Guest mixed up checkout date - opninions appreciated

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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enid
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Post by enid »

Ian has summed up my opinion perfectly :)
kasperdoggie
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Post by kasperdoggie »

Thank you very much for you opinions and advice. Just to clarify - neither I nor my much aggravated husband were planning to charge more then cleaning costs and the late checkout fee, the debate we have going on in the house is whether to charge both or just the extra cleaning cost (which is about $100). (As an aside, for the other 2 holiday homes we rent, the late checkout fee is $150 PER HOUR, put in there after I had to get some guests to take their checkout time seriously. But this house apparently slipped through the cracks. I fixed that in a hurry last tinight, but closing the barn door a bit too late...)

You have surmised the gist of the issue - hubby wants to teach him a lesson and I just want to close the book on this episode. I can understand my husband's irritation - this young man (the guest) has been clueless and self absorbed throughout the entire process, ignoring the checkout date was just the final straw (well, not exactly - the actual final straw was his insisting to come to our house past midnight to pick up his stuff, because he did not want to do it in the morning and it was not convenient to do it in the afternoon).

The entire booking process was fraught with this type of behaviour - oblivious to any impact on others, conscious only of himself. I had reservations about renting to him based on my meeting him and our e-mail exchanges (scatterbrained) and actually, when his payment did not show up for weeks after he "said" he sent it, I was a bit relieved. But alas, turned out that he sent the envelope without appropriate postage (there has been a rate change recently, to which he apparently was also oblivious), it turned up eventually and seeing how his parents and sisters were flying from Asia and thought they had their holiday sorted out, I let him have the week, after taking a credit card payment instead of the check he sent.

Even now he seems to be completely unaware of the amount of effort, stress and inconvenience to numerous people (us, housekeeper, incoming guests) that went into getting him and his belongings out of the house on time - this is what aggravates my husband in particular. And under no circumstances would I consider renting to his family and friends on his recommendation - I don't have the emotional strength to live through their stay either :)

So the lesson I learned is to never override my instinct - it has never failed before (I swear I have a homing instinct when it comes to inquiries from high school or college graduates intending to book my house. So far I managed to weed out every single one of them :) ). I rented to this young man because not only was he graduating with an advanced degree from one of the Ivy League universities (leading me to mistakenly believe that he would have some maturity and brains) but because he was joined by his family and I thought they would treat the property appropriately. But the old alarms, they were going strong in my head and I really should have listened to them.

Another lesson I learned is that my housekeeper is worth her weight it gold and I am very grateful that I have a rental management system that would not allow me to overbook the date. I will charge at least the extra cleaning/packing/housekeeping time and chalk up the rest to experience...

Again, thank you for your advice - it really helped to think this thing through. This is only the 2nd time in 4 years with multiple properties that I am seriously considering witholding part of the damage deposit and the 1st I will actually do it, so a bit nervous about it...

Julia.
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enid
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Post by enid »

Another lesson I learned is that my housekeeper is worth her weight it gold and I am very grateful that I have a rental management system that would not allow me to overbook the date. I will charge at least the extra cleaning/packing/housekeeping time and chalk up the rest to experience..
I think you're right to chalk it up to experience and buy her some flowers :) :)
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Post by alifrank1 »

kasperdoggie wrote:this young man (the guest) has been clueless and self absorbed throughout the entire process, ignoring the checkout date was just the final straw (well, not exactly - the actual final straw was his insisting to come to our house past midnight to pick up his stuff, because he did not want to do it in the morning and it was not convenient to do it in the afternoon).

The entire booking process was fraught with this type of behaviour - oblivious to any impact on others, conscious only of himself. I had reservations about renting to him based on my meeting him and our e-mail exchanges (scatterbrained) and actually, when his payment did not show up for weeks after he "said" he sent it, I was a bit relieved. But alas, turned out that he sent the envelope without appropriate postage (there has been a rate change recently, to which he apparently was also oblivious), it turned up eventually and seeing how his parents and sisters were flying from Asia and thought they had their holiday sorted out, I let him have the week, after taking a credit card payment instead of the check he sent.

