  Choices,
choices - the only way to try and get it right is to ask |
| Choices,
choices - the only way to try and get it right is to ask |
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holiday
house management - FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions |
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If you
have read our pages on our management site, you'll understand that when
we say 'we know exactly what you are going through' you'll know we do.
Whether you're a first time homeowner here, or one that has had many
management companies you will all have that question - So if there are any nagging questions left in your mind, hopefully this page will settle them, as we are asked these questions so many times, it may be easier to list them. There are sure to be questions not listed here that you will want answering. All we can say is talk to us, we are here to help and we feel it very important that you are totally happy with us and that you feel comfortable with us looking after your home here. Why not give us a quick call at: (001 from England) 407 962 0200 and have a chat or email us your number, we'll be happy to call you. Below
are the most often asked questions, I hope they help. |
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Do you guarantee bookings
for my home? |
NO ... but we will try
hard for them.This must be the most asked question, and in a way the one that gets me down the most. Yes there are companies out here that guarantee bookings - but what's the catch! Considering what I hear from owners that are coming to us from companies offering these 'so called guarantees' here are my own observations: 1. at what rate, anyone can get bookings if the rate is so low as these seem to be, the lowest rate I have heard about was $50 a night including tax! for a 5 bedroom home over Christmas with pool heat included! - that's $43.50 in your pocket before expanses 2. often no security deposits are taken, so if the house is damaged, hard luck, the homeowner puts their hand into their pocket 3. silly rates and charges for work carried out on the home to the homeowner so when they do get their rental money it's eaten up with miscellaneous expenses 4. it can take up to 3 months for it as the booking agents allow their guests the option to be able to complain within a 2 month period after they return, so you wait! All these things get to me, I'm not naming names and saying that all the companies are all the same, but as yet these 'so called guarantees' haven't convinced me, from what owners tell me. So you are better to get them yourselves, that way you get a better rate, you get the money up front and you have the control, not a booking agent that is getting the homes next to nothing and making money from you, the homeowner! Don't worry, the other answers are shorter, but this question I think, needs more explanation |
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When you turn on or off
pool heat, do you charge for doing this, and if so how much? |
We do not charge for
doing this, we have heard other companies often do but we do not. |
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Can you offer Free Calls
on our phone service for guests? |
Yes we offer this, it
seems to be a good selling point offering FREE calls to the UK and a
load of other countries, for hardly anything extra, talk to us about
this, and we'll explain how this works. |
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Do you charge for the
removal of rubbish from the home after guests leave? |
Normally no, however when
guests leave an excessive amount we may put in a charge, but it would
have to be an unreasonable amount, and this would be passed onto the
guest. |
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Can you treat my grass
with fertilizer plus deal with any weeds and pests? |
We offer a grass
treatment and suggest 4 applications a year. They all fertilize but also
deal with pests and weeds at the right times during the year for the
best results. We can turn your grass around, making it lush, green and
healthy. There is a charge for this, and is about $60 an application
subject to the lot size. |
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Do you just do work on
the home without notifying us and just present us the bill? |
We will carry out the
essentials, to keep your home functioning, we will not just spend your
money for the sake of it. Work on the AC units, and pool are carried out
as a matter of urgently as these are very important, however we will notify you of
any problems and you can let us know what or how to proceed. |
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When do you clean the
home and what if there are no guests in for a while? |
We aim to clean the home
either the day the guests leave or the following day subject to their
departure time and when there are guests next in. On a turn round,
guests must vacate by 10am as we will be cleaning at the home until the
guests can arrive at 4pm. If it's a while till guests are next in, we
will carry out the clean, and the day the guests are next due in we will
check the house out for bugs and dust round. |
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Do you leave anything for
the guests? |
When the guests arrive,
there will be tea, coffee, creamer and sugar waiting for them, as we
have found that most UK visitors do love to arrive, kick their shoes off
and pop the kettle on for a cuppa, and who could blame them after all
that flight time. We do offer a welcome pack for guests, but this is chargeable, subject to the items requested. |
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How do the guests get
into the house, do they have to come to your offices? |
After an often long
flight, the last thing guests want to do is find their way to offices to
pick up keys. Instead, we have a key safe at the front door of your home
where the key is kept, so all they do is go to the house, enter the code
number (easily changed) and they're in, making their way to the kettle
for a cuppa! |
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How can we and any guests
contact you? |
In each of our homes we
have a Holidayhouse Management book, which covers the usual, what to do,
and what not to do, plus 3 sets of contact numbers. This way in case of
an emergency we are available and on call 24-7. Obviously we give these
number to our homeowners as well, that way you can always reach us. |
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Do you charge for call
outs to the home? |
Actually, yes and no.
