Private Holiday Home Rental

[FreddieFly]

Good idea or bad?

If the owner includes the terms in the their T&Cs and you sign it, you have signed up to having your details in Guestscan if you cause any loss.

I have to admit, I've never really read T&Cs for holiday rentals, but I certainly will now.

When we booked the previous property, it didn't mention the deposit on the website or brochure, I only found out about it on the booking information. Definitely asking up front next time.

Rindercella, you have the advantage that most of us don?t have, i.e. a privileged position within Mumsnet, which clearly enables you to copy and paste whatever bits you consider to be relevant. Maybe you would be prepared to put the whole thread back, so that newcomers can make their own decisions as to what was said and by whom?

BJ, Hi, and very nicely summed up about GuestScan. They are doing nothing illegal or in contravention of Data Protection, of which my business is registered, coincidentally.

Boots, most responsible owners get a booking form signed which states that a renter has read and accepted the owners terms and conditions. The T and C are there for both parties. The information about how GuestScan operates and gathers info is clearly stated. They have no case to answer under Data Protection

Thanks Tough, I'll bear that in mind, we did use a relatively large agency though, it wasn't obvious up front.

Back again here. Wow! Things have really kicked off. Can I just reiterate, for those that might have lost the will to live and who are thinking of buying a tent or doing anything at all to avoid booking a self-catering property that.

a) We do not vet our guests in any way based on e-mail, phone calls, age, sex, gender or the state of their house on Google.
b) Our properties are advertised through a large (and rather posh - boast here) agency that takes 20% of bookings. Both are rated 4*, one also accredited by the Tourist Board so we are not renting out hovels.
c) We are in a service industry and so need to be nice to and about our guests and make them feel welcome and that they are renting a place that is theirs for a week. That means not too many rules or conditions or they won't come back.

d)We are not all like FF and others who seem to see guests as some kind of nuisance to be tolerated to allow them to keep / own / enjoy properties they have.

e) I had never heard of Guest Scan until this thread and have no plans to use it (although I am nosey!)

Please don't give up on self-catering.

Also, am not "not playing anymore" FF - just, you know, doing other things!

do chandalier and ff have links to their properties so we can all avoid renting from total loons!

Mad I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours:

My Place

No links so far. With my other hat on (as a property renter) we have encountered some barking mad owners. The ones who leaped out at us at every opportunity, shouting "Only me" where the cottage belonged to a recently dead mother and still had signs of her occupancy - stair lift etc. The ones who left their dirty clothes in the cupboards, trainers under the bed and the bathroom full of bits (tampax, dirty razor). The ones where UK TV channels meant the Sky Travel Channel only. The ones with hundreds of rules and signs everywhere about mice. The one with the lovely range of colours of pubic hair in the shower.

Mad - the lot of 'em.

FF - been inside there (not invited - paid) and the decor is hideous. You wouldn't get top whack for that place.

FF I was thinking of sending you the postcode for that place and seeing if you would rent to me.

BJ I'd need to think about it, I might take the view that my place would be unworthy of you and that you'd moan about my standards

Rose I assume you complained to the owners? I most certainly would have done, rather than just talking about it to others

as I said on the other thread, I used to work for ECC - I encountered some weirdos amongst both owners & customers

There were definitely some owners who were in the wrong business (or in the business for the wrong reasons ) but far more lovely, kind, thoughtful ones (like Rose ).

Equally there were customers who were selfish, thoughtless & in some cases actually criminal; but the majority were just like the customers who have posted on these 2 threads.

I do find FF's & chandalier's attitude depressing

Thanks Ponders - those are my first Mumsnet flowers! Yes - of course I told them - although my husband takes the view that I shouldn't have bothered complaining as I am just helping them to improve their business and it is a competitive market.

Freddie, not privileged at all, just too lazy to close tabs down as and when they become redundant

You just made me a tad annoyed when you said that on the other thread, '99% of the renters posting wanted a revenge review placed on Tripadvisor' which was patently not true - there were some who did say that, but nowhere near the 99% you claimed. And then a couple of posts later you bemoaned the deletion of the other thread, 'because it allows people to sate things in a way that puts them entirely out of context, and in instances changed entirely, a bit like Chinese whispers'. Which just struck me as just a little disingenuous of you.

I far prefer the thread Rose started on here, asking what people want when they rent a holiday property. That strikes me as somebody who really cares about providing a service to her customers. I like that attitude

Ponders presumably your comment: ??but the majority were just like the customers who have posted on these 2 threads? meant:

What they don?t know for a fact they make up in the way that suits them best, they make assumptions about other people based on nothing but what?s in their heads, they can only see things from their own perspective and don?t like it when somebody disagrees, whatever the circumstance, it will likely always be the owners fault, never theirs, they don?t ever expect to pay for anything unless they deem it to be fair, which appears to be an unlikely scenario, with no consideration for what the owner (or anybody else) thinks.

I agree with you entirely.

Rindercella, I?m happy to retract the figure of ?99%? since I can?t back it with fact, clearly only you are able to do that and are not prepared to. I will rephrase it to be ?the vast majority?. As I said at the outset, I?m not on here trying to drum up business, I?m on here to challenge unfair comments and put another point of view forward

For the record, I have just scanned the deleted thread and out of over 280 posts, 4 posters (yes FOUR) suggested the OP should take revenge on tripadvisor. Hardly the 'vast majority' Several others advised to post a review on tripadvisor, but to make sure it was balanced and a fair reflection of the OP's holiday.

I guess that's the trouble with that thread being deleted. Posters can come on here, take comments out of context and create a sort of Chinese whispers type effect.

Fwiw Freddie, I thought most of your comments on the earlier thread were pretty balanced. Sadly you are not showing yourself in quite such a favourable light on this thread imo.

In light of my last post, I am fully aware that I need to get a life

Rindercella, Love the stats but I think a powerpoint presentation is the way to go