The Goodnight Kiss

From JB - - If I impact you in no other way in this business, let it be this...remember this every day at check out:
[h4]
Goodnight Kiss[/h4]
No matter what happens on a date, it is the goodnight kiss that makes or breaks the deal.
Consider your guests in the same way. How you leave them is what they will remember, good bad or indifferent.

• If you think guests just want to get on the road after breakfast (of course you are right)
• If you think guests don't really care what we do (of course you are right)

But at the end of the day, they will always remember how you made them feel, and check-out is that last chance to get it right, make that impression, even if they saw dust bunnies, had a rotten experience at a local restaurant (which is more common than not nowadays).
We are all busy, here, we had a whole house (6 rooms) checking out today, dishes up the wazoo, an elopement breakfast delivery, phone was ringing, cat was mewing, butterflies were flappin' their wings too loud... I ran out to make sure every guest had a personal thank you from us, got the door and wished them an enjoyable day. I am going to make this effort every time, even when I don't want to. I am tired of other B&B's beating us due to flashy new furnishings, chef made breakfasts...

Very true

Well said. Being a B+B host is as much an art form as it is a profession. Giving away a small part of yourself to each guest, in a warm goodbye can make up for perceived deficiencies in other areas of their stay. Look them in the eye, pat their arm, hand them a goodie bag, give them suggestions for a scenic ride home.....SMILE (even if you want nothing more than to see the door close behind them)....do something to make them feel like you care. And of course, most of the time we do care so don't be afraid to show it.
Guests left today happy inviting us to come visit them....we won't. But the sentiment of new friendship was sincere and made ALL of us happy!

Don't let the last goodbye be taking their money... we have that with our cottage, we always want to wish them well and not just swipe their card. Many times they leave and we miss that opportunity for the goodnight kiss.

Very well put and quite true. "But at the end of the day, they will always remember how you made them feel,..." Absolutely.

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Mort, we are all in the same boat.
All of us. They don't ring a bell and say "well we're off!"
Anyway, I gave a simple suggestion and you can take it for what it's worth, or make excuses. You do what you do, I was trying to be helpful. Maybe someone here will think "Goodnight kiss" as an easy way to remember the importance of saying thank you and good bye.

So true. Today I happened to be on the porch when they were leaving and was able to give a hug good-bye. She had not been feeling well yesterday and had missed some of her son's college graduation activities to sleep and rest.
Before I retired last night, I took a tray of hot tea, orange juice, ginger ale, Vit. C and two chocolate chip cookies to get her through the night. A great feeling of usefulness while checking to see if she was doing okay or needing anything else.
Wonderful and appreciative guests from California!

We had personal thanks and goodbyes for every guest no matter when they left. We stopped what we were doing. Sometimes even hugs

Figurehead said:

So true. Today I happened to be on the porch when they were leaving and was able to give a hug good-bye. She had not been feeling well yesterday and had missed some of her son's college graduation activities to sleep and rest.
Before I retired last night, I took a tray of hot tea, orange juice, ginger ale, Vit. C and two chocolate chip cookies to get her through the night. A great feeling of usefulness while checking to see if she was doing okay or needing anything else.
Wonderful and appreciative guests from California!.

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Still the same wonderful Figurehead!

Every guest gets a personal thank you with a handshake and more often than not, they initiate a hug. Since we started doing our elopement and small wedding, the hugging that happens is unreal. And I'm not even a hugger! It's funny though, the number of reviews we receive are very minimal. I just don't push it.

Same as everyone so far. We say goodbye, wish them a safe trip home and light traffic. Then there are the ones that slip out without us seeing. We make up a breakfast to go for those leaving early in the morning and leave it by the front door with their name on it.

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!.

Click to expand...

I would say that 99% of our guests find us to say goodbye, or we make sure we see them as they go. Poppa is very good about offering to take pix out in are garden before they depart. Maybe 5 rooms a year skip out, and we always feel sad that we hadn't made a connection worth their bother.

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.

When I see them at breakfast, I generally say, "when you are ready to leave, ring the bell and we'll give you a proper goodbye." (also gives me a chance to remind them what time check out is. Win-win.)

Duff2014 said:

Figurehead said:

So true. Today I happened to be on the porch when they were leaving and was able to give a hug good-bye. She had not been feeling well yesterday and had missed some of her son's college graduation activities to sleep and rest.
Before I retired last night, I took a tray of hot tea, orange juice, ginger ale, Vit. C and two chocolate chip cookies to get her through the night. A great feeling of usefulness while checking to see if she was doing okay or needing anything else.
Wonderful and appreciative guests from California!.

Click to expand...

Still the same wonderful Figurehead!

.

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Aawwwww. Thank you Duff2014, and I like the breakfast-to-go idea although at this time we haven't had anyone need to leave that early. Have a great day.

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.
.

Click to expand...

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.

Click to expand...

This is what we have for our drive way. You can turn it on/off. Could work at the door.

Copperhead said:

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.
.

Click to expand...

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.

Click to expand...

This is what we have for our drive way. You can turn it on/off. Could work at the door.
.

Click to expand...

Copperhead said:

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.

Click to expand...

This is what we have for our drive way. You can turn it on/off. Could work at the door.

Click to expand...

Is the receiver portable? We have an issue that we can't hear the doorbell if we are in the backyard. I was on the lookout for a portable doorbell receiver so we can carry it with us when we are working (or sipping wine) in the back.

TheBeachHouse said:

Copperhead said:

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.
.

Click to expand...

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.

Click to expand...

This is what we have for our drive way. You can turn it on/off. Could work at the door.
.

Click to expand...

Copperhead said:

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.

Click to expand...

This is what we have for our drive way. You can turn it on/off. Could work at the door.

Click to expand...

Is the receiver portable? We have an issue that we can't hear the doorbell if we are in the backyard. I was on the lookout for a portable doorbell receiver so we can carry it with us when we are working (or sipping wine) in the back.
.

Click to expand...

we use this brand - good range and you can buy range extenders - this model also has flashing lights
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Friedland-Twin-chime-strobe-light-Model-D3008tw/dp/B00YXZOWVQ/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1464096969&sr=8-9&keywords=friedland+doorbell

TheBeachHouse said:

Copperhead said:

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.
.

Click to expand...

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.

Click to expand...

This is what we have for our drive way. You can turn it on/off. Could work at the door.
.

Click to expand...

Copperhead said:

Duff2014 said:

Morticia said:

I wish our guests would let us know they're leaving! They bring all the suitcases out to the car at 7 am, eat breakfast and disappear. We never see them again. Did they go out the front door? We don't know.
If we hear them leaving we'll say goodbye. But some of them may be cat burglars in another life they are so quiet!

Click to expand...

Put a chime on the door that you can turn on and off.

Click to expand...

This is what we have for our drive way. You can turn it on/off. Could work at the door.

Click to expand...

Is the receiver portable? We have an issue that we can't hear the doorbell if we are in the backyard. I was on the lookout for a portable doorbell receiver so we can carry it with us when we are working (or sipping wine) in the back.
.

Click to expand...

we use this brand - good range and you can buy range extenders - this model also has flashing lights
Friedland-Twin-chime-strobe-light-Model-D3008tw