Naming a guestroom journal

I've bought leather-bound journals to put in each guestroom for those who might want to jot down some thoughs of their stay with us. What's a good title to put on the outside of such books. I'm thinking of something like "Memories of the Sierra Suite" or "Our Stay in Rosi's Room"?
Maybe some alliteration would be good, like Sierra Suite Sayings or Rosi's Room Remarks.
Or maybe not.
I'd like some ideas!

I am the worst person for advice on this as mine rarely get signed, I know leaving them on the bed with a pen get them signed more, but I don't do that, so I gave up on them.
What I did do in a couple rooms was have a book of cool things people saw and did while here, I got this idea from the state parks cabin where someone mentioned a hidden swinging bridge and we hiked to it. So in the front I put a comment from the innkeepers about sharing any special places they found. Sometimes guests can explore off-the-beaten track even better than we can!
So my advice would be to have something like that, vs "the breakfasts were great and the owners nice" comments, which are nice of course, but not that exciting for other people to read. Example, when I go to TA and they remark about the wait staff vs the restaurant or food. Makes me a maniac. Who cares who served you, will I get them? Do they still work there? No.

I just wrote the name of the room in the front of each book. Sometimes they write and sometimes they don't - but guests have said they were interesting to read. I have them on the night syand and the rooms with Vol I & II, Vol I is in the night stand drawer.

How about "Guest Book"?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, that it's more interesting to read what others have written than to write in the book yourself. Some will write, most won't, but many will read. Great idea to encourage people to write about what they did in the area while staying here, vs. just comments on the accommodation itself.

I once atayed at a B & B that had a journal in each room. The purpose was to add onto a story that was originally started by the 1st entry (presumably the owner). Each guest was encouraged to elaborate on the story which turned into a kind of mystery. It was really fun to see what people wrote in the journal, each adding on their part of the story. I thought it was a great idea which I had hoped to copy at my Inn. I have simple bound journals in each room and although I indicated in the front of the journal that it was for guests to create an ongoing story to which each progressive guest adds their paragraph, it turned into a journal of "Thank You's for a great stay"...which is very nice but not nearly as much fun. Perhaps one day I will have a story journal in the common room and maybe people will get the idea then. Not sure though because people simply do not read directions anymore.

I once atayed at a B & B that had a journal in each room. The purpose was to add onto a story that was originally started by the 1st entry (presumably the owner). Each guest was encouraged to elaborate on the story which turned into a kind of mystery. It was really fun to see what people wrote in the journal, each adding on their part of the story. I thought it was a great idea which I had hoped to copy at my Inn. I have simple bound journals in each room and although I indicated in the front of the journal that it was for guests to create an ongoing story to which each progressive guest adds their paragraph, it turned into a journal of "Thank You's for a great stay"...which is very nice but not nearly as much fun. Perhaps one day I will have a story journal in the common room and maybe people will get the idea then. Not sure though because people simply do not read directions anymore.

We just write a little blurb that includes the name of the room in case the journal 'wanders'. (I have found them in the living room and in other rooms when guests have multiple rooms booked.)
I love the idea of having guests write a special place they went or a story line.

As well I would be wary of anything I couldn't take pages out of if nesessary - drunk people often think they are hilarious!

[email protected] said:

As well I would be wary of anything I couldn't take pages out of if nesessary - drunk people often think they are hilarious!.

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[email protected] said:

drunk people often think they are hilarious!

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Yes we do!

i LOVE the idea of naming the books for each room
wish i'd done it ... and would probably have had names like
the view from the crow's nest (for the crow's nest)
captain's log (for the captain's cabin) etc
i love little jumps of creativity like that!
start with a little explanation ... have a really creative friend write a passage in each ... or something like that ...
my one problem with the guest books was occasionally somene would take it to read, and write in and write some more later ... like their own personal travel journal ... and would keep it with them the whole weekend. if it was a room book, that would have been the solution. as long as i could get it from them before they lieft.

seashanty said:

i LOVE the idea of naming the books for each room
wish i'd done it ... and would probably have had names like
the view from the crow's nest (for the crow's nest)
captain's log (for the captain's cabin) etc
i love little jumps of creativity like that!
start with a little explanation ... have a really creative friend write a passage in each ... or something like that ...
my one problem with the guest books was occasionally somene would take it to read, and write in and write some more later ... like their own personal travel journal ... and would keep it with them the whole weekend. if it was a room book, that would have been the solution. as long as i could get it from them before they lieft..

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seashanty said:

the view from the crow's nest (for the crow's nest)
captain's log (for the captain's cabin) etc

Click to expand...

