As a host don't offer too much

[Robin4]

As nice as most guests are, at times I feel I just can't keep ahead of what they consider is theirs and what is mine. Sometimes  I feel this is the most full-proof and foolproof way to host........

 

Nothing there a guest can steal or break, plus they get the uniqueness of an 'out of body'  experience!

Despite the fact I point out the wine in a small 1 dozen wine rack is not complimentary...does not form a part of the hosting agreement, it's like the library of books, I don't expect guests to walk out with a bundle under their arm....... I am consistently losing a bottle or two of wine. I had one over-nighter who plowed his way through 3 bottles. When I challenged him about it, his reaction was, "I am paying for it, might as well make the most of it'!

A guest came into me some time ago asking for a bandaid strip, she had cut her finger. I told her there was a fully stocked medicine cabinet in the bathroom,

and she said to me, she had looked, but it was empty!

I couldn't comprehend that, granted I don't check it every turnaround but it was well stocked and I asked to have a look for myself (after giving her a bandaid strip) and sure enough....empty, not a bloody thing left in there, even the scissors, tweezers, gone...just left with a big empty box! Why would someone do that?

They take what ever cakes of soap they can lay their hands on!

I put a block of chocolate out for each guest, I get them at a really good price from our local supermarket and I buy them in lots of 2 dozen at a time, costs me about 70c per block.....

One guest got into the restock cupboard and.....my 2 dozen chocolate bars turned into 15, probably thought any more than 9 might be pushing the choke a bit but up to 9 wouldn't matter!

Each time this happens I learn a bit from it, tighten the security a bit and make sure I do a bit more checking each time I service the listing. But this is all time consuming, we should not have to do it, why can't we just trust people?

Well last review revealed yet another weakness in my checking regime! I provide as part of the library about 400 DVD's and CD's that guests can watch and listen to. Here is that last review......

I had never even given a thought to checking every DVD and CD sleeve each turnaround but, it appears it's either that or just remove them from the listing.

I am stuck because a high percentage of my business comes from the homeliness and atmosphere of what I provide. I don't want to go back to a ' bare bones'  listing but I am being constantly reminded that trust is not the wisest of attributes for an STR host to have!

What are others experiences with this?

Cheers.......Rob

[Robin4]

@Emilia42 

Hi Emilia, we have just come back from a week away on the peninsular with friends hence the slow response.

Supermarkets are the greatest wasters of product Emilia. I have an arrangement with the manageress of our largest local supermarket and she helps me with my cheese plate. I can't be selective in what I receive but once cheeses get close to their 'Use by' date or, they get a bit pulled around in the display cabinet she puts them aside for me and I get them for an average 50c per packaged cheese.....some a bit higher, some a bit lower. A $25-$30 cheese plate that every guest gets never costs me more than $1.50. It has sort of become my hosting signature and guests just love it.

I never have to buy the cans of soft drink I supply to guests. The supermarket has a policy, if a carton of soft drink cans gets dropped and the corner possibly crushed, they consider that the balance of liquid inside will be altered, it might over fizz when opened. If a customer complains about a can in a carton they bought, the whole carton is replaced, so the store considers it is not worth it......it either goes in the dumpster, or I get it for $1 and add it to my collection. No guest has ever complained to me that a can was flat when opened!

Same with the chocolates, every now and then a carton will get damaged in some way, they will not check through every block for a cracked corner or other damage, the carton gets put aside and I end up with it for 1/5th of it's normal retail.

I am still providing each guest with a full size block of Dove moisturising soap I bought in a bulk lot on Ebay 3 years ago. I am only a bit over half the way through my supply and they cost me 8c per boxed soap when I bought them

I am all the time on the look-out for deals I can exploit or specials I can take advantage of to keep my costs minimal. I don't of course volunteer to guests that what they are getting are seconds or rejects but by doing these deals, condiments which individually would total $50+ per guest night I can supply for a maximum $7.50.

Even after doing this I still strike that guest every now and then that will give me a 3 or 4 star for value......you just can't please everyone!

Cheers........Rob

[Ruth413]

@Robin4   I do love the look of a nicely stocked wine rack ! 

I ran a Chateau in France for a few years.  It was a big, friendly, family open house type of place and we ran it as when you stay you are a part of the family.  In part of the lower ground area which was the only place off limits to guests was a stock of wine and yes, the old bottle tended to disappear.  We decided to remove the wine and rather naughtily left wine bottles filled up with water.  Some were tested, no-one complained as they weren't meant to be there and helping themselves in the first place !

I have a few friends in Australia and am always shocked, when they tell me the price of wine over there, so I would take it away and leave empty bottles for decoration.  Some people can't resist temptation !

[Laura2592]

@Robin4 we learned this the hard way. We now leave far less than we used to when we started hosting, and our prices are higher. 

We have a locked shed with doors that are difficult to open even when its not locked. That is where most of our supplies live and so far its been unimpeached. We don't leave firewood after guests thought it was a free-for-all and took the whole pile. We supply one Duraflame log for indoors from October to March. We leave a few snacks and ask guests about wine-- one bottle is left if they drink it. We used to ask about their preferences for beer or wine but some people apparently mistook us for Instacart and sent long lists of things they wanted us to provide. (Craft beer drinkers seem to be very picky for whatever reason.) Books occasionally go missing, but some also get left behind (no one has taken "The Ethical Sl*t" a guest left last year, but it is often pulled out of the shelf.)

I would never charge for items in my space. For one, it could be considered "fee avoidance" by ABB. I would also not want my guests to feel I was shaking them down for more money after the fact.  I know some hosts are comfortable doing this.

[Fiona243]

In my experience certain guests see nothing wrong with helping themselves to anything that isn't locked away. I had one guest who took all the spare loo rolls. I had supplied him with 4 rolls for a week's stay, but he found my store cupboard and helped himself to all the unopened packets, a couple of dozen rolls. Another guest "mistakenly" took the rather pretty cloth duvet storage bag that I had left in one of the drawers when making up a spare bed. The worst was when I went to make up the convertible single bed in one of my guest rooms, only to find that the whole storage bag of single bedding had "disappeared" from my linen cupboard. 3 single sheets, 3 single duvet covers and 3 pillowcases, vanished! I only make up the single bed occasionally, so had not noticed when it went walkabout. No idea who took it, apart from the fact that it most definitely was a guest. I now lock the doors of the store cupboard and linen closet, which is inconvenient but far less inconvenient than having to rush out at the 11th hour to buy bedding to replace that which has gone missing.

[Arij436]

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[Fred13]

I still think the 'chair' (is it a scale?) is a bit unnecessary; the 'luggage' rack against the wall and the 'bed' will do just fine.