Hi Laura,

My rental agreement generically states that we are not responsible for items left behind. That covers us.  However, we're "nice" and we have always returned items, a few of which were costly {watches, earrings}. A couple of times they were "travel items" like nice shaving / manicure kits leather bound , electric curlers,  and even resort dresses and designer jeans. We have not asked anyone to pay for the postage but sometimes the guests volunteered to do so and followed up by sending us the money {very nice}. Sometimes the guest volunteered to refund us -- but did not follow up  {not so nice} -- and we did not pursue it.  And, then there are the few people who left something behind....we returned it....but no one responded {that's really not very nice}...and for those folks, I sent them all an email asking if they received my package and they all emailed back (curt), "Yes, thanks" ...but did not offer to refund us the postage. They were all good guests, just the same.

C'est la vie.

P.S. my cotttage does not have a safe  (we're in a really peaceful area here --- house breakins are not common in my immediate location).  But, I do have a safe for guests if they want one ---no one has ever asked --- it's NIB (new in the box)....never been used --- I keep it for "safe keeping", if anyone should want one.  It's just silly really, a thief can walk off with it, if  someone would ever break into the cottage -- there is no place to "hide it".

Hi Laura,

Yes, we provide a safe / lockbox on the premises.  It has an electronic / numeric key pad.  We set the key pad to the same code for all guests prior to their arrival.  We have a note on there that gives them instructions on how to change the numbers to a private key code of their own choosing.  We ask them to re-set it back to the original code, prior to their departure.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ERVMJU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

We do have a back-up key for in case a guest forgets to reset the code back to the original.

Regarding items left behind, we have a section in our Guest Rules, which lists all the things one should do to receive a full refund of the security deposit; after the bullet list, we have the words:

If any of these provisions are not satisfied, only the amount of the actual damages will be deducted from the deposit.  Smaller items left behind may be mailed back to the guest (at the owner's discretion), with the postage and shipping costs removed from the security deposit. 

As you can see, we don't promise to mail anything. This is because it is a true inconvenience to us, going to the post office during business hours, when we both work full time jobs.  But we are making it clear that if we do mail anything back, we will deduct the cost of shipping from the security deposit.

We have mailed things back on a few different instances ... cell phone chargers, curling irons, etc.

We had a case recently where a guest left 2 jackets in the apartment and called to request we send them back to the East Coast. Now, remember, we are based in Central America and sending anything via DHL or FedEx costs a minimum of $100 (trust me, I researched to the bone trying to find a cheaper option). So in mentioning this casually to the guest, she said, "great, thanks in advance." Ha!

What are we to do? We had a day-long discussion about the pros and cons of sending, not sending, asking her to pay, paying ourselves...etc.

In the end, we bit the bullet and sent her jackets ($120). We figured the cost of sending them was worth avoiding a potentially annoyed guest (even though the guest didn't really have any grounds to be annoyed -- she forgot the jackets!)

To make a long story short, she responded by saying how gracious and generous it was of us to ship them ourselves and that she'd be telling her friends about us (guests say this all the time). Turns out, she was an Editor at Travel + Living and we got featured in a giant piece as a result of her reference.

Moral of story: be overly generous with your guests. Once in a while, you'll get a reward (call it karma) that makes it all worthwhile

I have two programable safety boxes in the house, each can be programmed with a credit card or with their own code. I have never had anyone leave anything behind, although in the instructions I state that if they forget the code, I will charge $100 to open it, since I must travel to the property 50 miles away.

As for the small items left behind, my property is overseas, most small items fall into the policy of "What is left in Pochomil, Stays in Pochomil", but I had one occassion that the guest requested their notepad back, I gave him the option of DHL for $45 from Nicaragua or wait for someone to bring it to the USA and I would mail it for free. If it is under $5 to $10, I don't bother to charge them. He waited a month to get his notepad.

Happy renting,

Gabriel

Pochomilbeach.com

I call them regardless of how small the item and ask if they would like me to mail it to them. Several times I get them on their cell phone before they even arrive home.  I tell them that I can take the postage out of their security deposit.  I have had a hat, tennis shoes, a coat, and a set of wedding rings. Sometimes they say yes and sometimes they say throw it away.  But unlike Trish,  I have never had anything but, “thank you for looking out for us,” when I called the renters. 

Our housekeeper is incredibly thorough and will inform us immediately if something is left behind. We make every attempt to contact our guests before they leave the island to get the items back to them. If we are unable to connect before they fly back home, we follow up with an e-mail and mail the item back on our dime. Yes, this eats in to our profit a little, but we believe the goodwill we generate by going the "extra mile" is worth it. We get rave reviews from our guest and a lot of referrals.

April

World traveler and proud owner of two beautiful Lahaina Maui Vacation Rentals:

http://www.mauiparadiserentals.com/index.html