Lesson learned #430 - no room blocking

DH finally decided on his own not to allow room blocks. Too much work and too much risk of losing real bookings to empty rooms.
We've talked about it in the past and he's a really nice and helpful man. So he likes to be flexible. But he quit. No more. People want too much and make too much work. Splitting bills, changing rooms, cancelling, waiting until the last minute, expecting early check ins and late check outs to correspond to their event, extra mess because they think they own the place, door bell constantly for sewing kits, irons (they are in the rooms), ice, taxi numbers, more coffee cups.....
He's on board. No more mystery guests.

SOGOTP

I don't know how to feel about that response. Like I said, lesson learned.

TheBeachHouse said:

I don't know how to feel about that response. Like I said, lesson learned..

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We've had to deal with it as well. We don't offer blocking at all.

sorry not 100% sure what you mean "room blocks" ie

By "room blocks", do you mean group bookings or holding a block of rooms without a deposit?
I rarely hold rooms without a deposit. If I do, it's either for repeat guests whom I know won't make up a dead relative to cancel last minute, or it's for a caller whom I give 24 hours to get back to me. If they don't call & pay a deposit, they don't have a reservation. Multiple rooms &/or multiple nights require a 50% nonrefundable deposit. I am not going to get stuck holding the bag for a reservation worth over $1000.
I've only been shafted once in 6 years for holding a room. It was a one-nighter for a person who lived locally and said they wanted a "staycation". I sent a link to our payment system and didn't receive a response. I kept trying to contact her for 9 days to confirm her reservation, calling and emailing with no response. Finally, on the day she was supposed to check in, I reach her & she says, "I'm an EMT and I'm busy saving lives. I don't have time to return your calls and emails. I figured since I didn't pay you, I didn't have a reservation so it's your fault you held the room." Imagine if the situation had been reversed and I rebooked the room because I didn't hear from her, then she shows up on my doorstep pissed as #ELL, which is what I told her. I then said, "Thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson about holding a room. This has never happened in all of the years I've owned the B&B."

Jcam said:

sorry not 100% sure what you mean "room blocks" ie.

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People who ask you to hold rooms so their friends can call and make reservations. Big hotels do it all the time for events.
Mostly weddings, but, as an example, when you sign up for a conference and the conference tells you there is a block of rooms at hotel X until a certain date.
Even if we take a deposit, it is still more work than it should be.
Over the summer, we charged the card that made the deposit because people didn't show up. They dispute the charge and the company doesn't pay us. Once it was Labor Day weekend. We were out our best room on a three day holiday! Not again.