More guest than booked

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rotaman
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More guest than booked

Post by rotaman »

I got a booking for guest that arrived on a friday for 3 nights, booked through our letting agency, the booking was for 10 guest,
I have a security camera installed a couple of months ago for the security, any way guest started to arrive and by the evening
14 people had arrived some carrying pillows and duvet, the guest don't leave till monday morning, there 4 women in the
group, Has anyone had any members had this problem before and what can be done about it.
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newtimber
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by newtimber »

Why are you spying on your guests?

Holiday Cottage renting is a business activity and so subject to GDPR regulations and you have to be registered. See https://dataprivacymanager.net/five-ste ... veillance/

If you complied with this, then it depends on the reason you gave for the camera.

Most UK holiday let owners wouldn't dream of spying on guests arriving and would use camera footage only in the case of criminal damage, theft etc

Ignorance is far better and you can sleep without worrying. If there are complaints, go round and see all the people and take action. If they damage the property, then you can charge them; if they leave the property in reasonable condition, what have you lost?
J B
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by J B »

newtimber wrote: Sun Nov 06, 2022 5:58 pm
Ignorance is far better ..................
That's my take on it.

If they've broken the terms of their booking, they can't complain if something goes wrong.
If they leave and all is good, what's the problem?
rotaman
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by rotaman »

It's alright saying 'ignorance is far better' Act dumb is what your saying, the house has beds for 10 people, it was booked for
10 people, it insured for 10 people only, what if some one got injured or worse, or the house got trashed
I have one camera covering the entrance to the property, and i have been told by other holiday let owners that some guest
arrive in electric cars and hooking up to the house electrics to charge their car the first day of arrival and the night before
they leave ...... all this caught on camera.
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newtimber
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by newtimber »

If you are in the holiday let business, you are in hospitality business, which is a people business.

This business isn't for everyone and your posts would suggest that you maybe you aren't suited for it. Your business depends on the guests feeling welcome and happy staying with you. If you distrust your guests and monitor their every movement, I don't think they are going to feel comfortable and you're not going to enjoy them staying and be stressed the whole time.

You have the guest numbers in your terms and conditions which are agreed by the renter. Similarly the EV charging should be listed.

As I said before, you need to comply with GDPR regulations and inform the guests about camera usage and there has to be a reasonable need for it.

Guests could leave the house with the hob on heating a full pan of oil. Are you going to put a camera in the kitchen and spy on them to make sure they don't do this?
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CSE
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by CSE »

Newtimber has almost the same thoughts as me.
I would add we once had a huge discussions about electric vehicles on this forum. There will be more than the example link below
viewtopic.php?t=28201
It does come under a h&S issue. You could get a group of mountain bikers which have electric assist motors. Maybe the same issue?
If you are remote from the property then you are not going to be able to control what the guests does.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
Drax
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by Drax »

I agree with the comments from Newtimber and others about 'spying' on guests.
We live a few hundred yards from our holiday let and apart from putting the dustbins out for collection I make a conscious effort to avoid walking past the holiday let when we have guests, so that we are not seeing to be checking on our holiday makers.
With regard to guest's electric vehicles using the electricity supply of the holiday I would advise holiday let owners to first check with their insurers to ensure they are covered.
Last year I had an electric vehicle charger installed at our holiday let, then afterwards I realised I had not informed my insurance
company (Schofields). I duly informed them and was told that under no circumstances would they cover any damage to the guests' vehicles, the house and contents or injury to guests using the vehicle charger. The same applies also to guests using the ordinary electric domestic supply socket.
Not only have I written this into my Terms and Conditions., I also verbally inform any guest with an electric vehicle that they must not use the holiday let electricity supply to charge up their vehicles.
Keep your powder dry.
rotaman
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by rotaman »

