Urban B&B - Please Help / Guests not happy with neighborhood

There is a small town that has a lovely main street and I happened to meet the owners of a B&B from there who stayed with us prior to their opening.  They spent years renovating this historic home.  There are a couple draws I could see right away nearby for guests to stay there.

I was in the area so decided I should drive through their town, I got off the interstate and into their historic district and main street community I went!  I saw the revitalization, the shops, the theatre, then their B&B, cute & quaint right in town... I did a loop and saw a sign for the interstate just 3 blocks from downtown vs the 3 miles off the highway I had come.

I say, Oh good! I will get on right here!  As I am driving toward it I see razor wire and guard towers! What the! Goosebumps begin to form.  It is a facility for the criminally insane. Not the insane, not just criminals, the criminally insane.

I got the creeps let me tell you!!  You know those poor innkeepers must do all within their power to get guests to take the OTHER exit off the interstate.  You know they get on their GPS and scoot in past this psycho-killer-ward anyway.

I felt very bad for them.  I wondered why on earth they would want a B&B in that particular town? I am sure the economy is driven by this institution, as well as the local work force.

So all that to say...things could be worse.  Wonder if they have a keypad on that front door?  They might actually get most of their clientele from those visiting the ward there, I am not going to ask of course.

Thanks, probably won't be in the area for a long while, we live on the east coast now.  Appreciate the invite.

I didn't read your website more than a glance and saw that extra M's, so figured it would be worth mentioning.  Clever is indeed a word for you website, I just love it.  The other memory of your area is picking blackberries and eating blackberry pies.  Keep up the good work! I have rel's in Northern CA and will recommend for sure!

RpWiki welcome to the forum!

You nearly brought a tear to my eye, I should let you know right now.  If I think of it too much there will be more than one tear.

Our family fished right there every year as long as I can remember.  The worst trip ever was the typical heavy fog and I was lost in the drift wood for like 14 hours solid, I was about 5.  They had the search and rescue out for me.  I ruined the whole trip, apparently, I can recall that time even though I was so young.  My Dad has a couple photo albums full of photos from The Klamath. Every single year we camped at The Klamath and fished and spent time as a family.

All the best with your business! Love the website, love the personal type information.  

(PS one note, amenities has ONE M. I see it on navigation bar and on the rooms page left side)

 We use our website to VERY CAREFULLY AND EXPLICITLY manage expectations. We don't use a booking service because, thankfully, we have great direct traffic to our site and, frankly, it's difficult for us to manage expectations through a third party service. If we had less web traffic we might reconsider, but for the time being that is how we get around this - lots of photos, lots of testimonials, and repeating key messages in multiple places on the website.

 Cambes people complain about parking EVERYWHERE. If they could just flippin' park in their rooms they would finally be happy!  Our parking area has a gate, you walk through the gate and 20 paces up onto the porch around the porch to the front door.  

I park FURTHER so the guests have the best parking, and haul in armload after armload of groceries and gallons of milk and bags of potatoes...all the time. People are people, if they don't have something to fuss about they might as well be dead.

Everyone has issues with something. For example some people panic about parking on the street round here which is perfectly safe but I try to remember I don't know what it is like where they live parking on the street may mean that you come back to no wheeles on your car therefore we have to forbear. Also you don't know if they come from a farm in the middle of no where where you don't even have to lock the doors to the middle of a busy cosmopolitan town or city  it may be overload. I wouldn't take it personally.

Domsmom have you had any more incidents like the one you expressed in the orig thread?  

Riki mentioned diversity, it is racism you are encountering?  If so, that is another issue for another time.  We cannot force people to feel how we feel about anything, people ask me here if the neighborhood is safe, we have a preacher next door in a big house, a cemetery with no one living right behind us and small town genuine people RIGHT HERE, there is nothing farther from the truth.  So if they ask me, then they will ask an urban inn.

Hope it all works out for you.  Let us know what you tried to make it better FOR YOU.  

I would get more great photos up on your website showing off your diverse neighborhood. We are in Charlottesville, VA and get lots of diverse guests from the DC area - so I think you just need to expose your area more to attract the diversity-loving guest. I'm from San Francisco, and don't feel comfortable when I'm in an all-same-looking Stetford Wifes Movie type of neighborhood. I like diversity and hearing different languages as I walk down the street.

