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TheBeachHouse

TheBeachHouse

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comments? I'm trying to put together a policy for whole house rentals. We've had a couple issues. One was a party until midnight. Another was a group that had their lunch catered and left the food out with no intention of cleaning up. And of course, there is the group that stops by at breakfast time and just has one cup of coffee (and a couple muffins....and some bacon.....)
We look forward to hosting your group and hope you have a wonderful visit to our inn and town. Please be aware of the following inn policies.
A deposit will be required to hold the house for your group. Cancellations must be made 30 days in advance in order to receive a refund. IF cancellation made less than 30 days in advance, we reserve the right to charge your credit card for the rental unless we are able to fill the rooms.
the house can accommodate no more than 16 people.
breakfast is served only for registered guests. we cannot accommodate unregistered guests in our dining room.
a fee will be charged to the renter for any credit card cancels and rebills.
An additional fee will be charged to your credit card for any excessive cleaning required in your rooms or the common areas of the inn. the fee will be calculated taking into account time spent per hour as well as products, material or services required.
Quiet hours for the whole house are 10 PM - 7 AM.
There is not smoking permitted in the house or on the grounds.
Please do not feed the koi fish.
 
Do you really need to rent out the whole house? Will the rooms fill up anyway? We learned our lesson our very first year: no matter the intent, a crowd synergy mentality forms, and one way or the other, respect for you and your property dwindles, cause in their minds "the house belongs to them". Not worth the anguish and abuse. Our 10 cents.
 
Momma Smurf said:
Do you really need to rent out the whole house? Will the rooms fill up anyway? We learned our lesson our very first year: no matter the intent, a crowd synergy mentality forms, and one way or the other, respect for you and your property dwindles, cause in their minds "the house belongs to them". Not worth the anguish and abuse. Our 10 cents..
Click to expand...
Momma Smurf said:
Do you really need to rent out the whole house? Will the rooms fill up anyway? We learned our lesson our very first year: no matter the intent, a crowd synergy mentality forms, and one way or the other, respect for you and your property dwindles, cause in their minds "the house belongs to them". Not worth the anguish and abuse. Our 10 cents.
Click to expand...
I hear you and would love to avoid whole house rentals, but in our town, there are no hotels. B&Bs are the only accommodations. People have weddings and reunions and we even hosted a bar mitzvah.
I like to think that by attending a wedding in our town, people may find that they want to return and visit another time.
On the other hand, saying, "we don't rent the whole house," sounds like bad marketing to me for the same reason. Who would come back after being told they are not wanted?
You make a valid point, maybe I change the title from 'whole house rental' to 'event reservations,' to avoid the appearance that they 'own' the common areas.
 
For a whole house I wouldn't have quiet time. They are all together. If they keep each other up, they'll handle it. (Yes, I know that line is for you so you can sleep. Doesn't matter. If you want full house bookings then you have to take the noise, too.)
Deposit: half at booking, the other half 30 days out. No refunds at that point. (This is when they cancel and you might not rebook the whole stay at that point.)
Make one person responsible but get all the names and emails so they each get a copy of the terms.
Make it a state or town regulation that you cannot feed their friends and family who are staying elsewhere. Then be prepared to toss the friends and family. (We've had this happen in the afternoon. Guests let their friends in and then left them here. They ate all the snacks, took all the wine glasses and commandeered the porch.)
Take a look at some of the elopement packages for wording for extraneous guests and other problems.
 
TheBeachHouse said:
Momma Smurf said:
Do you really need to rent out the whole house? Will the rooms fill up anyway? We learned our lesson our very first year: no matter the intent, a crowd synergy mentality forms, and one way or the other, respect for you and your property dwindles, cause in their minds "the house belongs to them". Not worth the anguish and abuse. Our 10 cents..
Click to expand...
Momma Smurf said:
Do you really need to rent out the whole house? Will the rooms fill up anyway? We learned our lesson our very first year: no matter the intent, a crowd synergy mentality forms, and one way or the other, respect for you and your property dwindles, cause in their minds "the house belongs to them". Not worth the anguish and abuse. Our 10 cents.
Click to expand...
I hear you and would love to avoid whole house rentals, but in our town, there are no hotels. B&Bs are the only accommodations. People have weddings and reunions and we even hosted a bar mitzvah.
I like to think that by attending a wedding in our town, people may find that they want to return and visit another time.
On the other hand, saying, "we don't rent the whole house," sounds like bad marketing to me for the same reason. Who would come back after being told they are not wanted?
You make a valid point, maybe I change the title from 'whole house rental' to 'event reservations,' to avoid the appearance that they 'own' the common areas.
.
Click to expand...
Never say 'whole house,' it implies use of the kitchen. If they book all the rooms they get all the common areas. But no kitchen. Make that very clear.
Because you've had a problem with it, specify that guests will be provided with a large trash can for disposing of food and service items they don't want to keep.
 
