Made a mistake at Xmas

[drifting]

I did my usual and did not research on here before going at Xmas. Have to say the last two houses we hired from people on this site were great. However this time my wife made the booking as she wanted to make sure that the house would be big enough to take all our UK Family, and most of my American family. Anyway to cut a very long story short we stayed at STALAG Weston Hills! Quite a nice house, but it was the stupid notes everywhere, don't do this, don't do that, if you do we charge you, type of thing. The worst thing of all was that we asked for a heated pool, it was just off cold, we complained and got told it was on ! Next plastic sheets under every bed, found it hard to sleep with all the rustling. House was freezing cold, and we could not up the temp gauge, as another note pointed out Electricity in Florida is expensive! Good grief they ought to try it here in the UK where we get 8 Months of cold weather (Seems like more just lately, perhaps I'm getting old)

But I think the one that takes the cake was aimed squarely at us Brits, describing how to use the toilet, I kid you not....Ok I know they block easy, we travel to the Florida at least twice a year, my family are also American, and Floridians as well. Told the owners that as well.

So for you American owners, Brits are resonably intelligent, tend to travel quite a bit (That's how you lot got there!) and do know how to use a toilet rather than the bed [:O]

Sorry to blast off, but this ruined our holiday, and has put me of renting from Americans again.

Now positive feedback. We stayed at a fantastic comfortable, warm pooled, warm house last March, everything you could possible want. Dave & Linda (Loma Linda), we'll be back.

Drift

[Nostromo]

It still does not justify the patronising notes, but maybe the owners had a bad experience from their previous tenants....who could have been their fellow countrymen!

[Ray&Sarah]

It might not have been the owners who put the notes up, our previous management company had notes up around our villa which we were not aware about.[msnoo][msnsmile2]

[drifting]

Never thought of that. You could have a point, as another of the many notes also stated that the beds had to be stripped, and the sheets put in the washing machine (Which we did as that incurred another fine) All in all there was not one item that did not have a restriction on it, or some form of fine. In the end we felt like we were intruders rather than guests. We were getting rather wary as we felt a bit like it was revenue generation. We had similar problems in California when my daughter was working there on a research project, all this sudden very fine print charges, bit like buying a car over there, but don't start me on that one..:)

Ranting on about the above so much, even forgot that the owners failed to tell us it backed onto the main road, and traffic noise throughout the night was irritating.

I must sound like a bit of a moaner? But the house was the worst I have ever stayed in, 10 years of flying and staying in Florida.

Not that it's going to stop me, expect I will get itchy feet real soon, and expect my sister will need help moving house in Sept (She's in Heathrow, No the one in Orlando [:o)] )

Drift...

[ctgirlscout]

I must say that we do have some notes up in our villa, and although we are American, it is not aimed at any one nationality. The reason for putting up the notes (ours say "no Smoking", and "do not set thermostat below 70 degrees"), is because a lot of guests don't take the time to read the "house book". So with some of the really important things that could become costly, it makes sense to post a note that will be seen. I would rather have a note on the wall, than have an argument with a guest who cranked the AC down and froze up the unit, and then didn't want to pay for the repair. We also do provide plastic mattress covers, but it is up to the guests to put them on the children's beds if they need them. My guess it that they owner you stayed with, or their management company, had some bad experiences in the past with people clogging the toilets, or playing with the thermostat. I wouldn't take it personally. Even hotels will have signs directing you on what not to do, or how to do something.

[steph_goodrum]

In our "checkout day notes" we ask the guests to strip the beds which have been used and put the sheets in the laundry as it is sometimes difficult for the cleaners to see which have been used and to wash 6 sets of bedlinen when only one or 2 may have been used is an unnecessary waste of time, water and electricity.

We do however try to keep the notices to a minimum and certainly wouldnt dream of "fining" guests - only if damage which is clearly malicious or plainly careless would we ever stop any money from their security deposit.
For instance one friend had a guest staying who decided that with no chip pan available the only way he could have his chips was to pour oil into a shallow baking tray put the chips in to cook and then go off into the pool to play with his children leaving it to catch fire and melt the microwave over the top and other damage. This in our book amounts to negligence and he was lucky the smoke alarms alerted him and it was contained but the whole $200,000 home could easily have been destroyed.

