Longterm guests

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mooseberry

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
505
Reaction score
0
OK, if you have a long term guest, lets say for 4 month, and he is staying here beacause of work, not vacation (company pays for room)
would you treat him like an regular guest or set different rules?
I do treat his room like a lay-over, changing sheets every 3 or 4 days, fresh towels everyday and the regular fluff.
He is using our BBQ grill on a daily basis, which is available to guests. He likes to know if he can use the kitchen at night to cook his dinners. At first I said yes, as long as he leaves the kitchen as he found it. But now I am getting second toughts....I am cooking with Propane and it is already up to $3.50 a gallon. I only cook breakfast , so, my propane usage will double.
Would it be wrong to ask him to pitch in ? He does get per diem for food from his company.
I just don't want him to turn into a "extra-child"......, also he is a nice person.
Any suggestions?
 
We had some student teachers here the first year we were open. I put a jar on the dryer for them to put in quarters when they used the washer & dryer (laundromat without having to go out). They did not get breakfast but did have kitchen priviledges. It was their setting the room thermostats to comfy in shorts & Ts (in the winter) that killed us, niot the kitchen use.
Is he planning on making a 5-course gourmet dinner that will take hours in the kitchen? or is he wanting to heat up a TV dinner? If he is a nice person (and his company is paying the rate), tell him there will be an increase of $10 per week for the kitchen priviledges since the quoted rate was without kitchen. Say nothing about the price of propane, that is not his problem, it is your problem. Long term is nice because it gives you a for sure income for however long the term is - it is bad (if they are in the same house) because you can never have a "spit & scratch" to get rid of the "burr under you saddle" because there is someone in-house. (I would take the long-term if I had a chance.)
 
I just had a call today from a potential long term guest... 8 weeks on government travel, government rate of $79 a day. We have five days during that time when we're full, so I don't know if she'll call back. I told her I would let her use my laundry, and use the kitchen, but we've had long term "homestay" guests from the U. and we're kind of used to that. She'd be different though as I would fluff her room and change her linens sometimes (the homestay girls were responsible for their own), probably something like every 4th day (and hope she would say once a week was plenty).
My dh used to get per diem when he traveled for work and he had a mini-fridge and toaster oven he'd take into the motels with him so he could save on food costs and keep the extra.
I would bring up the propane cost and ask if there's an agreement the two of you could come to. He's getting per diem after all...
=) Kk.
 
When I used to travel for my job and got per diem, that covered breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also lodging if the need arised.
So, he already makes $ by having breakfast here.
As of how much he will be cooking, I don't have no idea. Hopefully not a 5 course meal (unless I am invited
wink_smile.gif
)
I guess we have to take it one day at a time and see where it goes.
I do know that we , in our home, use more propand for dinner then breakfast...
I don't want to be the "mean" host, but with the rising costs, every little help is welcome.
 
It's time to sit down with the child, oops, guest, and decide what works and what doesn't. What might have worked at first, may not work any longer. Have the discussion with your spouse first so there is no going behind your back and the guest saying, 'Well he said/she said...'
This is why I don't like long term...they start to feel at home. Feet on the coffee table, sleeping on the couch in the living room, wanting to cook in the kitchen, use the washer & dryer, etc.
Are you getting your full rate or did you discount for the long term? If you are ok with him using the kitchen (and it's not against any regs) then tell him he'll need to pay a bit extra for the propane. Most people understand this. And it makes no diff if he's getting per diem and pocketing it or not. You can only worry about your side of things.
Where does he store his food? In your fridge? He's also using extra water & etc for the clean up so I don't see anything wrong with saying 'with the price of everything, I need you to pay a little extra.' Even $5/day would help.
 
It's time to sit down with the child, oops, guest, and decide what works and what doesn't. What might have worked at first, may not work any longer. Have the discussion with your spouse first so there is no going behind your back and the guest saying, 'Well he said/she said...'
This is why I don't like long term...they start to feel at home. Feet on the coffee table, sleeping on the couch in the living room, wanting to cook in the kitchen, use the washer & dryer, etc.
Are you getting your full rate or did you discount for the long term? If you are ok with him using the kitchen (and it's not against any regs) then tell him he'll need to pay a bit extra for the propane. Most people understand this. And it makes no diff if he's getting per diem and pocketing it or not. You can only worry about your side of things.
Where does he store his food? In your fridge? He's also using extra water & etc for the clean up so I don't see anything wrong with saying 'with the price of everything, I need you to pay a little extra.' Even $5/day would help..
I do charge $5.00 per load for laundry.
I did give his company a nice discount....averages to between $300-$400 a week. ( per room, they got 2 rooms.....but, the other room is for VIP's, and they are barely ever there, so I gate paid for an empty room....)
This is a lot, I know, but as a start-up, I have the right to screw up and learn from it...haha
I still will give discounts, just not that big.....had a blonde moment...haha
Thanks for all your ideas.....
 
