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

[Elizabeth Magill (pastorlizm]

We have an individual that manages guest room reservations and she
often will check in with households to help them negotiate which room
and when arrivals and departures happen.

Our rooms are free for 10 nights and then $10 per night after that.

If there is a conflict it is often resolved by using a neighbors room
in their house.

If someone is using a week in a row or both rooms, or taking a holiday
weekend they will usually email the whole community to check-in. Most
long rentals have been a friend in trouble, a member with a broken
limb or post surgery. We also have used the rooms for covid isolation.

34 households, 2 guest rooms, shared bath, we have rarely had any
significant challenge getting at who gets to use the rooms.

-Liz
(The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
Pastor, Ashburnham Community Church
Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
www.elizabethmaemagill.com
508-450-0431

On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 11:11 AM KAREN A CARLSON via Cohousing-L
<cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
>
> 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
>
> Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ________________________________
> 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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