Building Site Noise

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costa-brava
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Post by costa-brava »

I'm beginning to realise your shock and awe when you came over to prepare for the season. Costa Brava season starts later and living here all year we're more accustomed to the noise and upheaval. The building work two doors down from us is still bashing away daily. Yesterday they hammered out an asbestos roof and we had to keep the windows closed. They now have to knock down the part that buttresses onto my next door neighbour so that's going to be like an earthquake. There is a real risk of my neighbour's walls collapsing. And after that they will begin the jack hammer (pecker) again to dig out a garage space. Then the street will look like "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." The street behind already has the pavement sectioned off and the electric cables hanging down. Our street will be next. And then they'll close the street for the cementation and we'll have to hunt for a parking space half a mile away.
I know it will not feel like it, but you're lucky with each house separate in a large plot of land. WE'RE TRYING TO SELL OURS!!!!
TheBrewster
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Post by TheBrewster »

Finally our house manager has managed to speak to the builders.
They reckon one more month of this terrible noisy stuff then just "normal" building site noise for two villa's and two pools.
Not great but not as disastrous as the piling and drilling.
Do you think 10% is a fair enough discount or is that a bit mean?
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

That’s a difficult one.
Some people may want to cancel outright. If so, in order to encourage them to book again in the future I would offer a full refund. It just won’t be worth the hassle otherwise.

Do you have regulars? You could also offer a discount on next years prices in order to spread the damage to be more manageable.
Perhaps offer the first guests a bit more, then get feedback from them about how much the work has been intrusive. You could then tailor what you say to the next month’s guests and any offer a smaller or bigger discount. With any luck you may be ok with full prices before the end of the season.

We had a winter package break this year. We were only contacted the week before the holiday to tell us there was Building works outside the hotel. When I rang for further information I was told there had been no complaints raised and it wasn’t an issue for us either.
Fingers crossed for you.
TheBrewster
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Post by TheBrewster »

Thanks zebedee. I will definitely offer full refunds too.
It would be a shame but nobody should be beholden to a holiday they didn't sign up for (ie a noisy one)
And also a discount on next year is a cracking idea - that has also been suggested by a lovely friend who has been through this herself.
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Sanchisimo
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Post by Sanchisimo »

A late reply Brewster (been on holiday - seeing how it is from the other side), but I just wanted to add my sympathy as we were in the same situation last year. Our "Quiet city-centre" apartment was suddenly interrupted by building work of a new apartment block on the vacant plot adjacent to our block. This involved digging down for the underground parking and yes, pile-driving which was excruciatingly noisy. The bedroom wall backed onto the new development and also our lovely garden patio was overshadowed by the construction of the 4 storey building work. More noisy than the building work were two of the builders who honestly would not shut up from the moment they arrived to the minute they left.

Again, like you, trying to get any sense of how long or how disruptive the work would be was impossible even when we spoke to the person in charge explaining the problem we faced with our business.

What we did do was contact all of the guest who had booked explaining as fully as we could the problem. We offered them the chance to cancel and get a refund or a discount and also the "see how you go, and if you aren't happy we will give you a full refund if you can't stand it and have to leave" . Nearly everyone was very appreciative of this honesty (we had carefully drafted an explanation which we got friends to look at and offer critical appraisal). Most people went ahead with their stay (it's a city break so often they are out during the day). Most people are understanding of situations out of your control. We stressed the point about your holiday is important and we even had positive reviews from guests who stayed.

I say nearly as we had one set of guests who got really shirty about it when we told them and demanded a very substantial discount so we cancelled their booking saying that it really wasn't going to be a good holiday for them.

We hated the whole experience and I could have murdered Paco and Antonio, the cheery, shouty builders and to be honest, I hated the apartment for a while too.

It's now all over, we have come out the other side and things have settled down to how it was before. It will for you too.

interestingly, at the last minute, the owner of the Abnb apartment we booked in Bangkok informed us that previous guests had set fire to the kitchen so we couldn't stay there :shock: . She offered us another apartment in a completely different part of the city which we had to accept. Everything was fine in the end and as I said before, most people are reasonable.
TheBrewster
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Post by TheBrewster »

Thankyou so much Sanchismo.
I have started informing the guests, literally with my hands over my eyes...
So far the response has been mainly positive, but quite a few are "thinking about it" Which I totally understand.
I'm now wondering about how to market it to fill our empty weeks...what a conundrum!
I'm thinking of aiming my ads at people with small boys who love diggers :shock:
TheBrewster
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Post by TheBrewster »

As we're coming to the end of the season, I thought I'd just update everyone on how it went.
I offered all my clients a 10% discount or a full refund. Everyone, without exception was lovely and accepted the discount graciously (I had to go to 15% with one client but it was two weeks in August and I really didn't want to lose it)
Not one person has mentioned the noise in their feedback, and three groups of guests have rebooked for next year (whilst still in the property!)
So, your advice was all spot on. Coming clean (well a bit dusty) was the way to go, and I am soooo glad all that stress is nearly over :-)
Thankyou!
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

Well done Brewster. And thanks for letting us know.
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Sanchisimo
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Post by Sanchisimo »

Glad it went well Brewster. After our experience, one year on, I can hardly remember it happening and everything is back to normal (well, you know, apart from the usual stuff!).
Communication and honesty is always the key.
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

I think you have made a real success out of what could have been a disaster.
All those guests will fully trust you over anything in the future. Excellent news, well done!
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

Sanchisimo wrote:Communication and honesty is always the key.
+1. If for no other high moral reason, if you try to spin it, you are bound to be caught out!
gardenboy
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Post by gardenboy »

That's brilliant well done. Funny really how when a guest says something you really have to listen to what they are actually saying.
costa-brava
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Post by costa-brava »

I am really happy that it all worked out so much better than you thought. I got my wires crossed a bit so I feel that I more than most should take this opportunity to wish you a great 2020. I have read all of the other posts and I think the greatest thing was that you managed to retain your sense of humour. Did you get any little lads come to see the diggers???
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