Should I mention in the review that guests left without a formal checkout?

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Hi @SandyToes,

They don’t. Occasionally some put the same number on everything, but I discount those because they clearly haven’t put any effort into it.

The items listed in the form as things that I’m looking for feedback on. As in, does anyone really care about this? In the case of the luggage storage, I already know people care about it.

Actually, I had planned to make a luggage box, but I’d more or less decided on making an aluminium one for reasons of weight and aesthetics. And I haven’t found anyone to do the work yet. People here regularly tell me that it’s not possible to do this. In particular, that welding aluminium is impossible. It’s possible; they just don’t know how to do it. It’s just a specialized technique. I recently had a guest who happened to be a welder (from London, England). And he said that welding aluminium is trickier and requires more skill than working with iron/steel. Something called a TIG laser. Welding is good, because the resulting product will be strong with no weak points. Oh, and I’m also told that aluminium isn’t strong enough, which is crap. They make planes out of it.

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@faheem

It’s sounds like you’re stymied as to the construction of your ideal luggage storage but the good news appears to be that your guests are no longer requesting it.

I re-read your list of suggestions and have a couple of questions for clarification purposes:

By asking if guests would like a coffee machine (in the kitchen?), do you mean they do not get coffee at the present time?

When you mention a possible “sitting room” in the balcony garden and/or upstairs terrace, do you mean an actual enclosed space or an open sitting “area”? What pieces of furniture would you consider?

Some of your projects involve considerable expense and I’m wondering whether these things came from guest suggestions or your musings.

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Hi @SandyToes,

Thank you for your further comments.

Actually the issue comes up regularly, and I keep saying no. There’s a train station not far away (CST) which has an oddly named “cloak room” (which is actually a left luggage office), and I generally point people to that. Those I suppose most guests would prefer to just leave their luggage here. This has been discussed quite a bit here already. I’m open to the idea of guests leaving their luggage here, at least on a trial basis (I can always go back to saying no), but I need a suitable container to store it in, obviously.

No, they get coffee. It’s just (probably) instant coffee. My cook makes it, and I know it involves granules from a packet. From what I’ve heard it should taste terrible, but actually guests regularly say good things about it. Which is a bit puzzling. Perhaps they’re all very polite - some of them are English.

I should mention I don’t drink coffee myself, so have almost no idea what is involved. And this is actually a simple enough thing to get, and has been on my todo list for awhile. In fact, I’d been meaning to post a question about it here. People have told me that something called a French Press would be a good choice for my situation.

An open sitting area in both cases. The balcony garden doesn’t have the space, though once upon a time my father used to sit out there. So that option is unlikely.
And it would need to be outdoor furniture, sometimes called lawn furniture, which can cope with the torrential monsoons. And I was thinking two chairs (possibly armchairs) with a table and an umbrella or awning

It’s not that easy to find something suitable in Bombay, which is why it hasn’t happened yet. (Do you see a theme?)

Really? Which of them? Mostly they are my ideas. Guests usually don’t offer much by way of constructive suggestions; they are usually not paying enough attention. And the suggestions they do offer are occasionally wacky, as I’ve mentioned in another thread.

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I’d take off one star - not enough dolphins … if you offer dolphins I expect a whole school.

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Hi @faheem - (whew!) I found you! I read your response, then was interrupted by something (as so often happens), then forgot about it completely. I suddenly remembered about it today and then couldn’t recall which thread it was in, then couldn’t locate your icon anywhere, etc.

Anyway, it appears you have given a lot of thought to your possible projects and it will be interesting to see which receives the most votes down the road. Your garden area is so lush and inviting (at least, from what little is shown along the path to the washroom) that l can see why your father enjoyed sitting in such an oasis. If there’s a space for a sitting area for guests, I cast a vote for that.

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Pod. :rofl::dolphin::dolphin::dolphin::dolphin::dolphin::dolphin::dolphin:

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Unless you mentioned it in your house rules (and communicated on arrival) I think it is unreasonable to expect guests to care. They have their own life :slight_smile:

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Hi @SandyToes,

Thanks for the thoughts.

