Great guest

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

NC Innkeeper

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 21, 2019
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
Tonight I had two couples that did not know one another and both were having dinner here as well. Turns out they both drove up in nearly the same car, needless to say they hit it off instantly. They sat enjoying each others company before and then all the way thru dinner. Laughing and telling each others stories, so great to be a part of that.
As I was resetting the table for breakfast I was admiring the new table runner a guest made for me herself and mailed shortly after her stay. It is beautiful! I am always in amazement when guest bring me something or send something, even a card tickles me.
I have been appreciative to have a place to vent about the things that do not go so great with some guest but tonight wanted to share a great guest story. There have been so many thru the years and that is why I truly love being an Innkeeper.
So lets start a chat of great guest stories everyone has.
 
Well, 99% of the guest stories are good. I think that's why we post about the bad ones - they are so out of place.
Good stuff:
  • Guests last week bought us a plant to thank us for all our help.
  • Handmade afghan
  • Lots and lots of alcohol from their own wineries or distilleries
  • Fruit from their orchards
  • Eggs from their chickens
  • Hand carved shore bird
So many gifts and conversations over the years. One group of guests comes back every year on the same weekend - they all ask if the other ones are coming again this year.
 
I have so many over the years - one that stands out are the 3 men who came to ride a rail-trail 20+ miles from here. I rode with them to the trailhead & brought their car back here for the duration of their ride. I was to pick them up when they got to the trailhead. I figured they would just go back into the rooms they had only used 1-night. BUT, I got a 3-room CASH reservation for the night before they were coming back so I quickly flipped the rooms. I had just finished serving breakfast to the Saturday night folks when the phone rang - we give up, come and get us. It was bloody HOT! Knowing where they were,I told them to go to the DQ where they could sit in A/C the 90 minutes before I could get there.
As Himself could finish up with the guests at breakfast, I thanked them for their stay and explained I had to go shuttle service. When I got to the DQ, the boys bought me a sundae while they loaded upbikes& gear. They gave me $60 for the shuttle - their car & gas. When we gotto the house, I informed them no one was crossing the threshold (I had told them about the guests at breakfast) until I got the rooms flipped. What makes this so special is that later that evening, as I sat on the porch chatting with one of the men, he said, "We have stayed at B & Bs all over the world, and you are in the top 5%."
 
Those sort of folks are the reason for being in this business, take the interaction with my guests away and I'm just the maid and handyman, not much fun at all. One kind word lifts my spirits and it only takes one unhappy guest to put me down for days.
Like Morticia says, 99% are great folks, I expect that's why the few crazy tales stand out more in our memories than all the good folks. As I don't serve food I don't have quite the amount of interaction many of you do, but many visit our living area, my workshop or we talk old cars or tractors.
In more recent years I've enjoyed our guests on Facebook, the usual "likes" on our business page, yet a number are "friends" on my personal page as well, fun to keep up with folks between visits.
 
Well, 99% of the guest stories are good. I think that's why we post about the bad ones - they are so out of place.
Good stuff:
  • Guests last week bought us a plant to thank us for all our help.
  • Handmade afghan
  • Lots and lots of alcohol from their own wineries or distilleries
  • Fruit from their orchards
  • Eggs from their chickens
  • Hand carved shore bird
So many gifts and conversations over the years. One group of guests comes back every year on the same weekend - they all ask if the other ones are coming again this year..
In 6 years, we’ve gotten fewer than 10 gifts. But the two that stand out are the homemade terrarium and the photo of the sea smoke taken during their stay last year.
Weve had a lot of comments lately saying our Inn was the best they’d ever stayed at. I’m still not sure why.
 
Well, 99% of the guest stories are good. I think that's why we post about the bad ones - they are so out of place.
Good stuff:
  • Guests last week bought us a plant to thank us for all our help.
  • Handmade afghan
  • Lots and lots of alcohol from their own wineries or distilleries
  • Fruit from their orchards
  • Eggs from their chickens
  • Hand carved shore bird
So many gifts and conversations over the years. One group of guests comes back every year on the same weekend - they all ask if the other ones are coming again this year..
In 6 years, we’ve gotten fewer than 10 gifts. But the two that stand out are the homemade terrarium and the photo of the sea smoke taken during their stay last year.
Weve had a lot of comments lately saying our Inn was the best they’d ever stayed at. I’m still not sure why.
.
TheBeachHouse said:
In 6 years, we’ve gotten fewer than 10 gifts. But the two that stand out are the homemade terrarium and the photo of the sea smoke taken during their stay last year.
Weve had a lot of comments lately saying our Inn was the best they’d ever stayed at. I’m still not sure why.
Our first week here we were getting gifts in the mail every day. For the previous owner. It was Christmastime and they obviously made a huge impression on the guests. When the next year rolled around and there were zero gifts I felt let down. We just don't make the same impression on guests.
Then again, the reason the gifts were coming here was because the PO's walked away from here without telling anyone. Including their own family! We also got their Christmas cards from family. And phone calls for 6 months after from all kinds of people. Personal email. All of it was coming here. They never updated anything.
Over the years, we've gotten lots of different gifts. All of them totally unexpected. Just last week someone invited us to stay in their cottage on the lake.
 
