Community: Message List

Re: hot tub water changes?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:23:27 GMT

We used to charge a fee per night plus $20 minimum for maintenance. we had trouble getting janitorial to change the water and therefore complaints.

Now, we don't charge a fee and ask guests to DIY, fill, heat, and drain. Forfeiture of deposit if they don'tt urn off power and drain.

No problems with day to day maintenance or water quality. Our non routine maintenance for repairs has gone to near zero.

We also use scented bleach as our only available chemical and furnish that - one half cup per 450 gallons. those costs are also near zero

With the fees, it cost us money, especially with costly spa chemicals that were overused by guests. Without the fees it is now a about a wash with far less hassle, no frozen pipes and no complaints

Last minute cancellation and stop payment

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:46:05 GMT

I can't tell if you received the deposit greater than 60 days prior to arrival and didn't deposit it or received the deposit 30 days before arrival, changed her mind and put a stop order on the check.

Guests don't like to give up their money.

To counter this problem I have added two clauses to the rental agreement I use: 1) This agreement will lapse, if not accepted, in 14 (21) days. Acceptance is - receipt of signed rental agreement and deposit. 2) Two or more guests may desire to occupy the property for the same dates. The guest who remits a signed agreement and deposit first will have their resrvation confirmed. Deposits not accepted will be returned in full.

I have a 45 day cancellation policy. No refund period for cancellations during holiday periods and holidays are specified in the rental agreement.

Re: Guests rating system

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:50:29 GMT

I have asked about a guest rating. The response has been a legal obstacle.

Guests can rate the property via posts. However, my understanding is that owners must approve all reviews prior to posting on the public domain

Re: Do you ask guests to do dishes before they leave?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:21:30 GMT

We ask guests to fully clean the kitchen, wipe off counters, wash dishes, utensils, pots and pans and return to cabinet / storage locations and replace the oven drip pans, if dirty, that we furnish, remove all trash from building and property, wipe down inside of refrigerator. Janitorial comes behind and sanitizes the kitchen. Vast majority of guests have co-operated with us on this. We have had two that declined to rent because of our kitchen clean policy. I am glad they went somewhere else.

In the rental agreement, we are very clear that non-compliance with this and the other departure check-list items posted on the refrigerator will result in forfeiture of their deposit. We had a list of items and the amount of penalty for each. This did not work. Full forfeiture was the only deterence to any number of things: kitchen, thermostat setting, smoldering fire in the fireplace, BBQ grill, windows, doors, bed linens, towels, re-cabling stereo and tv components, indoor furniture taken outside and left, and others I can't recall off-hand.

This may seem austere!! However, we are 5 hours away from our cabin, we rent our cabin for a fair price, the guests pay it, have a good time, leave the property as they found it and we never meet the guest in person and have actually built a group of regular renters.

tom Dyer

hot tub water changes?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:56:29 GMT

We have had a hot tub for 9 years and charged a separate fee. We had so much trouble with routine, chemicals, and non-routine maintenance that we migrated to a DIY use and no charge. The guests fill the tub, heats it and drains it. We have a dedicated supply line and a dedicated attached drain line. Severe penalty for not turning off the power and draining. Janitorial checks for power off and empty tub.

The results are as follows: Financially we are better off. We still get lots of inquiries because we have a hot tub. Some guests don't bother with the hot tub but don't complain either. I get no complaints becasue of water quality. Non-routine maintenance costs have gone way down and I have far fewer concerns about power outages and frozen lines, pumps and so on. For chemicals we ask guests to use about a half cup of scented bleach per 450 gallons of water that we keep on site. Add about a half cup of bleach at mid-week. This works and all of the health care professionals that my wife works with uses bleach in their hot tubs.Not all guests use the bleach because of damage to bathing suits and so on. I won't go farther with that one. And since the power on / off circuit breakers are engaged and disengaged regularly, I keep extras on site and check / change them once or twice a year at $40.00 per change.

What is expected from daily maid service ?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:28:18 GMT

This is a contract between yourself and the vendor. Cleaning service and pricing varies by region.

Re: Do you ask guests to do dishes before they leave?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:21:35 GMT

Cleaning the kitchen area and utensils and so on is in the rental agreement with forfeiture of full deposit for non-compliance. The problem here is that janitorial is not hired to police the cabinets. It is usually the subsequent guests that find the mess and THAT IS THE PROBLEM!!

Some guests cook and eat in, some eat out and everywhere in the middle.

We furnish dish and dishwasher detergent.

If we don't control the kitchen, through the rental agreement, janitorial would never finish in time.

Re: Guests rating system

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:14:12 GMT

We have listed our property since 2003. I have asked for a guest rating system or protocol on several ocassions. Legal obstacle was sited as the reason for not adding such a forum for owners only.

As we have had to deal with problem guests, about one per year, we have modified our rental agreement imposing severe penalty, the entire deposit, for non-compliance.

My wife and I are both hard working professionals and our investment income is from rental property. Guests, don't rent your property for a week. They believe they own it and may act as they wish.

Overall, we have been very fortunate and the vast majority of guests have left our property as they found it. My brother in law was not as fortunate. His condo at Aspen was cleaned out between guest visits by painters who moved all furnishings out and didn't bother to come back and paint.