We have hundreds of hotel rooms here so I really don't want groups. We make it onerous. Hefty deposit, no refunds, only buffet breakfast, no discounts.
It's tough if you get a wedding group to keep out the bride's entourage. You need to make allowances for that.
I yelled at a bride one summer partly because I didn't know she was a bride but mostly because she had people constantly ringing the doorbell to drop stuff off, fix her hair, blah, blah, blah. And she never mentioned why all these people were coming to the door.
 
Morticia said:
TheBeachHouse said:
Momma Smurf said:
Do you really need to rent out the whole house? Will the rooms fill up anyway? We learned our lesson our very first year: no matter the intent, a crowd synergy mentality forms, and one way or the other, respect for you and your property dwindles, cause in their minds "the house belongs to them". Not worth the anguish and abuse. Our 10 cents..
Click to expand...
Momma Smurf said:
Do you really need to rent out the whole house? Will the rooms fill up anyway? We learned our lesson our very first year: no matter the intent, a crowd synergy mentality forms, and one way or the other, respect for you and your property dwindles, cause in their minds "the house belongs to them". Not worth the anguish and abuse. Our 10 cents.
Click to expand...
I hear you and would love to avoid whole house rentals, but in our town, there are no hotels. B&Bs are the only accommodations. People have weddings and reunions and we even hosted a bar mitzvah.
I like to think that by attending a wedding in our town, people may find that they want to return and visit another time.
On the other hand, saying, "we don't rent the whole house," sounds like bad marketing to me for the same reason. Who would come back after being told they are not wanted?
You make a valid point, maybe I change the title from 'whole house rental' to 'event reservations,' to avoid the appearance that they 'own' the common areas.
.
Click to expand...
Never say 'whole house,' it implies use of the kitchen. If they book all the rooms they get all the common areas. But no kitchen. Make that very clear.
Because you've had a problem with it, specify that guests will be provided with a large trash can for disposing of food and service items they don't want to keep.
.
Click to expand...
Morticia said:
Never say 'whole house,' it implies use of the kitchen. If they book all the rooms they get all the common areas. But no kitchen. Make that very clear.
Because you've had a problem with it, specify that guests will be provided with a large trash can for disposing of food and service items they don't want to keep.
Click to expand...
I changed it to "Multiple Room/Group Rentals."
 
Morticia said:
We have hundreds of hotel rooms here so I really don't want groups. We make it onerous. Hefty deposit, no refunds, only buffet breakfast, no discounts.
It's tough if you get a wedding group to keep out the bride's entourage. You need to make allowances for that.
I yelled at a bride one summer partly because I didn't know she was a bride but mostly because she had people constantly ringing the doorbell to drop stuff off, fix her hair, blah, blah, blah. And she never mentioned why all these people were coming to the door..
Click to expand...
Morticia said:
We have hundreds of hotel rooms here so I really don't want groups. We make it onerous. Hefty deposit, no refunds, only buffet breakfast, no discounts.
It's tough if you get a wedding group to keep out the bride's entourage. You need to make allowances for that.
I yelled at a bride one summer partly because I didn't know she was a bride but mostly because she had people constantly ringing the doorbell to drop stuff off, fix her hair, blah, blah, blah. And she never mentioned why all these people were coming to the door.
Click to expand...
I had to tell the bride the party was over. After midnight. Don't piss me off when I'm tired. LOL
 
We just added that on our new website as a separate option. It has more a cost savings, more restrictive cancellation rules, a three night minimum, and a relaxation of our age restriction. It includes breakfast and our regular services and amenities. We upsell dinner, which is popular.
Our area is paying attention to the multi-generational trend and that is how we are marketing it. I really think Whole House is fine terminology as long as it is part of your marketing and your policies are clear. We had a great family from the US over the holidays. We have a great family from Asia due in a couple of days. This a lucrative business IMHO and we will be looking to increase it.
 
