When you give a complimentary upgrade (meaning a higher priced room for the same price the guest orig booked) do you make a note of it on their statement? Do they realize they just got a really good deal or savings?
ie The Garden Room is normally $120 and you upgraded them to The Canopy Room for the same rate, which is normally $145, so for two nights that is valued at $50 in free upgrade.
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Kindness not only makes the coffee. Kindness says good morning.
Just gave one to a guest who was never going to make it up and down the stairs. TOLD her what I was doing. TOLD her I was not charging the extra money. Nothing.
However, I am happy they won't be moaning and groaning up and down the stairs all night!
This was a room they didn't want when they called a couple of weeks ago. Yeesh.
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Spare me the perky.
Other than "granddogs", my one exception to my policy has been Katie. On her first time here, it was January on a weekday and I had no other guests on the horizon so when I was asked if Katie could come in because she is too old to stay in the truck or the barn in January, I said yes. Katie brought her Mom & Grandmom with her and Katie is so well-behaved, it is as if she was never here.
In December, Mom and Grandmom are coming thru with horses as usual but this time Katie stayed home so I told them Merry Christmas and up-graded to the queen room instead of the usual double. (this was the 4th visit in a year).. They were very appreciative.
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I was just trying to be nice. Now the other couple he is tall and probably would have liked that room better, but what's done is done. No big deal, I just thought I would make this extra effort. I am happy, both rooms here before 5pm, what more could an innkeeper ask for!
Now off to pick up a kid from marching band and drop another off at youth group. I can do that now! They are all checked in, yeahhh!
Now off to pick up a kid from marching band and drop another off at youth group. I can do that now! They are all checked in, yeahhh!
We went out to dinner together for the first time in weeks. And our favorite bartender is back so it was even better.
When we do upgrades it is generally because we don't want to clean a particular room (2 beds and a tub) or because it looks like someone has issues with stairs and we want to make it easier on them. I have stopped hoping they will be thankful and now I just do it for me, because it makes me feel good and reminds me of the 2 guys who left a bottle of champagne in the mini fridge when I said it was an anniversary.
If I can get a little cake pan in a few weeks I will bake a cake for a guest who is having a b'day.
Backfired on me, but only y'all know.
Both rooms showed up at the same time, the room who were to get the comp upgrade (birthday) had a leg/knee brace on and what appears to be maybe residual stroke issues on his entire right side.
So the room I was going to upgrade has the high bed with step up, so I went up ahead helping with luggage and ran down the hall and grabbed the flowers from that room and quickly put them into theirs without anyone being the wiser.
I put something in the thank-you email. Like, "We hope you enjoyed your upgrade to the more expensive (larger suite, more luxurious, etc.) Canopy Room with our compliments. We hope that you'll return again and try another one of our suites." Frankly though, most people could have given a rip that we did something nice for them just because, so I stopped doing it. Mostly because I had their room ready to go - lights on, afternoon snack in place, and so on. I know that I appreciate these things when I stay at B&Bs but I'm beginning to wonder about the average traveler. Seemed like the guests we got in our second year who got even more amenities, said less about them.
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"You can't blame gravity for falling in love." ~ Albert Einstein
JB, I usually do this on the fly and tell them but it is not in writing. You do however bring up a very good point. Telling someone you are bumping them up and them seeing the value in $$$ is 2 different things, even if they do not look at it until they leave. The dollar value may hit home with them at that time.
I have been more leary in upgrading people lately. I have seen where I upgraded someone just because I could. Then next time they book, they book the same room as before, and seem a little disappointed when they get the room they actually booked, silently they were expecting another free upgrade.
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"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2
We had a couple here like that. Actually 2 couples. One GOPO who kept bringing up to us how nice the PO's were because they upgraded their room for free. OK, buddy, what's your point? YOU booked the most expensive room, there ARE no upgrades from there.
The other was in-state coming for a dr's appt very early in the morning. They arrived and it was obvious she could not climb the stairs. We were empty at that point, so we gave them the best room for the small room price, plus, I think we had discounted even the small room price, so quite the deal.
Next time they wanted to rebook, they wanted the big room in season for the off season small room price (now we're talking about $75 difference). We said we couldn't and they were very hurt. And they didn't book.
We now have a couple here for 5 days who booked the smallest room because it was all we had open for all 5 days. I was going to move them after the first night, but the other room they could have had filled up. They seem perfectly ok and every day leave a thank you note & $2 for the housekeeper.
The other night we had 3 adults come in looking for one room with a tub. But they didn't like the one room we had with a tub. So, Gomez goes to show them out and the older woman says, 'Don't you have any other rooms open? You said you had 3 rooms.'
Gomez came back with, 'You insisted you needed a bathtub, there's not much sense showing you any other rooms because they don't have bathtubs.' He said she seemed really put out that she wasn't going to get a whole-house tour when she already sniffed at the rooms she was shown.
