Supplies: “What NO toilet paper?”

For TEN extra bonus points: This is one of the most common sources of unmet expectations for guests.

In the Orlando area, vacation rental guests are expected to purchase supplies for their day-to-day needs along with their groceries. This is a big part of what self-catering means. Unlike a hotel, toiletries and paper supplies are not provided in a self-catering vacation rental. This can be especially surprising for guests who have only stayed in hotels before, and for whom it never occurred that they would need to worry about bringing or obtaining such things.

Remember that standards vary in different locations. For example, in some locations in the United States, it is typical that guests bring their own sheets, linens and towels to a vacation rental. It’s simply expected, and what everyone does. Don’t worry! Breezy Oak Villas are equipped with all of the linens and towels you will need.

If you are planning on visiting a beach however, please use your own beach towel/blanket or purchase an inexpensive beach towel at the many discount tourist shops in the area. And please leave all of the sand behind at the beach! Bringing it home in your towels and beach toys to have it end up in the pool and washing machine at the villa can really take a toll on the villa equipment!

While many Orlando area vacation rentals provide no supplies at all, others will provide a simple ‘starter pack’ that contains things like a single roll of toilet paper, a bar of hand-soap at the sink, a dishwasher tab, and perhaps a single wash package of laundry soap. This is intended to meet the guests need for the first few days until they can go out and purchase their needed supplies.

When you arrive at our villa, you will find bar soap at all of the sinks, and a roll of paper towel, and a roll of toilet paper in each bathroom… but we like to do something more for our guests than the standard. So we try to provide additional supplies for your use, including:

• Toilet paper (8 rolls – usually enough for a 1-week stay)
• Dishwashing Liquid (all you need)
• Dishwasher Detergent (all you need)
• Dish cleaning brush and scrub pads
• Kitchen Trash Bags (all you need)
• Laundry Soap (all you need – at least enough for 10 loads)
• Liquid Hand Soap (at all sinks)
• An assortment of Cleaning Supplies (for the odd spill clean-up)

Most vacation rentals do not do this, forcing you to buy and transport supplies (often more than you need or want) while on your vacation.

Providing these extras is part of our service to you, and one of the ways in which we express appreciation for your staying with us.

If these supplies aren’t enough to meet your needs for the total length of your stay, you likely will be with us for a while longer than usual, and a trip to the grocery store will happen at one point or another and additional supplies can easily be obtained at that time.

Now, even though we provide so much more house supplies than many area vacation rentals, and even while some provide none… we’ve actually had the odd guest complain that there wasn’t enough toilet paper! That was actually disappointing for us, after providing so much more than any of our competition does. But the guest felt their complaint was justified. Why? They expected something else!

We don’t want you to be disappointed when you get something much better than normal! But it can happen if you aren’t aware of what ‘normal’ is! Now you know!

With our providing more supplies than the norm, it honestly taxes our cleaners because they have to remember that our property is special, and there is more work to do in preparing our home for guests than the others they take care of. This may mean that occasionally they forget to put out one or two of the extra supplies we request them to. If you discover this has happened after your arrival, don’t be disappointed that one of our unusual extras is missing – just drop me a quick email and let me know. I’ll get it seen to promptly.

In order to provide the extras that we do, many of them are purchased and provided in bulk. So you may find, for example, a large container of dishwashing liquid, or a roll of approximately 100 trash bags in the pantry. Please use only what you need, and leave the remainder behind. They’re for our next guests. Using only what you need means we’ll have enough stock for all of our guests throughout the year.

Both we and our next guests will thank you!

Part of The Crash Course in being a Great Vacation Rental Guest!

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