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Stringybarkhills
We have a lovely peaceful house in a natural bush setting in the Adelaide Hills. We are close enough to Adelaide and its attractions surrounding wine areas or beaches for great day trips, but secluded enough for a quiet restful stay. i work in our local community running the local general store which is the hub of our little village.
We (of course!) enjoy meeting new people and introducing them to our little slice of paradise,
We (of course!) enjoy meeting new people and introducing them to our little slice of paradise,
we have been lucky and had mostly good reviews, I find it irritating when the guests eave and you ask about their experience and was their stay enjoyable etc and they say yes, fine, lovely and then give a score of 5 or 6...why not tell me face to face about any concerns or suggestions??
We have had one appalling review and we decided that there was nothing we could say that would mitigate what the guest had said. They complained about everything from the size of the bed, clearly only a double not a queen as advertised (yes it is a queen size!) to the height of the shower! (water was too cold by the time it reached him! he was over 6 foot tall shower is 7 foot!) to the grounds were untidy (its a natural bush block) and he did'nt get his share of the breakfast, the other guests ate it all!! There was nothing we could say that would have been anything other then arguing with him so we chose to be quiet. Fortunately the comments before and after it are ver positive and balance out his It rant.
It is tricky when people dont tell and them complain online but we just have to do our best. :)
yes I think that is true unless you have another way for guests to make payment ie paypal or bank transfer or access to an EFT pos machine. After 3 months BDc will change our payment method options.
Hi Bruna,
It is m understanding that while the guest has given BDc their credit card details, no money is actually deducted till after the stay date. Therefore they should be able to cancel for free and then rebook without it costing them double the money. However this does depend upon your cancellation policy and the way you have it set up to take a payments.
June
dont put off little jobs till tomorrow!! because they are the ones the guest will notice (one complained about the spiders web high up outside!)
make sure our well stocked up on the basics, soap shampoo toilet paper etc
try to source local supplies and always recommend local eateries/attractions for guests to enjoy.
above all dont panic!! we are all human doing the best we can and sometimes things are forgotten or not up to scratch, apologize, learn from the experience and dont beat yourself up when it happens. We are all trying our best to provide the guest with the best experience possible.
We always introduce ourselves to our guests (either when they arrive or as soon as possible) and show them where the facilities are and where tea/coffee is available 24/7 and where/breakfast will be available. We also try to talk a little about the property (particularly if they have a dog) and whats available locally.. We have local tourist info brochures available.
As we live onsite we are generally on hand to sort out any issues as they arise and try to go the extra mile by posting any forgotten items back to the guests (at our expense) .
Good communication is the key, before during and after a guests stay.
yes Stiges villa apartments, i too am frustrated about the inability of BDC to change the description of our rooms. despite the fact there is the ability to request the changes every attempt has been met with NO, and "guests look at the pictures more then read the description". BDC if you dont want to change description then why offer the ability to do so?? Particularly if we are willing to write a more appropriate description and all that has to done is approved and dropped in by BDC.
Have not had any problems with getting money (fingers crossed!);
We provide a continental breakfast for our guests, Fresh fruit salad, yogurt, fresh juice, 2/3 different types of bread, 3 different cereals, honey, jam's, peanut butter, Vegemite etc as well as tea, coffee.
We also supply biscuits to have with a cuppa anytime the guest chooses.
We live next to a wild life sanctuary and have a number of animals and birds that move around and through our property.
We are also close to many wine regions in and around the Adelaide Hills and the colors of the autumn trees in the area bring many people out for a drive and coffees