Guests can cause all kinds of trouble in a vacation rental. From stealing to damaging furniture, the inevitable can always happen.
Have you ever wondered what you would as a host in a particular situation?
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Tips on How to Deal with Difficult Guests:
When you open your door to strangers, you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes things don’t go exactly to plan, but you can never predict how guests will act and be. However, what you can do is know how to deal with difficult guests. Here are our top tips:
1. Keep Calm and Carry on
When dealing with difficult guests you should keep calm and carry on. It’s not a good idea to get angry at the guests or show emotions. You are the vacation rental business owner after all, and you need to stay professional. Take a deep breath, don’t raise your voice and always address your guests in a calm manner. Getting mad never solves anything!
2. Don’t Take it Personally
If guests caused damage or trouble in your vacation rental, don’t take it personally. As hard as it may be, don’t let it get to you emotionally. The guests didn’t cause all this to intentionally hurt you. They are just difficult guests and shouldn’t be allowed to stay in vacation rentals at all.
3. Think Twice Before Giving them a Second Chance
If a guest was difficult, e.g. they smoked in your rental when they weren’t supposed to, and after some time they book with you again, think twice before allowing them to stay again. Determine whether you really can trust them and if it’s worth the money. Even if the guest has apologized, have a good think about it. What if they cause more damage this time than the previous time? It may not be worth it letting them stay again.
4. Turn the Negatives into the Positives
Take this opportunity to seek feedback from your guests. Perhaps your guests were unsatisfied with the service you provided or feel that the price didn’t match the experience. Whatever the reason behind their behavior and actions, try and find out why and use it in the future.
Although sometimes there is no reason to justify their actions, but you can take other measures. For example, if your guests smoked, install a smoke detector alarm. That way, next time guests smoke in your rental, they’ll have an unpleasant loud sound to listen to and won’t light up again.
5. Plan Ahead
There are many measures you can take even before your guests have arrived. Implement the following before any damage is done:
- House rules
- Inventory checklist
- Having insurance
- Screening the guests before check-in
- Rental agreement
- Damage deposit
Giving people you don’t know the leeway to stay at your property is always a risk. Remember that minor problems such as noise or small accidents can always arise. You can never know what’s going to happen with each guest, you just need to be prepared beforehand.
