Ways to confirm the information provided by enquirers

[Fil]

I am the type not to take any risks with guests. Any suspicion about the veracity of the info they provide and they are refused. Better avoid trouble than facing it at usually hevy costs. Usually I ask them for full name, address, professional ocupation and mobile phone before I make any commitment. Then sometimes try to confirm this data via internet. Type provided names on Goggle, check sites from companies they are supposed to work for, etc. Do you use any other methods ?

[Big Sis..]

Hi Fil. ...

No none of the above Im afraid[probably should do I suppose]

...Just use my gut instinct and havent been let down yet.....
but I think after doing it a while you can usually get a feel for a person....
But I will be interested to see what others say

Have you actually got your property yet .......Its easier to advise if we had more details of where you are etc....

You seem quite negative in your questions...
expecting trouble etc...
Its right to be wary to some degree of course ..but I think it would be better to go into this with a bit more optimism.
Of course things will go wrong but generally there a very small percentage...

[Jimbo]

Do you use any other methods ?

Wow, Fil, I'd run a mile from you if I was looking for a holiday. If your guests pay their deposit and the remainder of their rental within your specified times, what's the problem? All business transactions involve some risk for the supplier and the customer. Obviously, you need guests' email, phone number and address but we wouldn't check these out unless the enquirer seemed suspicious - and, if they seemed suspicious, we wouldn't book them. As Ros says, you get a feel for the odd ones but such people are rare in our experience.

Jim

[roxytoo]

If I am suspicious I do tend to google them, it is surprising what you can find out this way, a lot of the scams are picked up like this (though you kinda know most of the scams by the email itself)

I did once have an enquiry from a guy in Russia who had married a girl from Croatia who he had met on the Internet (I had his life story in the email) and wanted a long let with his new wonderful wife and his mother and an Aunt from Long Island who were coming to join him!! And it turned out to be true! I found various threads on forums he had been on researching this and that and it was all true!

[Giddy Goat]

I can understand your slight concern there Meishka, but what a nice story! Being an inquisitive kind of creature, I do google people's names etc, because it's fun and not because I'm doubting their credentials. But by and large we tend to attract families, sometimes three generations, and the holiday is booked by Grandad, ie people simply seeking a relaxed, rural holiday, rather than singles or stag night groups etc. If they have Fil's approach to life, they have probably googled me too, and gone onto 'Who-Is', since I am taking their deposit money, often several hundred pounds, at a point at which I haven't told them exactly where the property is!

[Fil]

Thank you for your replies. You can know see my property. A bit of explanation: I am so carefull because I try not to charge the damage deposit (requested in cash on arrival) and not to have to be present at departure. I know it is risky but as I don't live nextdoor this makes it easier for me to manage the place. Never had troubles. And I only go through these checkings when have some kind of suspicion. For example if the email is from a well kniwn company I wouldn't do it. But the sugestion that I might be loosing some business makes me think.

[Normandy Cow]

Hello Fil, welcome to the forum, your place looks lovely!

I am the type not to take any risks with guests.

And yet if I understand your last post correctly, you don't take a damage deposit?!!!

Rather than pry so deeply into the guests' personal circumstances (and I think that asking for their occupation is going too far - I would certainly run a mile if I was asked such a personal question!), I believe you MUST charge a security deposit. A person's occupation has nothing to do with the way they are going to leave your property at the end of their stay, and I have learnt the hard way that it is usually the ones whom you are least expecting are the ones who leave it like a pigsty, or worse do damage such as putting hot dishes straight onto that elegant dining table of yours.

We ask for a £200 deposit cheque one week before arrival, which we bank, and then we write a cheque and send it back to them after departure, once the house has been cleaned and checked. So it doesn't matter if there is no-one physically there to check them out in the morning...

(PS, we don't live next door either, in fact we are a few hundred miles away in a different country!!!)

[Giddy Goat]

Yes, agree entirely: three moos for the Normandy Cow!

[Guest3]

A person's occupation has nothing to do with the way they are going to leave your property at the end of their stay, and I have learnt the hard way that it is usually the ones whom you are least expecting are the ones who leave it like a pigsty, or worse do damage such as putting hot dishes straight onto that elegant dining table of yours

Isn't that strange that you should say that NC! We had a Doctor and his family book our villa (one of our very first bookings)..both husband and wife were Medical Consultants...and they were the only ones that scorched my beautiful dining table by putting hot dishes onto it (and they didn't leave the villa very clean either!). I was gutted about the table! Anyhow, table has since been 'restored'...but it just goes to show that you cannot 'stereotype' people because of their occupation.

[Paul Carmel]

Over the years on the whole we have put it down to the more they earn, the worse they are because they can afford to pay someone else to do it at home, and are out of practice when they visit yours.

[la vache!]

Totally agree with the above that occupation means little - a group of doctors and their families left 2 cottages in all too memorable untidy and dirty state here a few years ago.

[A-two]

I'm obviously in a minority here, but I disagree with most of the above comments. Occupation (amongst other things) speaks to financial status and is therefore relevant as part of managing financial risk.

There's a big difference between someone who lives on site and rents rooms by the night, (which is essentially operating as a hotel,) and what we do, (which is not operating a hotel). We're handing over the keys to a $million home and walking away. Before we are willing to do that, it's only reasonable to want to know quite a lot of personal information about the person who is going to be responsible for it. We don't mean to pry, but we are very serious about protecting our asset and as such, are certainly not shy about asking a whole string of questions.

It's not what you ask, it's the way you ask it that's most important.

[Normandy Cow]

we want to rent to folks who can demonstrate (within reason) that they have the ability to pay for possible damage that can be caused to the home whilst in their care.

To cover us for this, we ask people to sign the following disclaimer:

I understand that as per the signed rental agreement, I have accepted full responsibility for all damage done or caused to the Property through any act or omission by my party. I therefore confirm that I have taken out a full travellers’ protection insurance policy that includes Personal Liability Insurance of at least £250,000.

So if they are covered by insurance, it matters not a jot what their occupation is...

OK, if they sign the above but have lied and not actually taken out the insurance, then we are still in the merde, but then again they could lie about their occupation too. And just having a well-paid job doesn't necessarily mean they're not mortgaged up to the hilt to pay for buy to lets and school fees etc and that they actually have the liquid assets to pay for any damage they may do!

By the way, we don't ask to see their insurance forms on arrival, but the (French-owned) place we stay at every year on the Ile de Re does - if you can't produce your insurance cover note, you don't get the key to your cottage.
Harsh, but effective....

[Mountain Goat]

The two families who've left our place like a bombsite over the previous year have, both, for different reasons, not paid a deposit.

First was friends-of-friends, second lot we weren't around to receive the final balance/deposit, and it got forgotten.

I guess having to let go of £5-600 can be an incentive not to trash the place.

Both the rental contract clauses above sound just the ticket.

MG

[Fil]

Quoting Normandy Cow (I have not figured out yet how to do this properly) : We ask for a £200 deposit cheque one week before arrival, which we bank, and then we write a cheque and send it back to them after departure, once the house has been cleaned and checked. So it doesn't matter if there is no-one physically there to check them out in the morning...

I would imagine this gets very expensive as in both cases the 200 will become 170 - 180. I would not have a problem using bank transfers within the EU but the problem is payments to other countries outside the EU if the guests have no pay pal. Both checks and bank transfers are very expensive. How do you deal with this ? Do you write the check back on the deposit value or some more to cover costs ?