Do you have any festivals or Saturday markets that you could photograph to put on the website? I think you're just getting a couple of hotel people here and there. I would for sure not say, "this area is safe" unless someone asks. Different is not dangerous! Embrace the neighborhood and show it off! People get more from photos than from words on the web

Riki

 Not saying this is the same situation at all, but we stayed at a lovely B&B,  inside was an oasis, it was lovely, the house next door had bars on the windows and security doors as did the ones across the street.  They left the front door unlocked and the lights went out at 10pm out front. Made me as nervous as heck staying there.

 Now if I were staying in the heart of the city and was going to the hospital or museum, I would love to stay at a nice B&B, an oasis from the city.  IF they are staying in that city, they should at least know it is a city, and that is life in the city.

This is difficult.  Hard to really answer without visiting for ourselves.  Living in an unsafe or urban area is not the same as visiting one.  If you are in a city, even historic district you can still have one block away crack houses and apartments.  Perhaps describing the neighborhood in more detail, not the type of people, just what the surroundings are about?

I have had guests stay with us tell us of places that were NOT like the website, but we typically don't show what is next door or behind do we?

People do not read anything.  I would say make your pictures as representative of your property and your neighborhood as possible.  It sounds like a very "hip" setting so that is the type of guest you want to entice.  Make them feel like they are part of the hip and urban "innsiders" group!

Catlady

If they leave just because of this...after you assure them it is safe.

I do not suggest using any words assuring their safety - this opens you up to liability in the event something does happen to them or their property. 

I hate to say it but people havn't a clue what they have booked half the time. The don't read and don't look as we clearly say we have parking and it is at the back but they still pull up at the front and where do we go to park?

I agree with the others, if there is a trend that these guests have all booked on another online reservation service that needs to be adressed.  You need to be quite clear on your description that you are a B&B in a multicultural residential area - near (walking distance?) ...... Provide pictures that clearly state your type of establishment and the area. If you are clear and they fail to read, that is something you have no control over! 

On this subject I remember a past guest description of the previous B&B they stayed in in our neighboring big city. I know the area that this B&B (and a couple of others) is in and it is a multicultural area, mixed with residential and commercial areas and is commonly decribed as a hip upbeat area.  

They complained about things that they felt the website had deceived them - picture of B&B was cropped to just barely see the home.  So when they arrived they had no knowledge that there was really no yard, the house was very close to the neighbors on either side.  They said that they thought they could hear the neighbors talking.  The house was totally gated with a tall iron fence with spikes at the top, and the gate was locked so they could not easily have access.  The side windows had bars on them as well.  So for them it was a rude awakening and felt unsafe.  According to them, they would have not booked the place had they seen the full picture (street view maybe?). 

I am not suggesting that your area or B&B is like the one decribed, actually the B&B described above was really not as 'bad' as the guest description, but it was all stated through their perception of the place and that is subjective no matter where your B&B is and there is only so much you can do to provide them a cear picture. 

If indeed that got to you from booking.com..then they are NOT B & B people...I would venture to say. Just make sure your confirmations clearly state location and pertinent information and your cancellation policy. If they leave just because of this...after you assure them it is safe..then they default on your policy and should be charged. Just make sure you have in writing that they agreed to your policies in case of a charge back case.

Thanks for the reminder.  I have in my auto response, when guests book from my website, that we live in a diverse neighborhood.  Do I consider it safe?  Yes, I live here with my children, we walk the neighborhood, I know my neighbors, many by name and have had them watch my children from time to time.   I have to be more diligent in emailing the guests who make reservations from other sites with specifics.  I try to be detailed in my information on the websites as well.

If it tends to be the 'hotel' guest that is not happy, then you have to ensure that your listing on the booking service states very clearly you are not a hotel, that you are in a residential neighborhood, parking is such and such. When you get a rez thru the booking service, ie- a guest you have not spoken to, give them a call and review with them exactly what they booked.

Is your neighborhood a 'safe' place for guests? Is it ok for guests to walk around at any time? If it is a 'safe' neighborhood (you can't guarantee anything) maybe a little history of the neighborhood would help guests feel more relaxed.