What to do about badly behaved guests

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AndyPearce
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What to do about badly behaved guests

Post by AndyPearce »

Hi all, one of our holiday lets has a outdoor hot tub and sleeps 12+ and so attracts large groups. The house is in a fairly rural village in Wales and stands a reasonable distant from the properties either side. We've had a couple of complaints in the last year from neighbours saying there has been a lot of noise from guests using the hot tub until the early hours so in response to this we added to the guest rules to say please be mindful of the neighbours and not to use the hot tub after 11pm. We point this out during check in to all guests.

This weekend we have an email from one of the neighbours (we give all of our neighbours contact numbers and emails in case of issues) complaining that the guests were being extremely noisy. We tried to call the guests on the only contact number we had for them but got no response so left a voice mail asking them to keep it down and sent a txt to the same effect.

The neighbour emailed again in the morning to say they had carried on being noisy to at least 1:30 in the morning.

The guests then text us later that day to say they had been having a bbq outside and one of them had been hit by an egg thrown by someone next door.

We find it highly unlikely as the house on one side is vacant and the house on the other side is owned by a couple of pensioners. To throw an egg from any of the other neighbours gardens into ours would require and arm like Fatima Whitbread!!

We feel like it is the guests going defensive on breaking the guest rules and in response to our txt to them but can't say for sure.

What would any of you guys do in this situation?
JanB
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Post by JanB »

A very tricky situation. If I were you, I would certainly have no hesitation in going to see the guests in person to discuss the complaints you have received in relation to late night use of the hot tub, contrary to your perfectly reasonable 11.30pm curfew.

Sadly, your mention of this has clearly made no difference to their behaviour. Thoughtless and mindless in the extreme.

My only thought is how relieved and delighted the permanent neighbours of your guests must be that they are away on holiday.....!
"It's a funny old world...." but full of the most amazing people. :-) Sense of humour essential!
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

My sympathies are with the neighbours so I wouldn't set any store on the egg throwing incident. In fact, if true, I would use it as an example of how far they must have pushed your neighbour with their rowdiness! No sane person would resort to egg throwing unless at the end of their tether...and I would make that plain to them.

It is very difficult to control noise issues with so many people staying (a problem we have suffered with even though we tell people on adverts, check in and notes on the docking station and roof terrace). It is one reason we remain on site owners...so I can tell them to shut the **** up at 2am.
We actively encourage smaller groups and families as we find the dynamics and noise changes when no's increase. We also have a law here on the island that there should be no outside noise after midnight (we can be fined) but when the alcohol flows they forget.
Finally I have in my t&c's a clause that says they agree to not disturb the neighbours and if they do they forfeit their DD and could be asked to vacate the villa.

It is difficult, but I feel for anyone living close to a rental property. Even now we have 2 families in; 2 x 2 yr olds and a 5 yr old. They are so noisy with constant loud crying; we're knackered (can't sleep or work) and my neighbour from the bottom of the lane has asked if all that crying is coming from our place!
This after another very noisy crying child last week that we were glad to see the back of :cry:

Mouse
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AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

JanB wrote:A very tricky situation. If I were you, I would certainly have no hesitation in going to see the guests in person to discuss the complaints you have received in relation to late night use of the hot tub, contrary to your perfectly reasonable 11.30pm curfew.
+1
It looks like a face to face polite conversation is the next thing - not a pleasant thought I am sure.

For the future, is there any practical solution you can devise? I mean for the rowdy guests in the hot tub (not the egg thrower!).
I don't know much about hot tubs and their workings, but there is a lot of clever remote electronic gadgetry around these days, and a device which, at the press of a button or on a timer, emptied the tub and then filled it with ice cold water, on the stroke of 11.31 pm. might bring people to their senses.

I am partly joking here, but there might be some way of making the hot tub less inviting after a certain hour.
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Post by JanB »

I know it is too late for your current guests but I have a suggestion for your future bookings.

Devise a separate "contract" document for use of the hot tub which sets out your boundaries for useage and latest times. Guest must sign it and agree to forfeit deposit and risk being asked to leave if contravened. I wonder whether this would focus the mind a bit more......

This could work especially well if you meet and greet as you can run through, in a friendly way, the rules of usage and let the guests know they will not have their holiday interrupted by angry neighbours, or an angry you.

Hot tub looks wonderful, by the way! Very inviting.
"It's a funny old world...." but full of the most amazing people. :-) Sense of humour essential!
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

IANAL and the facts would need checking (plus noise nuisance can be a bit subjective) but I believe the Noise Act states something along the lines that noise must not be audible outside of the property after 11:00pm and before 7:00am, apart from certain special occasions such as New Year.

