Having rental guests asking for compensation is always a very touching issue with home owners and management companies. Anyone who has owned a vacation home for sometime knows that it is inevitable that something will break and rental guests will be affected. When it comes to compensation we should first ask two very important questions: 1. Was what upset the guest within our control? 2. How was the guest complaint handled?
What is the issue and was it within our control?
In this example we had a dishwasher break down during a guest stay. The guest did call us immediately and we were able to have a repair person out within a couple of hours. The trouble came when we learned that the replacement parts for the dishwasher needed to be ordered and it would take a few days. Florida Spirit did offer to come to the home every day and hand clean the dishes while the family went to Disney World. In this case no compensation would be paid. The problem was out of everyone’s control and the level of service in responding to the problem was good.
In the case of refrigerators and other home appliances breaking the guest’s needs must be addressed quickly. We have brought out coolers with ice to keep food good while waiting on refrigerator repairs and taken guest laundry off site to be cleaned when a washing machine or dryer have broken down. The cost of ice and doing laundry for the guest is very minor compared to refunding them rental income.
In Florida some inconveniences even with great response to them may still require some kind of refund. Last week we had an air conditioner that stopped working while guest were out at the theme parks. When they came home at 11:00pm the house was around 86 degrees Fahrenheit. We do offer 24 hour service to rental guest just like a hotel, but after checking the AC unit we needed a contractor with repair parts. It was then after midnight. We moved the guest to another home for the night so they could sleep and had the repair parts installed first thing in the morning. The service effort was good but the guests still were up until after midnight with exhausted children and did have to sleep in a different home for the night. Since the guest and the homeowner understood how hard everyone worked to help them, we offered the guest a discount on a future reservation in the home. Again in this case the guest was pleased with how they were treated and appreciated the opportunity to return again at a discounted rate in the future. The owner already facing a repair bill was pleased not to have to refund the guest any money.
The issue was within our control!
Anytime something goes wrong with a vacation rental, where the solution was within control of the owner or the Management Company, guest may still feel they are entitled to some form of compensation. Again the level of service they receive to the complaint will directly effect what kind of compensation they may be looking for. Nothing makes up for bad customer service. I hear from people in the property management business say “it is so expensive to run a guest relations staff 24 hours a day 7 days a week”. The truth is not providing great customer service will cost twice as much in the long run!
The guest show up at the vacation home and the home is not ready. If the guests are showing up at the proper time, not being able to enter the home after a day of traveling is the wrong way to start the vacation! In this case a reasonable compensation to the guests could be taking them to do their grocery shopping while they wait for the home to be prepared or even paying for a meal at a local restaurant. If the pool area is ready but the cleaners are still working inside the home, perhaps bring them to the pool to relax while the cleaners finish would be nice. There are many ways to compensate someone for their troubles.
Guest should be refunded anytime something is not working that they paid extra for:
An example of this would be pool heat in the Orlando market. Most owners and management companies charge guest an extra fee to have the pool heater turned on. Guest do understand that things break, but when they paid extra for the service or items and they do not work, they will rightly so want a refund. This is a major problem in Orlando since during the winter months we may have a few cold fronts of weather that the residential pool heaters will not perform well. In this case the pool heater did not break but it did not perform to the guest expectations.
The main thing owners and property managers can do to help is properly educating the guest about their expectations and the property they are staying at. Most guests understand poor weather affects swimming pool temperatures and that the owner still had higher cost running the pool heater, so perhaps partial refund is reasonable for the days the weather was very cold and the pool was too cold to swim. Every property owner needs to decide what is best for them. At Florida Spirit Vacation Homes we do not charge guests extra for pool heating. After eight years in business we know many guest will be disappointed at times with the pool heaters, so we offer it free of charge and explain upfront to customers why. We at Florida Spirit saw the pool heaters as a potential ongoing customer service concern and looked for a proactive solution.
Florida Spirit Vacation Homes do pay the owners for the pool heaters use since the utility cost is higher for them. We decided years ago that we would rather make less money on the winter month bookings and have happy guest wanting to return again. Now Florida Spirit is not the cheapest rentals in town so we can afford to do this. We offer a very high standard of vacation homes and an equally high standard of property management services which people see the exceptional value in. Orlando is a brutally competitive accommodation market with vacation homes, condos, timeshares and thousands of hotel rooms for guest to choose from, so Florida Spirit is always watching our rental rates to make sure we are desirable.
Please share your ideas and thoughts to help everyone better service the rental guest that come through the vacation homes and make our market place continue to grow as a great option for families to stay in while in the Orlando area!
Leave a comment