Thank you River Rock Retreat for your comments. I am vegan and hardly ever fly. Our house has a meter for the electricity as does the hot tub and the gas is a propane tank marked in percentages so it’s easy to establish how much energy is used with readings at the beginning and end of a stay. We have been in business for 16 years (using other agencies than airbnb) and up to now our winter arrangements for paying for energy used has worked out fine, everyone has been happy. In the summer energy use is minimal and we make no charge. We are in France, maybe things are a bit different here
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Thank you Cindy. My reply to RRR covers the usage of energy thing. I think it is a good idea to have a pre-approved usage for the Hot Tub. Very constructive helpful reply.
Jacquo…thank you so much. We already do most of the things you talk about but I don’t really push this in our marketing. Will certainly be looking at this.
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Ooh! Another idea could be to charge the average for the utility usage and anything over what is used- you can donate to a green initiative or similar! You could advertise that as well. There are some who would love the idea that their trip was helpful in some way and would make them feel good. Plus you’d get tax credits for charitable donations!
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Great idea! Thank you MissSwan!!
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Or you could go back to the kind of energy charges I encountered in my first trip to Britain 40 years ago, when I was dropping 10p coins in the gas heater in my girlfriend’s flat, and in the water heater when I wanted to take a bath (and really craved a shower). I’m sure that coin operated electric switches and gas valves are still available. I’m also certain that you would get a large number of negative reviews. I’m surprised that you don’t have a lot of negative reviews now for trying to collect fees outside of AirBnB.
Ha Ha NordlingHouse! Those were the days! So, I must assume that you, and most people commenting on here are in America? I am in France, in a backwater, and, as I have said before, over the past 16 years we have had folks happily paying as they go for utilities in the winter, I suppose the airbnb community is rather different. I am considering my options and am very grateful for all the input.
Yes and also quite a few hosts from other English speaking nations, probably due to being a English language site. We do have contributors from all over the world though. Don’t be put off by our frank and sometimes seemingly unwelcoming replies. LOL.
Thank you KKC! Very nice of you to offer some support, I will hang on in there!!
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In some parts of the US, prepaid energy is common especially in dorms, barracks, hotels or temporary housing. Energy is cheap here so most Americans are more wasteful and don’t realize how much they use. I just googled it and electricity is about 30% more expensive in France than the US. The natural gas price is only about 11% higher on average when you convert units and currency.
If its really an issue you can get a prepaid electric meter pretty easily. You can either submeter it on your own prepaid meter or ask your utility if they can install a prepaid meter. Usually its a web portal you login to and you buy as much energy as you want to use. I just don’t see that working for a short-term rental however because you’d check in and the lights are out until you login and fill up the meter. That doesn’t seem like a nice way to start your vacation unless it was just for the hot tub. Even then, you have to keep the hot tub running all the time so you couldn’t have it off until they want to use it because it wouldn’t be ready for them to use!
Overall though it sounds like your difficulty isn’t the setup of your place, its the people. I’ve just found that trying to use technology to fix that kind of problem has mixed success. It sounds like your guests are just inconsiderate to you, the earth and energy scarcity. Unfortunately you might have to make it more obvious that they will be billed for the energy they use. How you would do that, I’m not sure.
@menagerie, You might also consider having guests pre-pay. People seem more willing to pay before their stay than after - once they’re gone you have no leverage.
A house my family stayed at had a pool but at the base rate it was unheated. We had to pre-pay a daily rate to have it heated.
With that in mind maybe you could create a few groups to get close to actual usage?
"We want each group to be comfortable while still recognizing some use energy at a much higher rate than others. At booking please let us know what package suits your group. If we find usage has exceeded your prepayment by over 20% (?) we will charge the overage through resolution center.
Base - hot tub kept at (minimum) and open to ambient air <2 hrs, house kept <18C (included)
Comfort - Hot tub kept at x Celsius and open to ambient air <4 hrs, house kept < 21C ($$ extra)
Executive - Hot tub kept at x C & open to ambient air <6 hrs, house kept <24C ($$$$ extra)
Thank you Mexican for this! So nice that you have taken the trouble to research the situation here in France. Not only is the gas (no natural gas where we are by the way) and electricity more expensive, the tax imposed is also pretty high. I am grateful for your time
Thank you Allison, this is a very interesting reply. I like your ideas, though the banding of costs may be a little difficult to explain to our French guests, never mind any German or Belgians! However, it has a lot of merits. I totally accept that folks are more willing to pre-pay as well. Good thinking.
GREAT idea. Will implement immediately. Good grief I have so many of them even if some walked it would be better than more plastic.
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Yes it is. One of the foundation ideas for AirBnBis that the guest pays for everything up front, and that hosts should never have to discuss money with guests. So AirBnB guests don’t expect to have extra charges imposed on them, especially at checkout. Make it easy on yourself and determine an average amount to charge and add it to your basic rate for the winter season.
Thank you Nordling House. I take your point. For the moment the deed is done and the guests had agreed before the booking was made.
That’s ludicrous. Hosts discuss money with guests all the time. I discuss it when assessing pet fees. I discussed it when one pet became ill and the guest paid me via Venmo for cleaning. I’ve discussed it with guests who wanted a special schedule for checking in and out. And as a guest I’ve seen a multitude of mentions of money, fees paid for parking or late check out and so on in listings.
One can discuss the wisdom of levying a charge after the stay is over without telling fellow hosts things that are patently untrue.
Thanks KKC, the plot thickens with regard to the discussion of supplementary charges to guests, continues to be an interesting thread for me and others it seems!
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