As someone else said though it is sometimes the MC who puts up notices unbeknown to the owners till they arrive with the intention of making their own job as easy as possible.

[christhear]

We have small notes by each loo roll holder requesting people not too put too much paper down the toilet and a small noter above the thermostat explainging how to change from heat to cool. These have been put up my the MC. We also have no smoking signs and the necessary Pool notices. Bur we certainly don't have plastic sheets on the beds. This reminds me of the old fashioned holiday camps.

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by drifting
I did my usual and did not research on here before going at Xmas. Have to say the last two houses we hired from people on this site were great. However this time my wife made the booking as she wanted to make sure that the house would be big enough to take all our UK Family, and most of my American family. Anyway to cut a very long story short we stayed at STALAG Weston Hills! Quite a nice house, but it was the stupid notes everywhere, don't do this, don't do that, if you do we charge you, type of thing. The worst thing of all was that we asked for a heated pool, it was just off cold, we complained and got told it was on ! Next plastic sheets under every bed, found it hard to sleep with all the rustling. House was freezing cold, and we could not up the temp gauge, as another note pointed out Electricity in Florida is expensive! Good grief they ought to try it here in the UK where we get 8 Months of cold weather (Seems like more just lately, perhaps I'm getting old)

But I think the one that takes the cake was aimed squarely at us Brits, describing how to use the toilet, I kid you not....Ok I know they block easy, we travel to the Florida at least twice a year, my family are also American, and Floridians as well. Told the owners that as well.

So for you American owners, Brits are resonably intelligent, tend to travel quite a bit (That's how you lot got there!) and do know how to use a toilet rather than the bed [:O]

Sorry to blast off, but this ruined our holiday, and has put me of renting from Americans again.

Now positive feedback. We stayed at a fantastic comfortable, warm pooled, warm house last March, everything you could possible want. Dave & Linda (Loma Linda), we'll be back.

Drift

[/quote]

Did the notes say they were for Brit renters only...and that if you are American you could pee in the closets without a fine and that would be OK..?? if not then the rules were for anyone renting the home.....I think you are being a bit hard on the American home owners......all rental homes have rules....owned by Brits and Americans.....you should try living in FL with the heat they have there for months on end and see the bills you end up paying to keep cool.....in the end rules are there to keep rental costs down....and so you don't damage something and end up losing your deposit.....

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

I totally agree Chrizzy...the last thing we want to see on here are unsubtantiated attacks at Americans, or Brits, or any other nationality. I think the question of where the owner or guest lives is totally irrelevant in the case mentioned.

As others suspect, I'm pretty sure it was the owners MC that was responsible for all these signs etc etc and not the owner themselves. All the owners I know are only too keenly aware not to put too many signs up as we want the guest to feel at home and comfortable - alienating a guest in this way does nothing to help anyone.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by chrizzy100
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by drifting
I did my usual and did not research on here before going at Xmas. Have to say the last two houses we hired from people on this site were great. However this time my wife made the booking as she wanted to make sure that the house would be big enough to take all our UK Family, and most of my American family. Anyway to cut a very long story short we stayed at STALAG Weston Hills! Quite a nice house, but it was the stupid notes everywhere, don't do this, don't do that, if you do we charge you, type of thing. The worst thing of all was that we asked for a heated pool, it was just off cold, we complained and got told it was on ! Next plastic sheets under every bed, found it hard to sleep with all the rustling. House was freezing cold, and we could not up the temp gauge, as another note pointed out Electricity in Florida is expensive! Good grief they ought to try it here in the UK where we get 8 Months of cold weather (Seems like more just lately, perhaps I'm getting old)

But I think the one that takes the cake was aimed squarely at us Brits, describing how to use the toilet, I kid you not....Ok I know they block easy, we travel to the Florida at least twice a year, my family are also American, and Floridians as well. Told the owners that as well.

