at all.

But the other morning I did turn BBC Breakfast on, as I wanted to catch something important on the news. It didn’t get turned off and I ended up half listening to the consumer programme that followed. 

My ears perked up when the presenters started discussing an AirBnB that was charging £250 to customers for a COVID deep clean prior to their stay! Needless to say , despite the extra charge, the flat was filthy and the guests had to clean it when they arrived.

The cleaning charge was rather shocking, knowing the amount of work all of the B&Bs in my Facebook Group were putting into additional cleaning as standard, without charging anything extra!

The programme then had a cleaning expert  on giving advice on how to tell if the B&B or self catering you were staying in was clean.

She listed 4 areas that she recommended guests checked when arriving at holiday accommodation 

Is the Bin Clean?

The first thing she always checks as a sure indicator of cleanliness is the bins.

My B&B room bins are the ones with an inner bin and an outer sleeve. You put a bin liner in the inner bin then fit the sleeve over. I immediately went to check the just cleaned room and, to my horror, there was a splash of dried tea on the inside of the sleeve.

I can see how it would happen. It’s too easy just to replace the bin liner and wipe down the outside of the bin!

Move the cushions 

With COVID-19 we’re steam cleaning our cushions after every stay, and there are fewer of them. 

Even before Covid they’d be picked up and plumped up and washed regularly. 

This is probably more of an issue in self catering where there are lots of sofa and chairs.

Check the crevices of the sofa

These are where crumbs, hairs  and small items from people’s pockets accumulate. Moving the cushions and vacuuming at each changeover  is good practise. And you may earn a bit extra by finding some loose change!

Check under the toilet seat

This is a bit of an obvious one isn’t it?

I always check my B&B rooms after they’ve been cleaned ( even when I’ve cleaned it myself, I go in and look at things from a guest perspective ) and under the toilet seat is the first place I look.

I double check round the hinges and the rim as well as under the toilet seat itself.

In summary, as B&B owners cleaning our own rooms, we would be paying attention to all of these areas anyway.

But it’s always worth you double checking that these areas are being cleaned properly before your guests do the check for you!