The garden area is a little bit of green in a concrete wasteland. It was originally my mother’s garden, but it’s been a long time since she has been able to take care of it at all. So it’s somewhat neglected, though I did get some new plants for it recently.

Guests generally seem to respond positively to the garden, but I really don’t think there is room there for a sitting area any longer. There is less space there than when my father was alive, since a bathroom was constructed (for him) in the garden area, and that now takes up space that plants used to occupy. That bathroom is now the guest bathroom.

And perhaps I should include photographs of the plants - I guess I don’t. If that’s what you were getting at.

Anyway, I’m curious what additional items (if any) you personally rank highly, bearing in mind you have never stayed here.

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Hi @faheem - sorry for the delay (I took a much needed break from the forum).

I just re-read your “possible to-do” list and will revisit your listing to refresh my memory.

Oh wow, you’ve got 90 five-star reviews now - terrific! And you’ve added or changed some of the photos. From what I can see, they look great. Unfortunately, I am having trouble w/my graphics viewer or something because I can only see a few photos and then the rest are very dim or dark. (Every listing is affected the same way so I’ll have to find out what’s happening.)

BTW, it appears that photos 1 and 3 are nearly identical and have the same wording in the description. Also, photo #2 has two sentences which are identical. (I can’t see the rest of the photos because of my wonky laptop.) Here are my random comments on your questions:

  • About putting in a side door for easier access to the bathroom. [I don’t know where it is possible except through the shower.] :smile:
  • A desktop computer in the tower room. [Nah]
  • An office chair for the desk. [I thought you had a straight back chair there at one time; if so, that’s sufficient.]
  • A fridge in the tower room. [Possible, but then you’re upping your utility costs.]
  • A faster internet connection in the tower room. [Why, are you getting complaints?]
  • Wall-mounted LED TV, cable TV, or Netflix in the tower room. [No opinion.]
  • Window blinds. [Do guests release the curtains to block the sunlight?]
  • Sitting room [area] in the garden. [You indicated there’s not enough space.]
  • Sitting room [area] on the upstairs terrace. [It seems like an ideal place to develop a nice retreat to read, relax or have refreshments but would it be utilized enough to justify the cost of furnishing/storing during the monsoon season.]
  • Sofa for guests in the front entrance room. [Are guests looking for a place to sit and rest when they enter/leave?]
  • A better sofa in the kitchen area. [Condition of current sofa is unknown.]
  • A better (coffee) table in front of the kitchen sofa. [same]
  • Washer and dryer. [I believe you just purchased a washer.]
  • Single lever taps and shower mixer in the bathroom. [Decidedly preferable but also involves the expense of modifying to single holes.]
  • Soap and shampoo containers attached to the bathroom shower wall. [Not a fan because they don’t emit enough per pump action.]
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I think I would be surprised by a formal checkout but probably pleasantly if the host was charming (as Faheem so obviously is!) and sensitive to my schedule.
I accidentally set up a checkout with the last guest when I texted her I would be leaving for work between 8:00 and 8:30 and she replied she woukd be sure to get up in time to say goodbye! I felt terrible, the poor thing was on crutches AND had to come here for some sort of dreadful legal dispute with a developer. But she was an extravert and really enjoyed the goodbye chat I could tell so whew! I work full time so have flex checkout (my rules say 1:00 but I really woukdn’t know the diff if they stayed til 5:00 shhhh).
I would like to know checkout time without pestering guests to leave – any suggestions for text language? Hotels don’t ask you for your exact checkout time. Something like “Thank you for staying and please let me know your approximate departure time.”?? If I want to get an early cleaning start on weekend departures I’m often trying to guess if they’ve left – my last resort is to bang on the door and shout “cleaning service”!

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Hi @SandyToes,

It looks like you might have accidentally deleted your post. Fortunately I have it in email, so I’ll repost it here. with responses. Consider resurrecting your post if you have the time - it’s good.

Sorry for the slow reply - I’ve been dealing with a first-class, 24 carat medical emergency, which is about as much fun as it sounds. Sigh… Maybe I should have studied medicine instead of mathematics. It certainly would have been more useful.

