By Roshan L. D’Silva · Guide To Holiday Renting
Almost every difficult letting experience I have heard about was preventable at the point of booking. Not by being suspicious — by being clear about what the house is for, and then declining the bookings that are not that.
Decide who the house is for
This sounds like marketing. It is actually the whole of guest management.
A house with two equal main bedrooms, a good kitchen and a quiet terrace is for two couples or a family. It is not for a stag weekend, and every problem you will ever have comes from letting it to one anyway because February was quiet.
Write down your segment in a sentence — families with young children, couples in their fifties, walkers, divers, remote workers on long stays — and then make every decision consistently with it. The photographs, the listing copy, the minimum stay, the price and the amenities should all point at the same person. A listing that tries to appeal to everyone appeals weakly to everyone.
The commercial argument for this is straightforward. Guests who are the right fit are easier, review better, break less and come back. Guests who booked because your house was the cheapest thing available that weekend do none of those.
The rules worth having
Keep them short. A wall of rules reads as distrust and nobody finishes it. These are the ones that earn their place:
- Maximum occupancy, stated as a number, and that it includes children and visitors. Over-occupancy is the most common cause of damage and of neighbour complaints, and it is often an insurance and licensing breach as well.
- No parties or events. State it plainly. This is the single most important rule you have.
- Quiet hours, with actual times. Your neighbours are the reason you are allowed to keep letting.
- Smoking — and where. If outside only, provide an ashtray, or the terrace becomes one.
- Pets: yes or no, decided deliberately. Allowing them opens a large, loyal and under-served market; it also means a deeper clean and some guests with allergies.
- Check-in and check-out times, and that late departure prevents the changeover.
- Pool and water safety, including that children must be supervised. State it even where it feels obvious.
- What to do about a problem — who to call, and that you would rather hear about a fault on day one than read about it in a review.
That last one is worth more than the rest combined. Most bad reviews are about something that could have been fixed in an hour had anyone been told.
The bookings to decline
You are allowed to say no, and doing so politely and early costs nothing.
The patterns worth attention: a local booking for one or two nights over a weekend, which is very often a party; a group whose size sits exactly at your maximum and whose stated purpose is vague; a guest with no reviews at all who declines to say who is coming; anyone unwilling to provide identification where you are legally required to collect it; and pressure to move the transaction off the platform before booking, which removes both parties' protection.
Ask two ordinary questions of every enquiry — who is coming, and what brings you here. Straightforward guests answer straightforwardly. The answer you do not get is itself the information.
Deposits, and what they are really for
A security deposit's value is mostly deterrent. Actually recovering money for damage is slow and unpleasant, and platforms mediate these disputes inconsistently.
What works better in practice is a dated photographic inventory, updated annually, so any conversation about a missing or broken item is a matter of record rather than of memory. The archive has a piece on building one.
And be proportionate. Chasing a guest for a chipped mug costs you a review and buys a mug. Reserve the deposit for the genuine cases.
Be the same house every time
The rules only work if they are applied consistently. An owner who forbids parties and then permits one for a good rate has no rule; they have a price. Guests talk, neighbours notice, and the house acquires a reputation that is very hard to reverse.
Nothing here is legal advice, and occupancy and safety obligations vary by market.