Sochi tourists leave behind cats, bugs, and chaos

During the New Year holidays, 470,000 tourists vacationed in Sochi, with 281,000 staying in hotels, according to the resort administration. There are also those who prefer to rent apartments and flats. Landlords are counting profits and the damage left behind by guests. We«ve collected stories that have shocked even seasoned professionals. After some tourists, it»s necessary to renovate, call exterminators, and replace pipes.

«I had to exterminate those pests myself»

Yulia Kostromina manages apartments and several flats in Adler. She was hired by the owners — she advertises, meets tourists, and tidies up the premises after check-out. And Yulia has accumulated many different stories about the state in which tourists leave rental housing. She doesn«t mince words, which we will, of course, soften.

— I just don«t understand how they aren»t ashamed themselves. In one of the apartments, a young couple with one-year-old twins lived. For some reason, they threw diapers behind the bed. They accumulated there for two weeks and started to smell. Apparently, it was fine with them. When I entered the apartment, my eyes stung, — says Yulia. Despite the fact that waterproof mattress protectors were prepared for all beds, since she knew the guests were coming with small children, they were removed for some reason. As a result, three new mattresses had to be disposed of. Along with the towels they used to wipe the floors.

In the apartments, mattresses, pillows, and the beds themselves also had to be thrown out. Bed bugs had settled in them.

— I was so ashamed. I checked people in this summer. I put on new linens for them, and we always change pillows at the start of the season. And in the morning, they called me and demanded their money back. They decided to move out because they were bitten all night. They discovered bed bugs. As a result, I poisoned those pests myself, called a special organization, but nothing helped. I had to throw out the beds and treat the entire apartment, — asserts Yulia. She doesn«t understand how they could have brought in insects; the neighbors didn»t have them.

The girl says that consistently in the apartments and flats she manages, windows, mirrors, toilets, and sinks are broken.

— Some guests completely clogged the toilet and kept using it. Can you imagine what was going on there when I arrived? We had contactless check-in and check-out, keys were left in special lockers. Now we«ve decided to move away from that practice. From the summer, I will personally inspect the properties because it»s impossible. They leave mountains of garbage, it all rots, stinks, and they don«t care. Not all, of course, are such pigs, — says Yulia. According to her, there are also tourists who leave behind perfect cleanliness. They polish the plumbing, take out the trash, and even wash the floors. Such cases help her not to become disillusioned with people.

Had to find homes for kittens too

The owner of a guest house, Svetlana Minasyan, told a SOCHI1.RU correspondent that she lives on the premises and monitors what happens in her accommodation facility 24 hours a day, yet her guests still manage to leave surprises for her. She doesn«t always have time to inspect the rooms; sometimes tourists check out on their own.

— A family from Chelyabinsk stayed with me for 10 days this summer. Mom, dad, and two girls aged 10 and 12. Room cleaning is not provided by me; all necessary equipment: vacuum cleaner, mop is provided. But they weren«t concerned with cleanliness; the parents drank heavily. When they moved out, I opened the door and gasped: in the middle of chaos, a cat was giving birth. And not mine. Everything was scattered, a pillow was torn and feathers were everywhere. As if they fled. On the phone, they told me they found the cat when they returned from a restaurant quite drunk, and took pity on her. And she turned out to be pregnant, — Svetlana said.

She had to deal with the cat and then also find homes for the kittens. By the way, the cat remained living with Svetlana. She says that kind-hearted tourists brought several dogs to the guest house, and one family left theirs. They couldn«t be reached by phone; perhaps they blocked Svetlana»s number.

Several times a season, she has to call the water utility and clear the pipes; guests persistently flush wet wipes, diapers, and even towels down the toilet. And then they complain that there are problems with the sewage.

«The least demanding are Siberians»

Elena works as a maid in one of Sochi«s large and expensive hotels; airing dirty laundry in public is not done there — you can get fired for it, so we won»t give her last name. She has many stories related to trashed rooms. This New Year holidays, another one occurred that even shocked her. A honeymoon suite, costing 25 thousand rubles per day (approximately $280 at current rates), was rented by a young couple. They spent 4 days in the hotel and didn«t leave the room, refused cleaning, only ordered food from the restaurant and alcohol. At the same time, they behaved noisily and argued all the time. After they checked out, the maids were horrified.

— All the light-colored covering was soaked in blood. The entire bathroom was in blood. Apparently, they not only argued but fought. Dirty plates with dried food everywhere, trash, empty bottles. They smoked in the room. The manager contacted them; they refused to compensate for the damage. They swore at her and told her to go to court. How it all ended, I don«t know, — says Elena. She has been working as a maid in various Sochi hotels for 20 years. And she is sure that the more expensive the place, the bolder the people who stay there. They think that if they paid a lot, they can do whatever they want.

— Drunk men run naked through the corridors, yell, bring women of easy virtue, aren«t ashamed of anything. They behave rudely, and we are simply lower-class people to them — servants. Drunkenness is the best rest for them. That»s where all the problems come from. A sober person wouldn«t behave like that. But I won»t say it«s exactly mass. Many of our guests treat the staff respectfully and take care of the room, — says Elena.

According to her observations, the most cultured guests are Muscovites, in second place — residents of St. Petersburg. The noisiest and most demanding are tourists from Rostov, Voronezh, Krasnodar. The least demanding and most friendly are Siberians.