Hi @faheem - sorry for the delay (I took a much needed break from the forum).

I just re-read your “possible to-do” list and will revisit your listing to refresh my memory.

Oh wow, you’ve got 90 five-star reviews now - terrific! And you’ve added or changed some of the photos. From what I can see, they look great. Unfortunately, I am having trouble w/my graphics viewer or something because I can only see a few photos and then the rest are very dim or dark. (Every listing is affected the same way so I’ll have to find out what’s happening.)

Not all the reviews are 5 star (I wish). I have two 2 star reviews (one from the crazy Frenchman and another rather bizarre one from a random guest who randomly said nasty things about me - I still don’t get it). Also a 3 star review. And a bunch of 4 star reviews.

BTW, it appears that photos 1 and 3 are nearly identical and have the same wording in the description. Also, photo #2 has two sentences which are identical. (I can’t see the rest of the photos because of my wonky laptop.) Here are my random comments on your questions:

yes, 1, 2 and 3 are all very similar. That’s because I wanted to get a up-to-date version of my cover photo, but then couldn’t bear to remove the old one, which now has “nostalgic” value.

And thanks for pointing out the captions. At least one of them was quite messed up.

  • About putting in a side door for easier access to the bathroom. [I don’t know where it is possible except through the shower.] :smile:

No, that item means a side door at the bottom of the small stairs leading from the guest room. On the right, leading directly to the garden. Otherwise they would have to go into the main house and then back into the garden. The side door isn’t leading into the bathroom.

And I just added that side door. So that item is no longer there.

  • A desktop computer in the tower room. [Nah]

Yes, that does not make much sense for various reasons, and is unlikely to happen. Apart from anything else, I don’t use Windows, and the world, by and large, uses little else. Also, viruses and the privacy implications of multiple people using the same machine. I’d need to either keep wiping it, or run it in live mode.

  • An office chair for the desk. [I thought you had a straight back chair there at one time; if so, that’s sufficient.]

I have a plastic chair in there that a guest just broke, and replaced with a different plastic chair. It came apart under him. I really should get something better.

  • A fridge in the tower room. [Possible, but then you’re upping your utility costs.]

Actually, I already bought one, but it’s sitting by the foot of the stairs. I wasn’t happy with it - in my opinion it has a defect. The company replaced it with another with exactly the same defect, and thereafter refused to fix the issue. Jerks. I’ve not been using it in the vague hope of returning it eventually. But perhaps it’s time to face up to reality and use it.

  • A faster internet connection in the tower room. [Why, are you getting complaints?]

Well, not really, but the line was 4 Megabits/sec, which isn’t particularly fast. I’ve now replaced it with a 50 Megabits/sec one, which I think should be enough for anyone. I’ve actually left the 4 Megabits/sec in there as a backup for now, which may be overkill. But internet lines in India are unreliable, and it’s important for travellers to have access to a reliable internet connection. I may be the only person on Airbnb with two guest internet lines.

  • Wall-mounted LED TV, cable TV, or Netflix in the tower room. [No opinion.]

I think I’ll do this one eventually, if only to free up some space for an extra chair/couch.

  • Window blinds. [Do guests release the curtains to block the sunlight?]

That one is just a personal opinion. I spent a night in my guest room myself, some time ago. It was surprisingly quiet and comfortable. But I did find the light coming from the sides of the curtains disturbing. On the other hand, blinds are easily broken.

  • Sitting room [area] in the garden. [You indicated there’s not enough space.]

Yes, probably not. Maybe I should take this item out. Just wondered what people thought.

  • Sitting room [area] on the upstairs terrace. [It seems like an ideal place to develop a nice retreat to read, relax or have refreshments but would it be utilized enough to justify the cost of furnishing/storing during the monsoon season.]

Yes, I think so. This is overall very highly upvoted. Also people have suggested this to me in conversation. The furniture would have to be weatherproof, of course. Specifically, rain and sun proof. So it would stay up there all the time. So not just any old furniture. It isn’t as easy to get something suitable as one would think, which is why I haven’t done this already.

