Listing And Checking Contents

It is essential that you take the time to produce an inventory of all of the items in you property. This is not a job that can be done in half an hour and you would be wise to set aside a good few hours of your time to list all the items accurately.

An inventory will not be used by your guests but it will contain valuable information for you and your housekeeper. You may well walk into the living room of your property and know instantly if something has been moved or is missing, but your housekeeper will probably need several weeks on the job before she is as familiar with the property as you are.

Providing her with a detailed list of items for each room will enable her to check things off quickly and easily, and notice at a glance if anything has been damaged, broken or stolen. In my experience, very few things are taken from holiday properties by the guests, not least because it would be easy for you to trace them at a later date. However, things will invariably get broken from time to time and, by having an inventory, you or your housekeeper will be able to see immediately if anything needs to be replaced.

It may not always be possible to check every item against the inventory after each changeover, as time will be of the essence, and the essential duties are to ensure the cleanliness of the property for the new guests. However, you or your housekeeper would be wise to make a through check of items against the inventory once a month. It is possible to overlook missing items and you many not notice that something has been broken for several weeks, so a thorough check periodically is necessary.

Most guests will inform you or your housekeeper if they have accidentally broken or damaged something, but a few may just hide the item or, worse still, throw it away and hope that you do not notice.

If you are marketing your property through an agent, they may well furnish you with an inventory for your kitchen. The kitchen is definitely the most time-consuming room of the house to compile an inventory for, and a pre-prepared list from an agent will be beneficial.

Although the initial compilation of the inventory will take time, you must also remember to update you list as and when you change or add to the contents of your property. Leave a copy of the inventory for your guests to peruse, should they so desire, furnish your guests to peruse, another copy, and keep a third for your own reference. Instruct your housekeeper to make a check of the contents once a month and to inform you sooner if she notices that anything is broken or missing.

An inventory should look something like this:

Breakages

This is rather a difficult matter to address. On the whole, my own experience has taught me that few holidaymakers will abuse your accommodation, and that if any breakages occur they are usually accidental rather than malicious. Anyone can have an accident and, with this in mind, it seems rather unfair to expect guests to pay for replacements. After all, running a holiday let business will incur costs from time to time, and this is something you should expect and be willing to cover the losses yourself.

That said, some holiday let owners insist on guests paying for damage to their property, whether this is intentional of accidental.

Recouping Costs For Damages

There are a number of ways you can recoup money for damage or breakages, and you may like to consider the following:

Broken wine glasses, cups and plates are par for the course in everyday life, and guests holidaying in your property will not be immune to this kind of accidental damage. I would recommend that you seriously consider the implications of trying to recoup your losses for small items of everyday equipment. Chasing up guests, confronting them and finally extracting money from them all seems like a lot of hassle for a £3 wine glass. The trick here is to make sure that you equip your property with standard, reasonably priced equipment, particularly with regard to everyday items, and refrain from trying to impress with cut-glass crystal champagne flutes; that way any breakages can be easily replaced without breaking the bank.

Any major damage to your property that appears to be non-accidental must be dealt with appropriately. Depending on the nature of the damage, you may like to consider making a claim on your property’s household insurance.