Tales from the Weekend

Tale 1. Guest had told us she would arrive between 3 and 4 and would need help with her luggage. No problem.
By 9:30, we couldn't keep our eyes open. Had called her and left a vm. Also sent an email.
So we went to bed prepared to be awakened. Nothing.
She called the next day saying she was arriving next weekend, not this weekend. She is older. DH did mention that he had reviewed the reservation over the phone and sent an email confirmation, but unfortunately, we don't have any rooms next weekend. As luck would have it, our neighbor down the street had stopped by and said she was opening this weekend and hadn't been taking reservations so send people on down. So we did. Our guest will have better views in the other house. All happy. I guess.
Tale 2. Two women take a room. Backpacking New England. No plan, just seeing the area. Really cool. At 9 PM they ring the bell. We were discussing how it would be nice to just go to bed early and 'ding=dong.' No hot water. DH checks the hot water heater, seems fine. Checks a few faucets. Looks like the first floor is fine but the second isn't. These poor women had been hiking all day and REALLY wanted a shower. Fine. He offered them our private shower. I hid the clutter and grabbed a few towels and postponed bedtime. They were grateful and clean. Plumber is on speed dial and will be called. Update, this morning, the second floor seems fine. ?????
How was your weekend?

8pm thursday - had had various electrical work done during the day - discovered when guest went to shower in room 3 that his electric shower now on the more sensitive system trips off all the power in 3 and 8 - plumber booked to come out next day
Friday - discover some idiot guest has forced the shower in room 11 temp dial all the way round and broke it - needs replacing - plumber does both jobs while I run round in concentric circles pulling my hair out.
Monday - new electric shower in 3 is leaking out the side - plumber out again - washer wasn't tight enough - now fixed
Monday handyman has come and done various jobs which is great.

Jcam said:

8pm thursday - had had various electrical work done during the day - discovered when guest went to shower in room 3 that his electric shower now on the more sensitive system trips off all the power in 3 and 8 - plumber booked to come out next day
Friday - discover some idiot guest has forced the shower in room 11 temp dial all the way round and broke it - needs replacing - plumber does both jobs while I run round in concentric circles pulling my hair out.
Monday - new electric shower in 3 is leaking out the side - plumber out again - washer wasn't tight enough - now fixed
Monday handyman has come and done various jobs which is great..

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Wow. Never a dull moment, eh?
We had the plumber out to fix a leak in a shower set up. He said it was lucky the thing hadn't already come apart and flooded. Yes, it was lucky and I appreciate it.

We are also calling the plumber this morning. Sump pump attached to washer drain hoses seems to have stopped working. While we have him here, we'll have him put a new shut off valve on the supply line to the toilet on the 3rd floor.

Blessings on all of you. My locking the guests out was nothing to what you folks dealt with.

So far so good!
We're getting new windows in two weeks! We'll see how that goes.

Morticia said:

So far so good!
We're getting new windows in two weeks! We'll see how that goes..

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are you closing rooms? it can be messy.
windows are the best upgrade you can give your house!

TheBeachHouse said:

Morticia said:

So far so good!
We're getting new windows in two weeks! We'll see how that goes..

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are you closing rooms? it can be messy.
windows are the best upgrade you can give your house!
.

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Not closing but we will ask him to start after breakfast.

Morticia said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Morticia said:

So far so good!
We're getting new windows in two weeks! We'll see how that goes..

Click to expand...

are you closing rooms? it can be messy.
windows are the best upgrade you can give your house!
.

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Not closing but we will ask him to start after breakfast.
.

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tends to be more dust than anything - they are fast though - in and out

Tale 3.
Got home from the office last night and DH's car isn't in the driveway. Unusual because he is generally finishing work and starting dinner when I get home.
Got to the kitchen and there is a big note: "Had to go buy fruit. Pour me a martini."
So I did.
Turns out a couple checked out at 11 and asked if they could leave their bags and go for a walk. Sure! Right? They didn't get back until after 2, so grocery time was over. He didn't get to leave the house until the last check in arrived around 6.
The martini was cold when he returned.

TheBeachHouse said:

Tale 3.
Got home from the office last night and DH's car isn't in the driveway. Unusual because he is generally finishing work and starting dinner when I get home.
Got to the kitchen and there is a big note: "Had to go buy fruit. Pour me a martini."
So I did.
Turns out a couple checked out at 11 and asked if they could leave their bags and go for a walk. Sure! Right? They didn't get back until after 2, so grocery time was over. He didn't get to leave the house until the last check in arrived around 6.
The martini was cold when he returned..

Click to expand...

this is why we make them say when they will be back "as we are going out" people have no concept that you might have other things to do unless you are very clear about it! we also have a lockable box at the front and back doors with combination padlock - can leave bags in there and give them the combination over the phone if we need to (doubles for recycling and laundry as their main function)

Jcam said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Tale 3.
Got home from the office last night and DH's car isn't in the driveway. Unusual because he is generally finishing work and starting dinner when I get home.
Got to the kitchen and there is a big note: "Had to go buy fruit. Pour me a martini."
So I did.
Turns out a couple checked out at 11 and asked if they could leave their bags and go for a walk. Sure! Right? They didn't get back until after 2, so grocery time was over. He didn't get to leave the house until the last check in arrived around 6.
The martini was cold when he returned..

