|
|
Post by High Priestess on Oct 30, 2016 17:47:14 GMT
This is an issue that would not apply to Airbnb guests, since Airbnb guests have paid Airbnb for their stay and their reservation doesn't get booked until they pay the FULL amount due.
But for those of you who may at times have guests who book with you directly, say via another short term rental platform -- I offer here a dilemma for you to consider.
What would you do if --- you had a guest with whom you'd communicated, who had arranged to stay at your listing, on a last-minute basis, and who said they would arrive that day or the next day with cash in hand to pay for the stay. Then, when the guest arrived, they didn't have the total amount of payment due, for one reason or another. It might be because they didn't realize it in advance but the ATM machine would not give them more than a certain amount of cash. Or, they didn't have time to stop at the ATM or bank. Or, they ended up spending more than anticipated on X, and so they dont' have the full amount of cash for you.
What would YOU do???
|
|
|
|
Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Oct 30, 2016 18:03:26 GMT
I've been very lucky with guests (recent situation excluded) and for the most part, any guest that is going to pay on arrival is a returning guest or a referral through a good guest. I've usually had some communication with them and feel pretty good about the type of guest that they will be. So I'd take the partial payment and the balance within 24 hours, to let them figure out how to come up with the money. After 24 hours had passed and no payment, I'd probably let them know that the booking will be canceled if the balance is not paid. I use electronic key pads in most of my places, so I could easily enough change/delete the code, forcing them to see me in person to be allowed to re-access the house.
|
|
|
|
Post by High Priestess on Oct 30, 2016 18:12:25 GMT
That's interesting Maria that that would be your choice, as that is exactly the way I handled a recent situation like this and it turned out fine.
I had a guest who actually contacted me while I was on my 5-day vacation up on the North Coast in Mendocino. She was staying at another place in my area which had turned out to be a problematic rental -- the AIrbnb listing had said they were seeking a quiet guest, but the place was NOT quiet, as it had other renters who were noisy later at night. So, she had been given my contact info by another guest I'd recently had, and she contacted me directly to stay at my house. She wanted to arrive the same day I was returning from my vacation, which I was a little nervous about, since this meant arriving home earlier in the evening than would be ideal, and it also meant that the first thing I'd be doing when arriving home from vacation, would be cleaning a room (I'd had a guest depart while I was away...I'd have to clean that room pronto on arrival back).
I accepted her to stay, and she said she'd be paying cash on arrival. But when she arrived at 7pm that evening, she had only $50 out of the total $358 that was due (including $150 security deposit that I require for those booking direct). She explained that she'd ended up going out to eat and hadn't been able to stop at the bank, and said she'd pay the rest tomorrow. I allowed this because I trusted her -- it helped that she personally knew the other guest I'd had -- and in fact she did pay the remainder due, on the following day. I wouldn't allow this with just anyone but in this case my gut sense was to trust her and it worked out fine.
|
|
|
|
Post by bsuze on Oct 30, 2016 19:31:21 GMT
I would do if it was a recommendation from a previous guest or friend.
|
|
|
|
Post by maria on Oct 30, 2016 23:49:31 GMT
I would also accept balance of payment by next day; only because she was recommended by another guest. Deborah is right, sometimes you must follow your gut sense.
|
|
|
|
Post by cc on Oct 31, 2016 0:36:49 GMT
I did that with the young guy I just recently tossed. After answering an ad for a monthly rental, he said he wanted to pay weekly. I gave him a receipt showing he had paid through a week's time. He looked kind of stunned, since he had indicated he'd like to stay forever. However, when he turned out to be a loud, inconsiderate, inappropriate person, who among many other things, left dirty dishes in the sink on day one--that weekly pay thing worked against him, because he had absolutely "no paper" to stay a minute longer, and he was outta there.
|
|
|
|
Post by helgaparis on Oct 31, 2016 18:38:07 GMT
Before airbnb, I had such situations regularly.
Sometimes it was the deposit: we asked foreigners to transfer the rent 1 month in advance but offered to hand over the damage deposit in their currency, to avoid double exchange fees. Some forgot it and had to get it out of a machine. That being a local machine, some had to find their bank first (Americans mostly). It's annoying to haund them, ask them daily or wait when they pass. One took so long that we just said: let's do a check of the apartment and if you did not destroy it in the first two thirds of your stay, we trust you for the rest. Worked fine.
French guests often asked to pay in part payments. That was common and relatively easy: we asked for several checks and cashed them as agreed upon, the deposit check sent back a few days after departure. Never a problem with that.
In the South we had a few, who called the key person after the 30% down payment paid, one even proposing to pay him a bribe for the keys, if he could avoid paying the other 70%. After that, we withheld all codes and phone numbers till the last payment was on our bank account.
In a case like described, I would apply what I learned in the industry: if someone negotiates a price for a truckload and then orders a pallet for testing, he pays the pallet prince including freight. If ever he orders the rest, the trial is credited against the truck load price. We had that twice a week.
Same here: if they have the money in hand for one night, or one week, they pay that at nightly/weekly rate. They don't get it at 1/30 or 1/4 of monthly price. If they come up with the rest, they can stay.
I love the extra argument of the key no longer working. We kept the keys for one of the locks (French doors have several), but remote reprogramming is funny and elegant. ;-)
|
|
