Henry Ford's - Famous Quote

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." –Henry Ford"

Vacation Rental Guest Expectations

Oh the wonderful world of vacation rental ownership.  It's getting more complicated and harder to meet guest expectations.

Why is it becoming harder?  It's because guests expect a vacation rental to be up to hotel standards.  Sometimes this can be easy and sometimes this can be difficult.   

As owner of an authentic hand crafted historical cottage rental I find that it's either a love or hate relationship my guests have with my cottage rental.  

One set of guests will say that they didn't like the cottage and were disappointed in the state of the cottage and then I get another set of guest who arrive the very same day and say the cottage is so very cute and looks even better than the video or photo that I sent to them.   

I suspect that such a big shift from one set of guests to another set of guests is that each set of guest has different  expectations. 

Also this huge swing in likes and dislikes derives from the guests not reading the description or studying the videos or photos carefully enough. 

Guests expect a circa 1871 cottage to be blemish free.  You'd be surprised what guests complain about. At times it's laughable.  They complain about the floors having small holes (this is where the knotty pine has been exposed) I find this quite charming and authentic.  

I have an old gas stove that's at least 70 years old that is  now left in the kitchen and is being used to store pots and pans and can be used to rest pots and tea kettles while cooking. 

I didn't have the heart to part with it. When I first purchased my vacation rental in 1988  I used to cook on this wonderful old antique stove.  

I decided to not let my guests use this gas stove and had the gas disconnected since not all guests are comfortable cooking with gas. 

So I disconnected the stove and am using it as an antique piece while my guests use an electrical cook top.  

When I move back into the cottage I plan on continuing to cook on  my gas stove and will have it hooked up again to a gas source.  

There are so many other things I could share with you and will, but for now this is good enough.   

I'd love to hear from you and hear about your experiences of owning an historical vacation rental and what your guests complain about and how you've educated them.  

Happy Investing

Maria Rekrut