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Donna Lyerly

Extreme Guest Requests

Updated: Apr 17, 2023

This month a young mom emailed to tell us she "expects a pack and play and a crib at the home upon arrival". The home she has rented has neither. Just so y'all know - our company has a pack and play to lend when needed. And after some discussion the hosts are purchasing a new pack and play for the property, but this doesn't solve the mom's need of a crib for her baby that will be 7 weeks old. This isn't an unreasonable request, but her "ask" was off-putting (BUT hormones...). Anyway, this got Keith and me thinking about other guest requests over the years starting with one just this past Easter Sunday.

  • Early Arrival - The guest requested an early checkin of 4:30am. Where upon I told him I would have to clear it with the guests who had the property until 10am that morning. Tim failed to get my humor, but seriously Tim...

  • Allergy Proofed - Then there was the guest who chose a beautiful home filled with antiques, animal trophies, oriental rugs and traditional draperies and was adamant that all be STRIPPED BARE due to her life threatening allergies.

  • TVs and Mesh extender - Then there was Ronit (I remember his name because we had at least 30 email exchanges). Ronit rented a lovely home on the cheap and then demanded the owners install TVs for every bedroom. When I told him that wasn't possible for several factors, notwithstanding the architecture really required a mesh system...blah, blah, blah - He was still giving me fits. Trade secret - when guests are unrelenting in requests, our last line of defense is to say, "You do realize you're arguing/pleading to housekeeping, right? I'm the maid." I directed Ronit to take up his requests with Evolve to which he replied, "Evolve told me to call you." Well then.

  • New bed - Keith and I had an inquiry this February that went room-rage ugly after we told the inquirer we couldn't accommodate her request of changing our two day beds with trundles for a king for a one night stay. We may have dodged a bullet (literally).

  • New Bathroom - And then there was the guest who gave us a horrible review because the owner didn't add a second bathroom before her stay as she requested. She was outraged that "8 adults had to share one little bath" - max occupancy is 5. 🙄

  • Honeymoon - But maybe the most cheeky request was from a bride-to-be who was getting married by a "Justice of the Peace" aka magistrate and because she wasn't able to afford a nice wedding she was requesting a small cake from a specific artisan bakery, "a fruit and cheese platter from Harris Teeter, and champagne - not the most expensive, but not the cheapest", for their arrival. ~ I was more than willing to pick up all these extras, and I told her the best thing would be to preorder and pay for her things and schedule a pickup for the morning of checkin. She then replied that I had misunderstood - she expected those items to be supplied for her special day. Keep in mind, she booked a one-night's stay at a $120 tiny cabin (not our cabin). Call me a sucker, but I baked brownies, bought a bottle of Costco Prosecco, two cut crystal champagne stems (to take home) from Goodwill and presented with wild flowers from our garden - for $11 the bride was thrilled (or the scammer was tickled she pulled one over on me). Doesn't matter, I acted in good faith. I can't help it, I'm like a good loaf of French bread; crusty on the outside, glutenous goodness on the inside. I'm sure Ronit and many others call me a sourdough.

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