So for you American owners, Brits are resonably intelligent, tend to travel quite a bit (That's how you lot got there!) and do know how to use a toilet rather than the bed [:O]

Sorry to blast off, but this ruined our holiday, and has put me of renting from Americans again.

Now positive feedback. We stayed at a fantastic comfortable, warm pooled, warm house last March, everything you could possible want. Dave & Linda (Loma Linda), we'll be back.

Drift

[/quote]

Did the notes say they were for Brit renters only...and that if you are American you could pee in the closets without a fine and that would be OK..?? if not then the rules were for anyone renting the home.....I think you are being a bit hard on the American home owners......all rental homes have rules....owned by Brits and Americans.....you should try living in FL with the heat they have there for months on end and see the bills you end up paying to keep cool.....in the end rules are there to keep rental costs down....and so you don't damage something and end up losing your deposit.....
[/quote]

[Snapper]

Hey Drift,

I too have a short note on each toilet and another asking guests not to set the air-con too low otherwise the unit will freeze up and break.

I'll give you a different point of view on this though, which is that these notes are there not for my benefit, but for my guests' benefit. If a guest blocks up a toilet and calls out the management company to fix it I get charged for the call-out, and I would pass this cost onto the guest concerned. Similarly if they set the air-con to Arctic temperatures and destroy the unit I will pass on the cost of repair to them, and they would also be without air conditioning until it's fixed. So from my point of view it doesn't really make any difference how many times a guest clogs up a toilet. From the guest's point of view though, this can easily become a big issue. Imagine getting home and finding out that half of your security deposit wasn't being returned because of 3 calls the the management company to come un-block toilets? Not good! So the most sensible approach is to errr on the side of caution, and where there are some gotchas a short note tries to help avoid any surprises on the guests' behalf.

The notes aren't intrusive. Let's face it, you don't spend your holiday looking at the top of a toilet now do you? I also explain the reasoning behind them in the guidebook I've written for the villa, so hopefully guests take them in the spirit in which they are intended.

I know this approach may not be perfect for all guests, and frequent villa renters like yourselves know these things already, but we have to cater to everyone and while the villa rental market is developing the majority of guests we get are first time renters.

[caroline]

None of us owners want unnecessary signs spoiling the walls! However, we have to cater for all our guests some of whom may never have visited Florida before, it may even be the first time they've ventured abroad, so we have to try and cater for everybody. We have the notices displayed that we are legally obliged to (licenses etc) and a couple that the management company put up, regarding the stripping of beds on check out etc (as Steph says the cleaners need to know which beds have been used) we also have instructions for the Home theatre system, Games consoles, Plasma and even for the cable TV - not everybody has these items in their own homes and we can't expect guests to 'just know' how these items work.

The signs are to try and help all our guests wherever they come from.

We definitely don't have plastic sheets on our beds (we do have the proper mattress protectors though) and I'd be horrified if our guests had found themselves either too hot ot too cold because they couldn't adjust the heating controls.

My rule of thumb is to treat my guests how I would like to be treated and fortunately I've always had lovely guests that treat my home with respect.

[drifting]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
I totally agree Chrizzy...the last thing we want to see on here are unsubtantiated attacks at Americans, or Brits, or any other nationality. I think the question of where the owner or guest lives is totally irrelevant in the case mentioned.
[/quote]

I take offence to that :) You are insulting both my nationalities by making a suggestion that I was vendictive & predudice to Americans !! Besides, I was born an American, and elected to be a Brit.

I think you got entireley the wrong end of the stick. Note I was saying that the notes were to Brits specifically! It's hard for me to remember all the references to this is different and that is different to the UK.
It was an observation that this house in particular was nightmare with all it's rules and regs, did I not state that I have stayed in many others? In fact my sister who is American & lives in Florida could not believe the amount of signs. It was an observation that the Americans tend to over do the signs!! That's all, nothing more, wish I never mentioned it now. But hey , let them go ahead and sign everything, then wonder why people do not come back !

