Question on multi night stay and coming up - our first wedding

Expecting momentarily a multi night guest coming for a business related stay. I have statement ready and was planning on doing the typical pay up front on arrival. DH says multi nights are generally not charged for all at once. I told him I'd present the guest with the bill and see how it goes. Any advice? 12 nights. The discount has already been negotiated. EDITED TO ADD the guest has arrived and has paid in full.
Also, just hosted a tour with bride, groom and Mom who want to book all rooms for one night, then a short sweet ceremony with 10-15 guests the following day. The date is reserved (pending contract). I told 'mom' I would be sending a preliminary contract including whole house rate and security deposit information in email to be finalized and sent signed snail mail before the date. That seemed fine. I'll look here for past posts on weddings. I never thought we would host one here due to our small size.
They bring cake, so I will include a quote for service and clean up. 'Mom' made it clear this is a budget do, so I will have to get my rate and deposit right, and up front. If I do the costs right, the party will be happy, and I will be paid enough to learn (perhaps to never do this again? <grin> ) fortunately I have a few days to put this together.
I can hear you all saying "don't". I may be sorry and swear never again, but I would like to host a wedding here, if only once.

Have you taken any deposit up front? For us, we would have done a 50% deposit when the reservation was made.
For a 12 night stay I would charge on arrival (especially if no deposit was charged), or at least put a hold on the funds. You need some assurance that the money is there and no refund for early departure.
As far as the wedding, I would do a non-refundable deposit when they book it and full payment 30 days in advance with a 30 day cancellation notice. Write up a contract including the maximum number of people allowed. Make sure that they know they do not have access to the kitchen (unless you want them to). Since the ceremony is the next day, be sure to put a time that they all must vacate the property.
Good luck! Remember to not go too cheap or you'll resent them the whole time!

Breakfast Diva said:

Have you taken any deposit up front? For us, we would have done a 50% deposit when the reservation was made.
For a 12 night stay I would charge on arrival (especially if no deposit was charged), or at least put a hold on the funds. You need some assurance that the money is there and no refund for early departure.
As far as the wedding, I would do a non-refundable deposit when they book it and full payment 30 days in advance with a 30 day cancellation notice. Write up a contract including the maximum number of people allowed. Make sure that they know they do not have access to the kitchen (unless you want them to). Since the ceremony is the next day, be sure to put a time that they all must vacate the property.
Good luck! Remember to not go too cheap or you'll resent them the whole time!.

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Thanks Diva. I would not have thought of max number allowed. Will do the 30 days notice as it is also Mother's Day weekend.
As for my will-be-arriving-any-moment, I've got the full charge ready. I only did the standard one night deposit.
Kitchen door is always locked unless we're working in it .

Out of curiosity how many people are you expecting for the wedding? The last woman who called me wanted a small, intimate group for a wedding....about 60... Do you have an occupancy limit?

white pine said:

Out of curiosity how many people are you expecting for the wedding? The last woman who called me wanted a small, intimate group for a wedding....about 60... Do you have an occupancy limit?.

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I have silverware for 21, so that's the max! 10 to 15 were the numbers quoted. 21 will be the max for the contract.

No matter how many nights, the guest pays on arrival. I do not want to be hunting them down the day before or the day of departure to 'pay up'.
How will you enforce the max number of guests if they all start piling out of cars because the bride told everyone where the ceremony was and they all just want to look? (Just asking, this sort of thing happens.)

Madeleine said:

No matter how many nights, the guest pays on arrival. I do not want to be hunting them down the day before or the day of departure to 'pay up'.
How will you enforce the max number of guests if they all start piling out of cars because the bride told everyone where the ceremony was and they all just want to look? (Just asking, this sort of thing happens.).

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Madeleine said:

No matter how many nights, the guest pays on arrival. I do not want to be hunting them down the day before or the day of departure to 'pay up'.
How will you enforce the max number of guests if they all start piling out of cars because the bride told everyone where the ceremony was and they all just want to look? (Just asking, this sort of thing happens.)

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Hmmm....how about adding in the contract a stiff $$ for each guest over the limit?

Breakfast Diva said:

Madeleine said:

No matter how many nights, the guest pays on arrival. I do not want to be hunting them down the day before or the day of departure to 'pay up'.
How will you enforce the max number of guests if they all start piling out of cars because the bride told everyone where the ceremony was and they all just want to look? (Just asking, this sort of thing happens.).

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Madeleine said:

No matter how many nights, the guest pays on arrival. I do not want to be hunting them down the day before or the day of departure to 'pay up'.
How will you enforce the max number of guests if they all start piling out of cars because the bride told everyone where the ceremony was and they all just want to look? (Just asking, this sort of thing happens.)

