details, details

[annedab]

This is our first year of renting out our house and we are just in the process of tidying up all the "instructions" - what day to put the bins out, where the spare gas bottles are etc etc. I am in a bit of a quandary about the level of detail to include. We have had many happy summers renting houses and have usually managed to work things out without having to pester the owners - although we did once have to query why the bathroom floorboards had been removed and then the lino relaid over the joists, I kid you not We had a few dry runs last summer with friends/family and most of them managed fine with my hastily scribbled bit of paper which has now been tweaked and refined into a smart document. How do you guys approach this? Any advice most welcome.

[Sue Dyer]

We have a binder with brief instructions on the bench then we have the manuals/instruction books for just about everything in a lever arch file in a cupboard (with a note in the binder to this effect.)

I also leave a printed "welcome letter" in the front of the binder summarising the main points like to turn the radiators up or down to their liking etc and our emergency contact details. It seems to have worked okay for us for the past 4 years.

My sis once stayed in a flat in Scarborough which was covered with little notices not laminated but hand covered with plastic bags, imagine how cool they looked. Stuff like "Do not eat Curry in this Flat". "Do not chop onions on this bench" "Please place pans tidily in this cupboard". She said they had a bit of a treasure hunt to find them all....

[LaLuz]

I have a book with all sorts of details about the house. We only started renting last year and it's been a bit of a "work in progress" with me adding things as I or guests thought of them.

it's worked very well and from the feedback we've received, the guests have really appreciated the information. As we don't live on site and so don't meet most of our guests it seems to be a way of adding that personal touch!

[annedab]

Thanks for that. Yes, I am definitely trying to find the middle ground between "do not leave fish under the pillows" - (OK, OK, slight poetic licence there, but based on a true story as they say on the telly!) and "just get on with it, it's not that hard!".

[Ju]

What ever you do you will probably get people asking you questions. We leave quite a bit of information, from what to put in which bins, to where is the nearest hospital. We still get guests who either haven't read the notes properly, or have come up with a question we wouldn't think would need asking (eg where is the corkscrew? answer it is in the kitchen drawer.)

Make sure you include basic instructions on how the washing machine and dishwasher work as they are all different.

I try and keep the "rules" to a minimum. No smoking in the bedrooms, is the only one I can think of. The swimming pool is the exception to this, we have lots of rules for that!

Ju

[la vache!]

I put notes relating to neighbours, bins, recycling, nearest supermarkets/shops and opening times, doctors, dentists, hospital, smoking (as Ju) swimming pool rules and please watch where you are kicking the football in the garden (try to avoid the trees and flowers). Things to do and good local restaurants. How to leave the house and a reminder of leaving time. Also please let us know of any breakages.
The French version is smaller, but they never read it and always leave me their rubbish to dispose of!

[paolo]

Detail
The more detail the better. People on holiday sometimes leave their brains at home. I have been called out to operate a TV remote control (press the button downwards and hey presto).

Organisation
A good way to organise the information is under subheads in bold like I am doing here, so they can scan down a lot of text quickly.

Another consideration
Last Christmas I stayed somewhere without any instructions at all. We survived and never had a problem, because it was after all a house like any other, but I somehow felt short-changed, like the owner just couldn't be bothered to go to the trouble of leaving some info.

[Guest3]

In additional to leaving information in a folder in the villa, I now also send out and 'Useful Information' Word doc..as Paolo said above, "people on holiday leave their brains at home"! The information is sent with the confirmation of their booking once the deposit has cleared and also 8 weeks before departure..so there is no excuse for them to say that they did not receive the info.

Saying that on one meet and greet, someone said that the oven did not work..(the oven had to be set on manual, which meant a simple turn of the dial!)...also, the handset for the A/C in the masterbedroom was missing (we went upstairs to check and it was in the bedside drawer...as stated in the info folder!)

All part and parcel of the 'holiday syndrome' I suppose!!

[Sue Dyer]

Some of those simple things... if you know. I remember a loo in a French Cafe and I couldn't get the light to come on. I was hovering trying to keep the door shut then a bloke came into the cubicle bit for a wee (French shared loos... ) so I pushed the door shut.. Yeah, the light came on!!!

Same with those hotel rooms where you have to leave a credit card or key in to operate the lights and everything. Went away from Le Touquet at New Year with my Co-Op Dividend card still there and realised on the ferry!!

[Clexane]

We do a meet and greet with our caretakers taking them around and showing them the basics - our AV system is a bit more than pushing one button unfortunately. We walk them through each room pointing out the basics from Fireplace, kitchen, AV, a bunch of safety tips (fire extinguisher location, first aid kit etc) and to not TRY to maintain the Pool (we will do it!) and the like. Lastly we ask them about any value added services they may want - baby sitting, french lessons, home cooked meals etc.

We also leave emergency list of numbers and handy ones as well. Additional raid your local tourist office which will have a enourmous amount of local information put them into a folder.

Most seem quite happy with the indroduction approach.

[Ben McNevis]

Well, you can write as much detail as you like. Sadly, very little of it gets read!

We send out a sheet with the really important stuff like directions and how gain entry along with the keys, then we've tried two different approaches for the less essential stuff:

• 1. A folder in the kitchen

• 2. A web page for them to print out and take with them

in both cases, the directions sheet tells them that it's really important to read the remaining stuff.

However, we had one case where an Irish family arrived in the middle of the night, a very last-minute booking so we arranged for a chauffeur to meet them at the airport with keys and the proximity card... and they sat and waited outside the complex for half the night because they hadn't read that they need to put the card against the reader to get the permieter gates to open.

We frequently get people calling us to say that the TV doesn't work simply because they haven't read the main Sat-TV instruction (Use channel numbers, not Programme guide).

Then you get the people who send the keys back saying they had a lovely time BUT it would be nice if you provided a *hair dryer (* substitute iron, blankets, extra pillows or whatever) and of course, all these things are there if only they would look in the cupboards.

Perhaps I should devise a little exam to test them on their knowledge before we send them the keys!

[Hells Bells]

I had an email from our first ever guests, who said a loo brush would have been useful. I knew I'd bought one, and used it, but thought maybe i'd accidentally thrown it away when we left the week before. However, when my cleaner went round it , there it was at the side of the loo.

[Guest3]

Well, you can write as much detail as you like. Sadly, very little of it gets read!

So true and so frustrating especially if you have made the effort in putting all the relevant details in an information folder!

[Mouse]

I agree - people put themselves in a holiday bubble and leave their brains at home!
We now welcome them, leave them to get unpacked and calm down - then go round and explain key points.
We also draw their attention to the information pack and the villa 'rules'. Yet the amount of times we find them doing things we asked them not too is amazing! And its not age related....older people are as bad as twenty somethings are as bad as families

Mouse
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