A guest used the wood burning stove and left doors open which burnt carpet

[Alison-and-Chris0]

A recent guest to our newly refurbished 16th century cottage used the wood burning stove amd left the doors open and unattended. Unfortunately the wood spat a large ember which must have sat on the virtually new cream carpet for some minutes leaving a burned black hole. Can I ask the guest for compensation? Is it reasonable to ask for them to pay for the room to be recarpeted at their expense. At this stage we have made them aware of it and they have accepted resposibility and asked us what we would like to do....Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Alison and Chris

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Alison-and-Chris0 First, you’ll need to contact a carpet company and see if they can first repair the burn instead of jumping straight to recarpeting the entire room. Remember, you must make a claim against your guest the sooner of 14 days or your next guest checking in. So time and quotes for service are of the essence. 

[Matthew285]

@Alison-and-Chris0, you have a lovely cottage!

I am so sorry this has happened; it must be very upsetting as the carpet does look so new and pristine in the photos.

What sort of instructions are the guests given regarding the wood stove?

(And how many guests have stayed in the cottage since the installation of the new carpet / wood stove?)

I am asking these things because I am trying to figure out what they could/should have known about using the wood stove. What is reasonable to ask of the guests sort of depends on what they should or could have known about using the wood stove.

By the way, my family had a ski cabin with a large wood fireplace in it, and the stonework around it was much more extensive than I see in your photos. Specifically, the floor in front of the fireplace had about 18 inches of stonework running the entire length of the mantle. I believe this was to help prevent burns in the carpet from the cinders that are inevitably ejected from a burning wood fire.

In your photos, it honestly looks like there is only about 6 inches of protective stonework in front of the wood burning stove. To me, this seems to be a recipe for a burned carpet.

Is this the original stove? Was there carpet on the floor in front of the fireplace before?

I imagine your interest is not only getting your carpet repaired, but also in avoiding having to constantly worry about this happening again. Plus, no one wants a fire breaking out in your lovely cottage.

(I first wrote "It would be a shame if a fire broke out in your lovely cottage", but that sounded like a gangster making an extortion threat.)

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

You should  purchase a dense wool hearth rug and cover the burn mark.  This will protect the carpet in future and prevent further burn marks.  You could also have the mark repaired.  A carpet expert can likely do that.