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Hmmm....how about adding in the contract a stiff $$ for each guest over the limit?
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We are guilty of this. When my daughter got married a cousin who lived in the same city came to the church for the wedding and to see my mom. We invited her to the reception. You know not everyone shows up at the reception! Well, they did. Everyone showed. We had to finagle getting my cousin a seat and a meal.

Haven't taken the time to read others comments here but here is my 2 cents:
I have had a lot of business guests: I do have a discount for 1 person stays Sun-Thurs. Fri - Sat are at reg. rates*. Business guests have a 2 day cancelation period (others are 14) Within that 48 hrs, they are responsible for entire time booked and take full payment on arrival.
*for very long stays, I will offer a discount for Fri/Sat stay overs - all depends on time of year etc....
Weddings - Clear bullet or short paragraphs in contract include the following:

• max # of wedding guests (including wedding party)
• Start TIME of the wedding
• length of the wedding
• Who is allowed in the guest rooms "overnight guests only in guest rooms"
• If using outside caterers/bakers make sure they are licensed etc...
• alcohol - make sure you cover this whether permitted or not - if yes, details!!!

Cancel/payment: Get a deposit! Depending on size I do 1/2 or 1/3; payment in full 30 days prior, cancel by 30 days prior. Room deposit is the same as my reg. policy for group bookings - full payment is by 1 person, they can be reimbursed by those staying but make sure you get ALL their email addresses to send the policies to. OR make sure to provide to each on arrival, do not depend on the organizer to remind them especially during the wedding.

I think I am late on this, but they need to arrive and depart on said time, if they are there 2 hours AFTER the stipulated time, then charge by the hour! Whoever foots the bill, if you have their cc will be sure to kick everyone into gear to get out. Or else they will linger.
Lock every door. They will get into your personal quarters, most have never been to a B&B and will be curious.
Also clean up/damage deposit for wedding.
If alcohol is served, don't have it out PRE the reception. Or people will get into it (some have not seen each other for a while, or just because).
Ska you SHOULD host a wedding, to see how it goes. If you have all the parameters in place you could host small weddings all the time! Just don't let them bend the rules, and you see THAT is what they will do. Always do. You will be too nice and they will bend them.
If the party grows, they will think that is okay...and it usually does. Last minute.
HAVE FUN! Take lots of pictures if you can. Or make that something you want in return as well, to share some of their HAPPY EVENT on your blog.

A few more items, will they be renting a room the night before as the bridal suite? Remember, even small weddings - when we have ONLY the bride here and no wedding here: In comes the makeup person, the hair person, the flower person, the brides maids, the mother, etc etc. So that they tear the place apart, put dusting powder everywhere and overwhelm you. You stand back and they parade in and out.
(This is just a bride, who didn't mention she was getting ready here, mother booked the room for her and daughter last time together). So be specific.

Joey Bloggs said:

A few more items, will they be renting a room the night before as the bridal suite? Remember, even small weddings - when we have ONLY the bride here and no wedding here: In comes the makeup person, the hair person, the flower person, the brides maids, the mother, etc etc. So that they tear the place apart, put dusting powder everywhere and overwhelm you. You stand back and they parade in and out.
(This is just a bride, who didn't mention she was getting ready here, mother booked the room for her and daughter last time together). So be specific..

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Joey Bloggs said:

A few more items, will they be renting a room the night before as the bridal suite? Remember, even small weddings - when we have ONLY the bride here and no wedding here: In comes the makeup person, the hair person, the flower person, the brides maids, the mother, etc etc. So that they tear the place apart, put dusting powder everywhere and overwhelm you. You stand back and they parade in and out.
(This is just a bride, who didn't mention she was getting ready here, mother booked the room for her and daughter last time together). So be specific.

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We specifically held the room with exterior door for the bride for just this reason. Then her mother cancelled that room! She didn't want to pay the extra money. So, WE answered the door every 5 minutes starting at 7 AM and WE get left with the flower girls whose dads dropped them at the door and took off. And we had to ask the THIRD photographer to cool her heels in the living room while we sent someone else upstairs to find out if they REALLY had hired a photog who came without a camera???
She was the last straw bride. We figured there would be a 'few' extra people coming and going but not starting at 7 AM. They rearranged all the furniture in the room to take photos. Wee, tiny room with 17 people in it and they moved the furniture around! Plus everyone coming and going and different people staying the second night because the bridesmaids weren't going to spend the honeymoon night WITH the couple!
They did take a really cute 'Abbey Road' type photo in the crosswalk as they walked to the church. But, no more brides.
We did hand out huge king sheets to put on the floor to do the makeup and they did respect that part of it. But, all of the plastic wrapping from all of the dresses and suits? Oy, everywhere!

