Guest psychology...

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
Jester
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Guest psychology...

Post by Jester »

So out of our three properties our farmhouse seems to be cursed regarding people breaking stuff - typical as it's actually our normal home during most of the year.
We've had so many damages. The most recent people managed to rip a rope banister out of the wall (17th century grade II listed building...) but they sent us a photo and confessed and it was fixed right away.

We moved back in yesterday and thought how clean and lovely it had been left, but found that one mattress was dipping. This was odd as they're all less than a year old.

I looked under the bed and found three slats missing... So I can only guess that they somehow broke them and got rid of the evidence - we searched the bin but found nothing, so assume they either burnt them in the wood burner or took them somewhere else to dispose of. They're only about £8 each to replace, so why hide it after the banister incident?!
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cleanforum
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Post by cleanforum »

We do changeovers back to back throughout the summer. I find however that the only time you -really- find exactly what state your home is in is when you move back in for a few days.. :wink:
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

We had this last year (we also rent out our home)....the guest refused to accept that they had broken a bed slat, I sent a photo, they still disputed it was them. I knew it could be no one else as I had seen all the bed slats in tact during the changeover.

I finally told them it was not up for discussion, it had happened and they were being charged (there was also other stuff). ..end of.

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JanB
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Post by JanB »

It is extremely annoying when people do not own up to damage. Strangely, I have also had a run of breakages, including a dish on the dressing table which was broken and has been pieced together and left in situ, with an ornament on top, possibly in the hope it wouldn't be found.

Usual things are wine glasses and the odd plate which we understand. What really annoys me, is the spillages on the carpets and makes me really wish I could install the type of flooring which couldn't be harmed, but bare floors would be awful in winter, so we cannot do anything else.
"It's a funny old world...." but full of the most amazing people. :-) Sense of humour essential!
KathyG
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Post by KathyG »

I've had a group leave today that left a vomit-filled bedspread rolled up in a ball on the bed, huge coffee/tea stains all over the bedside rugs, very badly stained mattress protectors (thank god for them) and they didn't sort the bins/recycling properly so the cleaners had to re-sort everything, put a wooden breadboard in the dishwasher (which promptly fell apart), broke a door handle and one of their party managed to turn the boiler off so they were complaining about lack of heat/hot water. :evil: :evil: :evil:
Kathy
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kg1
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Post by kg1 »

KathyG wrote:I've had a group leave today that left a vomit-filled bedspread rolled up in a ball on the bed, huge coffee/tea stains all over the bedside rugs, very badly stained mattress protectors (thank god for them) and they didn't sort the bins/recycling properly so the cleaners had to re-sort everything, put a wooden breadboard in the dishwasher (which promptly fell apart), broke a door handle and one of their party managed to turn the boiler off so they were complaining about lack of heat/hot water. :evil: :evil: :evil:
OMG! How dreadful. What age group were these people?
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Post by KathyG »

All ages, from babies to grandparents in their sixties, extended family. It's all a bit difficult as I know the grandparents! I promised the cleaners that if they had to sort through the bins again I would pay them £50 so I've had to deduct that from the guests, which they've accepted. Grandparents very apologetic.
Kathy
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Fleur
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Post by Fleur »

Mir mousse (tapis moquette) carpet cleaner is good. This weekend I used it to get a long standing stain out of our old fitted carpet and it worked! It is a fine mousse, that claims to clean and disinfect.

So sorry to hear about you awful guests. I think large groups are perhaps a difficulty as no one wants to take charge and see that the property is left in good condition.

It does make you wonder how these people live in their own homes. :( :roll:
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

Good grief Kathy! :shock: That sort of guest gives you grey hairs. Unbelievable that you knew some of the party.

Been doing this for well over a decade and still get shocked reading stories like that.
And it's still early in the season.

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Jester
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Post by Jester »

OMG Kathy that's awful!!! I think I'd freak out if anyone left it like that!

I just hope we've got better luck over the summer as it's let out 9 consecutive weeks which will be the most so far!
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AngloDutch
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Post by AngloDutch »

Most of our damage comes from guests staying via agency bookings. Even though we ask for a EUR 200 security deposit for these type of bookings, it is very difficult to check everything in the approximately 4-5 hours we have between changeovers.

Because if we find something broken, maybe we missed it on the last check, and maybe it was the previous guests that broke it.

