Isla Mujeres rentals: How to (mostly) get good quality renters

We have four Isla Mujeres vacation rental homes. And we have found that you can more or less eliminate the risk of getting lesser quality renters, by taking a few small steps. 

One of the things we have learnt, is to avoid instant bookings, when we have had instant bookings in the past  is when we have had renters that we would have avoided had the renter needed  made an enquiry first. Having a system where the renter needs to enquire, perhaps loses some bookings but gives us the opportunity to check their rating if the booking is through Airbnb. If they don't have much in the way positive comments we can at least communicate with them, which gives us a reasonable idea of to whom we are renting.

This small check is quite important to us because we have luxury Isla Mujeres rental property, it helps us make sure, as best we can, that the renter is going to look after the furnishings. When we have had damage, it has usually been fairly minor in nature. Very often the damage is caused by children, Being children they tend to drop and spill things.  They are also in the habit of running through mosquito blinds; in their excitement they think its an open door. But we would never stop renting to families; their excitement and enthusiasm bring an energy to a property that remains.

We have plastic glasses, glass is of course nicer than plastic, and we do have glass wine glasses, but we always count them at the end of a rental because the concern is that someone will break a glass in the pool, which can be very dangerous.

Overall most rentals go smoothly, some renters will stay a week and we hear nothing from them, they will even decline a mid week clean and instead just ask for a change of towels. Others at outset you know they are going to be, for want of a better word, needy. They will lock themselves out, or lock themselves in a bathroom. This is often followed by saying that the dishwasher or one of the air conditioning units is not working, when we send out a technician, they find that the renter has changed the setting,

It is not possible to please everyone but we try, on occasions the beds are too hard, but for other renters they are too soft. In general those who rent a property on Isla Mujeres, are  not difficult or disruptive renters, They are looking to relax, whereas those who rent in Cancun are often there to party; drunk guests are not easy to deal with.

On occasions we have had a renter post a negative comment on Airbnb, They are usually those who, try as we may, we cannot please. However having a negative comment now and again is not a bad thing, because people are interested to see how you respond.  We saw on one website, the property owner had responded to a negative comment with, "these people are liars". Perhaps they were, but that is no way to respond to a negative comment, and really doesn't help the host.