There are some fairly hefty fines that can be levied against the owner, more so as it's business premises.

With that in mind you have every right to insist that no noise can be heard outside after 11:00pm, and to evict them if it happens again.

+1 to Andrew's suggestion of a system that dumps ice into the hot tub at 11:01pm. I suppose energising a couple of electrodes in the tub with 10kV wouldn't be allowed? :twisted:
AndyPearce
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Post by AndyPearce »

Thanks for all the feedback. Telling the guests they will be asked to leave and actually doing it seems quite a big (and scary) jump. Has anyone on here actually gone this far?

I also wonder how you would justify keeping their housekeeping deposit in such circumstances? We rarely take anything and always feel we have to justify it fully (maybe we are a bit of a soft touch in this respect??)
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Post by Hells Bells »

I think the separate behaviour contract for the hot tub is a good one. Our residence is a mix of holiday lets and private apartments, some of which are occupied by retired couples for a lot of the year. There has been a couple of incidents in the pool area, which have been blamed on the guests of those of us who rent out our apartments. Mainly loud behaviour and inappropriate clothing (tracksuit bottoms in the pool), but also included a couple having sex in the sauna. We now have a contract which we send out with the arrival instructions, which must be signed and given to our apartment manager on arrival. Just in case of complaint from the resident's committee. We have no evidence that the bad behaviour has been our guests' , but there are others who rent out.
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

AndyPearce wrote: Telling the guests they will be asked to leave and actually doing it seems quite a big (and scary) jump.
It does - hopefully telling them would be enough!
AndyPearce wrote:I also wonder how you would justify keeping their housekeeping deposit in such circumstances? We rarely take anything and always feel we have to justify it fully (maybe we are a bit of a soft touch in this respect??)
Tempting as it might be, you can't actually fine a guest :evil:
As you say, you need to justify anything you withhold, but I think the "reasonable man in the street" test would be satisfied if you saw fit to buy your neighbours a placatory gift and charged it to the guests.
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Wonkeye
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Post by Wonkeye »

greenbarn wrote:if you saw fit to buy your neighbours a placatory gift and charged it to the guests.
+ 1.

Even if you decide not to charge it to your guests, seems a good idea to try and stay in your neighbours' good books - you never know when you might need them again!
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

7 Aspire wrote: I would include in my T&Cs:
a. The liability for all fines imposed by the local council/courts;
I like that one..........!
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

[quoteTelling the guests they will be asked to leave and actually doing it seems quite a big (and scary) jump. Has anyone on here actually gone this far? [/quote]

Sadly yes, I have been in that position. I advised them that if their behavour didn't improve drastically within the next 24 hrs (I outlined what I wanted to happen) then I would be asking them to leave and they would lose not only their holiday accommodation but also their DD.

Thankfully they shaped up. Close call though.

Mousie
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AngloDutch
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Post by AngloDutch »

We have also been at the point when we wanted to, or actually had to warn people that we would evict them due to their behavior.

Some of the worst from memory:

Guests building a fire on our veranda, constructing a spit over it and then skewering and roasting a whole pig. The fat marks are still there. The remains of the pig were just dumped in our rubbish container upright, with the head sticking out (looked like something out of 'Lord of the Flies'). They also constructed a large party tent right up against the windows of our house to eat it in!

Guests in their 20's (all relatives) playing hide and seek in the dark until the middle of the night. Shouting, screaming, breaking doors and shelves in the cupboards and even sawing the shelves in the kitchen cupboards with a knife. They were not even drunk!

Middle aged guest playing musical instruments (mostly trumpet) at all hours, when confronted saying that he had to practice even when on holiday!

Agency guests refusing to pay the extra costs which they had to give to us on arrival

And this of course does not include all the guests who find something to complain about while here, who you wish you could just evict.
Some complaints that we have had: not enough grass on the lawn (after the previous guests had sat there in the same spot for 2 weeks and rubbed it all away with their feet), ventilation system making a different noise than their own back home, some local attractions, including zoos not having English translations of every baboon and bird species on display, and our favourite: too many flies in the house, this after leaving the screen behind the door open......
AndyPearce
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Post by AndyPearce »

AngloDutch wrote: And this of course does not include all the guests who find something to complain about while here, who you wish you could just evict.
I know - our favourite complaint was from a guest who felt our spatular was too small!
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