I said
"But I think the one that takes the cake was aimed squarely at us Brits, describing how to use the toilet, I kid you not....Ok I know they block easy, we travel to the Florida at least twice a year"

In response to the others, who saw the post as it was intended, I too appreciate instructions on non familiar equipment, I always sign the guest books, and always take the trash out. And being a smoker, instructions on where I may smoke (which my wife likes, as I do not to smoke in any of the houses we stay in) It's much nicer to be asked to do something, rather than saying "Don't do it or your fined!"



Sheesh....

Drift.

[LiesaAnna]

well i would rather find a note saying where things are and what to do cos i would be very p****d off if half or more of my security deposit wasnt returned to me!!
we had a sign on the toilet saying not to put "girlie" things down it, a note on the notice board saying when the rubbish was being emptied and when to put the bin out and get in again, this is particularly annoying when driving around the community and find the empty bins strewn around!
And we read the welcome book, and apart from the signs for no smoking, and no diving or horseplay in the pool normal stuff which i wouldnt take offence to as i know its something to help keep me and my family safe!! and of course most is common sense which we know some people leave at home when on holiday!!!:)

[chrizzy100]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by drifting
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
I totally agree Chrizzy...the last thing we want to see on here are unsubtantiated attacks at Americans, or Brits, or any other nationality. I think the question of where the owner or guest lives is totally irrelevant in the case mentioned.
[/quote]

I take offence to that :) You are insulting both my nationalities by making a suggestion that I was vendictive & predudice to Americans !! Besides, I was born an American, and elected to be a Brit.

I think you got entireley the wrong end of the stick. Note I was saying that the notes were to Brits specifically! It's hard for me to remember all the references to this is different and that is different to the UK.
It was an observation that this house in particular was nightmare with all it's rules and regs, did I not state that I have stayed in many others? In fact my sister who is American & lives in Florida could not believe the amount of signs. It was an observation that the Americans tend to over do the signs!! That's all, nothing more, wish I never mentioned it now. But hey , let them go ahead and sign everything, then wonder why people do not come back !

I said
"But I think the one that takes the cake was aimed squarely at us Brits, describing how to use the toilet, I kid you not....Ok I know they block easy, we travel to the Florida at least twice a year"

In response to the others, who saw the post as it was intended, I too appreciate instructions on non familiar equipment, I always sign the guest books, and always take the trash out. And being a smoker, instructions on where I may smoke (which my wife likes, as I do not to smoke in any of the houses we stay in) It's much nicer to be asked to do something, rather than saying "Don't do it or your fined!"



Sheesh....

Drift.



[/quote]

The notes to Brits are not how to use the bathroom.......but to warn about the US pumbing.....something we don't have a problem with in the UK.....I would hate to block up a loo if all it took was a well placed note.........I did it in my own villa....and could of kicked myself for thinking a new loo would be any better than my old MA loo...I'm sure a note to the owners telling them about the problem you had with the wording on the notes would soon put things right......its so easy to get the wrong end of the stick....as you've just seen yourself...you did make it seems like all the notes were just for the Brits....and that from just this one problem with an American owner that all US owners must be the same....which from what I know of the people here they are not..its sometimes down to the MC to what is put on the notes....the owners may not even know about the wording..and could be very upset that you felt like you did....[msnsmile2]

[SunLover]

Unfortunately, as much as owners would like to do away with as many signs as possible, being licensed by the same authority that licenses hotels, owners are required by law to display numerous (and I do mean numerous) signs for reasons of health and safety.

Other information signs for example explaining about USA plumbing and how easy it is to block a USA toilet are there for every guest's information, and not directed at any particular nationality.

Unfortunately as many owners will tell you, people on vacation often pack everything apart from their common sense, so a few informative signs can save a lot of hassle (and money) for everyone concerned.

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

I was just making a general comment, not specifically aimed at your posting [msnwink].

I did, however, find your comment "So for you American owners, Brits are resonably intelligent, tend to travel quite a bit (That's how you lot got there!)" a little patronising, no matter in how much wit it may have been intended. That's the problem with the written word as little things can very easily get mis-interpreted, no matter how innocently they were mentioned [msnsad].