Even now he seems to be completely unaware of the amount of effort, stress and inconvenience to numerous people (us, housekeeper, incoming guests) that went into getting him and his belongings out of the house on time - this is what aggravates my husband in particular. And under no circumstances would I consider renting to his family and friends on his recommendation - I don't have the emotional strength to live through their stay either :)

So the lesson I learned is to never override my instinct - it has never failed before (I swear I have a homing instinct when it comes to inquiries from high school or college graduates intending to book my house. So far I managed to weed out every single one of them :) ). I rented to this young man because not only was he graduating with an advanced degree from one of the Ivy League universities (leading me to mistakenly believe that he would have some maturity and brains) but because he was joined by his family and I thought they would treat the property appropriately. But the old alarms, they were going strong in my head and I really should have listened to them. Julia.
Maybe you should just send him this part of the posting and let him work out what he may have done wrong :twisted:
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

Jimbo wrote:I guess we'll have to agree to differ, Brooke. I run two business and have terms and conditions applied to every transaction. However, these can be elastic if I choose.
Jimbo, that's funny, you must have posted as I was composing my post -- I didn't even know you had posted until I came back, and yet it looks like I replied directly to you! :)

I agree with you that sometimes it is better to be nice. Very often, this pays off in the long run. Especially if it is an "oops, can you believe the stupid thing I did, I'm so sorry and I hope we can fix it without any more inconvenience" type of situation. In this case, though, it seems that this person is acting inconsiderately and perhaps even doesn't care that he has seriously inconvenienced kasperdoggie. In that situation, I would be tempted to throw the book at him just to teach him a lesson, but I would settle for charging him exactly what it cost me (including my time, if that were a factor) to clean up after the mess he made.

I suppose another way of saying it is that contrition and appreciation is often payment enough for me if I've gone out of my way due to someone else's mistake. But if that type of payment is not available, then I resort to a somewhat more "businesslike" approach (in quotes because being nice is also good business, but here I refer to the "serious, purposeful" definition).
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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

Julia,
I totally understand your reasons for wanting to get compensation from this person for messing you around so much. But I would like to share with everyone a recent experience I had...

We went to Florida at Easter and spent a week in Key Largo. The highlight of our trip was to be the afternoon I had booked (back in December!) for my two children to swim with the Dolphins at Dolphin Cove. This was very expensive at £200 total, and we were clearly aware that there were to be absolutely no refunds for any cancellations made within 48 hours of the appointed time.

We were all so excited and spent the morning on tenterhooks, and turned up on time having double-checked that they had all the necessary gear and everything. Only trouble was, when we arrived they said, "oh, we were expecting you yesterday". Yes, it was my fault, I had written the correct date down, but for some reason I had written Tuesday 9th April instead of Monday 9th April in my notes.... :o

Of course, being UK Easter holidays and US Spring Break, the place was chocca full. They were under no obligation to do anything for us or to refund us anything, the children were in tears, I was gutted at the loss of £200, etc etc.

But they were totally cool, although they were fully booked for the rest of the week, they managed to fit us in on our final afternoon, and when the day came, we were not with the main group but had our own trainer to look after us so we actually had a better experience than we would have had if we had been there at our allotted time.

I realise that this is not really comparable to the inconvenience you have suffered this week, but I am eternally grateful to the staff at Dolphin Cove for having been so understanding and accommodating. What wonderful people....! :D
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Post by Big Sis.. »

What wonderful people....!
Hear Hear Lets hear it for the Good Guys :wink: :)
we were not with the main group but had our own trainer to look after us so we actually had a better experience than we would have had if we had been there at our allotted time.
Aint that strange how sometimes that happens :roll: Meant to be...
Good for you NC and Good for Dolphin Cove...[have they a website NC :wink:]
Ive been to Key Largo its Lovely... :)
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Post by The Moles Mother »

the children were in tears, I was gutted at the loss of £200, etc etc.

