Recently on the Cottage Life forum, I posted this question: Five Things a Cottage Guest Should Never Do. I shared my list and asked cottagers to do the same. Judging by the number of cottagers who responded to this posting, I think it touched a nerve.

The real issue for most people is managing expectations. As cottage owners we want/need our guests to behave a certain way. When they don’t resentments seep in and the offending guest is seldom invited back.

What were some of the things that really ticked people off?

1. Arrive unexpectedly (even worse when it’s meal time)
2. Invite extended family and friends to join them, casually mentioning to the host that someone they know might just drop by.
3. Drink the last beer or bring cheap beer and drink owner’s expensive beer
4. Not offer to gas up the boat after using it all day
5. Guests who stay too long
6. Bring a pet without asking and not clean up after it
7. Play their music or crank your stereo
8. Don’t pitch in and help out
9. Arrive empty handed

Sharon, Cottage Life’s forum administrator, directed me to an article, How to Survive a Long Weekend (click to view) as a way to take a proactive approach to this delicate subject matter.

I think as hosts the responsibility falls on us to articulate what we want from our guests. In some cases it’s absolutely nothing. In other instances maybe we need them to bring linen, a meal, chip in for gas or their help fixing the boat ramp.

I’m slowly learning that expectations are resentments under construction.

Dad Fixit from the Forum summed it up best with this:

“Tell ‘em up front what you expect and don’t be afraid to ask (strip the beds, sweep the floor whatever). We’ve followed this rule since we bought our place and knock-on-wood…or my head in this case, we don’t have anyone on the “banned” list and everyone keeps comin back.”

I also like what Heather Bayer wrote,

“You could also write a nice little homily on what makes a good cottage guest, have it framed and place it in the cottage somewhere.”

Great idea, Heather. So we are launching our “Ideal Cottage Guest” contest and invite you to submit your ideas to julie@cottagedaily.com. Five pairs of tickets for the Spring Cottage Life Show (taking place in Toronto March 28 - 30) will be awarded to the winning entries. I will post the submissions so you can download them for your cottage wall.

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am and is filed under Entertaining, Guests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.