We are a family business with 25 years experience in Holiday Letting. Our general approach is not to let someone into your home, that we would not let into our own home.
How Bookings work these days
The ways in which prospective guests look to book short-term accommodation have evolved. Guests now overwhelmingly book through websites (Airbnb, HomeAway/Stayz, Booking.com, our own site, etc.) rather than making phone calls or searching print media. The flow on of these changes is that we now interact with guests through messaging systems and emails more than via phone calls.
What we do to Vet
The changes to how guests book also impact how we can vet. Conversations and interactions through third party websites are via online messages as contact details like email addresses and phone numbers are redacted/removed until a booking is confirmed.
We take thousands of bookings per year and understand when bookings are likely to be higher risk and what the flags and warning signs are for potentially problematic groups. We use this knowledge and other sources (e.g. social media, blacklisting sites, etc.) to make the best decision we can about the suitability of guests.
We consider prior reviews, the time of the year, the number of adults only vs adults & children, the style of language used when enquiring/booking and prospective Guests’ answers to our questions seeking more information. We know which factors are ‘red flags’ and vet accordingly.
Whilst no system is foolproof, this means that most guests that book through us do the right thing. So even though the way guests' book has changed, the likelihood of issues has not increased. Industry wide, the average cost per booking relating to guest damage/mishaps/additional cleaning etc. is around $27.
This typically is represented as the vast majority (approximately 95%) of bookings proceeding without any issues, but a small number incurring additional work/maintenance or cleaning. While the industry average is $27 our average is $7 – indicating that guests that we vet and permit to stay represent a much ‘safer’ (but as noted, not foolproof) cross section.
Why we don't want them either!
There are many reasons to vet guests thoroughly as we do – including of course the key requirement of protecting your home, together with maintaining positive relationships with neighbours, the local council, the cleaner, etc.
The short-term value of certain bookings doesn’t outweigh potential problems; problem guests also mean much more work for us in regard to fixing issues and claiming costs (see
Claiming Funds from Guests and
Reality of Holiday Letting for more information), so we do our best to prevent these groups from staying.
As we grow and have a team of employees doing this vetting, we train our staff to trust their instincts and to apply the same approach – “if this was your home, would you be comfortable with these Guests staying?” If the answer is not unequivocally “yes”, then the booking is rejected, and you probably won’t even be aware there was an enquiry.
So, it’s worth noting that the bulk of vetting we do isn’t visible, as we don’t permit those groups to book and stay.
No such thing as a sure thing
Many years ago, Bernadette would meet Guests in person at each home, run through the particulars of the home, and hand over the keys. This obviously isn’t feasible when looking after more than a handful of homes. One such booking, Bernadette met an elderly couple at a home, handed over the keys and drove on. Several minutes later, she recalled a piece of advice that she’d forgotten to impart and returned to the home to find the elderly couple driving off, and several cars of P-platers at the home.
This should help illustrate that no vetting system is foolproof, but that we use our experience and knowledge to reduce the risk of allowing groups into your home that we’re not comfortable with. If Guests do the wrong thing, we will do all in our power to fix/repair/replace the issue or item and secure the costs from the Guests (see
Claiming Funds from Guests for more information).
There’s also no easy way to protect against the most common source of issues – where guests book and stay with good intentions, but where accidents happen. At all times, we will do everything that is within our power to ensure that the Guests coming to your home treat it with respect and leave it the way they found it.