I think this is the difference between you and the OP's guest. I bet the staff could see how upset you were and that it was a genuine mistake. That's why they pulled out all the stops for you.

We had guests who turned up a day early (their mistake, not ours, phew!). We were full, so we spent a precious half hour of our time phoning round all the local hotels and B&Bs to find somewhere who could fit them in for the night. They were really upset at having put us to the inconvenience. Had they shouted at us and blamed us we'd probably have left them to find their own overnight accommodation.

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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

Big Sis.. wrote:have they a website NC :wink
Sure do! http://www.dolphinscove.com/

It was the most amazing place, I would really recommend it as it was in a natural lagoon. And all the trainers were so knowledgable and helpful. :D
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Post by Guest3 »

Julia, because of the high level of inconvenience caused to you I would charge him for the late check-out, the extra cleaning fee and the petrol (per mile as suggested by Vrooje).....in my opinion a 4 hour round trip is not a matter I could overlook for a guest like this! I can't believe after all the havoc he caused he insisted he collected his luggage from you in the early parts of the morning when he could have picked it up during normal hours the next day! :shock:

In this particular case he had you all running around, causing stress and inconvenience without any contriteness or consideration. Just my opinion but each circumstance merits it's own result.
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Post by guest 4 »

Agree Crystal, I would be hopping mad and ask for his head aswell as bags of money. :lol:

Well perhaps not his head, as it doesn't seems it would be much use to me!!

Ruth
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Post by Guest3 »

Well perhaps not his head, as it doesn't seems it would be much use to me!!
:lol: :lol:
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Post by kasperdoggie »

Thank you all, as always. A quick update - the young man in question left a bottle of bubbly with the house keys when picking up his luggage in the middle of the night (I found it in the mailbox today) and left a voice mail, while not exactly apologetic, at least acknowledging some inconvenience caused and thanking us for packing his stuff so meticulously... This went a long way with hubby and he stopped his bloodthirsty mutterings, at least for now :) I charged the scatterbrained guest the late checkout fee (no further cleaning costs) to cover extra costs, will send the housekeeper a nice bonus, updated rental constract to allow for $150 late checkout fee PER HOUR and hope this is over. It may very well not be as they may choose to dispute the charge but everything can be substantiated, so am not too worried about that yet...
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Post by Partridge »

So the lesson I learned is to never override my instinct - it has never failed before (I swear I have a homing instinct when it comes to inquiries from high school or college graduates intending to book my house. So far I managed to weed out every single one of them ). I rented to this young man because not only was he graduating with an advanced degree from one of the Ivy League universities (leading me to mistakenly believe that he would have some maturity and brains)
Glad you sorted it amicably in the end and can see why you would be wary of renting to graduates, mind you don't you find that the more 'brainy' the person, the less common sense they seem to have :roll:
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Post by Jimbo »

Vrooje wrote:
sometimes it is better to be nice. Very often, this pays off in the long run.
Everybody in business wants thoughtful and considerate clients who use your services regularly and promote you for free. Nobody wants malicious or deceitful people who abuse your trust. Mostly, we end up with the other sort who are a bit of a curate's egg - some good and some bad about them. I think of these clients as 'floating voters' - they are vital to your success and profitability but they're not committed to you and are often very hard work. But, unless they are serial offenders, I'd be wary of blowing them out of the water over a genuine mistake, however dumb it seems.

Running a successful business is a long game. 'Nasty' and 'nice' are tools to be applied at your discretion. Sometimes, a short burst of controlled anger can be useful but I think that 'nice' will win you more friends - and 'friends' are what you need if your business is to prosper. Nobody buys anything from somebody they don't like, if there's a choice - and there's plenty of choice in the gite rental industry.
the young man in question left a bottle of bubbly ... this went a long way with hubby and he stopped his bloodthirsty mutterings


He wasn't THAT dumb, it seems! I think that KD has made a good 'middle of the road' call here. Enough that he's aware of the inconvenience that he's caused but not enough to have felt the full lash of what he might have paid. So 'nice' - but with a whiff of cordite. He'll probably be back - if KD wants him!

Jim
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