Now there's an idea! Due to lack of a better idea, my rooms are named for some of the steamboats that called on our town in the steamboat era (1800's). So maybe I can work that with the ship's log idea.
Yes, I'll need to get each one started off right, so people realize what it's there for, and include JB's thought on talking about things they did in the area, not just at my place.

We have guest books in each room. The get comments on a regular basis. We have just named them the names of the rooms. I take 1 comment each month and post it on our website.
BBBBob

I do a journal for each room and do a personalized one for each from VistaP. They are a bit flimsy, but still work well. You can personalize the cover with a photo of the room or relevant to the room and have the room name printed on it.
We get a lot of guests leaving messages in the and it's surprising how many have really poured their hearts out. That's probably because most are here for special occassions in their life. The journals mean a lot to us as innkeepers. If you sat down and read a lot of them, you'd definitely get teary eyed. I'm not taking credit for any of it....it's just the way this place is. When I first came to the inn as a buyer, they handed me several journals to read and I balled my eyes out.

elkems said:

I once atayed at a B & B that had a journal in each room. The purpose was to add onto a story that was originally started by the 1st entry (presumably the owner). Each guest was encouraged to elaborate on the story which turned into a kind of mystery. It was really fun to see what people wrote in the journal, each adding on their part of the story. I thought it was a great idea which I had hoped to copy at my Inn. I have simple bound journals in each room and although I indicated in the front of the journal that it was for guests to create an ongoing story to which each progressive guest adds their paragraph, it turned into a journal of "Thank You's for a great stay"...which is very nice but not nearly as much fun. Perhaps one day I will have a story journal in the common room and maybe people will get the idea then. Not sure though because people simply do not read directions anymore. .

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I actually like that idea too! Maybe if you had one guest write story-line and then you elaborated and then had the next guest write more and then you added... then you could get the ball rolling and then set a good example of what you were asking them to do. How neat!

Arkansawyer said:

seashanty said:

i LOVE the idea of naming the books for each room
wish i'd done it ... and would probably have had names like
the view from the crow's nest (for the crow's nest)
captain's log (for the captain's cabin) etc
i love little jumps of creativity like that!
start with a little explanation ... have a really creative friend write a passage in each ... or something like that ...
my one problem with the guest books was occasionally somene would take it to read, and write in and write some more later ... like their own personal travel journal ... and would keep it with them the whole weekend. if it was a room book, that would have been the solution. as long as i could get it from them before they lieft..

Click to expand...

seashanty said:

the view from the crow's nest (for the crow's nest)
captain's log (for the captain's cabin) etc

Click to expand...

Now there's an idea! Due to lack of a better idea, my rooms are named for some of the steamboats that called on our town in the steamboat era (1800's). So maybe I can work that with the ship's log idea.
Yes, I'll need to get each one started off right, so people realize what it's there for, and include JB's thought on talking about things they did in the area, not just at my place.
.

Click to expand...

Arkansawyer said:

seashanty said:

the view from the crow's nest (for the crow's nest)
captain's log (for the captain's cabin) etc

Click to expand...

Now there's an idea! Due to lack of a better idea, my rooms are named for some of the steamboats that called on our town in the steamboat era (1800's). So maybe I can work that with the ship's log idea.
Yes, I'll need to get each one started off right, so people realize what it's there for, and include JB's thought on talking about things they did in the area, not just at my place.

Click to expand...

What I've noticed... if a room book remains blank after months, there is something wrong with the room. Our 'haunted' room never had a single comment. I ended up writing something short in the book just to get the ball rolling. However, after that each guest used only one side of one page and wrote about 2 lines. No one ever used the reverse side or wrote underneath anyone else's comments. Once that gets started it won't stop. That book still only has a couple of comments in it after 8 years. (I have worked and worked on that room to make it cozier and less 'haunted'. To no avail.)
Other rooms' books filled up quickly with each guest cramming info onto every square inch. Those are the rooms guests really like. Not necessarily the most booked rooms.
We get a lot of Bible verses. And kids' drawings. And comments in the native language of the guests (I love these!) sometimes with a translation, sometimes not.
If you decide to 'start' the comments in a journal to lead in a certain direction, be sure not to be flowery and overwrought or even too grammatical. Guests won't want to comment if they think it's some sort of writing contest.
We do have some hysterical comments. Guests who were 'forced' to try something for breakfast outside their comfort zone who subsequently loved what they ate. Little kids who were still trying to figure out why they were staying in my house when they didn't know me. Comments from dogs. Criticism from guests who didn't know how else to tell us. (Yes, I leave those in, especially when we fixed what it was they complained about.)