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Audrey Forrest

Audrey Forrest

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I find it interesting to look at the reviews of the booking agents! People complain about things but a lot of it is their own fault. For example, cancellation fees. These sites state free cancellation but NOT for all properties. They fail to see
which properties offer that. It's just a generic statement the agents make.
Many seem surprised at lodging taxes and cleaning fees.
do you all charge cleaning fees? Of course I know you charge lodging taxes. Foreigners particularly object to these fees maybe because it is not usual custom in their country.
I also find many fail to see the check-in time and arrive either too early (room not ready) or too late. Like Morticia I am
not letting them in at 1am (recent guest very annoyed about it, lol). I have solved this problem fairly well by making a
Late Fee of $25.00 if they check in between 6pm-9pm. After 9pm we don't open the door!
 
Most guests never click on the little ? that explains each property's rules. Booking.com let's the guest select whatever time they want regardless of what your preferences are. And they won't fix the problem by removing the wide open arrival time option they offer to the guest.
This is where bring proactive and sending the guest a real confirmation from your property can head off these issues.
I won't answer the door at 1am because the guest I mentioned did not complete the reservation process. If she had, I would definitely let her in at 1am. Heck, I let someone in at who knows what time last night because she couldn't find the key to her room!
Because cleaning the room is already added into the price, along with everything else, I don't add any additional fees. It's in there already.
 
Cleaning fee??? What is up with that? Cleaning should be incorporated into the cost of your room? No wonder people complain. This is not normal for a standard B&B. I would not stay in a place that did that.
all of your costs should be incorporated into your rate
 
Cleaning fees are not customary charges at B&B's here in the US.

Cleaning the room, breakfast etc. should all be captured in your nightly rate.
The only places that I see online charging cleaning fees are vacation rentals where the renter gets the entire house.
Again, your model is not the typical B&B model and the problems you are having are do to the policies you have in place. To stop having the problems, you have to change what is causing them.

Example: Years ago we decided to host events here. We had noticed that the all the other places in the area were charging what we considered an arm and leg so we decided to have plans that graduated up. Of course we had quite a few takers at our low fee and along with that came a multitude of problems. When we raised our rates and made our policies more strict the problems went away. We of course do not get as many event bookings but with that I am very content.
 
Here in the UK, taxes (VAT) are always included in the price, except maybe in business to business transactions like my local soap supplier, so it is a shock to the uninitiated visiting the US to find an extra bit added on.
Even in the shops you do that which just seems super complicated, you buy something labelled $2 and get charged $2.06 so then you have to hunt around for the odd or end up with pockets full of coins.
I'm with others on the cleaning fee, never heard of that in a B&B.
 
Highlands John said:
Here in the UK, taxes (VAT) are always included in the price, except maybe in business to business transactions like my local soap supplier, so it is a shock to the uninitiated visiting the US to find an extra bit added on.
Even in the shops you do that which just seems super complicated, you buy something labelled $2 and get charged $2.06 so then you have to hunt around for the odd or end up with pockets full of coins.
I'm with others on the cleaning fee, never heard of that in a B&B..
Click to expand...
In many states, it is a requirement that the tax be listed separately (i.e., not included in the price). Presumably the lawmaker's thought behind this is that "the people" want to know how much taxes they are paying.
For those who shop in these jurisdictions regularly, they are used to this, and generally have a rough idea of their final cost, adding on the tax in their head.
These days, so many people pay with cards that carrying around spare change isn't much of an issue (and most things would be priced at $1.99 instead of $2.00 anyways, so the total is never a whole dollar amount regardless).
At our place, we sell our hats and t-shirts (etc...) at whole dollar amounts tax included, but to comply with the law we have to list out the price they are actually paying for the item and the amount that is tax separately, e.g. hats $20 ($18.96 + $1.04 tax).
When giving price quotes to prospective guests, I try to always mention that the rate does not include tax: "the rate is $XXX per night plus tax, so your total for X nights will be $XXX rent + $XX.xx tax = $XXX.xx"
 
