Guests want to add a guest during their stay

[AngloDutch]

You've had zero bookings with them, how much is the annual subscription if any? Surely less than the loss of this free booking? I'd tell em to go f.... Sounds like they could be a scam for their own jolly parties. Who is this site?

Can't you have some unfortunate incident at the property and cancel?

It's a commission only contract with Interhome.

At the time it came in, we were only angry that they didn't ask us first, because the end of September is still a busy time for us (November would have been better). The booking was a surprise but this was countered with the idea they would have a week away somewhere for free. We were very angry when it appeared that we were not going to get anything in return but if we had complained they would have stated that we ticked that box in the contract. I suppose it teaches a lesson not to trust any organization at all anymore.

They are one of the largest tour operators in Europe. What we hear from the local office here is that it's the head office in Switzerland that makes these decisions....

As I write this, they are wandering around outside and standing by their car. They've got another 41 minutes of standing by the car to go - I did say 4 p.m.!

[SandyBeaches]

The only thing I would say is that these guests probably have no idea of all the hassle going on in the background. Step back for a minute and imagine you had entered a competition to win a week's holiday. You would have no idea about all this.

OK - so they turned up early. We get a lot of people doing that, and how many times do people turn up early at hotels because of flights etc. If they haven't been to a holiday home before they might need a bit of hand holding.

I would imagine that they are expecting to be well looked after and to feel special after winning their prize. I do feel slightly sorry for them as this isn't their fault so try not to take it out on them. As for paying the security deposit, then that probably wasn't made clear to them either when they entered the competition. I have to say that if I'd entered a competition then been asked for money associated with my prize then I would be a bit suspicious maybe.

Take a step back and try to see it from the guests point of view. Fingers crossed they don't turn out to be nightmares!

[tavi]

Portugal Guy wrote: Must say it went very well this summer, no headaches except the spanish and portuguese people that try to scam you all the time



Just curious PG...

In what way do the Spanish and Portuguese people try to scam you all the time?

It's not my experience at all. I also have no animals, no kids (in one apartment) and only ever had one extra guest requested (and agreed to by me). My Portuguese and Spanish guests are lovely (touch wood) ...great reviews, many repeats and recommendations.

[AngloDutch]

The only thing I would say is that these guests probably have no idea of all the hassle going on in the background. Step back for a minute and imagine you had entered a competition to win a week's holiday. You would have no idea about all this.

OK - so they turned up early. We get a lot of people doing that, and how many times do people turn up early at hotels because of flights etc. If they haven't been to a holiday home before they might need a bit of hand holding.

I would imagine that they are expecting to be well looked after and to feel special after winning their prize. I do feel slightly sorry for them as this isn't their fault so try not to take it out on them. As for paying the security deposit, then that probably wasn't made clear to them either when they entered the competition. I have to say that if I'd entered a competition then been asked for money associated with my prize then I would be a bit suspicious maybe.

Take a step back and try to see it from the guests point of view. Fingers crossed they don't turn out to be nightmares!

Although it may come across as being harsh, we're definitely not being mean. The security deposit aside, they confirmed they would be here at 4 p.m. by email just a few days ago after we asked if they could let us know their arrival time.

They were replying immediately via text, but could not ask today whether they could possibly arrive earlier before actually just turning up and expecting to just be let in? Although we did not have a same day turnover, just turning up 2 hours earlier without prior notice is something that I wouldn't dare do if I was due to stay at someone's property.

Their emails were very demanding and they had originally made the reservation for 6 people and then they suddenly emailed saying that they were coming with 12 people (when we can only accommodate 10 adults). They were aware that the house was for a maximum of 10, yet they still expected us to take another 2 as well during their stay.

I was busy repairing some of the toys when they arrived and still had to hoover a couple of rugs, so we were not completely ready for them at 2 p.m.

[AngloDutch]

*falls off chair*

+1

If the marketing terms were so unclear and you haven't had any real bookings from them, I would have absolutely refused the booking, unless the tour operator paid for it in full. But even then I wouldn't have been happy. I feel nervous for you! Hope it goes OK and they are respectful guests.

