Sharing-- maybe this is the new normal?

[Laura2592]

A friend of mine has a nice furnished condo in a major city in Florida. She has spent the last few months rehabbing it (she inherited it) and making it ready to rent. She talked to me at length about putting it up on ABB/VRBO and decided against it due to various issues (parties, reviews, fees, lack of support, etc.) She is remote, so hired a realtor to get it listed and rented for 6 months instead. It rented right away at good rate to a retired couple who were fully vetted/credit checked.

The place looks great from what I can tell of the listing and pics/videos. Its not high end luxury but its certainly very nice and new: I am sure some hosts would put it in the "luxury" category. Her tenants showed up over the weekend. They have already said:

1. the screen porch is too hot. 
2. the bed isn't what they like
3. they can't figure out the (brand new) dishwasher so it "probably doesn't work".
4. the smart lock doesn't work (they pressed it too many times because they were inputting in the wrong code. She left them a regular key which they prefer. They said it was "too sunny" and they couldn't see the keypad. {sunglasses?})
5. the screen door sticks.
6. the neighbors upstairs are on their balcony too much.

She is ready to pack it in. She has someone on site who went over and addressed the concerns about the dishwasher and screen door in 5 minutes. 

Is this the new normal? Is it that people are now used to reviewing every cookie they eat, every word someone utters that they are all hyper critical? Or is this somehow pandemic related? A Pandemic Karen Syndrome (PKS if you want to use the shorthand), where, deprived of the ability to make choices about travel for a period of time, many adults have regressed to a peevish, unable-to-be-satisifed tantrum that stunts the ability to perform simple tasks or figure things out with a base level of resilience? 

We were toying with the idea of a 3 or 6 month lease to a tenant at our cottage but now I am not so sure. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Huma0  £29 ? 😮 

3 cm thick topper here costs 80€ for a single bed.  Same as the cheapest mattress.

[Huma0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 

Do you have voucher deals there (Groupon, Living Social, Wowcher etc.)?

The £29 king sized topper was apparently normally £89 (and this is verifiable from the retailer's site) so a pretty good discount.

Amazon might also be worth a look.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Huma0  we don't have vouchers but, 5 cm thick, single bed topper was 80€ on black Friday. It was 50% discount.

I just looked at Amazon, topper $20, shipping $75  😞

Croatia is not cheap as people think, on contrary.

[Huma0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 

Oh wow, that was the sale price?!

Here rent, bills, public transport are all super expensive compared to Croatia I think, but consumer goods are often quite cheap. I guess it's because there is so much competition maybe? I don't think it's necessarily because many of those goods are made in the UK.

It's still weird that a mattress topper costs as much as a mattress. It would make more sense then just to spend the money on a better mattress in the first place.

[Ann72]

@Laura2592  A friend of mine thinks it's not pandemic-related, but 4 years of a childish, selfish, narcissistic, tantrum-throwing president.  It seemed that no behavior was too awful and once we got over our shock, there was another even worse horror the next day.

@Lorna170's post reminded me of a house a group of us rented on the Jersey Shore in the '80s.  We called it the Stephen King "Christine" house because there was a rusting car in the high grass (for all I know it was a Plymouth Fury).  The Victorian house had not been well maintained and there was even the fragrance of dead mouse behind the wall.  We were all professionals in our 20s, and not one of us - NOT ONE - ever said a word or made a complaint about the conditions.  They were as advertised and we were definitely not overpaying.

We did drink a lot, though, as I recall.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ann72  😄 😄 that's it! A few bottles in a welcome basket can solve all problems 😄

[Ann72]

The problem these days @Branka-and-Silvia0 was summed up by Ben in VEEP, Season 6:  “A bunch of **bleep** millennials.  You know, too lazy to learn how to drive drunk.”  😂  😂  😂

[Helen427]

In New Zealand @Ann72  they had a promotion in recent years involving Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) to encourage young one's not to drink and drive because of road deaths as there had been a number of crashes involving groups of younger ones.

Do they have promo's like that in New York?

We've always had Taxi's and some of us have acted as Chauffeurs for those who have had one too many.. some of us knew the tricks how not to get caught...

