Playbook, holiday rental
The cleaner found a phone charger and a small teddy
Two things arrive after departure and they feel very different to the person writing. One is a guest missing something, occasionally something that matters a great deal to a four year old, asking whether it turned up and whether it can be posted. The other is the owner's side of the same week: something is chipped, cracked or gone, and the guest has already worked out where the money for it is coming from.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for lost or damaged goods holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- The only person who can look is the cleaner on changeover day, so whether an item exists is unknown until somebody physically walks round a property that may already have the next guests in it.
- Posting something on costs real money and real time for an owner who lives somewhere else, which is why a published position on postage is fairer than deciding case by case with somebody who has just lost a phone.
- Damage in a holiday let is discovered after the guest has driven home, so there is no counter conversation, only a message and a photograph, and the tone of the first reply decides whether it becomes a review.
- Small breakages are normal and most owners absorb them, but that generosity must never be promised in advance by an assistant, because the guest who broke a hob will quote it.
How it arrives
- we left a phone charger in the bedroom
- can you post my sons teddy back to us
- we broke a wine glass do we owe you anything
- the cleaner found our sunglasses can you keep them
- we chipped the basin will that come off the deposit
- how much do you charge to post something on
What has to be indexed for this to work
| The lost property routine | How long items are kept, where they are kept, who to write to, and how long it takes to find out whether something turned up, given that a check happens on changeover day rather than on demand. A stated waiting time stops a guest sending four messages in two days. |
|---|---|
| Your position on posting items back | Whether you post at all, who pays for postage and how they pay it, whether anything is excluded such as liquids or valuables, and roughly how long it takes. Publish this and the awkward conversation about a stamp never happens. |
| Breakages and what to do about them | Whether guests are expected to report a breakage before they leave, where to leave a note, what is treated as normal wear and what is not. Owners who ask for it in writing on the departure list get told about most of them, which is worth more than the money. |
| How damage is assessed and charged | Who inspects, when, what evidence is taken, how a guest is told, and how they can respond. This is the process, not a price list. What must not be indexed is a table of amounts, because that invites the assistant to quote a figure for a chip nobody has seen. |
The reply
The property is checked on changeover day and anything found is kept for the period set out in the departure notes, so the first thing to do is let the owner know exactly what it is and which room it was in [1]. I cannot see whether anything has been found, since the only look at the property happens on the day it changes over. Items are posted on where the guest covers the postage, and the owner will tell you what that comes to [2]. Leave me your name, the email you booked with, your dates and a description, and I will send it over so it is waiting for them.
It explains the changeover check, because a guest who understands that nobody is in the building stops expecting an answer within the hour. It asks for the room, since that is what actually makes an item findable and nobody thinks to include it. Postage is stated as a rule rather than negotiated, and the total is left to the owner because a stated figure would be a guess.
Where it stops
The trigger. The guest asks whether a specific item was found, wants something posted, reports a breakage, or disputes a deduction that has already been taken.
I cannot check the property, look at a deposit or agree what is owed for anything. Give me your name, the email on the booking, your dates and what has happened, and it goes to the owner, who can check with the cleaner and reply properly.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say an item has been found, or that it has not, because the only person who can look is the cleaner and this cannot reach them.
- Never price a repair or a replacement for damage nobody has assessed, since that number becomes the amount the guest expects to pay.
- Never say a breakage will be overlooked or that the owner never charges for small things, which will be produced as evidence during a dispute.
- Never promise an item will be posted, or give a date it will arrive, when neither the parcel nor the postage has been arranged.
Questions
- Can it check whether we found something?
- No. There is nothing for it to look in. It can explain when the property is checked, ask for the description and the room, and get the message to whoever can actually walk round the building.
- Should we publish what we charge for breakages?
- Publish the process, not a price list. A tariff of amounts invites the assistant to quote one for an item it has not seen, and it makes every guest who chips a mug feel like they are reading a menu.
- Guests never tell us when they break something. Does this help?
- Somewhat, if the departure routine says plainly that a note about a breakage is expected and normal. People hide breakages because they are braced for a row, and a sentence saying it is expected takes most of that away.
Keep reading
- Everything for a holiday rentalWhat is provided, deposits and cancellation terms answer well. The exact address and the door code stay back until a booking exists.
- Handling lost or damaged goods in generalThe claim window, the photographs needed, the carrier's role, and why this reaches a person sooner than almost anything else in support.
- Nobody is at the cottage and the owner is two counties awayThe owner has a day job and lives elsewhere. Arriving at eleven at night, a boiler on a Sunday, and an honest answer about when a reply comes.
- A waiver, a deposit and a policy are three different thingsA waiver is not a deposit and neither is insurance. What the owner's own cover does, and why the assistant never says a claim will be paid.
- Two nights of that stay are in high seasonTen nights over a bank holiday can touch two rate bands and a minimum stay rule, which is why a figure needs dates before it means anything.
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