Guests Deny Responsibility For Their Actions

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
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pepsipuss
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Post by pepsipuss »

Casscat wrote:I wouldn't charge for any of it. Breakages are a fact of life which is why you should never put posh stuff into a holiday rental. Glasses and crockery will get broken, cutlery will mysteriously vanish. Parasols are also a regular casualty I gather because no matter what you say to people about putting them down in windy weather they don't. As for the blind, well you have already commented that it was defective before your current guests arrived so the fact that it instantly derailed again upon their arrival I don't actually see as their fault. If you have another blind then just replace the dodgy one and go pour yourself a nice stiff drink. Some things are just not worth getting too upset about.
+1 although I have to say I am sick and tired of replacing parasols. Of the three in the rental we have to replace one or two every year because of thoughtless use - at home the two we have are no better (we spend about €65 nowadays) and are each at least ten years old!
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

There is no way I could afford to pay someone to count teaspoons on every change over. I reckon it would take a good 2 hours to do a full inventory like that and at say 25 Euros/hour this could add 50 Euros to each rental. Over a year, that's one hell of a lot of tea spoons.

Ironically I replaced a bedroom blind and added a load of tea spoons to the drawer on my last trip.
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

The only thing I have ever charged for was a damaged bin, which was about 40€ to replace. We left it in perfect working order on the Saturday morning and had guests staying the following week who managed to break the hinge and split the plastic top, no douby by overfilling and trying to squash down the contents. As they also left the place filthy on that occasion I did charge for the damage.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

kevsboredagain wrote:
Ironically I replaced a bedroom blind and added a load of tea spoons to the drawer on my last trip.
Did you steal them from Morristhedog? :P
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

Casscat wrote:
kevsboredagain wrote:
Ironically I replaced a bedroom blind and added a load of tea spoons to the drawer on my last trip.
Did you steal them from Morristhedog? :P
Fond it in the garden. Under the table.
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Casscat wrote:
kevsboredagain wrote:
Ironically I replaced a bedroom blind and added a load of tea spoons to the drawer on my last trip.
Did you steal them from Morristhedog?
:lol:
Seriously Morris, don't forget that your guests booked your place for a holiday. Not a boot camp.
mi casa
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Post by mi casa »

So far this season we have had to replace three yes three parasols and two of them were new. We have also had about 6 broken glasses and a serving platter. Would not even think about charging. I would not like to ask our Manager to start counting spoons - I think we would be looking for a new Manager. We always have loads of spares and never buy very expensive stuff.
Would love to retire but can't so will have to keep doing the lottery!
Morristhedog
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Post by Morristhedog »

Thanks for all your ideas.

I did buy cheap Ikea cutlery, but then removed it in favour of something decent because it's nicer. The same as I put in decent sheets and towels because that is the standard.

I have loads of replaceable porcelain and glasses in there, that is not an issue.

The blind will cost me around £100,00 to replace. I wasn't going to charge for the parasol. I wont buy expensive ones again though!

OK let's move on now.
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Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

If you are going to ask what others do, you surely have to accept that we won't all agree.
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Morristhedog
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Post by Morristhedog »

Did I say we should all agree? I wanted to know what other people thought and other people told me. There are several ideas here if you read the thread.

There are different ways of doing things and that is why I wrote the thread.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way home by moonlight.
Bunny
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Post by Bunny »

Morristhedog, I have velux windows with fitted black out blinds. I purchased some very good but much cheaper unbranded blinds on Ebay. Touch wood, they are still in tact and working fine. Maybe an option, compared to spending £100.00 again.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

Bunny wrote:Morristhedog, I have velux windows with fitted black out blinds. I purchased some very good but much cheaper unbranded blinds on Ebay. Touch wood, they are still in tact and working fine. Maybe an option, compared to spending £100.00 again.
My velux compatible blinds only last a year. Gone through six in the past 2 years as the bedroom has 3 blinds. I'm buying some genuine velux next time hoping that they will be more robust...
Bunny
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Post by Bunny »

newtimber wrote:
Bunny wrote:Morristhedog, I have velux windows with fitted black out blinds. I purchased some very good but much cheaper unbranded blinds on Ebay. Touch wood, they are still in tact and working fine. Maybe an option, compared to spending £100.00 again.
My velux compatible blinds only last a year. Gone through six in the past 2 years as the bedroom has 3 blinds. I'm buying some genuine velux next time hoping that they will be more robust...
:cry: Oh no, mine have survived two years so far, so I hope that doesn't mean they are on borrowed time!
tavi
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Post by tavi »

Going back to the blind and the parasol, as someone else mentioned you should probably just wait until the end of their stay.

However, the fact that you found the blind off its track before these guests arrived indicates a fault, a weakness in the design, or a breakage by the previous people. The problem is, even if you can get it to work perfectly for you - it sounds like this is going to keep happening so it may be worth planning for a replacement/guest-proof design. Very irritating but....

We all have things in our own home that we will get years of use out of, but we know someone else will come along and it will fall apart instantly.
lorca
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Post by lorca »

I think what those of us who have been doing this a long time are saying is that there are certain things that will (with varying degrees of frequency) get lost or broken. This is not usually because guests are deliberately careless, but well...because they're on holiday. If you make allowances for this in your planning and pricing then you'll save yourself a lot of stress.

Of course (as you will have seen from other threads) there are the rare occasions when guests fail to treat our properties with respect. For most of us this is unusual - and LMH is a fantastic resource when trying to work out with the help of others what to do about it. Quite often the outcome is that we have a rant...and then let it go. Accidents will happen and (most) guests are only human (special measures are of course available for the odd ones who demonstrably aren't...)
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