Managing Your Rental Guests What is the one thing everyone will do on a vacation in a cottage? I mean everyone….from the tiniest baby to great grandma? They will do it, not once, but every single day of their holiday. They will sleep! And since they are on vacation, they would hope that it will be a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed in attractive surroundings with good pillows and clean bedding. In my view this is a right that every paying vacationer has, and one they also have the right to complain about should the standards not be high. Have you ever been to a cheap hotel where the mattress has been a solid lump, the pillows even harder, and the tacky bedspread had ever such a slight whiff of other people? I’m sure we’ve all had that experience. My thoughts are usually along the lines of, ‘Well, at least we only had to stay one night, and it was cheap after all’. I would never want my cottage guests to feel like that. Would you? I’ve heard owners say, "It’s just a cottage…people don’t expect top of the range mattresses…they come here for the waterfront, not the beds…..I can’t afford to buy new….." And my favourite was said proudly, "I’ve just bought a new mattress for home, so I’m taking the old one up to the cottage. It’s a really good one". That ‘really good mattress’ was over 15 years old. Yes, there is a substantial expense involved. Good mattresses don’t come cheap. But, having bought them, they should give you many years of service, and happy guests. The greatest compliment I get in my cottage guest book is, "I slept so well". Take a candid look at the bedrooms in your cottage. Are you 100% satisfied that your guests will be 100% satisfied? Do the beds look attractive, feel comfortable, and most importantly, will stand the test of close inspection? If not, give some serious thought to replacing them. You might also want to check out my post on bed bugs. That too, gives some food for thought.
