House Rental Woes

Life on Bequia was busy during the winter months.  We loved to see the tourists arrive after the doldrums of the off-season, then come Easter we couldn’t wait to see them leave!  Between the building of our home at Belmont, the craziness of the Pizzeria, the Tourism Committee meetings, the Wind Star and Wind Spirit, the Sailing Club fund-raising and the raising of two children there was little time for sleep.  Sleep was a precious commodity that was increasingly interrupted by the  fax machine whirring noisily throughout the night as people in Europe planned their vacation in paradise.

The renting of houses on the Island had started by accident. I had begun answering letters sent to the Tourist Bureau by people wanting information about holiday accommodations, and had tried my best to be helpful and informative. That wasn’t good enough, people wanted lengthy descriptions and pictures of the houses, and I found myself seriously out of pocket due to faxes and film developing. Mac had suggested I start another business but I truly didn’t want to, I already had more than enough on my plate.  He pointed out that I was doing the rental business anyway, it would be nice if I could make money while I was at it!

Up until then prospective rentals had been given contact information for the house owners and had paid them directly, either by mailed cheque or upon arrival.  This was a rather haphazard way of booking a property and it had backfired several times, or so I was told. Visitors wanted firm assurance that their deposits would indeed ensure a house for the dates they required, and this meant I had to be sure that the home-owners were cashing the deposit cheques.  The mail service was unreliable and so were the cagey people who sometimes claimed “a cheque is in the mail” when it wasn’t!

I had taken a booking for a house overlooking Princess Margaret Beach, and the homeowner informed me that the promised deposit cheque hadn’t arrived. The balance was due three weeks prior to arrival and that cheque also never arrived.   I contacted the renters in England to tell them that payment had not been made, and they assured me that the cheques had been posted to the correct address. Being new in the business (which had not yet been formalized) I wanted to trust them, but they arrived and took up residence with no payment in sight.  I called them and asked for a credit card number, I would run it through the Pizzeria machine so that I could pay the home-owner, and was told they didn’t have credit cards, they actually didn’t believe in them.  A few days later (a week into their stay) the bank called and asked if I by chance knew a particular name, a Mastercard had been dropped in front of the bank and they wanted to find the card holder.  Wouldn’t you know it belonged to my friends who actually didn’t believe in credit cards!  I made sure I got the rent before they left the Island, and the two cheques they claimed to have mailed never arrived.

In another instance I had taken a two-week booking for a popular house at Lower Bay. By then I DID have a credit card machine, and the deposit and balance had been paid on time.  The home owner had his rent, I had my commission and all was well until I got a sad fax two days prior to the guests’ arrival.  The lady had been diagnosed with cancer and needed to have immediate surgery followed by chemo, and this meant the family wouldn’t be able to come to Bequia.  I felt very badly for the lady and so did the home-owner, and between us we refunded the entire payment.  A week later I collected a credit card from a table at the Pizzeria, the family had finished dining and were ready to pay their bill.  When I looked at the card I flushed with anger, it carried the name of the lady who had been forced to cancel her trip to Bequia due to medical problems!  When I returned to the table I asked if they were on a boat or staying ashore, and they happily told me about the house they were renting at Spring.  I told them who I was, and that out of the goodness of his heart the home-owner at Lower Bay had refunded the entire amount they had paid for his house, which was sitting now empty during the busiest two weeks of the season. They looked embarrassed and well they should, canceling a booking so late meant the house had little chance of walk-in business, and Bequia’s season was short to begin with!

I met a lot of lovely people through Bequia Villa Rentals, many of whom became good friends, but I had to deal with quite a few stinkers too!  As Mac was fond of saying, at least I was being compensated for the aggravation!