Actually Bunny, I have just been talking with them about their prize and it appears Interhome was sponsoring them for a charity event.

They told me that the prize that they originally won through Interhome (which was a holiday home in the south of the country) fell through because the owners refused to accept them at their property. Interhome then gave them our house for the week. It looks like there were other owners who were as amazed as we were to have their property given away to prizewinners. Maybe one of the owners was a lawyer and knew the contract was not worth the paper it was written on!

We were right about them never renting a holiday home before. They told me that they always just go camping.

Now we know that it was a charity event does make us feel better, but it is still a loss of income for us.

[Nemo]

Unbelievable for you. Life can never cease to amaze us at the things companies can do!

So they've never rented before; they definitely need hand holding (if only to protect your property) or otherwise a little gentle leading down the correct path. They wouldn't have a clue what the impact of arriving early meant. People think the fairies do the changeover cleaning.

Wishing you an uneventful week and for the end to come quickly!

[Bunny]

Just a thought AngloDutch, but I've never heard of a holiday as a prize without it being a prize for a stipulated number of people. If they originally booked for 6, I wonder if this is all Interhome are prepared to pay the linen charges etc for. I fear that you have accepted an over occupancy for which you will receive nothing more than for 6 guests. I agree that this is not the prize winners' fault but they do appear to me milking it by inviting all and sundry to join them.

[Sam V]

[quote="Bunny"]Just a thought AngloDutch, but I've never heard of a holiday as a prize without it being a prize for a stipulated number of people. If they originally booked for 6, I wonder if this is all Interhome are prepared to pay the linen charges etc for. I fear that you have accepted an over occupancy for which you will receive nothing more than for 6 guests. I agree that this is not the prize winners' fault but they do appear to me milking it by inviting all and sundry to join them.[/quote

+1 my thoughts too!

[AngloDutch]

Just a thought AngloDutch, but I've never heard of a holiday as a prize without it being a prize for a stipulated number of people. If they originally booked for 6, I wonder if this is all Interhome are prepared to pay the linen charges etc for. I fear that you have accepted an over occupancy for which you will receive nothing more than for 6 guests. I agree that this is not the prize winners' fault but they do appear to me milking it by inviting all and sundry to join them.

As soon as I received the 'guest list' from them last week I emailed the additional cost total (linen, energy, tourist tax and end of stay cleaning) for all 12 of them through to Interhome. I know the Product Manager there and she said it was up to us is we wanted to accept the extra guests and said that the head office in Switzerland would pay us the extra costs. Earlier I had sent her an email saying that we were not happy that there was a dispute over paying the security deposit as we had already made an exception with the 2 extra guests (we will change the beds over during their stay).

As they were prizewinners and Interhome were covering the additional costs as well, then maybe the security deposit should have also been paid by the tour operator (or maybe they didn't want to take financial responsibility for any damage that the guests might leave behind?)

they do appear to me milking it by inviting all and sundry to join them

Exactly, Bunny and that is why we did a little difficult when they turned up this afternoon at 2 p.m. They have something completely for free that would cost them over €1,100 if they had booked it as a normal reservation through Interhome, so is it not too much to ask I suppose, for them to show a little bit of gratitude and not to think that it is normal that we just hand our holiday home over to them and their friends for a whole week?

[AngloDutch]

Unbelievable for you. Life can never cease to amaze us at the things companies can do!

So they've never rented before; they definitely need hand holding (if only to protect your property) or otherwise a little gentle leading down the correct path. They wouldn't have a clue what the impact of arriving early meant. People think the fairies do the changeover cleaning.

Wishing you an uneventful week and for the end to come quickly!

Thanks, Nemo. Yes, I did spend quite some time with them in the farmhouse explaining everything. The husband was only interested in whether there was good TV reception on the main TV, so that he could watch the football. At least the 12 of them are not all staying at the same time and will be spaced out through the week.

Yes, they are certainly not used to sleeping outside of a tent on their holiday and seem to have ignored some of the advice I sent them several weeks ago explaining that they had to pre-book bikes if they wanted to hire them during their stay because of the popularity for biking in this region. When they arrived today they said that they wanted 4 more bikes for this weekend as well.