Wherever possible no, if we are close or passing the home, or it can
wait till we are, then we don't charge. However if the guest requests a
call out and we consider it unreasonable, or they have not tried, then
there will be a charge. The most common is the American favorite
'blocked toilets', there is a plunger at the home, if they don't want to
use it and flush inappropriate material down the toilet they should have
to pay, why should you, it's only fare. |
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What does your lawn care
service include? |
We don't just come and
cut the grass and leave. While at your home we will cut back and plants
that need it, cut back dead palm leaves and weed the planted beds. |
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What counties are you
licensed in? |
Our company is fully
licensed in Osceola County, Orange County, Lake County and Polk County, for
short term vacation home management, pools, lawn and yard care. |
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Where do you have any
management homes at the moment?
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There are new homeowners
coming to us on a regular basis, but we have homes
in most developments including:
ORANGE COUNTY: Harbor Bay POLK COUNTY: Westridge, Town Center Resort, Davenport Lakes, Bridgewater Crossing, The Manors (South), Hampton Lakes, Calabay Parc, Sunridge Lakes, West Haven LAKE COUNTY: Woodridge, Sunrise Lakes, Mission Park |
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Do you get bookings in
for our homes?
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We are very actively
involved with bookings and do our very best for our homeowners that need
them, we are always trying new avenues, including new web sites and UK based villa holiday
magazines on a regular basis. We also offer FREE advertising on 3 web sites aimed at villas being booked directly with the owners, here is a link for you to have a look, there is ZERO commission to Holidayhouse: http://www.villasbyowners.com We are not a booking agent, we don't make any guarantees of 'X weeks booked' but we do actively try as we get 10% on any bookings we get for owners that want them. |
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If the owner gets a
booking do you take a percentage? |
We are asked this
question so many times, our answer is simple; Did we do any work for getting the booking, place an advert, contact the guest at all for the booking? The answer is NO, so why should we have a percentage, you've done all the work. Only when we place a guest we take 10%. We also offer FREE advertising on 3 web sites aimed at villas being booked directly with the owners, and there is ZERO commission to us, here is a link: http://www.villasbyowners.co.uk |
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What are you doing to get bookings? |
Most of our bookings come
from the internet. However we are now getting a good percentage of
return bookings and all our homeowners are now working together trying
for each other through us. Added to this we are offering 3 new web sites
where owners can advertise their sites and get direct bookings and also
advertising in UK based villa holiday magazines on a regular basis. |
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If you pay bills for me
is there a charge for doing this on top of the bill? |
Unless there has been a
lot of additional work involved, such as meeting up with companies doing
the work, letting them into the home etc. the answer is NO, so for
example, if the phone bill is $26.89 that's what you pay on the
statement. |
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As a
help to our potential new homeowners and existing clients, we offer 'Push2Talk'. Simply click the icon to the left, and we will call you
FREE, that's right, no
charge to you at all. This will mean that you can talk with us
directly and ask any questions about our services during our office
hours, but if you get an answer machine,
then leave a number to call and we will do so as soon as we get in the
office. Most calls are from the UK, so please remember Florida is
5 hours behind UK time. |
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Do you still have a question
you would like to ask us? |
If so simply ask a way,
after all what will it cost, nothing! and if we can help so much the
better. Just click here
to email us a question or use 'Push2Talk'. |
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 TheDPDgroup INC of USA Companies |
DPDgroup INC. is fully licensed in the following State of Florida counties: Lake, Orange, Osceola and Polk county. To contact DPDgroup INC directly, please email DPDgroup@serva.com |
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