TheBeachHouse said:
comments? I'm trying to put together a policy for whole house rentals. We've had a couple issues. One was a party until midnight. Another was a group that had their lunch catered and left the food out with no intention of cleaning up. And of course, there is the group that stops by at breakfast time and just has one cup of coffee (and a couple muffins....and some bacon.....)
Please be aware of the following inn policies.
Click to expand...
I try to use less words that sound alarming. What about, "The following polices apply to whole house and group reservations."
TheBeachHouse said:
A deposit will be required to hold the house for your group. Cancellations must be made 30 days in advance in order to receive a refund. IF cancellation made less than 30 days in advance, we reserve the right to charge your credit card for the rental unless we are able to fill the rooms.
Click to expand...
Whole house and group reservations require a non-refundable deposit of -----. Cancellations made 60 days in advance of the first day of your reservation with incur no additional charge. Reservations canceled inside of 60 days are non-refundable and the full amount of the reservation will be charged.
TheBeachHouse said:
the house can accommodate no more than 16 people.
breakfast is served only for registered guests. we cannot accommodate unregistered guests in our dining room.
a fee will be charged to the renter for any credit card cancels and rebills.
An additional fee will be charged to your credit card for any excessive cleaning required in your rooms or the common areas of the inn. the fee will be calculated taking into account time spent per hour as well as products, material or services required.
Quiet hours for the whole house are 10 PM - 7 AM.
There is not smoking permitted in the house or on the grounds.
Please do not feed the koi fish.
Click to expand...
 
TheBeachHouse said:
Morticia said:
We have hundreds of hotel rooms here so I really don't want groups. We make it onerous. Hefty deposit, no refunds, only buffet breakfast, no discounts.
It's tough if you get a wedding group to keep out the bride's entourage. You need to make allowances for that.
I yelled at a bride one summer partly because I didn't know she was a bride but mostly because she had people constantly ringing the doorbell to drop stuff off, fix her hair, blah, blah, blah. And she never mentioned why all these people were coming to the door..
Click to expand...
Morticia said:
We have hundreds of hotel rooms here so I really don't want groups. We make it onerous. Hefty deposit, no refunds, only buffet breakfast, no discounts.
It's tough if you get a wedding group to keep out the bride's entourage. You need to make allowances for that.
I yelled at a bride one summer partly because I didn't know she was a bride but mostly because she had people constantly ringing the doorbell to drop stuff off, fix her hair, blah, blah, blah. And she never mentioned why all these people were coming to the door.
Click to expand...
I had to tell the bride the party was over. After midnight. Don't piss me off when I'm tired. LOL
.
Click to expand...
When we have groups I sleep in my living room, where I can't hear them. As long as they are not outside disturbing the neighbors, I don't care.
I guess because they're usually only loud the first night, it's OK with me.
 
happykeeper said:
TheBeachHouse said:
comments? I'm trying to put together a policy for whole house rentals. We've had a couple issues. One was a party until midnight. Another was a group that had their lunch catered and left the food out with no intention of cleaning up. And of course, there is the group that stops by at breakfast time and just has one cup of coffee (and a couple muffins....and some bacon.....)
Please be aware of the following inn policies.
Click to expand...
I try to use less words that sound alarming. What about, "The following polices apply to whole house and group reservations."
TheBeachHouse said:
A deposit will be required to hold the house for your group. Cancellations must be made 30 days in advance in order to receive a refund. IF cancellation made less than 30 days in advance, we reserve the right to charge your credit card for the rental unless we are able to fill the rooms.
Click to expand...
Whole house and group reservations require a non-refundable deposit of -----. Cancellations made 60 days in advance of the first day of your reservation with incur no additional charge. Reservations canceled inside of 60 days are non-refundable and the full amount of the reservation will be charged.
TheBeachHouse said:
the house can accommodate no more than 16 people.
breakfast is served only for registered guests. we cannot accommodate unregistered guests in our dining room.
a fee will be charged to the renter for any credit card cancels and rebills.
An additional fee will be charged to your credit card for any excessive cleaning required in your rooms or the common areas of the inn. the fee will be calculated taking into account time spent per hour as well as products, material or services required.
Quiet hours for the whole house are 10 PM - 7 AM.
There is not smoking permitted in the house or on the grounds.
Please do not feed the koi fish.
Click to expand...
.
Click to expand...
happykeeper said:
TheBeachHouse said:
comments? I'm trying to put together a policy for whole house rentals. We've had a couple issues. One was a party until midnight. Another was a group that had their lunch catered and left the food out with no intention of cleaning up. And of course, there is the group that stops by at breakfast time and just has one cup of coffee (and a couple muffins....and some bacon.....)
Please be aware of the following inn policies.
Click to expand...
I try to use less words that sound alarming. What about, "The following polices apply to whole house and group reservations."
TheBeachHouse said:
A deposit will be required to hold the house for your group. Cancellations must be made 30 days in advance in order to receive a refund. IF cancellation made less than 30 days in advance, we reserve the right to charge your credit card for the rental unless we are able to fill the rooms.
Click to expand...
Whole house and group reservations require a non-refundable deposit of -----. Cancellations made 60 days in advance of the first day of your reservation with incur no additional charge. Reservations canceled inside of 60 days are non-refundable and the full amount of the reservation will be charged.
TheBeachHouse said:
the house can accommodate no more than 16 people.
breakfast is served only for registered guests. we cannot accommodate unregistered guests in our dining room.
a fee will be charged to the renter for any credit card cancels and rebills.
An additional fee will be charged to your credit card for any excessive cleaning required in your rooms or the common areas of the inn. the fee will be calculated taking into account time spent per hour as well as products, material or services required.
Quiet hours for the whole house are 10 PM - 7 AM.
There is not smoking permitted in the house or on the grounds.
Please do not feed the koi fish.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
This is very helpful. Thank you.
 