The camera was put up for the safety of the front entrance to the property also cover for the guest vehicles 'up to 4 cars' in the driveway, there no cameras in the house or in the back garden, the camera only see the arrive and departure of guest, the cleaners, the postman, and if there is any intruders,
If Newtimber has a holiday let with a booking of 6 adults and 10 adults arrive on the day with duvets pillows and a camp beds and stay for 3 nights and your happy with that then there not a lot i want to say ..... but thats not me and my camera is staying.
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CSE
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by CSE »

I think you are missing the what NT's has raised.
The camera can stay. You can give all the excuses you want for the installation. Even if they do not stack up.
However, you have to conform the the laws regarding that installation .
Just in case here is the UK governments website on how to conform to those laws.
https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-your ... using-cctv
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
newtimber
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by newtimber »

You asked the question about what to do with more guests than booked and the answer should be in your terms and conditions. You need to tell them that you have a camera monitoring their arrival, (and have a sign up at the property) and if the guest numbers are exceeded then you reserve the right to ...

You can look at various agency terms and conditions and see what they say about over occupancy.

The agent who got you the booking presumably has made guests agree of your terms when they booked or has their own standard terms and conditions.

What do you want to happen?
rotaman
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by rotaman »

CSE the security camera I put up near the entrance inti the house is a 'door bell with camera'
I have since put up a cctv warning sign, Saturday morning 12th November at 6:25am my phone ping that tells me someone is walking towards the door entrance 'we had no guests staying at the house, on checking the camera App on the phone I watch a man walk up the drive completely out of it either drunk or high on drugs, he walked past the camera his eyes closed and went out of sight,
At 7:20am he reappeared walked past the camera face on the brick wall completely out of it, after a couple of minutes he walked down the drive and off,
I recommend anyone to get a cctv camera for peace of mind.
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CSE
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by CSE »

Thankfully I live in a country where such anti social behaviour is not a norm. Plus adding CCTV to any location means a lot of hoops have to be gone through. Thus spying on guests is not allowed.
Don't forget to make the CCTV part of your T&Cs which compliance with UK privacy laws. Good luck.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
newtimber
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by newtimber »

rotaman wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 9:13 pm I recommend anyone to get a cctv camera for peace of mind.
For a domestic property, that's fine. https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/do ... sing-cctv/. For a business which self-catering is, the regulations are far more onerous and more difficult to justify. How did knowing you had a drunk wandering up the drive and going away again help you in any way? If you're worried about break-ins, get a burglar alarm which will tell you if they have actually broken the law. Wandering up someone's driveway whilst drunk is not illegal.
Yorkshire Lass
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by Yorkshire Lass »

Drax wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 1:32 pm I agree with the comments from Newtimber and others about 'spying' on guests.
We live a few hundred yards from our holiday let and apart from putting the dustbins out for collection I make a conscious effort to avoid walking past the holiday let when we have guests, so that we are not seeing to be checking on our holiday makers.
With regard to guest's electric vehicles using the electricity supply of the holiday I would advise holiday let owners to first check with their insurers to ensure they are covered.
Last year I had an electric vehicle charger installed at our holiday let, then afterwards I realised I had not informed my insurance
company (Schofields). I duly informed them and was told that under no circumstances would they cover any damage to the guests' vehicles, the house and contents or injury to guests using the vehicle charger. The same applies also to guests using the ordinary electric domestic supply socket.
Not only have I written this into my Terms and Conditions., I also verbally inform any guest with an electric vehicle that they must not use the holiday let electricity supply to charge up their vehicles.
This is an interesting point re the invalidation of insurance for use of either ordinary domestic power points or EV charging points at holiday lets. Does anyone have a bit of wording to cover this in their terms and conditions that they’d be willing for me to copy/use?
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Drax
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Re: More guest than booked

Post by Drax »

Yorkshire Lass wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 4:18 pm
Drax wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 1:32 pm
This is an interesting point re the invalidation of insurance for use of either ordinary domestic power points or EV charging points at holiday lets. Does anyone have a bit of wording to cover this in their terms and conditions that they’d be willing for me to copy/use?
I have sent you a PM.
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