Lay My Hat

Hi there, my T&C's are pretty watertight, if you PM me with your email address, I'd be happy to ping them over!

Hi guys, I live in Sardinia but am going back to the UK for Xmas and thought I'd just see if anyone would be interested in a home-swap? Ideally UK just so I don't have to organise friends and flights, but might be open to other locations It's my own home which I don't use for rentals, 50m from the s...

Oh God, change agents! To me (an agent), guests are extremely important but my owners even more so... a guest stays for a few weeks whereas a good agent should work for several months a year over several years with an owner. They should be flexible, help you get the best deal, listen to you and look...

Hi Bessie, So sorry to hear that! Did the agency take a DD, and will they compensate you if so? I also run an agency and have never heard of agencies booking in other names... if they're legit the paperwork all needs to have their correct details on it and they would be very dodgy indeed to try and ...

Pamski... I started reading your post and was trying to picture guests in ski boots in the Med, but the firework story MIGHT just have been what happened with my guests! Would it be too rude to email them now, 4 years later and ask if that's what really happened? I'd love to know!

I'm not sure "buy cheap, buy twice" applies to loos and sinks... they all seem to last just as long whether they cost a fortune or were relatively cheap (except the cheap loo seats which can break but are cheap to replace with a more expensive, robust one) If you like the way it looks, go ...

sjde, it's one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions It depends on how well a villa normally books up, the time of year and the price. If it's a popular villa in August, I say less than a week. Although overall the season has been really busy, this September has been SO bad f...

I had that in July! The guests claimed the wind that blew over the umbrella they had put up and left outside unattended on a windy day was an act of God so according to them they couldn't be charged!

I'll discount if it's a long stay or, if they're booking relatively last minute for under-occupancy I tend to find about 10% of guests ask for my "best price"... not necessarily because they're expecting a discount but because if you don't ask, you don't get. My standard reply is that I'll...

Mouse, are you a mind reader? Have been thinking about this a lot lately... I have just 5 properties I describe as "luxury". All include daily maid service, some a chef, all are worth several million on the real estate market, all have brand new kitchens, bathrooms, designer furniture and ...

There's other little niggly things that have been bothering me for a while. The wall next to the sink was very dirty too, all at the same height and going round the corner to the hallway. It took 2 minutes for me to clean up, but why hadn't she done it. I need tact and diplomacy though, as I don't ...

FC the voice of reason!

Thank you ladies... I'm assuming you're ladies, I might be wrong :D Pepsipuss, I've always worked on the basis that "abnormal cleaning" = extra charge. However, I've slowly come to realise that some people have VERY different ideas of what constitutes "normal". My cleaners are th...

Okay, this summer I've had to charge twice for additional cleaning (if it's only an extra hour or two, I pay the cleaners out of my own pocket, so these are the MAJOR messes) and twice for rubbish disposal. On both occasions I charged for rubbish guests had stayed 2 weeks (1 group of 6 and 1 group o...

Probably only helpful to those in Italy but I swear by a little bottle of a product called "smacchio tutto" Apply directly to the dry stain, leave 10 minutes and wash. Gone! Blood, biro, red wine, mascara (do people really remove mascara with their white hand towels at home?!?), coffee.. t...