[Ann72]

Ah @Helen427 yes, it's a more sensible age in so many ways.  And of course that's for the best.  Perhaps you haven't watched VEEP, which doesn't hold any cow sacred.

I believe SADD was formed in response to our own Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which was founded in 1980 in the US and has had many successful campaigns, resulting in raising the drinking age from 18 to 21, among others.

But let's not have a long side discussion in Laura's post.  I've said everything I have to say on this.

[Laura2592]

Such great and thoughtful replies. 

I was a tenant for many years before I was ever a property owner or landlord. I remember being told never bother the landlord unless it was an emergency by the lady who took my rental application when I was 20. I took that to heart and never did. When I became a landlord years later, I had some very picky professional tenants on my first go-round. After a week of them nitpicking various non essential items in the space I finally said "I think we should all have a conference call." I told them very nicely but firmly that a landlord's responsibility was only to respond to repair requests for items that were deemed essential to occupancy, and that everything else was a personal preference. I went over the lease and re-stated what I would be happy to deal with immediately, and what might not get dealt with at all or at least on a longer timeline. That shut them up. I then had the same talk with every tenant after and had few issues. (I suggested my friend do the same.)

I think that somewhere in recent years (because it must be recent years based on your responses and recollections) there has been an expectation made that every space you occupy has to be an Instagram-worthy dream stocked with all your favorite things. We have gone from offering a space to rent, whether it be short or long term, to curating a dressing room worthy of Beyonce for each individual. Little things are immediately called out, even if they truly don't make a difference to anyone but the occupying tenant or guest. I have this experience, often right after check in: "do you have a candle with a linen scent? All is see is vanilla and lavender." "Why don't you have Clue in your board games? There are 12 different ones but no Clue." "Thanks for the wine. I know I said we liked Italian reds, but do you have anything other than Barbera? Could you bring it over?" "Do you have an extra long extension cord for the record player to go out on the back deck?" "Can you help me get dinner reservations on Saturday? I called but they are booked and I want to go at 6." (These are all true asks from people who have stayed with us.) I am not talking about guests wanting stated amenities that aren't working and should be. I am talking about very individual, sometimes esoteric personal preferences and requirements no human could anticipate. 

The question is, how do we push the reset button on this? 

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592 I've seen some of the major property groups list this as an amenity: on-call concierge service. Perhaps the reset is something along the lines of: "Our primary concern is that both you and the house are safe while you are here, outside of emergencies we trust that you are willing and able to care for yourself and normal household matters self-sufficiently. For those who prefer a more curated experience, we are happy to recommend our all-hours, all-needs concierge service provider. Please contact xyz to plan for your specific requirements and receive custom pricing. Please note that concierge availability is booked by pre-paid appointments only. Hourly rates begin at $50/hour. We look forward to having you visit!"

It's kind of like how nobody really needed early check-in after I started saying that it was certainly available, for a fee.

And PS I recently saw a host who wrote out a "tips for great hosting" article where he claimed that he had a fake profile created for himself as a co-host on his listing. And he used *Fred* for all instances where the guests needed to be reprimanded. Therefore, Host= Nice, Fred= Bad Guy, but what could Host do but commiserate with Guests, bc Fred was in charge of such things.

[Huma0]

@Kelly149 

That's very funny. I had a colleague who had an alter ego like that and an official work email account to go with it. He found it very useful for when he had to say no to people, or say, "Yes, of course. That will cost you X amount extra."

[Helen427]

Hey @Fred13  have you seen this from @Kelly149  ???

Brilliant, hope you are keeping well on Bird Island

[Fred13]

   Too funny. What I am doing nowadays is getting my son-in-law to do the 'people thing' and I am the 'watcher'. It's true, is a nice guy/ bad cop thing.

    People are funny, they hustle him into agreeing into all kinds of crazy scenarios: bring us more ice in the evening (12-miles round night sea run), or can you re-charge the sea scooters (another 12-mile windy day round trip), or can you bring me out a new set of eye-lashes!  because mine fell off while snorkeling (serious, major bimbo); that is where I come in to put a stop to the expensive silliness. 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Fred13  I always wear false eyelashes while staying on a remote atoll and snorkelling. After all, you never know if you might run into the future love of your life out there. 🙂