We require one person to book the entire place (no separate reservations they can start canceling) and we require a 50% deposit at time of booking. Balance is paid in full 45 days out. All of this by check, no credit cards (so they can't claim a chargeback as we have all of their money in cash and I've avoided the fees). They also pay a $500 damage deposit. If they even try to waiver from the above, we won't do the rental. This is for our wedding weekends which we also add in a nice site setup fee for the extra cleanup and our time to move everything back since all groups feel the need to move stuff around.
 
once i got my policies down, i LOVED whole house rentals.
yes, i called them that. they were generally happy ... in and out of each other's rooms at all hours. or all down to sleep early. depending on the group.
i had the advantage of locking the door leading to the kitchen and breakfast area so there was no way for guests to come in and cook, rummage, eat, etc.
weddings were most challenging as guests staying elsewhere showed up to eat or whatever. i figured out to do breakfast buffets and said this is how much food there is available. if they had more come in, less food for each person. i explained this to the person booking. young bridesmaid wanted to be with her sister and ended up sleeping at my place in same bed and washing and dressing here. i let it go. i found something on the internet about parental permission for her to be with the sister and had it signed by her mom who was just across the road anyway, crossed my fingers and all went well. it wasn't worth the hassle for me to sort it out and we didn't have hordes of extras, just one or two usually. (my very first group was a raucous wedding that i did all wrong - learned all my lessons in one go with that one!)
one group of boaters came and stayed with me each year. they motored their boats up the coast and moored them and stayed the weekend with me. they used the library as their 'bar' bringing their own liquor and ice and snacks and i didn't mind one bit. breakfast was all at once but then they were all out the door together.
i also insisted on one big deposit to book and then the balance. some bicycling tour groups were tricky... they wanted to each pay their own balance. it got to be too complicated so i told the organizer he needed to pay the balance and get the payments from them.
whatever you do, ONE person is in charge of the group. that one person is the one who has to assume responsibility rather than you chasing down a particular guest for damages. it's a 'party' not a person.
good idea about checks not credit cards as charge backs for such a big amount would be devastating to the books. absolutely a cleaning/security deposit. it's amazing how careful guests will be of your property when they want to get back a deposit.
 
seashanty said:
once i got my policies down, i LOVED whole house rentals.
yes, i called them that. they were generally happy ... in and out of each other's rooms at all hours. or all down to sleep early. depending on the group.
i had the advantage of locking the door leading to the kitchen and breakfast area so there was no way for guests to come in and cook, rummage, eat, etc.
weddings were most challenging as guests staying elsewhere showed up to eat or whatever. i figured out to do breakfast buffets and said this is how much food there is available. if they had more come in, less food for each person. i explained this to the person booking. young bridesmaid wanted to be with her sister and ended up sleeping at my place in same bed and washing and dressing here. i let it go. i found something on the internet about parental permission for her to be with the sister and had it signed by her mom who was just across the road anyway, crossed my fingers and all went well. it wasn't worth the hassle for me to sort it out and we didn't have hordes of extras, just one or two usually. (my very first group was a raucous wedding that i did all wrong - learned all my lessons in one go with that one!)
one group of boaters came and stayed with me each year. they motored their boats up the coast and moored them and stayed the weekend with me. they used the library as their 'bar' bringing their own liquor and ice and snacks and i didn't mind one bit. breakfast was all at once but then they were all out the door together.
i also insisted on one big deposit to book and then the balance. some bicycling tour groups were tricky... they wanted to each pay their own balance. it got to be too complicated so i told the organizer he needed to pay the balance and get the payments from them.
whatever you do, ONE person is in charge of the group. that one person is the one who has to assume responsibility rather than you chasing down a particular guest for damages. it's a 'party' not a person.
good idea about checks not credit cards as charge backs for such a big amount would be devastating to the books. absolutely a cleaning/security deposit. it's amazing how careful guests will be of your property when they want to get back a deposit..
Click to expand...
seashanty said:
whatever you do, ONE person is in charge of the group. that one person is the one who has to assume responsibility rather than you chasing down a particular guest for damages. it's a 'party' not a person.
good idea about checks not credit cards as charge backs for such a big amount would be devastating to the books. absolutely a cleaning/security deposit. it's amazing how careful guests will be of your property when they want to get back a deposit.
Click to expand...

