teenage group

[ivypartridge]

Hey thanks all you folks for these ideas...[clap]I have directed Amy...the daughter.. to this site to help her..hello Amy !..so we will no doubt follow all these ideas up.

[Carla]

There speaks a man who has had little contact with teenage girls!!

As owners we have to play the law of averages to keep our guests and our homes safe. These girls are under-age and can't rent a car, drink, go to clubs or legally take responsibility for themselves in Florida.

Couldn't a Mum (happy to drive in Florida) be persuaded to go with them? My husband and I took my daughter and 3 of her friends last year (all 16, nearly 17) and we all had a great time. Sometimes we went with them to the Parks and sometimes we just dropped them off. It worked well.

If no one over 21 can go with them then maybe you could contact Disney direct and find out if they could stay in a hotel onsite. That would solve majority of their travel problems.

It's extremely unlikely that an MC would be able to or have the time to take these girls anywhere. They would need to budget for taxis, which would get very expensive.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Nostromo
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by wrpac00
They might find it difficult to get a villa. I, and I know others have a minimum age of 21 in our Terms and conditions.
[/quote]

I know that villa owners have to draw a line somewhere but realistically, many 17 to 18 year olds can be mature and sensible while you can get really silly (putting it mildly ) 22 to 23 year olds. Would it be possible for some prospective owner to liaise with Ivy Partidge about her friend's daughter's group, check to see how they are and then make a decision---which might include relaxing the rule a bit if appropriate?
[/quote]

[Cruella DeVilla]

Personally we would not entertain a group of youngsters of either sex in our place. They might be the nicest of people, but have to agree with Carla on this one about the under-age element.
Why don't you come to Ivy!!!

[ravtino]

I am sure that I have read that a taxi firm offers multiple trips, you buy so many and they come and pick up / drop off etc. This was something people had looked into when they did not want to drive, the parents of these girls must think them sensible to allow them to travel so far on there own.

[Carla]

It doesn't really matter whether they are sensible girls or not. Their life experience is limited and they haven't yet learnt to cope with all sorts of situations. 4500 miles away is a long way if they find themselves in a difficult unknown situation. So, the law is there to protect them.

I consider my own daughter (nearly 17) to be very sensible, under most circumstances. She's independent and is sometimes on her own at home when we go away for a weekend and copes brilliantly.

Last December, Kevin and I decided that we would have a week in Florida together and Nadia was happy to stay home, look after the cat and the house and go to school. She had a friend, Steph, to stay for the week so that she wouldn't be on her own. Great, everyone was happy. All went exactly according to plan for 6 days and nights.

To cut a very long story short, the girls planned to have 5 school friends round (they go to an all girls school) on the Friday night before we got home on the Sunday afternoon, to celebrate the end of the school term. One of the invited girls asked to bring her boyfriend. Then someone else suggested that they should invite a couple of the people who work at the Garden Centre with them on Sundays. So, now they had around 10 people coming over on Friday night. So and so brought someone else and the whole thing escalated. By the time we got most of the story (I doubt that we will ever know the whole story) we discovered that around 30-35 kids had been in our house, many of whom had slept over.

Nadia and Steph had never intended this. They didn't know several of the kids that turned up at our house. The whole situation was out of control. We were 4500 miles away. Their Friday night get together had become a nightmare, particularly for Nadia. The damage list was quite long and included a broken wooden toilet seat, a cigarette burn on the mantel piece, carpets so badly muddied that they had to be professionally cleaned, a missing king size fitted sheet, a broken door handle and a broken dining room chair.

It was bad enough that this happened in my UK home, but had it happened in my Florida home, then it would have been so much worse, particularly if the girls were leaving in the morning and other guests were due to arrive that afternoon. Very little time to sort out all of the problems.

Most teenagers are sensible in many circumstances, and their parents think that they are too, but when you get a group of them together, particularly in a holiday atmosphere, things can quickly and easily get out of hand. Even if there is a dissenting voice amongst the group, this often gets squashed as they get carried away with what they want to do. That's why this group of girls will find it so difficult to get anyone to rent them accomodation. Nadia and her friends wanted to go to Centre Parcs this Summer and stay in one of their chalets but they can't because Centre Parcs won't let them under any circumstances because they are not all over 18 years old, so are therefore not legally responsible.

[ivypartridge]

Gulp[:I] Maybe they should go to my favourite Scottish Island..Mull...
Thanks all you folks for these stories. It just again makes you think about no matter how carefull and safe you think things are...it is a long way away.
The under age thing is an issue as I am sure it would be for villa owners..would their villa be insured for whatever with under age guests ? I think not.
Thank you Carla for your suggestion of Disney direct and sharing your experience of leaving your daughter at home. I have a 17 year old son and feel the same about it is not how much your trust your own...and how mature they are...put other teenagers in the equation...and BOOM!
[msneek]

[Carla]

Do you remember the Yellow Pages TV advert where some teenage kids had a party and the parents were due home the next day? The son had to try and find a French Polisher for their antique coffee table, before they got back, and in his hurry to sort that problem he missed the "face" that had been drawn on the Mona Lisa print. That's what it was like at my house.[msnsmile2][msnsmile2][msnsmile2]

We're gluttons for punishment because we're leaving her again for a week in June, but this time I shall be phoning her friends' parents and letting them know that we have definitely not sanctioned any gathering at our house while we're away.[msnwink][msnwink][msnsmile2][msnsmile2]

[pepsi]

I have to agree with Carla on this one. Exactly the same thing happened to my sister when she left her daughter at home. Again this was due to gatecrashers who had heard that there was a party, only Danielle (my sister's daughter) did not know she was having a party.
Working in an 11-18 school, I have also heard of other horrendous stories from the pupils themselves.

[Calamity Jane]

We have been in the sme position as Carla, both in our UK home and one of our US homes, one of my sons ( still havent found out to this very day which one) had a whole host of "friends round" and we found a hole in our bedroom wall where someone had slammed the door open, all my decorative candles ( expensive ) had been used, muddy marks all over the house, leather chesterfield suite damaged ( badly) plus many other things, not to mention 50 different strains of penecillin in my kitchen ( yuk!)

By the same token, I took a booking ( and have never heard the last of it) 10 guests, all couples but didn't know this until we received the deposit and booking form, ages ranging from 18 to 28. They only stayed a week ( Brits) and did an awful lot of damage to one of my villas, it amounted to just over $500.00, the security deposit was only £75.00 for the week at that time.
Not only did they leave it damaged but they must have spent a fortune on cans of beer and wine as it was left all over the place, it was disgusting how our beatutiful home was treated. I have to say at this point that it was the one and only time that we have ever encountered this kind of behaviour and damage

We chased them around for a few weeks on their return and finally got them to pay the damages, we didn't even have to threaten them with a solicitor. The girl who had done the booking was 22 years old and was lovely on the phone, it just goes to show that when someone isn't responsible in the party everything can and will go pear shaped.

We now only rent to family groups...this is not to say that they cant do similar but we hope that the guests that go in our villas will respect our homes and treat them accordingly.

[LiesaAnna]

i find it so hard to believe that people can be so horrible!!! we have alwasy treated other peoples homes/belongings with the utmost respect!!!!! cannot for the life of me understand why people would want to mistreat the beautiful villas!! it just goes to show what their own homes must look like! especially after having a few drinks and some friends around!!!!!glad we dont have friends like that![msnwink]