We need to talk

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JBloggs

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For those who visit this forum and think it is an out of control pack of cry babies we just need to talk to others who understand. Our own partners in our homes don't get it half the time, we just need to talk. Okay?
Please write something about the very special guests we have that we adore that we go the extra mile - every week if not day for - if you need a real confession. But you will probably slant that into we are somehow overly attached to our guests like psychopaths.
The majority of our guests are awesome and we just love them to pieces! We don't spy, we don't call them stupid, we don't disdain their children, their questions, their tardiness. You are like the typical main stream media when there is a protest somewhere you focus on the one whinging hired-protester and ignore all the great people who stand behind whatever the heck it is that the for-hire-rented protester is protesting!
FOCUS ON THE GOOD. WE'RE HERE. WE'RE GIVING OUR ALL TO MAKE HAPPY GUESTS!
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plus we go all out in ways hotel staff won't
So far this week have helped a guest find somewhere to live, sorted out bedrooms for armies of electricians who are working during a busy conference, mailed prescriptions back to people, parked up numerous vehicles, done check in's for people at all hours who are arriving from all over the world, served literally 100's of breakfasts, washed clothes, prepped people for job interviews and helped people get a bargain on their new mattress - but that's what we do.
 
Picked up people at the train station, helped iron the wedding clothes, shared our own wine, made dinner reservations, made visitor tour reservations, rerun the credit card because yours expired, printed the boarding passes and helped pack the car. And we even clean snow off the car when needed.
 
When we were innkeeping.....
Always have evening dessert waiting in the guest's room. Cookies and loads of chocolate always in the guest room. Personalized cake for birthdays and anniversaries.
Turn down service if they are ok with it after I tell them. Dinner reservations made, any other reservations wanted made. Prepared special breakfasts if requested, served breakfast in bed if requested.
All of this at no extra cost to our guests.
 
It is sad that some piece of vermin would take something as therapeutic and informative as this Forum, invade it, and twist our oftentimes sanity saver into something it is not. To make us have to watch every word we say when we speak to each other is completely opposite of what this is meant to be.
I am in Podunk, in a small town where one must watch everything they say because it will be twisted, turned, reinvented - just as the piece of vermin is doing with that blog. Being able to talk to friends has been a sanity saver, a vent pipe to keep from truly going nuts. The worst part of what the vermin is doing is this - just a minute part of the threads on this are about the 1% of idiots. Many are about guests like Diva's Surprise guy, my guy who changed a light bulb for me because it is obvious I have a hard time climbing ladders and DH cannot at all, and all the sweet guests - of course, people who read the vermin (and I am sorry, anyone who trolls to get negativity to spoil something as precious as this Forum are vermin) only want to know the dirt - the small handful out of the thousands of guests we have.
 
I customized 2 different routings for covered bridges and State Parks, baked an anniversary cake when I found out it was their anniversary (had it on the dresser in the room for when they returned last night), made a weekend of breakfasts to accommodate a lady who could not have ANY form of dairy - even cooked or baked, made his & hers breakfasts for a couple who were each choosing what the other would prefer for breakfast, showed them where the Chapel was on the way to the farm so she could feed carrots to the camel and take photos of them doing it, and then went to the funeral of the granddaughter of MY Gillums. The family was touching - they actually were appreciative that I came. (Breakfast for the last 3 mornings was 7:30 AM.)
 
We have given our guests what they want the most- but better than that- we let them tell us what they want the most.
We have given our ears to listen, our hearts to honor their celebration, our smiling laughing face for their often great humor, our hand to help them with their burdens, our mind to share our knowledge, and our vision to create a space to call their own.
This is the inn keeper. I am proud to be one.
 
We have given our guests what they want the most- but better than that- we let them tell us what they want the most.
We have given our ears to listen, our hearts to honor their celebration, our smiling laughing face for their often great humor, our hand to help them with their burdens, our mind to share our knowledge, and our vision to create a space to call their own.
This is the inn keeper. I am proud to be one..
AMEN
 
We have given our guests what they want the most- but better than that- we let them tell us what they want the most.
We have given our ears to listen, our hearts to honor their celebration, our smiling laughing face for their often great humor, our hand to help them with their burdens, our mind to share our knowledge, and our vision to create a space to call their own.
This is the inn keeper. I am proud to be one..
Definitely the words of a HAPPY keeper!
happykeeper said:
We have given our guests what they want the most- but better than that- we let them tell us what they want the most.
We have given our ears to listen, our hearts to honor their celebration, our smiling laughing face for their often great humor, our hand to help them with their burdens, our mind to share our knowledge, and our vision to create a space to call their own.
This is the inn keeper. I am proud to be one.
 
