Lay My Hat

I think if you are going to offer instant booking it should be just that - people will have their booking confirmed, make the deposit arrange other stuff related to the holiday. I would be furious if the booking was subsequently cancelled simply because it was inconvenient.

Thanks for the heads-up. So, just as the all important tourist industry is struggling to recover from a brutal 18 months, the government has come up with a pointless, bureaucratic way of making us have to spend yet more money.

I think they are essentially the same reply. Yes you can re-let after you have cleaned and prepared. As you say, due to covid this is more than just a quick change of linen, clean of the kitchen and bathroom and a bit of a hoover. Given that, they are unlikely to get much of a refund if you do re-le...

They've started their stay and have now left for 'family reasons'. If that was me, I certainly wouldn't expect a refund. Last year I had to cancel a big holiday to Mexico for health reasons (it was before covid!). As I hadn't got round to taking out insurance I didn't expect (nor get) any refund and...

We asked our internet provider to turn off the internet but keep everything in place in return for paying a small monthly fee. They have been able to switch it back on instantly when we then got a booking.

We started 2020 with what looked like another great year with lots of bookings and then, yes, it felt like every day there was another cancellation. By about May we realised that there were a number of people who hadn't cancelled. Bookings picked up, lots of French, Dutch, Scandinavians and Germans....

In a number of my promotional e-mails I receive I've noticed that some hotel chains are actively promoting their cleaning and check-in standards and protocols in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Airbnb have also contacted us with their cleaning guidelines and will be launching their Airbnb Enhance...

Although my experience is here in Spain, many of these companies are international. I spoke to our internet providers and they have put us on hold for a set fee of 4 euros a month. It meant that they haven't taken away the router and so on and we can switch the service back on at 24 hours notice. It...

I would agree. Properties registered as tourist accommodation with the local Junta should be covered by this. However, there does seem to be a little bit of making it up as they go along with the powers that be.

I just wish that the 'authorities' would come up with rules and guidelines - along the lines that restaurants and any people involved in food handling have - that we would have to sign up to. Restaurants don't have to invent their own rules to prevent food poisoning and are inspected and fined for v...

We too have summer bookings and I think they are hoping to travel but are waiting to see what happens. As are we to be honest. One observation about the domestic Spanish market. I have found from experience that they tend to book much more last minute - especially locally. The number of call over th...

Just managed to wave goodbye to our last guests, an American couple who were on stage one of their European tour but ended up trapped in our apartment while they tried to work out a way of getting back to Boston. Water heater unplugged, fridge off, lights on a timer, some clothes strategically left ...

We too are on Google maps but don't pay to advertise. I just simply added our website that I used Promotemyplace to produce (all very easy to set up and manage). I then added photos that I have and hey presto, out of the blue two sets of previous guests reviewed it without any prompting from me. Wha...

Glad it went well Brewster. After our experience, one year on, I can hardly remember it happening and everything is back to normal (well, you know, apart from the usual stuff!).
Communication and honesty is always the key.

Agreed with above. We set out to create what we wanted when on holiday but it's also useful to talk to friends. I had no idea that a make-up mirror and full-length mirror were so essential. When choosing things you need to think about what would happen if: a cup and saucer were broken out of a set; ...