Maybe I was being a little over-sensitive, maybe not .... at the end of the day my job (amongst other things) is to keep these forums on track and part of that involves making sure no-one makes a comment that may alienate any of our other users (which I'm not saying your comment did). It's a tough job but someone has to do it [msnsmile]

I think others have also added enough comments for you to draw the conclusion that it is almost certainly the MC and not the owner who was responsible for the notes etc etc. It's nothing to do with being a US owner or a UK owner or whatever. I know as an owner I would be horrified to find all these kind of notices in my villas without my knowledge.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by drifting
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
I totally agree Chrizzy...the last thing we want to see on here are unsubtantiated attacks at Americans, or Brits, or any other nationality. I think the question of where the owner or guest lives is totally irrelevant in the case mentioned.
[/quote]

I take offence to that :) You are insulting both my nationalities by making a suggestion that I was vendictive & predudice to Americans !! Besides, I was born an American, and elected to be a Brit.

[/quote]

[drifting]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
I was just making a general comment, not specifically aimed at your posting [msnwink].

I did, however, find your comment "So for you American owners, Brits are resonably intelligent, tend to travel quite a bit (That's how you lot got there!)" a little patronising, no matter in how much wit it may have been intended. That's the problem with the written word as little things can very easily get mis-interpreted, no matter how innocently they were mentioned [msnsad].

Maybe I was being a little over-sensitive, maybe not .... at the end of the day my job (amongst other things) is to keep these forums on track and part of that involves making sure no-one makes a comment that may alienate any of our other users (which I'm not saying your comment did). It's a tough job but someone has to do it [msnsmile]

I think others have also added enough comments for you to draw the conclusion that it is almost certainly the MC and not the owner who was responsible for the notes etc etc. It's nothing to do with being a US owner or a UK owner or whatever. I know as an owner I would be horrified to find all these kind of notices in my villas without my knowledge.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by drifting
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
I totally agree Chrizzy...the last thing we want to see on here are unsubtantiated attacks at Americans, or Brits, or any other nationality. I think the question of where the owner or guest lives is totally irrelevant in the case mentioned.
[/quote]

I take offence to that :) You are insulting both my nationalities by making a suggestion that I was vendictive & predudice to Americans !! Besides, I was born an American, and elected to be a Brit.

[/quote]
[/quote]

On reflection I see what you mean, please all accept my apology without reservation. Do you think I should contact the owers and tell them? As if you say it is the management company, then they should really go look themselves?

Drift

[Ray&Sarah]

I think you should let the owner know, as I said we had notes up all around our villa that we were not aware of, telling our guests that they would be fined for this, that and the other. Only to call out our managment company for emergencies or the guest would be fined, and apparently the only emergencies allowed were fire and burst pipes. We only became aware of all the notices when our new mc took over and mentioned them.[msnscared]

[pbensur]

Hi Drift,
I agree that you should definitely let the owner know how you felt. It would be very kind of you to take a few minutes to do this. None of us owners ever wants an unhappy guest. We always want feedback because we are constantly striving to make everything perfect and your comments will be well received. Most owners really take comments to heart and then take action accordingly!

[ellie]

When we first visited the US I have to admit that I had no idea that US plumbing was any different from ours. Of course I now know better, but that does not mean I was stupid - it just had never been on my list of 'must do's' to check up on the plumbing.

However, having stood by a loo which was rising up over the edge like a mini Vesuvius, and not being able to do a thing about it, it certainly IS one of the things we tell guests about - in a humerous way. We also provide a 'convenient' plunger should circumstances arise. [msnwink] It is certainly not meant to be patronising, and is aimed at saving our guests from being up to their necks in muck and bullets.

And even if you DO know all about American plumbing it still can happen - as I know from an agitated call from my daughter last year when despite all the times she has been in the US she managed to flood her bathroom in her new apartment!