Had a mother and daughter staying last night, just been to clean there room and the feedback they put on the questionaire is heart warming. They loved the room, especially the decor, appreciated my carrying their luggage up and booking them a table at the local Inn, loved our home made information pack and said they will come back soon to do some of our suggested walks. Bought a jar of my home made lemon marmalade. Their only -ve was they would like extra towels for their hair, as several people have suggested this recently it's something we're going to adopt.
Other two guests are in for 5 nights, really lovely people, could chat with them after breakfast for ages, but today they've rush off to Skye (that's a long day from here). Told them all the things to see between here and there, plus places on Skye. Before they left they said how lovely breakfast was and how much they appreciated my tips and suggestions. It's always nice to be appreciated.
 
I had two guests arrive late Saturday night. It's an hour's drive from the airport and even though I included Mapquest directions to our front door, they still missed the exit in the dark and arrived close to midnight. They still awoke to my designated breakfast hour and profusely apologized while gushing about the warm blueberry crisp made from my wild blueberries. They were two research scientists with only three days between assignments and they chose my humble abode to recharge and reconnect ( they were a couple ). I spoiled them and gave them privacy. Made fires in the wood stove every night. Directed them to the closest water access because they wanted to swim in the Atlantic. Brrrrr--he was from Finland and she was from Siberia! Helped them set up their ' goody plates' to accompany their wine and gave them a late check out so that they could enjoy every last minute before they flew to their next assignment in Siberia ( I kid you not). I didn't do all this hoping they would write me a gushing review because I'm sure their lives are too busy for something like that, but I did it because they were so appreciative of any gesture on our part and it was my pleasure. Could they have had the same experience at a hotel close to the airport and definitely more convenient for them? I think not!
 
Had a mother and daughter staying last night, just been to clean there room and the feedback they put on the questionaire is heart warming. They loved the room, especially the decor, appreciated my carrying their luggage up and booking them a table at the local Inn, loved our home made information pack and said they will come back soon to do some of our suggested walks. Bought a jar of my home made lemon marmalade. Their only -ve was they would like extra towels for their hair, as several people have suggested this recently it's something we're going to adopt.
Other two guests are in for 5 nights, really lovely people, could chat with them after breakfast for ages, but today they've rush off to Skye (that's a long day from here). Told them all the things to see between here and there, plus places on Skye. Before they left they said how lovely breakfast was and how much they appreciated my tips and suggestions. It's always nice to be appreciated..
And the more they appreciate US the more WE want to do for THEM.
Those who do not appreciate get the best service we offer to satisfy OUR own standards, but they do not get the little extras we do for the joy of showing those who do appreciate that we appreciate them.
 
I think it is known by each innkeeper, but not known to the world, that there are many many blessings that we do not share online. What we do especially for one is not something we market, and the world may never know. But the individual or couple knows. This is another reason that innkeeping is unique and more than a room rented when you stay with any one of us.
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My reality is when guests are great I'm out there enjoying them. It's when they're hurtful or disrespectful that I need to come here to vent 'cause you all know exactly how I feel and why I feel that way. I don't get why anyone who isn't an innkeeper would even read this forum, I guess unless you're a lazy "writer" like the person(s) with that blog?
 
Just like the news on the TV or radio, we report here on the unexpected - the rude, uncourteous guests. Because they surprise us.
I go into every day expecting every guest who walks thru the door to be a pleasant person. I'm not expecting new best friends; but it happens.
What I'm not ever expecting is to be yelled at, to be called names in a language the guest assumes I don't know or to be treated disrespectfully; but it happens.
Every day I get out of bed, sometimes 180 days running, without a day off, and I smile and greet guests, serve them excellent food, clean their rooms and go about my life.
And we do this while in pain from both physical and emotional stress. We deal with reviews excoriating us for not carrying guests suitcases when both of us have had serious physical problems this year. But the very next guests, and even the ones who will write those reviews, are treated with courtesy and hospitality.
This is what we do. This is who we are.
And this isn't news. This isn't click bait. This is never going any further than right here. Because it's not news. It's what everyone expects.
 
I smiled from ear to ear when one of the guests figured out why I had left a metal rod in the room. I put up no sign, but they certainly figured out exactly why I had left it and used it exactly for that purpose. It's amazing how some guests just "get it".
 
Letter received in the mail today thanked us for suggesting guests 'skip the highways and stick to the byways' on their way to their next stop. 'So glad we took your advice.'
Guests on the way out the door stopped to tell us why they chose us from the road, 'We called around and you were the friendliest person we spoke with. Most others were 'take it or leave it'.' (Yes, they spoke to me. Hard to believe.) You could have knocked me over when they came to the door. They hung up without saying anything when they called to ask if we had rooms.
Another caller this morning reserved an almost $900 vacation package for her parents' anniversary. Why? Because we were so nice on the phone. They also called other places.
 
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