Could not agree more - one person to handle payment, policies, and the like.
Like the check idea - will be changing my policies on this as well. I already do this with our weddings.
 
The most recent bride is coming Friday to meet with DH. He will review the new policies with her at that time.
This is really helpful information. Thank you all. Why we're here, right?
 
The local innkeepers have all told me, "never take the bride!" I get it, but she does still need a place to stay, right?
 
TheBeachHouse said:
The local innkeepers have all told me, "never take the bride!" I get it, but she does still need a place to stay, right?.
Click to expand...
TheBeachHouse said:
The local innkeepers have all told me, "never take the bride!" I get it, but she does still need a place to stay, right?
Click to expand...
You can take the bride, just be prepared for the entourage.
They help themselves to whatever is left out, they think you're a handmaiden to the bride, whatever the bride thinks she wants you're expected to fetch it. There are 27 of them in the entourage.
You will open the door 50 times and close it 50 times (because their hands are full and their brains are empty), you will clean up whatever mess they leave behind at 3pm when they dash off because the rooms have to be ready when they come back and they've been in them all day. (You will clean them because you'll be shocked at the mess they left and never thought to mention.)
You'll learn to provide tarps for your floors because the hair spray doesn't come out, nor does the nail polish and/or remover.
You'll have emergency sewing kits on hand because buttons will pop off and hems will get stepped on and torn.
You'll be prepared to rearrange your furniture because 'it doesn't look right for the photos'.
You'll be prepared for all the wedding guests to drop in to see the couple in the morning and then help themselves to your buffet.
You'll be prepared with an answer when the roses aren't in bloom on that day, when it is suggested that providing lunch would be a great help and oh, another couple of pots ofcoffee, if you don't mind. Yes. Now.
And you will recommend, as graciously as possible, that given the amount of money they are spending, they might want to get insurance. In the event of sickness, of course, nothing else.
 
TheBeachHouse said:
The local innkeepers have all told me, "never take the bride!" I get it, but she does still need a place to stay, right?.
Click to expand...
TheBeachHouse said:
The local innkeepers have all told me, "never take the bride!" I get it, but she does still need a place to stay, right?
Click to expand...
And you will never, ever discount! Ever.
 
Morticia said:
TheBeachHouse said:
The local innkeepers have all told me, "never take the bride!" I get it, but she does still need a place to stay, right?.
Click to expand...
TheBeachHouse said:
The local innkeepers have all told me, "never take the bride!" I get it, but she does still need a place to stay, right?
Click to expand...
You can take the bride, just be prepared for the entourage.
They help themselves to whatever is left out, they think you're a handmaiden to the bride, whatever the bride thinks she wants you're expected to fetch it. There are 27 of them in the entourage.
You will open the door 50 times and close it 50 times (because their hands are full and their brains are empty), you will clean up whatever mess they leave behind at 3pm when they dash off because the rooms have to be ready when they come back and they've been in them all day. (You will clean them because you'll be shocked at the mess they left and never thought to mention.)
You'll learn to provide tarps for your floors because the hair spray doesn't come out, nor does the nail polish and/or remover.
You'll have emergency sewing kits on hand because buttons will pop off and hems will get stepped on and torn.
You'll be prepared to rearrange your furniture because 'it doesn't look right for the photos'.
You'll be prepared for all the wedding guests to drop in to see the couple in the morning and then help themselves to your buffet.
You'll be prepared with an answer when the roses aren't in bloom on that day, when it is suggested that providing lunch would be a great help and oh, another couple of pots ofcoffee, if you don't mind. Yes. Now.
And you will recommend, as graciously as possible, that given the amount of money they are spending, they might want to get insurance. In the event of sickness, of course, nothing else.
.
Click to expand...
awesome!
we ran into it only once (yet.) The groom stayed with us and the bride was staying with us after the wedding. The groom's father brought in catered Italian food for lunch for all the 'boys.' pasta, salads, bread. Then they went to the wedding leaving all the food and plates and bottles out.
If I hadn't known the bride was coming back after the wedding, I would have left it there. But for her, I cleaned it up.
Oh yeah, and, we gave the groom a split of champagne as a gift. He and his buddies drank it before the wedding. What a bunch of clods. She never even knew about it.
 

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