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Yeah … but someone had one of those on a timer and it failed…and there was a fire. Still I think it’s probably going to have to be something I end up buying … not easy at £32 per night.
So at the list at the moment is:
Overhead rack
Sill protectors
Electric blanket with shut off function or a timer socket
Timer on the shower to stop the 30 minute showers
Hmmm we’re talking a few hundred pounds that could take 2- 3 weeks to recover.
Raise the price a pound per night?
I forgot about the humidity 
So yeah back to square one !
Just start with one little improvement and build up over time. 
I think the Electric blanket has got to befirst as it’s easily the most dangerous.
@Asheville just to say that advice was perfect. Sometimes I need to be reminded that incremental improvements are fine.
I’m actually currently working on replacing the fan in the bathroom so that’s going to be considerable expense …
As you don’t permit guests to wear shoes of any kind in your house, I think that most guests would need to wash their socks daily. Of course, they wouldn’t want to go to the laundry mat (American for launderette) just to wash socks. I believe that you need to either permit slippers/sandals and/or give guests a way to wash and dry their socks.
Yes, it is controlling to be concerned about other peoples’ hair drying habits.
Many hosts seem to be neurotic about guests’ use of utilities. Isn’t that part of what they are paying for? I think it would be better to let guests use utilities as they wish and raise the price than to follow them around turning things off. We provide a space heater in the guest room and I never go in the guest room during their stay.
I have found that European guests don’t like to use dryers. They all tell me that they are afraid that their clothes will shrink. I’ve had the same problem with them draping wet clothes over wood window sills and furniture. Fortunately, my wood window sills are painted with oil based paint and I’ve decided to stop worrying about the furniture in the guest room as there’s nothing I can do about it.
Thanks Ellen! Interestingly these are the first guests who hand wash their socks … and as it’s 8 steps from the from the hallway where they need to take their shoes off, to their room, on very clean floors, it’s not really enough to get their socks dirty. In any case I change my socks daily, shoes or not. You greatly increase your chance of fungal infections otherwise. Socks are like underwear you don’t repeat wear them.
I spend all my time barefoot in the flat and I don’t get grimy soles (but I Hoover and mop the floors daily so that’s no suprise.)
You might have missed the bit where I said I can’t control the heating. There’s no on and off switch it’s just on. My concern is that actually it gets too cold so that’s why I provide an electric blanket but my concern about it being on all day isn’t because I’m worried about the utilities it’s because I’m worried about fire.
I’m a European and I use a tumble drier. My current guests are Korean and I have no idea what their drying practice is but I am willing to bet they see more sun than I do and do not carpet their houses with wool that starts to stink if it gets wet.
I did see that you can’t control the heat. I was referring to controlling the amount of time your guests shower.
Again not utilities related. The bathroom doesn’t have a window and although I have a very large fan in the room it’s very cold in the UK at the moment and it’s struggling to deal with the humidity from very long hot showers. The problem is partly caused by poor design on the part of the builders (the vent goes straight up and a very long way… by the time it’s halfway up the vent it’s already cooling and coming down as water).
My currently solution is to prop the front door open …and I’m already trying to replace the fan.
That said I don’t think two 30 minute showers (so that’s 2 hours in total spent under running water) is in any way reasonable or environmentally friendly. I don’t fuss about it because I pay a flat rate for the water so it’s no skin off my nose. And the water is in a tank and again it’s already heated so also no skin off my nose.
This may work in LA, but it wouldn’t work here in the northeast where it was 5 degrees when I got up this morning.
I don’t know how cold it gets where @Zandra lives though.
I’m in London @Chloe but yes am also struggling with the very cold winter!
A space heater is a good idea until someone sets your house on fire lol. Already had someone leave a small fan heater on and go out; that was enough to remove it once and for all.
No, you are not neurotic, we do the same.
A lot of guests guest tend to be very careless, when it comes to someone else’s property.
When guests are out we also check the lights and heating in the rooms. And when needed we open windows to vent.
Seriously high humidity leading to mould and damp make for really an inhospitable living environment and can cause damage to buildings. And here in the UK damp is a pretty real problem we have to deal with so it’s something I need to take seriously and try to prevent…
So as long as they are paying for it, they are allowed to waste energy…
I don’t understand why a space heater wouldn’t work in a colder climate. Once the room is heated to the temperature the user has set the heater shuts off. Unless the room is very drafty it will stay warm once the desired temperature has been reached. As a matter of fact, it takes more energy to turn it on and off repeatedly than to leave it on. Also, our model of space heater comes with a remote. We have an extra one so if a guest left it on while they were gone we could turn it off without entering their room.
To those who believe it’s okay to enter guest rooms while guests are away; would you be comfortable with hotel staff doing this while you stayed in a hotel?
It’s a slippery slope to criticize other people’s conservation habits. If you don’t know how they live their lives you might be surprised to find that they live much more environmentally conservative lives than you do. Also, most people don’t go on vacation to be corrected.
You never stayed in a real hotel, have you?
Staff comes into your room every day to make the bed, and change the towels.
And to refresh the minibar. Gotta make sure you don’t run out of £10 bags of peanuts after all!