Eight things to check before you pay for any shortlet
A checklist you can use on any property, including this one. Most of it is about finding out what happens when something goes wrong.
· System Administrator · about 4 min to read
Most bad shortlet experiences are not bad luck. They are a question nobody asked.
This is the list we would use ourselves, and it works on any property. Use it on us too; a place that minds being asked is answering you already.
1. What happens when the power goes off
Not whether it goes off. Ask what happens when it does.
The useful follow-up questions are how long the generator runs, who starts it at three in the morning, and whether anything at all works in the gap between the mains failing and the generator coming up. An inverter or a battery covers that gap; without one, a "24-hour power" claim means 24 hours with interruptions in it.
Ask also whether the door locks have their own batteries. A keypad that dies with the mains is a locked door.
2. Where the water comes from
Ask whether there is storage and how it gets to your tap when there is no power. A borehole with an electric pump and no backup is a dry shower on a bad morning.
3. Who is at the gate at 2am
Overnight security is a different question from daytime security. Ask whether somebody is physically there at night, and whether the cameras are recording or merely mounted.
4. Who else can open your door
The one people forget, and the one that matters most.
Ask how many keys exist and who holds them. With a mechanical key the honest answer is usually "we are not completely sure", because keys get copied and not handed back. With a keypad, ask whether your code is removed when you leave, or only expires.
Here, codes are deleted from the lock itself at the end of a stay, not left to lapse. A previous guest's code does not open your door, and if you lose the phone yours is on, it can be killed in seconds and another issued while you stand there.
5. What you are paying, and to whom
Confirm the total, not the nightly rate: caution fees, service charges and cleaning charges are where a quoted price grows.
On payment itself, be careful. Pay through the property's own checkout, or at the desk. Be wary of anyone who wants a transfer to a personal account, pushes you to pay off-platform, or applies pressure about a price that expires today. Those three together are the shape of nearly every accommodation scam.
6. The cancellation terms, before you need them
Read them while you are relaxed. Ask what happens if you cancel a week out, a day out, and on the day, and ask whether a refund is money back or credit.
7. The actual address
Ask for it in writing before you pay, and look at it on a map. "Close to the airport" is not an address, and a description of an area is not a location. If a property will not tell you where it is until you have paid, stop.
8. Who answers at midnight
Get a number that a person picks up, and understand whether that person can do anything. A caretaker who cannot issue a door code or get into the plant room is sympathy, not help.
A ninth, for anywhere you have not stayed before
Ask how you get in, and listen to how confidently it is answered.
"Someone will meet you with the key" is the answer that goes wrong most often, because it depends on a specific person being awake and reachable at whatever hour you actually arrive. If that is the arrangement, get that person's number, and get a second number for when the first one does not answer.
The checklist, in short
Copy this into your notes and work down it before you pay anybody:
- What happens when the power goes off, and what covers the gap?
- Where does the water come from with no power?
- Who is at the gate overnight?
- How many keys or codes exist, and who holds them?
- What is the total, including every fee?
- How do I pay, and is it the property's own checkout?
- What are the cancellation terms at a week, a day, and on the day?
- What is the actual address?
- How do I get in, and who answers if that fails?
None of it is rude to ask. All of it is cheaper to ask now.
Our answers
We would rather you asked than assumed, so: the facilities page covers power, water and security, the questions page covers payment, cancellation and arrival, and how our door codes work covers who can open your door.
Anything not answered there, ask the front desk. If you are ready, see what is free.
Written by the team at Nobleyy Apartment.