Click to expand...

this is why we make them say when they will be back "as we are going out" people have no concept that you might have other things to do unless you are very clear about it! we also have a lockable box at the front and back doors with combination padlock - can leave bags in there and give them the combination over the phone if we need to (doubles for recycling and laundry as their main function)
.

Click to expand...

Jcam said:

this is why we make them say when they will be back "as we are going out" people have no concept that you might have other things to do unless you are very clear about it! we also have a lockable box at the front and back doors with combination padlock - can leave bags in there and give them the combination over the phone if we need to (doubles for recycling and laundry as their main function)

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Yes. We agreed it was another "lesson learned."

Guests do not think you will be leaving ... guests think you will 'be there anyway'. That is my take. They don't think about you possibly leaving the place for things like grocery shopping, errands, walks of your own, life. A lockable area that they can access is awesome.
I once had a guest ask if she could quickly take a shower after her run. This was after breakfast that went from 8 to 10, check out was by 11 .. 11 is when I would be flipping rooms ... stripping beds ... cleaning everywhere. Why did I agree? In my head I thought she'd be back by 11. Wrong. She ended up breezing through the door around 2. I let her use my bathroom because the rooms were being readied for check-ins at 3. (what a mess) Later I checked the accounts and there was a chargeback for the tiny balance left after her room deposit. Of course she never paid it ... ohmyhead

TheBeachHouse said:

Jcam said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Tale 3.
Got home from the office last night and DH's car isn't in the driveway. Unusual because he is generally finishing work and starting dinner when I get home.
Got to the kitchen and there is a big note: "Had to go buy fruit. Pour me a martini."
So I did.
Turns out a couple checked out at 11 and asked if they could leave their bags and go for a walk. Sure! Right? They didn't get back until after 2, so grocery time was over. He didn't get to leave the house until the last check in arrived around 6.
The martini was cold when he returned..

Click to expand...

this is why we make them say when they will be back "as we are going out" people have no concept that you might have other things to do unless you are very clear about it! we also have a lockable box at the front and back doors with combination padlock - can leave bags in there and give them the combination over the phone if we need to (doubles for recycling and laundry as their main function)
.

Click to expand...

Jcam said:

this is why we make them say when they will be back "as we are going out" people have no concept that you might have other things to do unless you are very clear about it! we also have a lockable box at the front and back doors with combination padlock - can leave bags in there and give them the combination over the phone if we need to (doubles for recycling and laundry as their main function)

Click to expand...

Yes. We agreed it was another "lesson learned."
.

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people don't mean to but they have no idea that we don't just literally stay in the house 24/7 - or that we might just not want to!

seashanty said:

Guests do not think you will be leaving ... guests think you will 'be there anyway'. That is my take. They don't think about you possibly leaving the place for things like grocery shopping, errands, walks of your own, life. A lockable area that they can access is awesome.
I once had a guest ask if she could quickly take a shower after her run. This was after breakfast that went from 8 to 10, check out was by 11 .. 11 is when I would be flipping rooms ... stripping beds ... cleaning everywhere. Why did I agree? In my head I thought she'd be back by 11. Wrong. She ended up breezing through the door around 2. I let her use my bathroom because the rooms were being readied for check-ins at 3. (what a mess) Later I checked the accounts and there was a chargeback for the tiny balance left after her room deposit. Of course she never paid it ... ohmyhead.

Click to expand...

One of the first 'lessons learned' was that the incorrect response to, "May I have a late checkout?" is, "of course!" The correct response is, "What time did you have in mind?" or even better, "I can do a noon check out, but no later."

Yup ... always trying to be 'helpful' and 'accommodating' ... and learning quickly that you have to be specific.

TheBeachHouse said:

seashanty said:

Guests do not think you will be leaving ... guests think you will 'be there anyway'. That is my take. They don't think about you possibly leaving the place for things like grocery shopping, errands, walks of your own, life. A lockable area that they can access is awesome.
I once had a guest ask if she could quickly take a shower after her run. This was after breakfast that went from 8 to 10, check out was by 11 .. 11 is when I would be flipping rooms ... stripping beds ... cleaning everywhere. Why did I agree? In my head I thought she'd be back by 11. Wrong. She ended up breezing through the door around 2. I let her use my bathroom because the rooms were being readied for check-ins at 3. (what a mess) Later I checked the accounts and there was a chargeback for the tiny balance left after her room deposit. Of course she never paid it ... ohmyhead.

Click to expand...

One of the first 'lessons learned' was that the incorrect response to, "May I have a late checkout?" is, "of course!" The correct response is, "What time did you have in mind?" or even better, "I can do a noon check out, but no later."
.

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

One of the first 'lessons learned' was that the incorrect response to, "May I have a late checkout?" is, "of course!" The correct response is, "What time did you have in mind?" or even better, "I can do a noon check out, but no later."

Click to expand...

Tell them the time. Best answer.