"10 emails and it's a red card" say gite owners

[vrooje]

Kathleen, I think your approach is a good one -- lots of information up front and an informative website, plus a willingness to answer any and all questions that pop up.

(By the way, Mr. Carmel is a LMH member who always brings a welcome dose of humor to the forum. Having sold his property and sailed off into the sunset, he is mostly inactive now. Alas.)

From time to time our guests ask us questions I had never thought of, and I'm always grateful for the reason to find more information on our area or clarify something about our property.

It takes a lot more than 10 e-mails for me to think of even a yellow card. For a lot of people, a holiday is a rare and precious event, and many people who rent from us are also renting an independently-owned rental for the first time. I don't begrudge any guest the right to ask lots of questions in an attempt make sure everything will be perfect when they arrive.

Colin10, while I may agree with some of your underlying point, the way you've communicated it is a bit rude. And your tip about saved replies has been discussed at length on the forum, such as on the thread "Text templates for e-mails?" from about 18 months ago.

[Giddy Goat]

Thread Creep alert! Colin, suggestions and tips are always very welcome but this site has been going for at least 5 years now, so there is a wealth of knowledge already stored here. That's not to suggest you stop posting your ideas, but maybe use the search facility first to find what has already been said on the subject?

I am taking the liberty of quoting from a post of Brooke's on the use of this tool. If you already know how to get the best from it forgive me, there will be others who might be helped.

Perhaps the most useful thing about the forum is the Search function, which you can find at the top of every page in between the "FAQ" and "Memberlist" links.

Because the search function can be anything between brilliant and useless depending on the options you choose, there are two main threads discussing how to use the search function on LMH:

• Sticky index for newbies and the technically challenged?
  How does one use LMH search?

These are worth a read: as you become more proficient at using the search function, the forum's usefulness vastly increases.

If you can add new ideas to any of these old threads which come up, great. I like the concept of having as much related info in one place as possible rather than scattered indiscriminately here and there so that the benefits are partially lost.

[pambon]

[quote=" without the wonderful, beautiful internet - God Bless Her, and all who sail on her (including that shiprat Carmel, wherever he be now!)


As a newbie here I cant help but ask who/what is Carmel and should I be laughing!!! LOL

Check out all past posts from Paul Carmel, much missed amongst us. After recently selling his rental business he has sailed off into the blue........

Welcome Kathleen - good to see some rental owners from across the pond joining our ranks.

[pambon]

vrooje wrote: (By the way, Mr. Carmel is a LMH member who always brings a welcome dose of humor to the forum. Having sold his property and sailed off into the sunset, he is mostly inactive now. Alas.)

Sorry Brooke, didn't mean to undermine your clarification. When opening this thread nothing popped up after Kathleen's 2 postings so I hopefully answered her query only to see all the other posts in between when mine was posted

[vrooje]

pambon, of course it's no big deal! And I agree, PC is much missed. Almost as much as Seymour Butts.

[Colin10]

Oops! Sorry..It wont happen again.

[KAB-Dennis]

Hi as a recent poster and to avoid making the same error(s)

I guess I need to ask what Colin did that was incorrect
On page one he posted about communication and the thread was about guests sending multiple emails - and how/if we repsond to them.

I don't think he hijacked the thread - so I am not sure what he did wrong but need to know so I can avoid same type of faux pas here on the forum

thanks

[vrooje]

Hi Kathleen,

That's very nice of you to show that concern and ask.

It was really the first line of his post that struck me, especially when followed by the second:

It's called communication.

I guess you would all like to have an one enquiry then a booking.

It's not that Colin necessarily meant to chastise the owners who posted previously, but the way it came across to me was pretty abrupt, especially given that I think most of the other posters would agree with his point. And if I read it that way, at least some others probably would too.

It really wasn't serious... but we've had some recent events that encouraged me to continue trying to be a stronger moderator, so I thought I'd point it out. And Colin, your follow-up post is much appreciated, thank you!

[Jimbo]

... we've had some recent events that encouraged me to continue trying to be a stronger moderator ...

I'd wish to encourage Brooke - in who's judgement and good sense I have the utmost faith - on her new path of stronger moderation. In theory, I'd love self-regulation to be all that was necessary but experience has shown that, for a small minority of reckless posters, it has no effect. If moderators don't moderate even-handedly, then outraged members will attempt to fill the gap and chaos will surely follow.

Nobody would want a pappy, milktoast forum where people do not occasionally clash and explore difficult topics. But, without courtesy and mutual respect, it just becomes a bloodbath.

Jim

[Breton Girl]

Last year we had an enquiry where we spent a lot of time emailing and speaking to them on the telephone about all sorts of questions. When they booked I was really worried about them coming as we were quite new to the rental world (and still are compared with many of you) and I envisaged all sorts of problems.

When they arrived they were so happy with the house and they stand out in our minds as one of the nicest couples we have had stay!! They are so sad not to be able to come back but they are both over 80 and with various ailments cannot make the journey again.

I am so glad we made the effort in the beginning we still get a little email from them every couple of months to see how we are and to tell us they are still thinking about their holiday here.