Is it OK to charge more than pro rata for short stays....

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If you were renting in London, what's the shortest let you'd consider

2-4 days
32
97%
4-6 days
1
3%
1 week or more
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 33

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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Slight TC but didn't know where else to put this apart from in a PM Nightie - we are currently in temporary accommodation due to flooding back home, and have been staying in apartments in Cambridge which are handled by a local agency specifically for short term lets - minimum of 2 nights. No-one travels more than the Japanese, I suspect, hence each apartment we have test driven has been equipped with an electric rice cooker. Handy for all rice-eaters of course and not just your Japanese guests, and I wondered if you had one for the apartment or if not, might it be a good idea? :)
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enid
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Post by enid »

You can have mine! :)
Nightowl
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Post by Nightowl »

Hello all

I have changed the title to something a bit more meaningful now.

Yes, a rice cooker might be worthwhile; have you used it enough in your temporary place to make you want to buy one? I guess that's the yardstick.

Although I have a 'foolproof' microwave method - 13 mins in a casserole dish with a lid and then if it looks a bit dry, put a half a cup of wate in and leave it to fluff up. But my husband can never get it right - maybe I should go for that rice cooker!

I'd also thought about a breadmaker maybe too. It does make a change living near to our rental although it's very tempting to keep going and putting more bits in.

Thanks to everyone for their input though on the short stay subject - I am now happily quoting prices for stays of 3 days and more - and Debk is right, that's the view I took as well, that a 3 day stay has so little time to mess the place up or make huge indents into the electricity bill (no one is going to waste 3 days in London staying in and doing their washing or whatever) so I've just gone with the flow. Although I did take a 3 day booking last week for october, only for it to clash with 2 keen 1 week bookings which clashed with those dates!!! but I charged more pro rata for the 3 day one and I have now picked up a booking ending on the day the 3 day one starts, so it has all worked out OK.

I'm just going to see how things pan out and then look at it after say, 6 months and if anything needs changing I'll make a decisoin with the benefit of hindsight. But everyone's input has been really useful, thank you all so much.

got a lovely feedback from my first booking last week, a guy from Kuwait who had 4 year old triplet girls. I went to a bootsale and bought a few little toys for the girls; some children's playing cards (donkey; snap etc); a few books and a a few kids DVDs. when the girls came in they just fell upon the toys. He sent me a lovely note saying what a great time they'd had and saying I'd been 'kind and thoughtful'. So pretty chuffed with it all so far.
Nightowl
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Sounds as if things are going famously Nighty!
Nightowl wrote:Yes, a rice cooker might be worthwhile; have you used it enough in your temporary place to make you want to buy one? I guess that's the yardstick.
No, not yet but all I can say is that we lived for over six years in the Far East, and nearly every household had one of these things, as well as microwaves. They are very handy in that they also keep the rice warm after it is cooked, without ruining it!
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

We just used our Japanese brand rice cooker last night. Great rice, no work at all, and since it keeps rice warm without drying it out and burning it to a crisp, cleanup is easy.

One thing in particular with rice cookers -- we lost the measuring cup that came with it, and at least in the Japanese brands it seems that 1 "cup" of rice is really about 1/3 cup standard measure. If I hadn't been curious and figured that out before we lost the cup, the whole appliance would have been useless until we had experimentally determined the conversion (i.e., ruined many meals first). So if you do provide a rice cooker, don't rely on clients to use the proper measuring tools! :) I suppose that's the case with all appliances in a rental -- leave clear, explicit instructions.

Nightowl, that's lovely feedback and well-deserved as you definitely did that something extra for your guests!
Brooke
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greenfrog
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Post by greenfrog »

Hi Nightowl,

I've just seen this thread (been on hols!) and as a city property owner I thought I'd add my tuppence-ha'penny worth.

Short stays are frequent, esp outside of the summer months. I have a 3-night minimum because I find two nights isn't really worth it, given cleaning and laundry costs. However, if there are just two nights left between bookings and someone asks, then I let it to them.

I saw your ad and I would suggest you include the daily rate in your rate table. The paragraph above it (on HL site) is not as clear and concise as it could be and I'm not sure people care about why you charge different rates. In Paris, it's a given that a day rate is much higher than a pro-rata from the weekly rate. I charge 850 a week and the daily rate is 150 - that's the equiv of 5.6 of the week.

You might want to consider longer minimum stays in summer or over the Christmas holidays.

There is definitely a market in London - I've just come back for a long weekend and until a friend gave me her place while she was away I was having real trouble finding anything with availability.

Best of luck!
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