No Room At The Inn.. But What's Your Price For Tonight?

Our phone has been ringing off the hook for the last two weeks. The city is BOOKED and if you want a place, you better be willing to sleep 30 minutes from town or shell out $350 for a night for some of the worst places.
And so, we constantly have these calls. Most realize since we are call number x that they have made. But I just got one that asked me the price for a night. WTF am I supposed to say when you don't give me a date. Oh, it's for tonight, no price, sold out. Okay, but if you had the night available? But I don't. There is no price when I'm sold out. There is nothing for sale. The cupboard is closed. Next time, book in April and May like everyone else!

We get that a lot. I think they just want to know what the general rate for the area is so when they find a place over $400/night they know how dopey they were to wait so long.

I get these calls as well, and it's usually not just one question its 2 or 3.............
"What do you charge?"
"Are your rooms en-suite?"
"How far are you from Lo ch Ne ss"?
What's the point, I don't have a room for the night you want!!

Or they are looking to tell the $400/night place they've found somewhere for less. And bandy about your name. Even tho you don't have openings.

I don't know! It's batty. I can't exactly give someone a rate for something that doesn't exist. Sure, it's $10 plus a 540ml can of genuine organic unicorn meat. Yup, that's the price.

Ugh! I'm getting these stupid calls again. What's the price? UGH! I can't give you a price when I have nothing to sell.

We got a good one the other day... they called and asked how close we were to the prison and what was our cheapest room?!!! Really!

My solution is to put the phone on 2 rings with a message that starts "We are full this weekend with availability for 2 adults beginning ..." I get a lot of clicks as soon as the first part of the message plays. And really, I am in no mood to be chatty with folks looking for a recommendation for another place to stay.

Eric Arthur Blair said:

Ugh! I'm getting these stupid calls again. What's the price? UGH! I can't give you a price when I have nothing to sell..

Click to expand...

Eric Arthur Blair said:

Ugh! I'm getting these stupid calls again. What's the price? UGH! I can't give you a price when I have nothing to sell.

Click to expand...

We get this a lot for Holiday weekends and Valentines Day. Makes me want to hold one room back and have an Auction the day of!

Bob said:

Eric Arthur Blair said:

Ugh! I'm getting these stupid calls again. What's the price? UGH! I can't give you a price when I have nothing to sell..

Click to expand...

Eric Arthur Blair said:

Ugh! I'm getting these stupid calls again. What's the price? UGH! I can't give you a price when I have nothing to sell.

Click to expand...

We get this a lot for Holiday weekends and Valentines Day. Makes me want to hold one room back and have an Auction the day of!
.

Click to expand...

Maybe I should do that. One place in town had a room for $1000 for the night. Sure, one of the best hotels in town, but I'm sure I can get more for the room if I hold out. But do I want the hassle?

Last night was a typical Sat. summer night on our coast. Calls all night long and not a room to be had. Even had someone drive into our property (we have a ding dong driveway monitor) and woke us up at 1am. They didn't get out of the car probably because the whole parking lot of full and it was evident we didn't have any rooms.
Last night was one of those nights we turned the phone off. We tell our guests we answer all night in case of emergency (no cell service here), but the odds of an emergency call coming in were far less than my need for sleep!

Breakfast Diva said:

Last night was a typical Sat. summer night on our coast. Calls all night long and not a room to be had. Even had someone drive into our property (we have a ding dong driveway monitor) and woke us up at 1am. They didn't get out of the car probably because the whole parking lot of full and it was evident we didn't have any rooms.
Last night was one of those nights we turned the phone off. We tell our guests we answer all night in case of emergency (no cell service here), but the odds of an emergency call coming in were far less than my need for sleep!.

Click to expand...

Last weekend was like that here. The hotels were calling us for rooms and saying they were calling 3 hours away and there was nothing. Does not mean every little hotel/motel/inn was filled but all the big stuff was.
Friend only does 'overflow' rooms. If all the B&B's are full she will open her guesthouse. She had a family of 4 last weekend who refused to take 2 rooms. Rather than waving them goodbye she let them all sleep in one queen bed. Most likely the kids slept on the floor. I REALLY dislike parents who put us in the position of turning them away at 9 PM because they didn't plan better. Me? I'm ugly like that, 'Sorry, no room for 4.'

Eric Arthur Blair said:

Bob said:

Eric Arthur Blair said:

Ugh! I'm getting these stupid calls again. What's the price? UGH! I can't give you a price when I have nothing to sell..

Click to expand...

Eric Arthur Blair said:

Ugh! I'm getting these stupid calls again. What's the price? UGH! I can't give you a price when I have nothing to sell.

Click to expand...

We get this a lot for Holiday weekends and Valentines Day. Makes me want to hold one room back and have an Auction the day of!
.

Click to expand...

Maybe I should do that. One place in town had a room for $1000 for the night. Sure, one of the best hotels in town, but I'm sure I can get more for the room if I hold out. But do I want the hassle?
.

Click to expand...

we have a large hotel that does that - they are about 80 bedrooms and hold a lot back for high prices on the day when its busy