Guests

 I happen to be lucky enough to be married to a very smart (and good looking) woman.  The only time I've ever doubted that was when she answered "Yes" to a question I asked her about 38 years ago.  Not that I wasn't ecstatic about that answer, mind you.  But the ensuing years have proven again and again that she's way smarter than I.

I know what you're thinking Beans!  Knock it off!

One of her best "suggestions" was to build two cabins on the property.  In the time leading up to the "suggestion", we'd had a lot of changes in our lives.  Both Kids had graduated college and started careers and found their own spouses.  In addition, my sister had had the building she owned for a sewing shop and lived upstairs in condemned to allow for a road widening or some such need as determined by a public servant.  It bankrupted her.  She moved here and rented an apartment in town, but "the Burg" is expensive even with efficiency apartments.  

So, we're discussing options.  Our old house wasn't going to work for her living with us for many reasons.  Mrs J suggested building the two cabins and had gone to a local builder that only built small cabins.  Turns out the price was pretty reasonable.  Her battle plan was to rent one to my sister and apply the rent to the mortgage taking a loss on our taxes while using the other as a Guest House and advertising it on AirBnB and VRBO. Since both she and I were still working, I asked about the procedures for "turning" the Guest House.  She said she'd looked into using Vacasa, a rental property management company.  For a fee, they'd take care of all the details.  

The Guest House on the left, Sister's cabin in the middle, Old house on right

 

The beauty of the plan is that when the kids or friends come to visit, we block the property for that time and unblock it otherwise.  We wouldn't have to worry about much else and we'd make a little money out of the deal.

That was the theory anyway.  Turns out that the property management company always seemed to find some other expense they needed to charge us for.  Well...No surprise there.  They're in it to make money.

After a while, we fired them and hired a housekeeper on an as needed basis.  That worked (sort of) for about a year, but Mrs J's vision of what the house should look like when the guests open the front door and what the housekeeper's version was ....

By this time, both Mrs J and I have retired (I'm not sure what that word really means), so we took up the management of the guest house.  After much trial and error, I can now make a bed with hospital corners with the best of them.  Ok, maybe not Mrs J's level, but mere mortal level.

So, as I mentioned in last week's post, we took a couple of days off and rented a B&B.  It was nice, but we noticed "things" that weren't quite right, not bad, just not something we would allow.  

Picky...yeah I know.

But...

We also notice "things" about guests.  We try to meet them early on in their stay.  Check to make sure everything is as expected, if they need any help with any of the houses appliances, network etc.  Do they want firewood to have a fire in the fire pit (or to inform them of a County Wide Burn Ban prohibiting one).  Check what their plan for the stay is, offer suggestions on where to eat, what to see etc.  In short, help them have an enjoyable stay without getting in their way.  This usually takes about 5 minutes.  But it also gives us an chance to get a feel for the kind of guests they're likely to be.

Like one of our very first guests, before we had hired the management company.  It was spring time and bicycling in the Hill Country is a very big thing.  This group of guys, had reserved the Guest House saying there would be 6 of them.  The Guest House is about 600 square feet with two bedrooms.  It does have a fold out sofa, so it, technically, sleeps 6.  But we envisioned it to be a gap filler rather than an ongoing event.  So, the gang shows up, late on Friday evening.  Next morning, I'm out feeding the horses when they leave for the ride.  I count 7 bikes.  Hmmm.

We ask them about it when they return (there is a small surcharge per person above 2 if the people are older than 10, these guys didn't qualify).  Basically, they said the last guy was sleeping on the porch in a hammock.  Oh!  (I looked, yes, they'd screwed hooks into the columns supporting the porch roof).  

Cleaning that Sunday after they left was horrible.  The sheets were filthy. It was a mess.  The following spring, they had the audacity to call and ask if the Guest House was available.  Strangely, it was not.

Another set of guests reserved the house for a weekend.  A young couple, very much in love.  But just a two ship.  Now, we prep both bedrooms as it's not our business where they sleep.  So, it's Sunday and we're starting the cleaning process.  I poke my head in the smaller bedroom and notice the bed is made and the door is closed, just like we'd left it. (When it's a two some, we usually close the door to the smaller bedroom to point them to the larger bedroom with the king sized bed).  

But, some kind of alarm went off in my head, and I decided to strip the bed.  A pair of ladies underwear was found.  I guess they'd decided one bedroom was for sleeping, the other was for fun.

Which brings up a small favor to ask.  Folks, I know that some of you, can NOT leave a bed unmade.  But, please, just neatly arrange the blanket and bed spread.  Don't remake the hospital corners and make sure the quarter bounces.  Within minutes of your departure, that beautifully made bed will be stripped bare and the linens in the laundry.

Usually.

What can you do to help?  A couple of things.  First, most owners will have a welcome letter or a notebook very visible when you enter.  Take a few minutes to thumb through it.  It will have things like passwords, how to work the TV/DVD, if there's a burn ban, how to change the temperature or switch from heat to AC or vice versa.  We certainly want to know if something isn't working right, but...

When you leave, take the trash with you and put it in the dumpster.  While we almost always will begin cleaning and resetting very shortly after your departure, sometimes life intervenes.  That trash can get pretty smelly pretty quickly.

So, how has the Chinese Communist Flu affected the business?  Surprisingly, not much at all.  I doubt we've had more that 10-15 vacant nights since April.  Most have been families that just need to get away for a bit and have a view of something different than their own living room.  Social distancing is not difficult around here.

We'll shortly begin the second phase of Mrs J's grand scheme of all things Guest House.  Reno on our old house will be starting shortly.  (I'll be learning first hand if "Demo Day" is as fun as Chip Gaines says it is.  I'm doubting it at this point.)  Once we get the carpet pulled up any structural repairs done and new flooring installed, my sister will move into the New Old House and we'll then do a similar refresh on her current cabin which will then become a second guest house.

But, like Helmut von Moltke always said "No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy."  We'll see.

On a separate note, my DIL sent me a link that shows that Nose Art has made a comeback in the US Air Force at least when deployed to the Sand Box.

Source

Cool, but I'm betting it'll be gone before they redeploy.