Renter querying my payment terms

[Marion]

I have just had this reply from a potential renter:

I am very interested in your apartment ......... However, I have reservations about the need to transfer total monies due for hire of the apartment so long before travelling, as my sole contact with you todate is via the internet. What
guarantees do I have in this regard? I would be happy to pay a deposit and full payment on viewing the apartment in Nice on my arrival, before occupying the apartment.

I ask for 25% deposit and the rest 1 month before arrival which I think is pretty normal. Over the 4 years that I have been doing this I have not had any one else want to do this. Although I can see his point I am not inclined to make an exception. I don't usually meet people at the apartment and if I did what guarantee would i have that he would have the balance in cash (and I don't like dealing in cash anyway). What would you do.

I would be grateful for any advice

Marion

[enid]

That's our policy too - tell him politely that's your policy and quite normal for self catering property.

[Sue Dyer]

I wouldn't accept his terms. I think this business is based on a huge amount of trust and if that is missing then what?! Guests are trusting us to provide them with a good holiday base and we are trusting them to be responsible with our properites, which are a big investment for us.

He sounds like he could turn up and say "no" then you'd be left without a booking. I know (most) hotels operate differently but even they mostly can't be cancelled less than 24 hours in advance without losing the nights payment.

If it doesn't feel right then go with your gut feeling! Sue

[Normandy Cow]

Our policy is 8 weeks, not 4, and I would make no exceptions. How do you know he is going to turn up? And if he doesn't, how would you get an alternative booking at such short notice?

I would contact him and tell him why we have this policy (sometimes people are more understanding once they know the reasons behind a rule). I would give him my phone number and tell him that I would be happy to talk to him on the telephone if he wants to confirm that I am a real person!

[Marion]

Thanks Enid and Soodyer. Yes I will go back and politely explain. It's good to talk these things over.

Thanks Catherine, I always give my full address and phone number on each e-mail. But yes I will ask him to call me if he wants to.

[paolo]

I would suggest to him that I ask some previous renters to contact him. Then email some renters (ones who took the time to email you with thanks after their stay) explaining the situation, and asking if they could possibly email him just to say that the property is as advertised on the internet.

What usually happens is they also send a rave review of your property and include their phone number if he wants to follow up.

However, don't give him the email addresses of previous renters to contact himself, this is not the right way of doing it and is probably illegal.

[la vache!]

I find it different according to nationality. In France, if you check the Gites de France agreement (not that I'm with them, but I use the basis of their rental contract) it is normal to pay a 25% downpayment, with the balance payable on arrival. I have never had any problems with this and never had any no shows. With other nationalities, I ask for the balance 6 weeks before the rental start date.
I had someone query the security deposit the other day - why were they not told about it before? It quite clearly states in the Ts and Cs that this is required, I don't think anyone bothers to read them!

[Hells Bells]

So far I have had no problems with guests paying before they arrive, even for a short notice booking, the money was transferred by credit card to my Paypal account in advance of their arrival.

[cromercrabholiday]

I would politely point out to him that you are entrusting him to occupy a property that is worth several hundred times more than the rent he is paying and your only contact with him is via e-mail - trust has to go both ways.

Your terms are quite normal for the market place and better than bigger holiday companies - we've just paid for our flotilla holiday eight weeks in advance.

John

[Guest3]

The one and only time we have ever had to verify our status before any funds were paid was 2 years ago when a guest asked us for a copy of a utility bill and local council tax bill of the property (in Spain bills always detail your name and NIE/passport number), which we duly complied. The deposit was paid and the booking was finalised.

As said before, alot of the bookings done via internet are done on trust and we were not offended in any way when we were asked to produce copies of these documents.

[A-two]

would suggest to him that I ask some previous renters to contact him.

Those who want belt and braces guarantees are not going to be happy even with this. An overly suspicious person might think that you had your closest friends fake the references.

Personally, I have never had an inquiry like this one, but if I did, I think I would pick up the phone and have a nice long chat. If that didn't do it, then I would walk away.

I would *never* bother previous guests for references, but that's just me.

There's only so much you can do on the internet, it does have its limitations and I think most reasonable people understand that the whole transaction represents a risk on both sides and run with it regardless.

Those are the people I want, and unless I was really desperate for a booking, I'm in the camp that would say to this person that these are my terms, take them or leave them (but in the nicest possible way).

You can't win them all ya know, but I applaud everyone who tries hard to convert an inquiry into a booking against all the odds.

Let us know if this person goes ahead!

[debk]

I would politely point out to him that you are entrusting him to occupy a property that is worth several hundred times more than the rent he is paying and your only contact with him is via e-mail - trust has to go both ways.

we've had three sets of wary-potential-guests ask "how do we know you are real?" or "how can i trust you enough to send money sight unseen?", all asked in very nice ways.

My response is sometimes like the 'mutual trust' one, above... unless their question is more about whether or not we physically exist. (In that case, I sometimes send them to my husband's personal blog, which is spiced with the occasional VisitingPortugal adventures.)

But I ALWAYS send people to our guestbook which is now quite extensive. I ask the wary-potential-guest to go look for the two guest entries which specifically ask to be a reference for us and, should they want more details, to contact me again.

All three wary-types, after reading the guestbook (or a part of it anyway), made reservations and none asked for references.

I know some LMHatters think online guestbooks are untrustworthy or questionable efforts, but they are our goldmine.

The silly thing is that I'm two months behind on our guestbook because I switched our website technology, got a bit off-stride and never caught up. It's so easy to update, I normally do it from the property as soon as each guest leaves... sigh... I really MUST get the new entries online asap. Bad me. Wonder if this post will light a fire under me? ::roll:
debk

[A-two]

I know some LMHatters think online guestbooks are untrustworthy or questionable efforts, but they are our goldmine.

Goldmine, yes, I would agree with that 100%, VERY important factor in the decision to book with us. I know, because they say things like "you sound so nice" etc. Yes, we could be making it all up, but I'm sure it would have a phony ring to it if we did.

The silly thing is that I'm two months behind on our guestbook because I switched our website technology, got a bit off-stride and never caught up.

Wow, I'm shocked, you're the high bar against which I set myself as a property manager and now you're telling us you're not perfect after all ? !! ..... Actually, I don't think it's critical to keep reviews current, as long as the most recent one is not years old of course. Sometimes I wonder whether it makes us look a little over anxious to post on the same day as departure.

On the listing sites I can only add a couple of quotes, so I pick the best, regardless of date, which I leave off. I rarely update these selected quotes on the listing sites because it's mostly new people reading them and I only have 24 hours in a day (whereas I know for a fact that you Debk must have at least 32hrs).

Joanna
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[Normandy Cow]

Joanna
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(I too place a lot of importance on our guests' comments - The guestbook is the first thing I look at when we go out to the house and I religiously update them on our website as soon as I come back. I'm still waiting for a bad comment, because if we ever do get one I THINK I will put it in, preferably with a reply and explanation from me, just to show that they really are genuine).

[Marion]

Thanks every one for your comments.

I replied along the lines of standard practice, trust etc. but have not had a reply. So I will chalk it up to experience. Can't win them all. It was for a September booking and I will probably not have problem filling it.
Marion