You want to rent your house to tenants to enjoy their vacation, but you also want them to be respectful of your rules and leave your place in a good condition, right? This issue could bring some worries about giving strangers full control of your vacation home while vacationing. As most people would be respectful of your house rules, there’s a big chance you will have a few guests who might want to throw crazy parties, break things and get really loud and noisy in the neighborhood. Also, the worst of your nightmares is to have guests committing felonies or illegal actions in your place. This may lead to many problems of financial losses to get things fixed or replaced, or worse, involvement in police investigations of felonies you had nothing to do with. So, what can you do to prevent or, at least, lessen the chances of getting such problematic guests?

Talk to the potential guest on the phone
It is completely acceptable to ask for the name, the address, the number of adults and children. You can also ask for the purpose of the trip and if they have stayed in a vacation home rental home before. After all, this is your home, and they will be staying in it. If you still did not feel completely comfortable on the phone with the guest, you may ask for a driver’s license/ passport copy to be sent; so you can have a background check done. Remember, following you gut is the best thing to do if you still don’t feel happy about hosting this guest, your gut needs to be sitting just right!

Lead a little internet sleuthing
You can do a little search on the internet. An area code lookup will help you know if the potential guests live within the area, which means a big crazy party is going to be thrown at your place! You can also use websites that provide information about people to match the information with what you got on the phone. A few websites that can help are www.zabasearch.com, www.whitepages.com, and www.pipl.com.

Pay attention to email addresses and search states’ offender databases
Be on the lookout for some email addresses that cause our spidey- senses to tingle! Emails like “2Wildto Tame”, “PassionFroot4U”, “tooHott2Trott”, “hotchick59” can raise red flags! This might lead you to investigate a more thorough research about your guest.

You may also want to look up the names of offenders in the state your guest is coming from. This is very important as you really don’t want to get involved in a crime committed in your own house by a stranger you never met before!

Use the reliable vacation home rental website: CuddlyNest.com
Use the online vacation home rental website, CuddlyNest.com, to protect your rights against any possible losses. Problematic guests are discouraged from using an online website to rent a place because they know they will be legally prosecuted.

When you sign an agreement to list your property in a trustworthy online vacation home rental platform, like CuddlyNest, you automatically guarantee that your rights of any losses or damages will be guaranteed to be compensated for. Using an online vacation home rental platform is the best way to protect your rights.

Avoid potential guests who keep arguing about your rules
Post your home, minimum- stay rules and rates online and make them final. Any guest who argues and tries to make you bend the rules is a potentially problematic one. After all, renting your vacation home listing to these guests is not worth the headache.

Set down a refundable large damage fee
By setting down a large damage fee, you guarantee your right to be compensated for any losses that might be caused by a problematic guest. Also, setting down the large fee online will keep harmful guests away, but it will not scare those who have no bad will intentions.

Set longer minimum stays at your listing than others
All guests who intend to throw a crazy party at your vacation home rental will need your house for a night or two. By setting relatively longer minimum stays, according to the season, you will largely keep undesirable guests away from considering your listing for their wild party or huge family reunion.

Stop by once during the rental stay
Passing by to say hello to your guests and check on them will give them a good feeling of a caring host. It will also give you the chance to check on your house during the stay and make sure everything is going smoothly and in accordance with your house rules.

After all, if you have a bad feeling or are hesitant about renting a potential guest, you can easily and politely get out of the conversation/deny the booking request by just telling the guest that the dates he/she wants are not available. It is your house and your own satisfaction.

We have combined all these steps in a single infographic for your easy reference.