Question for owners who rent out villas/apartments

[Cosetta]

Peter Wilka, our rental price is more than 1000 / week and we have never had either damage to bedding or towels caused by renters, but our towels are not white (I had thought of buying some white ones, no longer after reading this thread !).  Our sheets are very expensive luxury Italian bedding, never had a problem except with the Pirat laundry that used bleach in the water, thus removing the blue embroidery in the edging of one set.

But after reading this thread, I will buy some less expensive sheets and keep to colored towels !

Our experience is the contrary to your comment:  our clients are reasonably well off and we have not had any renters who were disrespectful of our property.  One teenage girl broke an antique Japanese vase while texting on her phone, the parents paid for it.  And a couple of glasses were broken over the past 3 years.  The renters offered to pay for them but it was a pittance so we declined their offer.

[pw]

As I said, just my theory!

[kalkanbelle]

I just wanted to add that the majority of our guests are usually very careful and do respect our property.  The breakages we had last year were basically due to carelessness and accidents by a small number of guests so I think we were just unlucky.  For example - overfilling the washing machine so that the motor burn out and the drum was buckled so cheaper to buy a new one than fix it.  The dishwasher was ruined because people had not stacked glasses properly and they broke and the bits got into the mechanism - again it was cheaper to get a new one.  The water chiller was knocked over and smashed - apparently an accident?  The air con units were on 24/7 for 2 weeks and literally burnt out.  The CD player was left outside in the pouring rain and I can only hazard a guess as to how the sunbeds got broken    We don't normally have so many things go wrong in one year and it's usually just small repairs and broken glasses etc.  So to anyone thinking of renting out I hope it doesn't put you off but you do have to accept that there is always a risk that some folk may not be as careful as you might wish them to be.

[lilly]

Last year we rented to two young couples. One of them splashed red nail polish on the bedroom wall. They phoned us and told us how  sorry they were and then they paid someone to repaint the entire wall. However, some other renters broke into our lockup cupboard and drank two bottles of our champagne, must not have liked the gin or the whisky! x H

[Skunk]

Hi Maryjane - thanks for your post and totally agree - hunt to do the best you can to replace any breakages and own up to any fatal mistakes!   

[Legionaire]

My theory, for what it's worth.................
The wealthier the client, the less respect they have for property - their own or others'. After all if they break or lose some thing  they can generally afford to simply replace/upgrade and if the broken/lost item happens to belong to someone else, they will automatically assume the owner will do the same. So it doesn't surprise me to read that a £1000 a week rental property is not treated with the respect the owner would expect.

I think joe public in general though (particularly the type of person/family that prefers to self cater in a more upmarket resort) will take more care of other peoples' stuff and would be horrified if something was accidentally was broken......I would go further and suggest that the majority of owners will never know about minor breakages because many guests will  replace glasses/crockery etc.

PW

Sorry PW
What a load of rubbish, only wealthy people damage properties?
Not having respect for other peoples goods has nothing to do with how much money you have!
More likely it is down to a lack of moral fibre and accountability.
Must be loads of wealthy people where I live with all the rubbish laying around, fly tipping, graffiti, vandalised bus shelters.
You would have thought they would have more sense with already paying 40% tax..........