When we rented our first villa there were notices around the place, and I must admit we found them all very helpful - especially the one about air conditioning for instance - we certainly don't have that at home, so we did not realise how easy it is to freeze the unit. I also avidly read through their information file which was very useful. We have tried to make our own as humerous and light hearted and readable as possible, and it is always commented on favourably.

I am sorry to hear about the pool heat - if you had paid for it then it certainly should have been up to temperature - although that can be difficult in very cold weather. It does sound as if the MC should have been more helpful.

So, once again it seems that everyone is different. Some have their holidays spoilt by a few notices, others find them helpful and add to their comfort and enjoyment. Its the old adage really, you can't please all of the people all of the time!

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

Thanks Drift - that's much appreciated [msnsmile]

I would definitely let the owner know as they may well be unaware of it and be devastated that tgheir MC is putting their villa in such a bad light that it's upsetting guests.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by drifting

On reflection I see what you mean, please all accept my apology without reservation. Do you think I should contact the owers and tell them? As if you say it is the management company, then they should really go look themselves?

Drift
[/quote]

[bellaepovera]

Remembering the temps at Xmas time might be the reason the water temp. was cold as if the pool heat was electric and the air temp outside went below a certain degree the electric pump will not work so this may be the case.

[Lyn]

Would you be expected to pay for pool heating then Patti if the air temperature did not allow the heating to work?

As for the notes everywhere the last 2 villas we have stayed in have had notes in the toilet about the plumbing, a note near the thermostat about not having the air conditioning set below 74, plus the normal health & safety notices around the pool. I did not find these offensive at all. As for stripping the beds I always do this wehether I have asked to do it or not, I have usually washed them all before we have finished showering dfressing & packing, I then put some towels in before we leave, I don't find this an imposition I like to leave everything neat & tidy.

I do think however that the notes were from th MC not the owners.

[ellie]

Lyn, you sound like the ideal guest and it is reassuring that these things do not offend you. Glad you had great times at your villas - your villa owners must have been delighted to have such model guests.

As villa owners we come across numerous things which some people are unsure of, and we try to give our guests as much information as possible to save them time and worry. It is quite amazing how many things do not function quite the same in the US as they do in the UK.

One recent query was about turning on lights - simple you might think! Well, we always leave the lamps plugged into the socket which allows guests to turn them on and off from the doorway - a system which I have never come across in the UK. However, occassionally, guests move the lamps around and change the location of the plug in the socket so it just doesn't work - so we had to explain this to our guests - they were not offended by this and we realised that this was something we had not covered in our information file - now it is. Satisfaction all round.
:)

[ravtino]

I have just read all the comments and I have to say last year was the first time we had stayed in a villa (although we have travelled to US lots of times) I have to say I was not aware of the plumbing, we had a little note about it, also about turning the air con temp and leaving the pato doors open when the air con was on.
Anyway the point I would like to make is - the villa we rented looked lovely on the phots but was not up to the standard I expected and when we left the villa was certainly cleaner than when we went in and all the sheets and towels were washed dried and all sorted in the airing cupboard - mind we had to wash them when arrived as they did not look or smell very clean, the owners were coming in after us and i did leave him a leeter telling what we thought ( no it wasent nasty) and when he returned he thanked me aand explained that the Mc no longer were looking after his villa as they had been taking the P*** . One big problem we found was that the lock box was set to take any code and would open my realtor pointed this out and should me how to change it !! which we did God knows how long it had been like that as the owners had not been put for 11 months!!

[Nostromo]

I think Ravtino's story above points to the well known fact of how important the caretakers are. When we booked a villa in Orange Tree last year, the original owner sold the villa to another Brit shortly before we arrived. I was in bit of a panic since the new owner had not even seen the house recently. And yet, the villa was spotless when we arrived and within 5 minutes the MC lady and her daughter were at the doorstep checking that everything was all right etc. From that point on to the day of our departure, they were extremely helpful and it we felt that even cleaning-up the villa and leaving wine etc for them was not sufficient to pay back for their role in making our holiday - the first time in a rental home - such a memorable experience.

[ravtino]

I never saw the MC but I don't suppose that was a suprise!!! it must be nice when they take the time to check.