One of the biggest arguments my business partner (Wife) and I have is about communications; in particular about linens. Lets just start by saying if you have a vacation rental of any kind you will replace certain things from time to time. I wont even go into washcloths and makeup except to say DO NOT buy expensive white washcloths.
The problem with communication and the linens…
If she finds a unit is missing linens she will temporally replace the missing linens with what we stock as “loaners” (Her words not mine). We spend hundreds of dollars on linens each year so that does not seem to be loaners to me. A loan implies a temporary exchange, yes? The reason it is loan is because housekeeping sometimes forgets linens in the wash machine, under the sink, between there ears, you get the point. So she makes sure each unit has enough linens by “loaning” the unit our lines. Since it is temporary “a loan” she does not feel the need to let me know so I can let the customer know. She does not want to bother a customer over a temporary situation. Now time marches on and we (She) forgets which units have received “loaner” linens. Now we (Me) have to confront a disgruntled customer asking where there linens are and why the linens they have do not match. Aarrrgggg!!! Admittedly most customers understand linens come up missing over time and just ask how many do we need, but every once in a while we will get a few at the same time that are not particularly happy.
So you ask what happened to the customers original towels? Your guess is as good as mine. I am sure sometimes guest take them home either on purpose or accident but most of the time I am sure they are left on the beach. Taking a five dollar towel back after throwing back a few six packs is not the first thing on ones mind once the mind is gone.
We have bought more than our fair share of linens so I absolutely understand owners getting upset when things come up missing. That said if you are in the business of renting your property out to people you do not know, know that you will end loosing a certain amount of small items, towels being the main one. Don’t let this dissuade you from renting your property out. It is common to loose small items such as towels and glasses but never have we found an expensive item come up missing.
These carpets were very heavily soiled. Honestly I did not expect results like this. Simply amazing. The video from my phone does not do it justice but none the less still impressive. Normally I would use the Rotovac on carpets this bad but not on Berber.
We some how missed a cleaning on Saturday July 2, yes the Fourth of July weekend. We did what well call pushing a unit. This means a customer checks out of a unit today but we push it to another day, generally the next day. This happens often in June and July. We got bit in the butt this time. A customer decided to check in a day early or we put the check in/out dates in the system wrong or the owner gave the incorrect dates. These guest checked in at 9:30 in the evening. Ouch. What do you do when this happens, when it hits the fan? Well we went and cleaned it. It sucked but we did it. This shows a couple of things. It is important for customers to keep check in and out dates up to date. It also showed us that if we are going to push a unit we need to confirm with the customer that this is going to work for them.
When looking for a cleaning company it is important to not only have a company that is going to do a good job but also be there for you when the crap hits the fan no matter whose fault it is. This was the Forth of July weekend so the owner of the unit was not likely to loose the reservation no matter what, but any other day the customer could have simply walked on down the street and stayed somewhere else.
What else can we do for the customer that was inconvenienced. We used to not charge for the cleaning if it was our fault. We now offer a late check out, guest seem to like this more and the owner does not have to go back into the books and write checks for refunds, it is just easier for everyone involved this way. As much as I would like to say we are perfect it just is not the case.
This stain was cleaned for resort destinations last minute on Saturday July 2. When I saw this stain I thought “Black Stain, White Carpet, Not going to come out.” Folks if you get to a stain like this really fast as you can see the results are absolutely incredible.
