I've just heard from our housekeeper who says that the guests who have just left have clearly smoked inside the property, not just downstairs but in the bedrooms too and that everything reeks of it
He has done his best to clear the smell during the changeover but we have other guests arriving. I have contacted the new guests to apologise in advance and explain as it is advertised as a strictly non smoking property. I know I certainly wouldn't be happy if I booked a no smoking property to find it smelt of tobacco smoke!
I now need to contact the offenders to say that some of their security deposit will be withheld for extra cleaning and dry cleaning of curtains etc but the difficulty is that with other guests already in the house its impossible to do this at the moment.
Normally we would refund straight away and no later than 10 days but in this instance I propose to tell them that the deposit will be retained for longer but not sure how to word it without being too confrontational? They have already contacted me to ask for the money to be returned.
Presumably you already know the cost of the extra cleaning, so can you talk to your dry cleaners and get a quotation on how much that will be, figure the time it will take to get the curtains down and back up and then withhold from the security deposit accordingly?
You may not have incurred these costs yet, but it seems to me that you can reasonably anticipate what they will be. If the costs end up being more than what you anticipated (and what you withheld) then you would have to take that loss; if the costs end up being less, then you can refund any remaining at that time.
For a quick fix, I find the plug in air fresheners work really well and spraying Febreze or equivalent on all the soft furnishings. I would do this even if the new guests have already arrived as I suspect it will really spoil their stay otherwise.
Funny how the ones who cause problems are the ones who want their security deposit back quickly isn't it? I fear trouble however you word it!
Just last week I stayed in a Premier Inn room in Bristol which stank of smoke the moment we stepped in (the whole hotel is supposed to be non-smoking). I immediately went back down to reception to say I wasn't happy, only they couldn't move us to another room. They could look to see if they could move us to another hotel, but it was getting late and we had children to get to bed, so we just 'made do', opened windows (they all only open so far), left the door open, etc. Next morning, I implemented their 'good night guarantee' and got a full refund, but I'd sooner have paid and had a smoke-free room to sleep in.
Good luck with the no doubt inevitable "no, we didn't smoke inside, it must just be from our clothes" response...
The most we can do is to include a pre agreed smoking penalty fee within our t&cs to at least try to cover the cleaning costs. We try to ensure that our guests have read and signed our t&cs before we send out the final keys arrangements etc but we're never quite sure how many actually do? But this would not even look at the costs if a guest were to point blank refuse to occupy the property or left early due to previous guests selfishness. Where any of us actualy stand legally re our t&cs is another matter?
harcourtv57 wrote:They have already contacted me to ask for the money to be returned.
Cos they know there is going to be an issue with it.
I would reply back with the facts and tell them you will be holding on to all their security bond until such time as final costs are known which may be xx weeks time.
Then fix tin hat firmly on head and stand your ground.
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
KC thats exactly what happened to us last time we stayed in a hotel in London - they insisted it was a no smoking room but there were even cigarette burns on the windowsill!
Well I've told them that we will be witholding monies for extra cleaning and may also need to for dry cleaning soft furnishings and waiting for the response. We trust our housekeeper implicitly but as we are abroad at the moment haven't been able to check it out for ourselves. Its always more difficult arguing the case 'second hand'!
For safety reasons and for the comfort of future tenants, smoking is not allowed inside the house. No pets. Smoking within the house or pets anywhere on the premises will result in immediate termination of occupancy and forfeiture of all payments.
To date, I've never had to use it, and I'm not sure if I would be able to get away with charging £200 for the smell of smoke in the house after guests have left, but I hope it's worded sufficiently strongly to deter people from flaunting the rules. In fact it's just occurred to me that I ought to add a line that they should contact us immediately if they smell stale tobacco on arrival - that way they wouldn't be able to claim it wasn't them after the event.
Big Sis.. wrote:
Yep agree with those whove said, the ones in the wrong are the ones who quickly ask for the deposit back, its a real sign to me.
That's definitely a truism, everytime someone asks for their deposit back quickly (we usually post within 24hrs) they've left a problem at the house. I think they assume because we don't live in the area that we don't do the changeovers & think they'll get in quick before I speak to the cleaners.
I’ve just posted my own post regarding security deposits as at present we don’t take on “Stupid I know” today the cleaner also informed us that the guests had been smoking amongst a mountain of other things – including breaking into the storage and using 2 months worth of logs, How do you work out a security deposit amount is it a % of the cost or a standard fee to be refunded once all is clear !!!!!
Just a thought, from 21-years-experience caretaking in France, my own & other people's property: how can you prove that guests smoked indoors?
If you can't, be prepared for legal action if you retain deposit money, that's the suing culture these days
I fear trouble however you word it!
