These 2 little bundles of energy are called Fox and Matilda! Do you want to hear their story?
Fox and Matilda enjoying a wee picnic in our back garden after the intense heat of Houston it must feel such a releif to be exploring outdoors!
Well the story starts when Sonny, Lola and myself were sitting eating our Burger King meal (needs must!) in our camper van at a service station station car park just off the M6 en route to our family holiday in the Lake District back on July 6th!
We had been through a terrible period business wise since lockdown started but had just about managed to keep our heads above water.
I had been working really hard trying to get direct bookings from folk who were badly in need of accommodation during the lockdown.
We had discounted rates to helped doctors, nurses and even a friend returning back from Bahrain after being made redundant.
We were surviving and that is what counts in hard times.
And our family holiday which had just begun, was my time to try to switch off from work.
Half way though munching into my ridiculously large burger my phone rang.
+1?
A States number!
“Hello, is this Dwellcome Home?”
“Yes, it’s Colin here. How can I help you?”
Layla was lovely.
Like many, her husband had been made redundant and they now needed to relocate back to their home base of Aberdeen.
“A friend in Aberdeen had seen our places on Facebook and I wondered if the 4 bed house is available. The relocation company have sent us options but none of them are suitable. Your 4 bed place looks ideal.”
YES!
It’s hard to tell if your making any impact at all sometimes but all of my hard work WAS having a little effect.
I was clearly managing to reach some people and this was a direct lead from my relentless work I have been putting into my social media business pages.
Here was this lovely family, from all the way over the pond in Houston, badly in need of a nice place while they settled back into UK life.
And she’s calling me in the middle of nowhere seeing if I can help them out.
I was so pleased. If it came off it would be win-win for both parties! Such a nice feeling.
But Layla didn’t just want a base, she wanted a home from home for her beautiful family.
Time for some indoor chilling in our amazing open plan kitchen, living, dinging area which opens straight out onto the garden
Moving home is one of the most stressful times in your personal life, along with a bereavement and relationship break up I have heard and can confirm from my experiences!
But it must be especially so when you have to travel half way across with world with 2 young children in the middle of a pandemic! Doddle! Not. Haha.
“Of course we can help you Layla!”
This property has been almost fully booked since I started running it last summer until before lockdown but had been quiet since then so was thankfully was available for them.
Layla explained that it would be the relocation company who we would deal with but she expected that they might need a place for between 2 to 3 months before their container arrived and they could get their permanent base ready to move into.
And they hoped to be back in Aberdeen the following Friday, in a weeks time from then.
I was well versed in this type of enquiry and how to deal with it.
Quickly and swiftly.
I have given lots of families a place to stay between house moves or when relocating back to Aberdeen or South Shields, where we also have self catering places.
Immediately I blocked out the calendar for our 4 bed until the start of October and took a screenshot my calendar and Whattsapp’d it to Layla.
I stopped any future potential bookers from seeing our biggest Aberdeen asset online.
In our busiest time of the year; the staycation boom was expected to bring in a flood of bookings.
And here I was preventing anyone searching for places from seeing our best earner by blocking our calendar out!
On the basis of a POTENTIAL booking.
Madness?
Why did I do this?
Because I look after every single enquiry.
“Look how high I am Mam!”
I wanted to give this lady who must have had so many things to sort going through her head total peace of mind that they had security of a nice place once the returned back onto UK soil.
A few phone calls and emails later with the agent and about a week passed until some money hit my bank account.
Layla’s friend popped round to drop some shopping off on the morning they were due to arrive.
We are always flexible and put our guests needs first.
They got in as expected and are now all settled in.
As usual I have checked that things are okay but given them their space.
And as they travelled from the States, this Friday signals the end of their 14 day self isolation period.
So I called Layla this morning to arrange their regular clean and she told me how delighted they are to be back in the UK and specifically in our place.
The garden has been a god send during these times whilst trying to occupy 2 toddlers who were initially suffering from jet lag!
I am so delighted that the tree at the end of our lawned garden is getting put to good use!
Fox totally nailing ‘look at me up a tree’ pose!
The months I spent renovating this place and my regular visits to maintain the garden suddenly feels massively worthwhile.
To be lived in and appreciated by a lovely young family.
And Layla was kind enough to send me there lovely photos of her family enjoying the space and okayed it for me to share their happy faces with you and tell their story!
Although we don’t have gardens at all of our places they all have the same levels of comfort, cleanliness and me dealing directly with you.
So if you know anyone now or in the future who needs a lovely place to stay please remember us.
Remember Fox and Matilda! And their happy wee faces.
Feel free to share this blog or our Facebook & Instagram pages and posts.
Because we want to make sure that all future guests are as happy as them.
And to do that we need to reach the right people. Folk who need a great place to stay.
We have decent availability at our other Aberdeen and South Shields 2-4 bed places so please get in touch if I can help you out.
Have a great week every one.
Cheers.
Colin.