Going back in the Way-Back Machine to when I was 3 with shared. One night about 10 PM, a guest came down to tell me the sink was not draining in the bathroom. I went up and plunged and plunged to no avail.
The man in the next room came to see what was happening. One of them went down to his truck to get his tools. Together they took off the U-joint - clog not there. I had picked up - because it was on sale for $1 - this air-blaster gizmo that was supposed to unblock things. Himself (he was unable to go upstairs) said we were going to blow up the pipes. We used it and whatever was clogging was gone. The men put the plumbing back together, washed up, said goodnight to each other and me. they were happyy as clams to be DOING something, per the wives. Sooooo many wonderful guests in the last 24 years.
 
My favorite guests first stay they blew the electric circuit right after we took over and we had to hunt for the breaker boxes to find their switch. They ended up leaving early since the lady was in pain due to a resent surgery. We thought we blew that couple off. But oh no! They come at least five times a summer with/without friends. They bring drinks and cheese and invite everyone in the house to celebrate with them. Once they showed up with a new AC unit for their room. He always walks unto the house and yells, "Hello! We're Home!"
 
My favorite guests first stay they blew the electric circuit right after we took over and we had to hunt for the breaker boxes to find their switch. They ended up leaving early since the lady was in pain due to a resent surgery. We thought we blew that couple off. But oh no! They come at least five times a summer with/without friends. They bring drinks and cheese and invite everyone in the house to celebrate with them. Once they showed up with a new AC unit for their room. He always walks unto the house and yells, "Hello! We're Home!".
Awwww.
heart.gif

 
Just this week, we had a lovely couple from Vermont stay with us for a few days. They are thinking about moving out of their area as it is getting crowded with 2nd home owners. She owns a bakery there and brought us a box of goodies. We sat and talked about the local business climate and why a bakery would be such a wonderful addition to the local business economy. We hugged on their way out. Great folks, I hope they come back.
Also got a visit from a previous owner who was passing through. She made a special stop just to see us. Her and her (ex) husband made most of the major renovations to make this building a working BnB. She was a delight to talk to.
 
We are just wrapping up our 3rd season and each year have had a surprise from a guest. First one just came out of a fun conversation about how much she loved her iced tea maker. A week after they had been here, voila, our new iced tea maker arrived. Then a couple (who were staying because they were looking to retire here) who struck up a conversation about landscaping and how we both loved tulips, sent us a bag of bulbs a few weeks after their stay! The most recent was a hand made glass plate! Those, along with a multitude of handwritten thank you notes, mean so much. After our first year, we started having repeat guests!
The majority of people really are good-hearted!
heart.gif
 
We are just wrapping up our 3rd season and each year have had a surprise from a guest. First one just came out of a fun conversation about how much she loved her iced tea maker. A week after they had been here, voila, our new iced tea maker arrived. Then a couple (who were staying because they were looking to retire here) who struck up a conversation about landscaping and how we both loved tulips, sent us a bag of bulbs a few weeks after their stay! The most recent was a hand made glass plate! Those, along with a multitude of handwritten thank you notes, mean so much. After our first year, we started having repeat guests!
The majority of people really are good-hearted!
heart.gif
.
My best gift of all came this year from repeat guests who, in the course of conversation, were told I hope a friend gets a deer for me this year because I am almost out of ground venison. 2 weeks later, he had me stop on the way home from a conference near their city so he could give me 16 1-lb packages of frozen ground venison. Thanks to them, I have not had to remove my homemade maple venison sausage from the meat choices.
 
We are just wrapping up our 3rd season and each year have had a surprise from a guest. First one just came out of a fun conversation about how much she loved her iced tea maker. A week after they had been here, voila, our new iced tea maker arrived. Then a couple (who were staying because they were looking to retire here) who struck up a conversation about landscaping and how we both loved tulips, sent us a bag of bulbs a few weeks after their stay! The most recent was a hand made glass plate! Those, along with a multitude of handwritten thank you notes, mean so much. After our first year, we started having repeat guests!
The majority of people really are good-hearted!
heart.gif
.
My best gift of all came this year from repeat guests who, in the course of conversation, were told I hope a friend gets a deer for me this year because I am almost out of ground venison. 2 weeks later, he had me stop on the way home from a conference near their city so he could give me 16 1-lb packages of frozen ground venison. Thanks to them, I have not had to remove my homemade maple venison sausage from the meat choices.
.
heart.gif

 
Last season I was pretty effusive about our area to a couple staying with us. Some months later they purchased a house a few miles away and were married. Just had a chat with the lady yesterday. They are very happy they settled here.
 
Back
Top