I have just read your post Zebedee and I believe we had these guests in September for a week. They had stayed in a nearby holiday cottage the previous week. They were an elderly couple from the Netherlands, his initials were JM, they did try to negotiate a lower price but were unsuccessful and did pay the full rate. They did ask for WiFi but at that time we did not have it. They did not mention a dining table but we do have a photograph of our dining table and chairs in the advert.zebedee wrote:So an email enquiry comes through my website. It is from "two elderly people" from the Netherlands who want to visit North Yorkshire in September.
The enquiry is lengthy and includes a need to have two bedrooms, reliable wifi provision (needed for work, apparently) and an unusual question about our dining table, which I respond to with a photograph, as well as assurances about the other requirements.
A 13 night stay in my 4 star cottage is requested and the dates are available.
As the 13 nights fill a gap beautifully, I calculate the cost of the 6 nights by deducting from a weekly price the cost of a changeover, dividing the remainder by 7 and multiplying by 6, so in all I quote for a full week & 6 nights pro rata, which I thought was pretty fair of me??
The " prospective guests" have other plans. They have proposed that they stay for 13 nights at £40 per night.......
I replied with an email confirming the price I quoted first time round, but on reflection, I won't accept the booking now even if they come back to me.
Beware anyone with a property in Yorkshire, someone is looking for quality accommodation for the cost of bunk house prices. Initials are JM.
They appeared a humourless couple who looked a little unkempt. They did not leave a review in our visitors book, like most of our guests do but rather unusually they did leave behind 2 frying pans.
Incedentally our dining table did not look as if it had suffered any undue stress after their stay.