Changing Guest Attitudes

[Lady Lalande]

Are others experiencing negative effects of the commoditisation of the holiday rental property activity?

I began renting my Paris apartment five years ago at which time the non-monetary rewards of meeting people from all over the world, as well as the very positive feedback that I received, that spurred me to continue.

In recent months I have found that I am getting an increasing proportion of enquiries from people who are awkward, discourteous and quite frequently downright rude. Multiple demands to change dates and issue revised contracts, expectations of being given significant discounts at peak periods, three word emails, people who ignore maximum occupancies. I recently politely turned down two couples who wanted to rent my apartment which sleeps 4 when they told me that they also had 4 children !

Are others experiencing a similar shift in the attitude of their guests? Are you being treated more like a Travelodge/Motel 6/Etap hotel than an individual providing a personal service?

Is this the result of commoditisation of the business?

Can anyone suggest a way to differentiate oneself as offering a personal service amongst the sea of offers managed through agents ?

[Marks]

Certainly in the UK people are bombarded with programmes such as Superscrimpers, Britain's Secret Shoppers and the like which is all about 'doing deals' to drive the price of just about everything down and then get stuff thrown in for free. Then of course there is the hugely annoying and pompous Martin Lewis

[Lady Lalande]

We are all used to being financially squeezed - but it is the lack of politeness and the expectation that you will do a deal over and above the discounts already offered that I find very difficult.

Sometimes I have to take a break and not reply straight away lest I am as impolite in my responses as the enquirer !

[Mouse]

Like you I've dispaired over the years about the lack of manners and sensibilities. There are still many decent people around, of all ages, but sadly I think the type of which you describe are growing.
Add to that, as you say, some treat private rentals like booking a travel lodge.

I don't know how you differentiate owners from agents, would it matter? There are good and bad in both sectors.
I think a more important differentiation is the service being offered and the standard of property...but do the sector of people you mention really care? You'd still have to run the gauntlet of idiots, chancers and downright rude people.

Luckily, I have to say, I only come across the occasional one at enquiry stage...but what I am finding now is that many guests just don't have a level of respect anymore for people's property...this has increased significantly in my mind over the last 5 years. To them it's like booking a hotel or apartment (commercial).
Personally I hate having to lock away the owners possesions, bedding and towels etc. But I now know that if I don't they will be rifeled through even though I ask them not to. That saddens me.

Mouse
x

[Lady Lalande]

Your words are a comfort, Mouse.

Albeit I too have suffered from disrespectful behaviour towards the property from certain guests, mainly manifested in leaving it in a lamentably dirty state, these have been few in number, random, and are not seemingly on the increase.

One could be tempted to put the rudeness down to youth, but I have a perfectly charming longer term renter in one of my studios who is a PhD student.

As a group, the best guests have always been gay couples. Very polite, respectful of the property and generally people I would be delighted to have back.

I suppose it is all the luck of the draw. In the meantime I shall include a statement in my reply to enquirers making the point that this is an owner managed rental because there are lots of apartments which albeit appear as being owner managed on the rental sites are actually handled by local managers who likely have less of an interest in the guests experience.

[Alvaro]

I don´t know how it used to be but I do get texts saying "hi there, looking to book these dates, cheers".

[Fleur]

Now that more and more people are using mobile phones etc for email enquiries the messages seem to be very short and to the point.

[pambon]

Now that more and more people are using mobile phones etc for email enquiries the messages seem to be very short and to the point.

I have noticed a distinct trend towards this since the end of last year. Nothing impolite though and guests leave the apartment in excellent condition.

[Essar]

The human world is changing.

Everyone and I mean everyone has a mobile phone - they used to talk about "two car families", now it's 76 million mobile phones for a population of just over 60 million. Texting is the norm - r u 2 ok, I now deliberately type "are you both feeling fine?" - but that costs more in a long message, so to save on the 500 free texts a month they keep it short but not necessarily sweet.

I don't consider it rude when it's in a text message, I do when it's done in an email. I have met people who talk in "textslang" too, fortunately they don't tend to book holiday rentals. It can be quite amusing when taken out of context.

Social media, particularly twating or is it tweeting with it's limited character count encourages the same thing; I must admit I don't get twitter at all, it really is pointless - "just enq 4 6 holflats on HL" - "Doing the ironing while seeing corrie g8" - "Avin a Penguin" - "fell asleep".

"Sent from my iPhone" "..iPod" "..iPad" - who gives a s*** where it was sent from.

So where will it all go next; it'll never end unless there is a permanent power cut (pwrkut), with the coming of 4G mobile sites will be the norm - 30% of my hits are from mobile devices - got to keep adapting and changing. It used to be every 5-years or so something big changed all our lives now it's every 3-months!

I suppose there's always Digitas.

If anyone has been affected by the contents of this post please contact the BBC

[French Cricket]

Everyone and I mean everyone has a mobile phone

Not quite.

I don't.

Well, okay, that's not entirely true. I do have one, but I've never used it.

Well, okay, that's not entirely true. I did try to use it once, when my car broke down, but it wasn't charged up. So I couldn't.

We don't have a mobile phone signal here anyway

[Lady Lalande]

I don't think this is a function of using mobile phones. Typically the messages I get are emails, so there are not the same constraints on numbers of characters - it is just that people are not prepared to take sufficient time to write a polite message.

I have two mobile devices, one UK and one French, and occasionally use Twitter, but would not dream of sending the sort throw away messages I receive, even if the person I was communicating was not my highest priority at the time !

[Lady Lalande]

Here we are, the perfect example, I received an enquiry via VRBO this morning for one of my properties - no dates, no duration and the message was

"laundry facilities?"

I then had another message from the same person for another property

"in the same building?"

Against all instinct, and to be professional I replied. But I find that simply rude.

[pambon]

Here we are, the perfect example, I received an enquiry via VRBO this morning for one of my properties - no dates, no duration and the message was

"laundry facilities?"

I then had another message from the same person for another property

"in the same building?"

Against all instinct, and to be professional I replied. But I find that simply rude.

Agree. Sad reflection on our times.

[Essar]

I think that the constant texting by the current generation - walking down the street; head down staring at the mobile, thumb going twenty to the dozen, bumping into people, tripping over, getting run over - you know the sort I mean.

This has taught them to do everything in the same way through the same thought patterns; all short and truncated, and when in something other that a text or a tweet extremely rude. But they don't know they're doing it, join any queue in a sandwich shop they ask for things the same way - "chickin an chilli on brown ta", not looking up from the phone where they are simultaneously tweeting "in greggs wot u doin".

Although, this is mostly a function of the young, their parents - the one's who book the holiday rental - have become indoctrinated into the "modern" way of doing things too. I to despair at the lack of manners and gruffness in asking; nay demanding, things or an answer or a discount. It's not helped by the nanny state, TV, political correctness, ambulance chasing solicitors and poor standards in schools. (Don't get me started!).

I look forward to having "foreigners" stay; polite parents and equally polite children, grateful for your assistance and guidance on where to visit locally. They always respect your property and leave it tidy on changeover day.

[Lady Lalande]

Essar, my guests are nearly all American or Canadian, so this is not only a UK thing !

I text and email as I go down the road too because clients expect instant responses to their questions, but the difference is I think you are right that the young don't know of any other way than minimalist communication.