  • Sofa for guests in the front entrance room. [Are guests looking for a place to sit and rest when they enter/leave?]

Dunno. Currently we have a bed there, which is really unsuitable and out of place.

  • A better sofa in the kitchen area. [Condition of current sofa is unknown.]

Sort of old and crappy. But also guests don’t use it much.

  • A better (coffee) table in front of the kitchen sofa. [same]

Shrug. There’s an old small round table in front of the sofa. Not great for putting things on. But again, the kitchen sofa is not much used.

  • Washer and dryer. [I believe you just purchased a washer.]

I did indeed. But I’m still debating whether to let guests use it. Maybe on condition we actually operate the machine.

  • Single lever taps and shower mixer in the bathroom. [Decidedly preferable but also involves the expense of modifying to single holes.]

This one is doable, but I got bogged down in what exact tap/mixer to buy, so it hasn’t happened yet. Foreign imports are nice, but pricey. Indian ones are cheap but of dubious quality.

  • Soap and shampoo containers attached to the bathroom shower wall. [Not a fan because they don’t emit enough per pump action.]

Yes, I don’t think one makes much sense either. They would be difficult to keep clean. People could hurt themselves by hitting them accidentally. Or they could break.

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This survey reminds me of one I would give to my students in Holocaust studies. One question was “What did you like best and what did you like least?” Year after year I would get almost equal numbers of students saying there were too many videos and students saying the videos were the best. After a few years I quit giving the survey.

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Hi @faheem : You said that you couldn’t get rid of a near-duplicate photo because it “now has ‘nostalgic’ value.” (awww!)

Yes, I deleted my post while editing. I think I hit a couple of keys by mistake at the same time I hit the backspace key and “poof”, the whole thing disappeared. I looked at the resulting white space in mild shock and thought of clicking the un-do arrow, then said, “screw it!” (or something similar), and left it.

I get like that sometimes.

Let me get this right. You have a bed in the front entrance room which you say is unsuitable. Well I would say so – certainly for the person laying in it, anyway.

Here’s an idea…swap places of the bed and the sofa in the kitchen. (hmm) On second thought…

Okay, now to the meat of my response which is to possibly learn what your first-class 24 carat medical emergency was about. You aren’t obliged to divulge it, of course, but you can’t do cliff-hangers on this forum - it’s not encouraged or allowed. (I know I read that somewhere.) :grin:

Of course, if it entailed (ahem) that common procedure that begins with a word which is also a punctuation and ends with o-s-c-o-p-y, then go no further (pardon the puns).

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Hi @SandyToes,

You should have clicked the undo arrow. I’ve now flagged it for a mod, who can hopefully revert it to it’s original form. If I have overstepped my bounds, feel free to castigate me - you could try either Pirate or Chicago Gangster mode.

Yes, it’s a bed, but nobody is sleeping in it. It’s just there. Sometimes people sit on it, including, but not restricted to, incoming and outgoing guests. It’s right by the front door. It’s kinda nutty - it should really be replaced with a sofa or something more orthodox.

That wouldn’t really improve anything.

The medical emergency wasn’t mine, but my mother. Who is violently resistant to all forms of medical attention, among other things. If you invite problems, you get problems. But she doesn’t understand that. Anyway, I’m happy to answer more question if anyone cares, in a private thread. I actually thought of asking advice here, but then opted for the more conventional route of local qualified medical professionals. Plus, of course, it’s off topic.

If you mean colonoscopy, then say colonoscopy, No need to be coy about it. :slight_smile:

P.S. Something weird has happened to the apostrophes on this site.

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It’s back…

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I am sorry to hear that your mother has had a medical “episode.” As I recall, you moved back to India since she needed someone that she trusted to help her get through another rough time. [Fired chef, if I recall, amongst other issues.] I hope that she is able/willing to get whatever treatments are available, but of course, in the end, that is her decision. And, I wish for you the patience to help her help herself.

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Thanks for the good wishes, @anon67190644.

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