Passing information to caretakers

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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Giddy Goat
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Passing information to caretakers

Post by Giddy Goat »

Prompted by Fibi's thread on the phenomenon of creeping guest numbers, we are not on site, and rely on our cleaner - caretakers. As soon as I get any information relevant to a particular party, I forward it to them, and since we pay them good money, (a generous monthly sum, year round, plus extra per changeover) I expect them to keep a record of all this and to collate it.

I have just been asked for the information again for the remaining bookings. No mention of their having lost the emails, it's simply down to laziness on their part I expect. And their new baby.... they see me as sitting here with time on my hands, just counting the money as it rolls in..

I am really cross; it will be very time consuming to trawl through individual emails now, and I am wondering what other absentee owners do with regard to guest information. It does, as Fibi has said, have a habit of changing over time! :roll: We've just had an email this morning from a group of Aussies. First they were just 2 couples, then three, now someone's sister is tagging along. I had given them a discount initally of 5%.

It's not just the numbers which are prone to change over time either - it's details like mobile phone, where the cot's to be put, and decisions as to who wants the twin beds and who prefers doubles eg. So, owners' responsibilty to store this info and pass it on in one lump just prior to the group's arrival, or caretakers' ? If you are not on site, how do you relay it?
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Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

GG, I have a Google spreadsheet, which I have shared with my apartment manager. When I get a booking, I update the information on there, so it can't be lost, she just has to log in to the spreadsheet.
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

Helen

How does one get a google spreadsheet? I've never heard of this before.
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enid
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Post by enid »

Just go to google docs and you can have spreadsheets and text docs - since my last computer crash I have booking forms etc for the gites up there. You can share them easily.
http://docs.google.com

Jane you know what i think of your caretakers - this would be the final straw for me :evil:
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Post by KathyG »

I use an Excel spreadsheet that I forward to them every now and again but I often forget so the Google spreadsheet sounds like a much better idea Helen - will go and investigate!
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Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

We used to use an excel one too, but once I discivered Google docs, it's so much easier. I can update everything even when I don't have my own laptop.
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Helen, thank you for pointing people to this useful tool, and to Enid for the link. Happily I already had a Googlemail account, so have started to have a play. I may need to PM one of you two to ask for help though if I get stuck!

Do caretakers also need a googlemail account to access the document? It may sound a silly question to you, but it isn't to a goat of little brain. :oops:
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Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

Jane, no, you simply send them an invitation to view the spreadsheet. I've snet you an 'invite' to your gmail address to view my inventory just to show you how it works. Your cleaners/caretakers don't need gmail though. Mel doesn't have gmail.
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Rosbif
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Post by Rosbif »

Ah thats clever, I've just tried it out and you can copy stuff from excel into it as well.

Might prove useful!!

RB
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enid
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Post by enid »

Rosbif wrote:Ah thats clever, I've just tried it out and you can copy stuff from excel into it as well.
Yes - as I have a Mac I can't 'read' Excel so I just upload them to google docs and I'm away :)
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Rosbif
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Post by Rosbif »

Enid I have a Mac too and have excel for Mac (have you got that?), have never had a problem reading excel files to date.

:) :?
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enid
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Post by enid »

Rosbif wrote:Enid I have a Mac too and have excel for Mac (have you got that?), have never had a problem reading excel files to date.:) :?
No I haven't I got the Mac to get away from Microsoft! - I'm not sure that I'll need it as I use Google docs but I'll have a look at it - thanks.
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

We've used a Google Docs spreadsheet for our caretaker/manager, but it's a bit basic.

The vital info is basically dates, but punters' names and number of adults/kids/babies/special requirements is also there, plus a load of colour coding to make it easier to read (in theory).

Happy to swop layout ideas and/or our Google Spreadsheet - email address via PM?

MG
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Post by Musetta »

HA!!! your caretaker has EMAIL and can read English? lucky duck :-)
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

In our case Musetta, even if we had French cleaners, we'd still need a caretaker to manage the property and oversee operations since the property is quite large, with garden and pool to worry about also. So to run the business from a distance without an efficient communication system would be virtually impossible, or at best, very difficult: before computers I probably wouldn't have even contemplated trying to let! In MG's case he has three apartments which presents another set of complications. If we had French speaking caretakers I would struggle but could just get by I think with the language, but we'd still need email.

If I were hunting for a holiday home again, I'd approach it very differently. We bought our house because we loved it - it was over budget, so we had no choice but to let it. It's fun, but hard work, as we all know! The serious down side is that we count the cost of using it ourselves when the weather is nice! :(
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