Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: guest room fairness

[Susan Coberly (susandgeorge]

I am the guest room reservation taker and poster [there are two others with
access to the google calendar for guest room posting]. The google calendar
entry cannot be changed by other than we three, but can be seen by all
residents, including name of hosting family.

We have one guest room with an adjacent full bath. there is another hall
1/2 bath so the guest room bath is for the guests in the guest room or can
be opened to the hall for special events. There is a queen sized bed, night
tables, a desk and a closet. also a small refrigerator. A recent
 new resident family donated a portable crib (folds up and can be stored in
the room's closet).

We don't allow folks to sleep elsewhere, e.g., on the couches in the living
room of the Common House, because residents need to be able to access the
living room to watch TV, read quietly, etc. However, sometimes families
with teens have reserved the multi use room (not in the CH - but separate
nearby bldg.] for slumber parties.Donations per night $10 night for the
guest room. We had thought about a certain # of free nights for each
household each year, but as described by other posters, some use the room a
lot, others not at all, and we haven't decided on such a system. Frankly I
cringe at the thought of keeping track of points, used nights, etc, but we
may try that some day, and if there is a system I would appreciate having
access to a copy.

We do not currently have a policy on holidays, nor is there an "open
period" for reservations, as described by one or two posters.  Limit on
consecutive nights is 7, subject to adjustment according to time of year
[for example, last year we allowed a host family to have for 10 nights in
July,  allowed another family to have grandparents from Georgia 9 days
after Christmas day and another family used 3 nights including Christmas
day.

We decided on a limit of consecutive nights because about three years ago
someone took the guest room for 30 days in a row.

I keep track of backup reservations and email both the first in line and
others in back up queue.

The host family is responsible for suite cleanup. There are "check out by"
and "can check in at" hours, which I believe may need to be modified
because the host families sometimes do not get the suite cleaned until the
check in time, which sometimes wreaks havoc on me since I need to check the
suite to make sure it is done / ready. so there may need to be a "cleaned
fully by and available to be checked" time added in there.... since I
sometimes do have other things to do in the middle of the day!  We have
also had some issues where the host family hasn't cleaned the suite until
the next day or even later -  which essentially leaves it unavailable for
use.

As have other posters, sometimes people reserve and do not use the room
after all. I explain in my email when they reserve that they need to let me
know if plans change, and if there are back up reservations I sometimes
"nudge" by email reminding of reservations to confirm someone in the queue
needs / no longer needs the room.

If anyone wants a copy of our policy I can email it to them.

Susan Coberly
La Querencia, Fresno CA




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