Departure Procedures

[Hells Bells]

I discussed this with my apartment manager recently. If guests leave very early there is often a lot more cleaning needed than if they leave at the expected departure time.

[Bunny]

I also find that, more often than not, the longer the stay the better it is left. Short breakers almost invariably just get up and go, probably because they are there such a short time that they don't want it eating into their stay. Short breakers tend to be in the cottage more and eat in so make more mess generally than my weekly bookings who tend to be sightseers who are out all the time.

[apexblue]

BBQ We stayed at a villa where a 50GBP charge would be deducted from the deposit if not cleaned.

A departure note put thru the door the day before?

[Hells Bells]

We aren't allowed a BBQ at our apartment. Shame really, as we are on the ground floor and have a garden, but there are neighbours above to consider. I would never have left one for the guests, although I am aware that they have used disposables.

[revdev]

My wonderful Turkish guests can make more mess in 3 days than a foreign family in 2 weeks. Love them to bits!

[Ecosse]

We inherited a French run chalet and the t&cs to go with it. As such, we take two deposits, the usual damage deposit and a separate cleaning deposit (200€ but it is a large 20 bed chalet) on arrival. Guests have the option of cleaning themselves or paying the 200€ if they don't want to spend the last few hours of their holiday cleaning - for the vast majority, the potential of losing 200€ is enough for them to leave the chalet spotless. Two groups so far have chosen to pay (it only amounts to 10€ per person extra) which means we have the the funds to bring in an extra cleaner on changeover day. We haven't had any guests leave it in a state.

I honestly don't know whether this would work in Britain though, seeing as an extra cleaning charge is not seen as the norm amongst guests.

[Bunny]

Have been wondering for a while whether upping my deposit would be more effective. At the moment my T&Cs just say they will be charged £50.00 if they don't leave it as they found it. Personally I think £50.00 is way too cheap to fully clean a sleeps 8 cottage and not much of a risk for guests. I expect a lot of them consider £50.00 not much to lose compared to the overall rental cost. I'm doing a lot of serious rethinking of my T&Cs at the moment, but as I'm nearly fully booked for this season, most of it I won't be able to implement until next year.

[Cas & Irene]

Probably the biggest job for my caretakers in the summer is cleaning the barbie - it is always utterly filthy.

We put a note on the grill into the bbq (also mentioned in the T&C on board) that cleaning of the bbq is NOT a part of the end cleaning.
Guests have to clean the bbq, grease reservoir and if dirty the surrounding! Otherwise we charge € 50,00 euro for cleaning costs.

The problem is, if the new arrivals see you cleaning the bbq when they arrive they think its alright to leave it in a mess

This happens once, I explain the new guests that I have deducted €50,00 off their deposit. That really help them too think twice before they also do!

[ianthy]

Hi

The weber BBQ is the big problem for us - guests simply do not clean it. We now say - leave it clean as it will not be cleaned by our Housekeeper. It seems to work or guests clean it if they wish to use it.

I suspect we have the odd guest that leaves the villa in a poor state. I once arrived after a group of guests had left - the black bags full of booze bottles were amazing. It was like they had not gone to the refuse area for the entire stay. When I raised it with my housekeeper - she said she calls the guests the day before and reminds them about the notes in the book of the house ref general tidiness on departure. It appears that some groups pay her a tip if they feel the villa is less than 100% or they have rubbish to remove. She seems happy with the arrangement, so I am not going to interfere.

[Bunny]

Hi

It appears that some groups pay her a tip if they feel the villa is less than 100% or they have rubbish to remove.

OMG maybe I should pretend to be the hired help rather than the owner if that works! Never been tipped in nine years.

[Bunny]

I've come up with a cunning plan. The very last paragraph of my departure notes in my welcome brochure asks guests to leave their bank details written in my loose leaf maintenance book so that I can return their security deposit. I also state that the page can be torn out and it will be destroyed after use.
That way, I'll know if they've read the check out procedures in which case no excuses. We shall see....

[Nemo]

I suspect a lot of people will not be happy to leave their bank details despite the promise of destroying the evidence. I've had guests request a refund by cheque before now as they don't ever give out their bank details. (I don't take deposits though so this was a one off refund) Being an owner, we have a different mindset to a guest about our bank details.

[greenbarn]

What's the problem with sending guests a short list of things you'd like them to do on leaving? Look on the positive side - you're doing them a service by supplying information they'll need.
We learnt very early on that guests would often do unnecessary things (as well as the guests who did nothing) so we produced a list entitled What to do - and what you don't need to do - on leaving. Our key "Don't bother" is the whirlpool baths; we'd frequently find that guests had spent time cleaning and drying the bath and the first thing we do is to fill them up and run sterilising solution through the pipework, thus negating the cleaning and drying. Some guests would neatly fold and stack towels or return the bathrobes to the wardrobes - we want them chucked in the bath where we know to find them without playing a jolly game of "Hunt The Towel" for 20 minutes. Others would wash floors which we're obviously going to wash anyway. No guest is going to leave the place clean enough for the next guest, so it's far better if they can spend their time doing the few things that really help rather than wondering what they should/shouldn't do.

Giving guests departure information is helpful for the guest.
If they actually do what you ask , it's helpful for you.

[Nemo]

I do include a sentence or two in my final email, telling the guests what I'd like them to do. I also have a laminated reminder on a board in the kitchen.

[Bunny]

I suspect a lot of people will not be happy to leave their bank details despite the promise of destroying the evidence. I've had guests request a refund by cheque before now as they don't ever give out their bank details. (I don't take deposits though so this was a one off refund) Being an owner, we have a different mindset to a guest about our bank details.

I always ask for bank details to return deposits, but normally I verbally ask them to write them down for me on departure . No one has ever had an issue with it and have always readily given them. Some email them to me when they get home.

Oh and it also says in my T&Cs that I refund deposits by bank transfer so they know they'll have to supply their bank details too. That's if they read it of course!