It's time to sit down with the child, oops, guest, and decide what works and what doesn't. What might have worked at first, may not work any longer. Have the discussion with your spouse first so there is no going behind your back and the guest saying, 'Well he said/she said...'
This is why I don't like long term...they start to feel at home. Feet on the coffee table, sleeping on the couch in the living room, wanting to cook in the kitchen, use the washer & dryer, etc.
Are you getting your full rate or did you discount for the long term? If you are ok with him using the kitchen (and it's not against any regs) then tell him he'll need to pay a bit extra for the propane. Most people understand this. And it makes no diff if he's getting per diem and pocketing it or not. You can only worry about your side of things.
Where does he store his food? In your fridge? He's also using extra water & etc for the clean up so I don't see anything wrong with saying 'with the price of everything, I need you to pay a little extra.' Even $5/day would help..
I do charge $5.00 per load for laundry.
I did give his company a nice discount....averages to between $300-$400 a week. ( per room, they got 2 rooms.....but, the other room is for VIP's, and they are barely ever there, so I gate paid for an empty room....)
This is a lot, I know, but as a start-up, I have the right to screw up and learn from it...haha
I still will give discounts, just not that big.....had a blonde moment...haha
Thanks for all your ideas.....
.
Mooseberry Inn said:
This is a lot, I know, but as a start-up, I have the right to screw up and learn from it...haha
Great attitude! We gave ourselves a year to get most of the dopey errors out of the way...
 
It's time to sit down with the child, oops, guest, and decide what works and what doesn't. What might have worked at first, may not work any longer. Have the discussion with your spouse first so there is no going behind your back and the guest saying, 'Well he said/she said...'
This is why I don't like long term...they start to feel at home. Feet on the coffee table, sleeping on the couch in the living room, wanting to cook in the kitchen, use the washer & dryer, etc.
Are you getting your full rate or did you discount for the long term? If you are ok with him using the kitchen (and it's not against any regs) then tell him he'll need to pay a bit extra for the propane. Most people understand this. And it makes no diff if he's getting per diem and pocketing it or not. You can only worry about your side of things.
Where does he store his food? In your fridge? He's also using extra water & etc for the clean up so I don't see anything wrong with saying 'with the price of everything, I need you to pay a little extra.' Even $5/day would help..
I do charge $5.00 per load for laundry.
I did give his company a nice discount....averages to between $300-$400 a week. ( per room, they got 2 rooms.....but, the other room is for VIP's, and they are barely ever there, so I gate paid for an empty room....)
This is a lot, I know, but as a start-up, I have the right to screw up and learn from it...haha
I still will give discounts, just not that big.....had a blonde moment...haha
Thanks for all your ideas.....
.
Well, and getting paid for an empty room definitely takes the edge off the cost of propane!
=) Kk.
 
Not sure if you pay occupancy tax or lodging tax out there, but if you do, you should look into it for long term stays. We never take them, but if we did, anyone that stays 30 days or more is not considered transient so we don't have to collect or pay occupancy tax for them.
 
Not sure if you pay occupancy tax or lodging tax out there, but if you do, you should look into it for long term stays. We never take them, but if we did, anyone that stays 30 days or more is not considered transient so we don't have to collect or pay occupancy tax for them..
Same here in WV and it was in Illinois also (I was relief night audit for over 10 years and we had a few at the HI).
 
Not sure if you pay occupancy tax or lodging tax out there, but if you do, you should look into it for long term stays. We never take them, but if we did, anyone that stays 30 days or more is not considered transient so we don't have to collect or pay occupancy tax for them..
We are really lucky in that area, at least in Tok, one of the very few places where there is no sales tax, bed tax, property tax, no tax...
But thanks for the info, 'cause I know, one day, we will have to pay that too....
 
Back
Top