OnTheShore said:
Highlands John said:
Here in the UK, taxes (VAT) are always included in the price, except maybe in business to business transactions like my local soap supplier, so it is a shock to the uninitiated visiting the US to find an extra bit added on.
Even in the shops you do that which just seems super complicated, you buy something labelled $2 and get charged $2.06 so then you have to hunt around for the odd or end up with pockets full of coins.
I'm with others on the cleaning fee, never heard of that in a B&B..
Click to expand...
In many states, it is a requirement that the tax be listed separately (i.e., not included in the price). Presumably the lawmaker's thought behind this is that "the people" want to know how much taxes they are paying.
For those who shop in these jurisdictions regularly, they are used to this, and generally have a rough idea of their final cost, adding on the tax in their head.
These days, so many people pay with cards that carrying around spare change isn't much of an issue (and most things would be priced at $1.99 instead of $2.00 anyways, so the total is never a whole dollar amount regardless).
At our place, we sell our hats and t-shirts (etc...) at whole dollar amounts tax included, but to comply with the law we have to list out the price they are actually paying for the item and the amount that is tax separately, e.g. hats $20 ($18.96 + $1.04 tax).
When giving price quotes to prospective guests, I try to always mention that the rate does not include tax: "the rate is $XXX per night plus tax, so your total for X nights will be $XXX rent + $XX.xx tax = $XXX.xx"
.
Click to expand...
It's the 'plus tax' that always seems open to negotiation for walk ins. "If I pay cash we can forget the tax, right?"
But, yes, if a guest repeats the price and doesn't mention tax I sound like a broken record - "plus tax".
 
OnTheShore said:
Highlands John said:
Here in the UK, taxes (VAT) are always included in the price, except maybe in business to business transactions like my local soap supplier, so it is a shock to the uninitiated visiting the US to find an extra bit added on.
Even in the shops you do that which just seems super complicated, you buy something labelled $2 and get charged $2.06 so then you have to hunt around for the odd or end up with pockets full of coins.
I'm with others on the cleaning fee, never heard of that in a B&B..
Click to expand...
In many states, it is a requirement that the tax be listed separately (i.e., not included in the price). Presumably the lawmaker's thought behind this is that "the people" want to know how much taxes they are paying.
For those who shop in these jurisdictions regularly, they are used to this, and generally have a rough idea of their final cost, adding on the tax in their head.
These days, so many people pay with cards that carrying around spare change isn't much of an issue (and most things would be priced at $1.99 instead of $2.00 anyways, so the total is never a whole dollar amount regardless).
At our place, we sell our hats and t-shirts (etc...) at whole dollar amounts tax included, but to comply with the law we have to list out the price they are actually paying for the item and the amount that is tax separately, e.g. hats $20 ($18.96 + $1.04 tax).
When giving price quotes to prospective guests, I try to always mention that the rate does not include tax: "the rate is $XXX per night plus tax, so your total for X nights will be $XXX rent + $XX.xx tax = $XXX.xx"
.
Click to expand...
OnTheShore said:
At our place, we sell our hats and t-shirts (etc...) at whole dollar amounts tax included, but to comply with the law we have to list out the price they are actually paying for the item and the amount that is tax separately, e.g. hats $20 ($18.96 + $1.04 tax).
Click to expand...
We "attempt" to use that same idea on room rates so that we can tell a prospective guest a round number as the after tax cost per night. The disadvantage is that many don't really listen and to them it makes us appear higher than others posted rates.
 
I've changed my Air listings. I looked at others in my area and most had a cleaning fee, so their rate that's shown in the search listings were significantly less than mine. So I'm playing the game. I used to say that they had to pay our lodging tax on arrival in addition to their Air rate. Now I've taken down the nightly rate and put a cleaning fee of $30. I'm using that cleaning fee to pay the room taxes. It works out fine for a 1 or 2 night reservation. Frankly, I've never had more than a 2 nighter with Air anyway.
The thing about using Air is you have to figure out their game and what works for you.
 
Breakfast Diva said:
I've changed my Air listings. I looked at others in my area and most had a cleaning fee, so their rate that's shown in the search listings were significantly less than mine. So I'm playing the game. I used to say that they had to pay our lodging tax on arrival in addition to their Air rate. Now I've taken down the nightly rate and put a cleaning fee of $30. I'm using that cleaning fee to pay the room taxes. It works out fine for a 1 or 2 night reservation. Frankly, I've never had more than a 2 nighter with Air anyway.
The thing about using Air is you have to figure out their game and what works for you..
Click to expand...
I do the same and disclose in the description what the 'cleaning fee' is for.
 

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