Lay My Hat

Hi All,
We have had several booking requests that are clearly for a number of contractors looking to share accomodation. One was looking for a month booking (in Feb) and the other an instant booking via OD which we refused for next week. Thats over £2k of income when we are empty in the winter.

We are conserned about potential damage from a group of men staying who will have been (from the sounds of it) digging trenches. We have finished our property to a high standard and a good quality holiday home.

Does anyone else have experience of taking or not taking these sorts of bookings? Are we being too precious? We do take a £100 damage deposit.

Thanks in advance

Why are they likely to cause more damage than say a family with uncontrollable kids? I don't see how you can stereotype potential renters like that.

I was a contractor for just over 20 years, although in IT not digging trenches. Finding temporary accommodation could be difficult and expensive sometimes.

Hi Kev

I accept your point. The first request was for 5 men staying, we are really a 4+1 with a double, twin and pull out bed. Only a single bathroom. The company was looking for 26 beds and seeing how many we could take. Not really the market we are after.

Regards

Hi ianh100
I've had accepted several contractor bookings out of season. I've never had any major problems or damage, in fact, they have left it better than when I have young children in.

The issues I have encountered are:

They do not like to share a room, so you can usually only sleep as many as your bedrooms.

They will all be wanting to shower at the same time, so you need to ensure that you have enough hot water to cope.

They will use considerably more gas/elec than a 'holiday' rental. It is not unusual for them to bring lots of additional electrical equipment including TVs/games consoles etc and set up each bedroom up as a mini bedsit.

They will all be doing their washing/drying in small individual loads so the laundry facilities get a hammering.

Be prepared for the oven to be hammered.

Need to check how many vehicles. They often have large vans.

I wouldn't offer any discounts because your overheads WILL be higher.

I would try it once to see how you get on as all of the above can apply to any let. They can be good bookings in winter.

Thanks Bunny
Your cautions are useful, we only have one bathroom and one parking space so not sure how that would work. On the heating front we did have someone staying on business for a couple of weeks last winter, he left the heating on 28 deg 24x7 for 2 weeks, as our heating is all electric I don't think we made much profit at all that week.

ianh100 wrote:he left the heating on 28 deg 24x7 for 2 weeks, as our heating is all electric I don't think we made much profit at all that week.

Yes, that's another problem. I guess they get so cold working during the day that they like it warm in the evenings. When I went in to change the beds I noticed all the thermostats had been turned up to 25 degrees. What gets me is that they will be lounging in T shirts and if it were summer they would be complaining it was too hot at 25 degrees indoors. My current contractor guests are using nearly 3 times the energy consumption than my worst ever recorded winter usage. I usually give a maximum weekly allowance for contractor bookings but forgot in this instance and it's costing me dearly.

I forgot another issue:

Almost all of them will be chain smokers. Even if you do not allow smoking in the cottage (which I don't), their clothes will reek and it will impregnate the whole cottage. When I went to change the beds this week it was very unpleasant for a non smoker and my nose was irritated all the while I was in there. I've got a same day changeover when they leave, so that is going to be a problem. So something else to bear in mind i.e. leave at least a day between bookings to air the place.

Having read all of the above, it doesn't now seem such an attractive proposition does it? The benefit is that companies will pay the rate and not ask for a monthly price because it is still much cheaper and more comfortable for their employees than paying for hotel rooms. So, it's good money but only if you want/need it.

We had a very positive experience one February. 10 boatbuilders from Germany working at the port in Brest. Brought a housekeeper with them who cooked all their meals and spent the rest of the day cleaning.

Bunny wrote: What gets me is that they will be lounging in T shirts and if it were summer they would be complaining it was too hot at 25 degrees indoors.

Very apt. I don't think they've snook any women in yet though (not on this occasion anyway)!