Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Question re: guest room policies

[KAREN A CARLSON (kcarlson2]

Regarding guest rooms. At Arboretum Cohousing (40 households) in Madison, WI, 
we have 2 guest rooms, each with a bathroom in one building. In another 
building, we have a suite with two bedrooms, a shared bathroom, and a sitting 
area that can sleep two.  This one is perfect for close friends and families.
We have found that summer is our busiest season for GRs and thus each household 
is limited to 14 nights total, that is not nesessarily  continuous. If a 
residents wants to go over this max and there is a least one other GR not 
reserved, the GR committee will approve the request. If all other rooms are 
booked, we ask the community if someone else needs the room.  If not, the 
request goes through.
During the whole year, a reservation is limited to 2 weeks for any one 
reservation.  If a resident needs more days, the GR committee reviews the 
request. We almost always approve the request as there are often special 
reasons, such as family members visiting from abroad or a grandparent here to 
help with a new born.
Three things I'd recommend to other communities. First, be sure your attitude 
is "getting to yes," that is, find a way, if possible,  to help your neighbors 
get what they want while balancing the needs of the whole community. Second, 
have an application form that hosts fill out rather than each putting their 
reservation directly on the books.  Third, create a GR committee. Ours has 
learned a lot over the years and we frequently remind the community of GR 
policies.  We explain that certain requests require us to review them (E.g., 
going beyond the 2 week limit) before approval. It seems the community 
understands the need to have such policies, esp since they can be waived.
Karen Carlson

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________________________________
From: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l-bounces+kcarlson2=wisc.edu [at] cohousing.org> 
on behalf of Iowa City Cohousing <iowacitycohousing [at] gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2022 12:51:30 PM
To: cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org <cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org>
Subject: [C-L]_ Question re: guest room policies

We have been settling our cohousing community in stages, with our numbers
increasing as each new building is completed. We have two guest rooms in
our common house. Our current guest room policy allows people to reserve
one or both rooms on a first-come, first-served basis up to four months in
advance. So far, that’s been working just fine. However, as our community
continues to grow, we anticipate that the demand for guest rooms will
increase, particularly around holiday times in November and December.

We are wondering how other communities have dealt with this. Do any of you
have policies in place that set limits on how often one household can
reserve, or some way to rotate peak season reservations to give more people
a chance to use the rooms? Any wisdom you have to offer would be welcome.
Thank you!

Wendy Brown on behalf of Prairie Hill Cohousing, Iowa City, IA

iowacitycohousing [at] gmail.com
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