Letting to big groups

[Big Sis..]

Ouch Helen - is that anything like Sistitis?

Werent my fault{i always get the blame } Didnt you notice she said it was Vera... not Rozzie
Hi most of my bookings is for both houses and stuff does get mixed about...its a bit of a pain and Im going to put a bit in the notes that might help..
I think they have large Barbecues together so the cultlery etc. gets a bit muddle but I do have a lot of spare in each house so hopefully if works out OK..
I am a bit fussy and I dont take large groups of teens....just families and so far touch wood havent had much problems with them at all[somethings bound to happen now that Ive mentioned it I spose..]

[Moliere]

'Allo Rozzie!

Mols

[Big Sis..]

'Allo Rozzie!

[wash your lugs out at the back] its 'Allo Vera

[Jimbo]

Ju wrote:

On the plus side - no need to worry about whether the two groups will get on.

Sometimes too well! We've let the big 4-bedroomed barn as a package with either the two- or the three-bedroomed gites on a number of occasions this year. In theory, it's a great idea and seems to offer advantages to the owner. In practice, big groups tend to monopolise the common areas like the pool to the detriment of the unfortunate families in the remaining gite who get a bit pushed out. Big groups are noisier, cause more damage, are less likely to own up to breakages and supervise their children less well (if at all!). And they often seem 'helpless' when confronted with small problems which I can't believe would faze them at home - one group couldn't work out how to move a dead rat from their lawn ('we couldn't think what to do'), so were eating their barbeque with the rat for company (whiffing nicely after a day in the sunshine) when I returned.

I'm sure that it's the 'big group' thing. A bunch of people (unless they have a natural leader) who get together for a short time, don't really have any rules. They're on holiday, relaxing, having fun and nobody wants to take responsibility and be seen as a party pooper, so discipline goes out of the window. In our experience, families and small parties keep a much firmer hand on the tiller.

This doesn't mean that we're against big parties in principle but we would now impose additional T+C's on them. And I would clearly identify the 'group leader' in advance for liaison purposes.

Jim

[Big Sis..]

Hi Jimbo

Wise words as always

[la vache!]

Good post Jimbo, that is what I do now, take a big deposit and impose extra T's and C's such as no moving of inventory etc. I'm also never going to rent my big house and medium one together again - it isn't fair on the other people who rent the little gite in between the other two.
You are right, the bigger the group, the less responsibility there seems to be in general. However, I've found that pointing out all my concerns in advance to the person who books has resulted in no problems recently with larger groups.

[enid]

I think that identifying a person to be responsible is very good advice. Our gites were designed to be 3 but when we saw how well two groups worked we decided to make the third space an annexe to the second so that we could have a gite for 4 and a gite for 8 rather than 3 gites - as Susan says in a threesome there could be one group left out. In fact this year we have had mostly family groups of 4 so the annexe hsn't been used much.

[la vache!]

as Susan says in a threesome there could be one group left out.

Enid, I don't know if those are the exact words I used

[Big Sis..]

Enid, I don't know if those are the exact words I used

[Giddy Goat]

It was Jimbo - I can imagine that happening quite easily.

You are right, the bigger the group, the less responsibility there seems to be in general. However, I've found that pointing out all my concerns in advance to the person who books has resulted in no problems recently with larger groups.

Even in our property, which is only one letting unit sleeping 8, max capacity seems too much sometimes if everyone is mucking in and has varying standards of cleanliness and tidiness. So designating one person to take responsibility seems a good idea, but how do you put that to the person who books LV? I'll steal your wording if I may!

[enid]

Sorry

[fibi]

Some advice on this one from you big group experts please - thinking just thinking of renting our own family home next August, it will sleep 16 comfortably all in bedrooms so 3 families I guess. I would be charging around £4000 a week (the amount the rental agents advised)so its a lot of money...but how many problems am I likely to have? I would have a friend doing 2/4 hours of cleaning everyday (included in the price) and keeping an eye on things. All valuables and personal posessions will be stored.

Having the money will be nice but giving the house a good clear out will be even nicer- I'm fed up of a ton of stuff landing on me whenever I open a cupboard. Oh the master bedroom will be locked and unavailable to guests.

For guests in the cottages there are different garden areas so no need to share and we have lots of people on hand to deal with emergencies like dead rat removal!!

So all in all I am leaning towards doing it but if for example we had to return to redocorate a room or two it wouldn't be worth it even at £4k a week - I'll be lucky to make £1.5k after deductions and our stairs and hall just cost £7k to decorate!

[la vache!]

GG, my problems only really occur when I let more than one cottage at a time. And the main problem is really when they take stuff from one house and don't put it back before they leave. If people want to book 2 or 3 cottages together I just state at the time of enquiry that if they do book, I expect all inventory to remain in the cottage it was in at arrival, or if it really is necessary to use something, that it be repalced, otherwise I will deduct money from the security deposit to cover the extra time taken at changeover.
When I let out my 6 bed house which sleeps up to 12 people, I don't have different Ts and Cs, but state in the welcome notes that I expect the cottage to be left in a clean and tidy state as per arrival or any extra cleaning will result in a deduction from the security deposit. Perhaps you could add that to your T's and C's and draw their attention to it at the time of booking.

[Giddy Goat]

I already do, LV but thanks. How carefully does the person who books read the Ts and Cs though, I wonder, even if they have to sign to the effect! And it still needs one designated person to take overall responsibility for how the property is left, ideally. One can't say that easily to a bunch of adults! I'm sure that is how it came about that our guests from hell left the house unsecured, and rubbish not disposed of - nobody thought about whether X had locked up, or volunteered among themselves to take on particular tasks!

[la vache!]

It is not a 100% rule, but I generally find that big family groups are better behaved and cleaner than groups of friends. Amongst friends, if someone makes the first move to clean up, invariably everything gets left them, then they think why should I do everything when they aren't doing anything? So nothing gets done and people live in a pigsty for a week or two. It's just human nature. If you let big houses, I think it is something that you have to accept, just make sure you charge enough to deal with the inevitable extra cleaning involved.