We have only ever withheld some of the deposit when there's been major visible damage or if a lot of extra cleaning is needed.

In order to compensate for general (often accelerated) wear and tear, things going missing (it is not always intended theft, of course) and breakages where you just are not sure who is responsible, we have begun to charge for bed linen. But we only do this with local agencies (who already charge us between 25-35% commission).

So, we now charge agency guests EUR 7 per person (excluding infants) for linen, and this brings in around EUR 55-70 per agency booking, which now covers the damage that we see every year.

Due to the huge amount of commission we pay these people, we also try to claw back some of that through other additional charges as well. Quite a lot of owners still ask for a separate 'end-of-stay' cleaning charge, and we do as well, but we also charge between EUR 10-13 per night for energy (which helps towards our monthly EUR 500 energy bill).

I don't personally like additional fees, but we wouldn't dream of placing these kind of extra compulsory costs on an international listing site anymore. I suppose that some nationalities find additional fees more acceptable than others. I know Americans don't like them.

Before the beginning of the recession, you saw many more owners trying to cover all their costs. I remember we booked a gite in France many years ago where we had to pay the owners' 4% PayPal charges on top of the £2,000 it cost to stay. We actually ended up paying the balance via bank transfer but never received a refund for the majority of the £60 we'd pre-paid to cover their fees.

Damage and theft can really eat into your profits. I listed some of our damage since the beginning of last year on another thread. Here it is again (now you know why we're doing the linen charge):
Actually, this March, we painted the entire kitchen and already one of the walls needs to be repainted after someone splashed oily pasta sauce down it. Since the beginning of 2014, we have had a leg broken off a bed and have had to replace a visitor bed which collapsed on a guest in the middle of the night. These kind of beds are meant for children but obviously adults must have been sleeping on them as well, with the maximum stress being exceeded over time. A new toaster was melted after some guests re-positioned it right up against the oven. Numerous plastic measuring jugs & mixing bowls destroyed by using the electric mixer too rigorously. Oven gloves partially incinerated, cheese knife bent double, place mats used as chopping boards, numerous new Teflon-coated pans ruined within a few weeks, plastic shelving from the fridge smashed (again), long scratch to one of the LCD screens, hole cut into one of the leather sofas, lamp shade melted (no idea how that happened), another standing lamp broken, plastic table clothes (used to protect wooden table surfaces) having to be replaced constantly, one of the tiles smashed in the bathroom, dents to our car when a child slammed a log into our side door..and the list goes on!
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Post by Jemima Copping »

Wow! I feel quite lucky to have got off so lightly this year, although it's is my first year it has to be said. Only 1 damaged plastic jug (cost 90p.) 2 bath towels with mysterious rust coloured roundish stains, impossible to remove. Although I read that rhubarb will deal with rust stains. I suspect black hair dye, and one elderly couple who when they left said they had cleaned the place well. Which indeed they had so we didn't look very closely because our son was arriving the next day. But the next day we found a large hole in the plaster board beside one of the Ikea chairs, the crumbs of plaster all swept up! Son denied all knowledge so must've been the guests. Easy to fix. We keep some left over paint and plaster from the buld handy to retouch when necessary and so far so good.
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pambon
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Post by pambon »

I have been really lucky. In nine years of renting I have only 'missed' one bidet towel (right at the begining of letting) and just this morning on the guests' departure I have been searching high and low for the two kitchen towels I always leave there. One is a small hand towel and the other is the usual tea towel for drying up. They have simply disappeared :o

Oh well, can't complain but I'm certainly puzzled....
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Post by pambon »

KathyG wrote:I've had a group leave today that left a vomit-filled bedspread rolled up in a ball on the bed, huge coffee/tea stains all over the bedside rugs, very badly stained mattress protectors (thank god for them) and they didn't sort the bins/recycling properly so the cleaners had to re-sort everything, put a wooden breadboard in the dishwasher (which promptly fell apart), broke a door handle and one of their party managed to turn the boiler off so they were complaining about lack of heat/hot water. :evil: :evil: :evil:
So sorry KathyG, I can't imagine how ghastly it must be, even worse if you know the guests personally.....
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Post by KathyG »

Well, they're denying the vomit-filled bedspread, simply didn't happen apparently. :roll:
Kathy
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"My goal in life is to become as wonderful as my dog thinks I am."
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