The Guest

You are not renting to “guests.” You are renting to about five recognisable people, and knowing which one is booking tells you what the stay will cost you.

The five

• The family on a theme-park week. Your bread and butter in Central Florida. Long stay, books early, low damage, high expectations about cleanliness and the pool being warm. Worth the most and complains the most specifically.
• The multi-generation group. Two or three families in a 6BR. Highest revenue per booking, highest wear, and the one where your occupancy limit gets tested.
• The couple on a short break. Two or three nights, low impact, books late. Profitable only if your cleaning cost per turn is under control.
• The relocation or insurance stay. Thirty-plus nights, excellent margin because you run one turnover instead of ten. Often booked direct or via a corporate account.
• The local one-nighter. Books today, for tonight, from twenty minutes away. This is the party risk, and it is the one pattern worth screening out.

Capiche? Here is the one that decides the others.

The guest of record

This single fact predicts damage better than anything else. If the person who booked is not there, you have a house full of people and no accountable adult.

What each one is worth