I checked with the bike store locally but every single bike was hired this weekend apart from just 5 electric bikes left in stock. I had to reserve those for them and said that they were €10 more each per day than the standard 7 gear.

They looked quite shocked when I presented them with the bike hire bill this evening for €185, especially as I saw the husband trawling a well known internet site here in the Netherlands on his notebook. It's a site that people use when they want to locate a restaurant locally offering a discounted dinner for under €20....

[Bunny]

[quote="AngloDutch"]
As they were prizewinners and Interhome were covering the additional costs as well, then maybe the security deposit should have also been paid by the tour operator (or maybe they didn't want to take financial responsibility for any damage that the guests might leave behind?)

I've had guests stay before when the rental has been paid by an insurance company, however, I always insist that the guests pay the security deposit themselves. IMO if they have no vested interest in the financials, and have nothing to lose, they are less likely to take care. However, I can understand that if the guests won a prize and it was not in the competition rules that they would have to pay this amount, then I can understand why they would be miffed.

I think your main offenders here are Interhome and I would not let it lie with them. Have told OH of your predicament and he 100% would have told Interhome to take a hike over their prize and would not have accepted the booking. What a horrible situation for you to be in.

[AngloDutch]

I think your main offenders here are Interhome and I would not let it lie with them.

We both think that we did this tour operator quite a favour accepting this booking, as it of course now appears that the rental home named on the prize backed out as soon as they found out what was going on and that a week had been taken out of their calendar and dished out as a prize.

What Interhome should at least do is find us a week somewhere in one of the properties on their site as originally promised.

They actually sent us a list of all the properties with free weeks available for 2015 back in April. Among them, we saw the name of our own farmhouse!

When we enquired for any property availability, for any stay duration and for any dates, they said there was not a single one available anywhere until the end of the year (this was in April). When we said that we were limited to a weekend stay because we had children in school and they had a blackout during school holidays, they actually said that we should consider flying further than West Europe for a weekend break, or if necessary just leave our children behind. I kid you not.

We still can't believe that they told us 'Sorry, our head office has already taken all the free weeks available this year for our prizewinners in the countries you are looking', but that's what they said.

[Bunny]

Just how many prizes are they giving away!? Presumably, if you had managed to find an available property, Interhome would have paid the host the full rental, or would the hosts then have found themselves in exactly the same position as yourselves with having to provide an income free week. It seems that Interhome are gaining a huge amount of free marketing and advertising from their promotions at the expense of hosts who gain nothing.

Sorry Sam, we seem to have highjacked your thread.

[Sam V]

Just how many prizes are they giving away!? Presumably, if you had managed to find an available property, Interhome would have paid the host the full rental, or would the hosts then have found themselves in exactly the same position as yourselves with having to provide an income free week. It seems that Interhome are gaining a huge amount of free marketing and advertising from their promotions at the expense of hosts who gain nothing.

Sorry Sam, we seem to have highjacked your thread.

Highjack away! I think this post should perhaps be renamed likewise! Btw, I've never heard of Interhome, have they ever been mentioned on LMH before?

[AngloDutch]

Just how many prizes are they giving away!? Presumably, if you had managed to find an available property, Interhome would have paid the host the full rental, or would the hosts then have found themselves in exactly the same position as yourselves with having to provide an income free week. It seems that Interhome are gaining a huge amount of free marketing and advertising from their promotions at the expense of hosts who gain nothing.

Sorry Sam, we seem to have highjacked your thread.

What is happening is that the unassuming owners think that by ticking the marketing promotion box that they will be getting a week's holiday in another property for free in exchange for having their property displayed somewhere to help promote the tour operator.

..or would the hosts then have found themselves in exactly the same position as yourselves with having to provide an income free week.

Exactly, it looks like all the free weeks (probably one week per property, as with us) are offered as prizes in the local market, meaning that none of the owners get a free week anywhere, because everything has already been reserved and allocated by the marketing department.

Yes, apologies, Sam for taking over your thread! I did originally think to start a new one for this, but thought that as it had to do with over-occupancy that I could include it on yours!