Weddings can be a lot of work but very fun at the same time.my first question for you is this. You said they are booking everything for one night correct? Is this on a Friday or Sat, or weekday? If this is during the week then go for it. If this is on a weekend then you have some things to think about.
1) If its during the week and you would not be full anyway then this is great.
2) If its a weekend and your are normally full then this might not be a good business choice. If they are renting all rooms for just one night then you are cutting out guests that might stay 2 nights. So you are losing money even with the wedding. Plus the wedding is on a day that everyone checks out. Will you have time to flip a room before an arrival? Will the wedding be during check in times? If it is, this can make arriving guests very uneasy. You might want to have the wedding on arrival day. Just a few suggestions of what I have come across with the weddings we have had. We did over 40 last year and almost have it down. They will run all over you if you let them. They will act like they own the place and what ever they want they get. Don't let them do it! Its easy to give in a little. But if you give an inch, they will take a mile!

Love to you all. Trust you to come through with some lifesaving ideas BEFORE I do a regrettable thing. Still going forward, but this will all help. We'll see. I may be crying to you all when its over!

Skamokawa said:

Love to you all. Trust you to come through with some lifesaving ideas BEFORE I do a regrettable thing. Still going forward, but this will all help. We'll see. I may be crying to you all when its over!

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You know, I think if they really will limit themselves to a dozen or so, it may all go really well. If they are easy keepers it may be a lovely experience.
Good luck and let us know how it goes! ( DH and I got married at a waterfall while staying at a resort. A dozen family and friends flew in; flowers from a florist--not wedding arrangements, a cake from the bakery, not a "wedding cake". Everyone pitched in, we all had a great time.. 30 years later we are still married....must have worked!

well ... i'm responding late ... but i'll tell you what i did in case it helps.
for multi night or multi room stays (or both) meaning one room for MORE than three nights or multiple rooms or the whole place for any amount of nights ... it is a huge huge hit if they cancel ... so i requested a good faith deposit at the time of booking ... $300 I think ... then 50% was due 30 days before and 50% was due when they checked in.
no exceptions. no keys until all was squared away.
i did it all very formally and very professionally and outlined the terms of their stay, special requests etc. asked if there was anything else they needed ... and IF POSSIBLE i had a second person standing at the ready to help with luggage so that i was not surrounded and overwhelmed by questions like 'can we just use our bathroom first?' i had my own bathroom just off the kitchen ... and it was ready for their use just in case.
my first year when i was running the place, i had to chase down folks who rented 4 rooms for a week and that was awkward and not fun. it seems they were avoiding me and very surprised i was asking for payment. even though we talked about it on the phone and through email. of course, by the time i caught up with them, they weren't happy with two of the rooms, blahblahblah.
best of luck to you!

Skamokawa said:

Love to you all. Trust you to come through with some lifesaving ideas BEFORE I do a regrettable thing. Still going forward, but this will all help. We'll see. I may be crying to you all when its over!

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Skamokawa said:

Love to you all. Trust you to come through with some lifesaving ideas BEFORE I do a regrettable thing. Still going forward, but this will all help. We'll see. I may be crying to you all when its over!

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It will only be a regrettable thing if you do not take the advice of the people here who have BTDT.

white pine said:

Skamokawa said:

Love to you all. Trust you to come through with some lifesaving ideas BEFORE I do a regrettable thing. Still going forward, but this will all help. We'll see. I may be crying to you all when its over!

.

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You know, I think if they really will limit themselves to a dozen or so, it may all go really well. If they are easy keepers it may be a lovely experience.
Good luck and let us know how it goes! ( DH and I got married at a waterfall while staying at a resort. A dozen family and friends flew in; flowers from a florist--not wedding arrangements, a cake from the bakery, not a "wedding cake". Everyone pitched in, we all had a great time.. 30 years later we are still married....must have worked!
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For us it will 39 years next month. We got married in our living room with family and friends (and the in-laws were invited - before I knew what they had in for me!). Our oldest son was our best man and a friend of mine was matron of honor. ALL the kids had new outfits, my Mom made my dress and bought the wedding cake, and I made the bread for the sandwiches and we had meat & cheese trays from the deli. Over and above our 6 kids, there were probably 12 to 15 at the most (it was a small house!).My minister came to the house - DH was not going to a church and I was not going to a judge. Lots of rocks, but we are still here.

We had a small wedding and loved it. 11 of us all together. We decided to get married on the lake at Lake Tahoe. It will be 12 years very soon. If you're able to keep control over the number of people, your place could be in their memories for all time. I know I'll never forget mine!

Breakfast Diva said:

We had a small wedding and loved it. 11 of us all together. We decided to get married on the lake at Lake Tahoe. It will be 12 years very soon. If you're able to keep control over the number of people, your place could be in their memories for all time. I know I'll never forget mine!

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Beautiful!