Subletting guests

Recently our housekeeper informed us that the guests who had booked to stay for a fortnight had left after 7 nights. The house was empty of all belongings and the fridge and cupboards were all empty except for a bottle of milk in the fridge.

Both keys had been left behind, one in the key safe (the house rules stipulate not to do so unless checking-out) and one inside the property. They had left the windows open and unlocked.

I sent a message to the guest to ask if all was OK and to inform him that the linen and towels had been changed as standard service for the second week of stay. He replied that yes all was OK but they had been out for the day and had not yet returned.

We thought it strange that someone would empty the holiday home of all their belongings and take them with them just because a housekeeper would be visiting to change bedding and towels.

Later that day he called me to ask where the spare key was as it was not where he left it. Giving the benefit of doubt I informed him that the housekeeper would return the next day to drop one off (she had found it and rightly put it away as she believed the guests had left).

As it turned out, the guest wasn't him, the car parked outside was different from the first week - according to neighbours.

He was obviously lying about being in the property trying to find the spare key. If he was merely sharing the fortnight with other family members or even friends, why all the secrecy and lies? It's not as if he got a discount because he booked  a fortnight instead of two seperate weeks. Perhaps it was to save on the agency booking fee, but that's a lot of deceipt to save a few quid.

Apparently, according to the holiday letting agency that took the booking, the guests had not done anything wrong. Should anything untoward have happened then the original guest that made the booking was ultimately responsible. They also informed me that since early 2018, holiday letting agents and owners are not allowed to ask details of the guests staying in their properties. Huh? So we are supposed to let our holiday home to people whose names and addresses we don't know and are not verified, and it would be considered illegal if we did so?... this is privacy laws gone bonkers!

I find it incredible that someone can give our security code to someone else to gain access to our property. Isn't that trespassing or illegal entry by the second party? We the owners did not give them any permission or instructions on gaining entry.

So watch out, now a complete stranger to you can book your holiday home but not stay there, and instead sell that week to complete strangers for more money. Who is to say whether any name they give is real, that their mobile number isn't just a temporary one and that their email is an anonymous one used only for the purpose of this fraud.

The name of our guest was a famous name, maybe these people use well known names deliberately. We have since tried emailing and calling the numbers without any response.

All we can do is change the security code for entrance to the property and double check that nothing is missing or damaged.

If you get lots of messages or calls from a guest in the weeks and days leading up to their stay, beware. They may be just insecure and need reassurance that their booking is going as planned, but questions about when the changeover day and precise time for fresh linen could be a clue that the second week will not be the same guests.

In fact who is to say that both of these weeks weren't sublets?

Holiday home statistics

It's not only important to keep a record of all your guest details but also of all your overheads, net and gross income. Using this information will help you improve your holiday home business for the following year.

Compiling records 

I even calculate costs of water, gas and electricity per booking by taking meter readings on each changeover. Do families with infants create more costs or less? What percentage of guests come from outside of the UK and do they provide a higher or lower percentage of income per head? What about the difference in costs per booking from clients from the various booking sources? Which of those booking sources takes the highest fees from your advertised rates? How many last minute bookings do you get? How many queries have you had for short breaks and were they profitable enough or did they make a loss?

Maintenance costs will vary from year to year 

Perhaps it is wise to make notes of which bookings created damage above and beyond normal wear and tear. Consider how to make changes to avoid the cost happening again.

Annual costs

The overall general costs of utilities, mortgages, services, insurances, fire and safety reports, taxes etc., can be divided by 52 weeks per year, by the amount of weekly booking, or perhaps more accurately per booked night. Doing this I worked out the average number of weeks required to break even and to decide how many weeks we should aim for to make a profitable income. This gives savings to use for rainy days or perhaps to make a bigger dent in any outstanding mortgage.

These are all things that you can use to target your marketing for future seasons, decide on your minimum nights stay, the lowest rate you are able to accept after giving discounts, which type of guest group to avoid or deter.

Services and supplies 

Many service providers and suppliers will increase prices year on year. Using these records you should also be able to find areas where costs can be reduced such as finding cheaper deals on insurance, switching to new energy providers and telephone/ internet providers such as this: Online Exclusive - Plusnet Fixed Price Unlimited Broadband & line rental £19.99 for 12 months plus £50 Reward Card and £5 activation fee
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