Question: Luggage on departure day.

[Kersh]

Question: when your guests leave, do you allow them to leave their luggage in your apartment/house so they can enjoy their final day?

I'm raising this as yesterday, a guest left his luggage in the apartment and went out skiing with all the keys. This was pushing it a bit in my opinion. We had a problem because when the new guests arrived, they were concerned about leaving the apartment because there were people walking round Bad Gastein with keys to the place. Effectively they could return and take their belongings.

I discussed this with my manager who said it wasn't normal to leave your bags at the apartment nd i'd agree really. If we were a hotel then fair enough.

When guests book we ask them to vacate the apartment by 10am so we can clean the place. New guests arrive at 3pm.

What are your thoughts?

[Margaret]

I agree that you can't allow guests to leave their stuff in the apartment past checking out time.
As we are on site, our guests can leave their luggage with us if they want to leave later in the day but that is not feasible normally if you are not on site.

[Hells Bells]

Only if they have asked in advance, and we either have no guests arriving, or a very late arrival.

[Eileen2]

Checking out time at our place is 10am. Even although it is stated quite clearly in our T&C's, I point it out in my correspondence with enquirers...just to make sure they have grasped the point!

I know that personally if it was my holiday I would not want to meet or bump into previous guests, nor expect to see their luggage piled up.

I double check their flight details, if they are not departing until later in the day I offer to book a room for half a day in a nearby hotel or apartment. At their expense of course and payable directly to the owners!

Eileen.

Holiday Villa Rental in Arillas, Corfu,
Greece

[Nightowl]

Generally I expect guests and their luggage to be gone by my stated departure times. If I don't have another booking and they specially ask, I don't mind giving some leeway on departure times and have been willing to let people depart in the evening instead of at 10.00 am if they have a late flight maybe and I haven't anyone coming in.

But for same day arrivals, no way; I'm not on site anyway so have no other alternative places for it to be kept and definitely would not want to entertain the notion of the place being 'double booked' so to speak, even for a couple of hours. I think that would be very disconcerting to incoming guests.

But incoming guests sometimes arrive early (I know we have had a thread about this) whilst the cleaners are still there and our cleaners have let them leave their luggage but encouraged them to go off and find the swimming pool or to go an have a bite to eat at one of the cafes or restaurants over the road or something whilst they finish off.

[Chianti]

Kersh

I think your guests were very selfish and thoughtless. Fancy walking off with the keys for the day and their luggage in your property.

We too are happy to hold onto luggage because we live on-site, but check-out time for the apartment must be respected and we expect the keys to be handed in then.

Chianti

[Mouse]

As Chianti we're on site too so we sell the fact that we will store their luggage as a service. In your situation I would say treat everyone the same; this is much easier for your cleaners and management if they know all guests will depart at a certain time and allows them to plan better (unless of course they only have yourplace to look after).
Perhaps there might be someone willing to store luggage for your guests at a small fee? Some people do that here and for little effort it earns them a few bob (some also include a lift to the airport in with the service)

Mouse
x

[Kersh]

Thanks for all the responses. It looks like everyone does the same as me (as an off site owner) and asks guest to leave and take their stuff.

I think i'll be making it even more obvious to guests that the must leave by 10am etc. etc.

Eileen2, I like your idea of booking guests a room for a day to store their stuff. That's a possibility.

Thanks again

[Chianti]

Kersh

Alternatively, if you don't have guests arriving the same day, then why not charge them for the extra day at a special rate.

Chianti

[Kersh]

Yeah that's another possibility. I have let guests leave their luggage there if there's not been new guests arriving the same day. At the moment though, it's all go and not much room for flexibility.

Cheers

[Alan Knighting]

For me, it’s easy. All my guests arrive either in their own cars or in hire cars. On the day of departure they put their luggage in the boot of the car and at 10.00 a.m. they “toddle off�.

Alan

[Big Sis..]

If people hire cars, they leave at the usual time[unless I have late arrivals then Im more flexible]
If they are having pickups Alan[Paulas Husband who looks after the houses]..
Takes the cases, and stores them, so that they can vacate the houses, but not be laden down with luggage.
He then arrives in good time with the cases, and picks them up at a nearby cafe and takes them to the airport
[same if they arrive early]
I arranged this last year and people seem to appreciate it.

[Rocket Rab]

Well done you, Ros, for being so accommodating. This is a real problem for me: many of my guests fly to La Rochelle then take a taxi onto the island. Return flights tend to be scheduled early evening (6 pm and later). Many families have young children (plus all the extra baggage that involves).

I always allow luggage to be left at the cottage (outside in the courtyard if it's not raining) - where this might clash with an arrival I inform the next set of guests and ask if they mind. I have never had a problem so far, but it is a headache to manage.

[Christine Kenyon]

Most of our guests are from the UK so departure times/getting rid of them isn't normally a problem. We say 10.00 am departure and it's usually 10.00 ish. In 8 years I think I have only had to go and remove someone once!

Our problem is more that folk want to be in early. In theory I don't have a problem, but in practice it can be a nightmare. It's never just a case of leaving their bags. They want to go to the loo, put stuff in the fridge, have a good nosey round. If I know they need to be early, I tend to clean the downstairs first and then at least they can make a cuppa and me and my vacuum cleaner can head upstairs.

I once had a phone call on a Saturday from a friend in the village wanting to know what I knew about squatters right. He had let his cottage on a Saturday to Friday basis to fill a gap. Arrived on the Friday to find they had gone out for the day and obviously weren't expecting to leave that day. Fortunately he found them in the pub and the next folk coming in were regulars.

It always seems to work out, but can be a bit nerve racking .... particularly when you can see dad packing the car and you can see he's have trouble getting all the kids' gear.

My theory is that the one's who arrive early tend also to be the ones who will leave late. Once had someone say on the phone "so check in 10.00 am and departure is 10.00 am". Don't know when they think you do the cleaning.

Above friend also used to run a B&B. Once had someone turn up at 7.00 am wanting to check in. Had to explain in words of one syllable that there was still someone in the bed they had booked!

Hope this doesn't sound like a rant. It's just there are so many stories about guests who are late; those who arrive early; those who get lost, etc.