Gomez came back with, 'You insisted you needed a bathtub, there's not much sense showing you any other rooms because they don't have bathtubs.' He said she seemed really put out that she wasn't going to get a whole-house tour when she already sniffed at the rooms she was shown.
Okay- here's a totally off topic question: are the men more likely to shoot straight without fear of being emotional?
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Emily Spiers
Professional Association of Innkeepers International
emily@paii.org
Gomez came back with, 'You insisted you needed a bathtub, there's not much sense showing you any other rooms because they don't have bathtubs.' He said she seemed really put out that she wasn't going to get a whole-house tour when she already sniffed at the rooms she was shown.
Okay- here's a totally off topic question: are the men more likely to shoot straight without fear of being emotional?
Not sure what you mean?
Gomez came back with, 'You insisted you needed a bathtub, there's not much sense showing you any other rooms because they don't have bathtubs.' He said she seemed really put out that she wasn't going to get a whole-house tour when she already sniffed at the rooms she was shown.
Okay- here's a totally off topic question: are the men more likely to shoot straight without fear of being emotional?
Not sure what you mean?
It seems to me that males just cut the emotional junk out of a conversation.
Would you have shown her the other rooms? Because I think I might have- just to be nice. Not that Gomez wasn't being nice, he just pointed out the facts. Lady needed a bathtub, why look at rooms w/out tubs? I mean, what he did makes sense. Totally. Just a gender observation.
Gomez came back with, 'You insisted you needed a bathtub, there's not much sense showing you any other rooms because they don't have bathtubs.' He said she seemed really put out that she wasn't going to get a whole-house tour when she already sniffed at the rooms she was shown.
Okay- here's a totally off topic question: are the men more likely to shoot straight without fear of being emotional?
Not sure what you mean?
It seems to me that males just cut the emotional junk out of a conversation.
Would you have shown her the other rooms? Because I think I might have- just to be nice. Not that Gomez wasn't being nice, he just pointed out the facts. Lady needed a bathtub, why look at rooms w/out tubs? I mean, what he did makes sense. Totally. Just a gender observation.
A couple of different answers...I love showing off the house so, had she been NICE, which she wasn't, yes, I would have shown her all the rooms that were open on the off chance someone else in her party would come back without her.
But, Gomez said she had her nose in the air the whole time and nothing was good enough. He told them who in town has bathtubs in the rooms and she sniffed again, 'We looked there already.' Oh, just go away. Stay home if nothing is good enough.
Gomez came back with, 'You insisted you needed a bathtub, there's not much sense showing you any other rooms because they don't have bathtubs.' He said she seemed really put out that she wasn't going to get a whole-house tour when she already sniffed at the rooms she was shown.
Okay- here's a totally off topic question: are the men more likely to shoot straight without fear of being emotional?
Not sure what you mean?
It seems to me that males just cut the emotional junk out of a conversation.
Would you have shown her the other rooms? Because I think I might have- just to be nice. Not that Gomez wasn't being nice, he just pointed out the facts. Lady needed a bathtub, why look at rooms w/out tubs? I mean, what he did makes sense. Totally. Just a gender observation.
A couple of different answers...I love showing off the house so, had she been NICE, which she wasn't, yes, I would have shown her all the rooms that were open on the off chance someone else in her party would come back without her.
But, Gomez said she had her nose in the air the whole time and nothing was good enough. He told them who in town has bathtubs in the rooms and she sniffed again, 'We looked there already.' Oh, just go away. Stay home if nothing is good enough.
Gomez came back with, 'You insisted you needed a bathtub, there's not much sense showing you any other rooms because they don't have bathtubs.' He said she seemed really put out that she wasn't going to get a whole-house tour when she already sniffed at the rooms she was shown.
Okay- here's a totally off topic question: are the men more likely to shoot straight without fear of being emotional?
Not sure what you mean?
It seems to me that males just cut the emotional junk out of a conversation.
Would you have shown her the other rooms? Because I think I might have- just to be nice. Not that Gomez wasn't being nice, he just pointed out the facts. Lady needed a bathtub, why look at rooms w/out tubs? I mean, what he did makes sense. Totally. Just a gender observation.
After being in business this long, no I would not have shown the other rooms either. Why waste my time - or theres! They said they wanted a tub! If they used the word prefer, I would have shown them the others - if I got a sense they really wanted to to stay here.
Gomez came back with, 'You insisted you needed a bathtub, there's not much sense showing you any other rooms because they don't have bathtubs.' He said she seemed really put out that she wasn't going to get a whole-house tour when she already sniffed at the rooms she was shown.
Okay- here's a totally off topic question: are the men more likely to shoot straight without fear of being emotional?
Yeah.......in my case...yeah
Although...........I have certainly come across some women.....would have been great at being a man
I don't do upgrades. Our rooms are all so different, I assume they booked it for a reason. If a guest checks into our smallest room and we have others available, sometimes I will offer to show the others to them, but they would have to pay the difference.
I only make those decisions on the day of arrival, and it's from shared to private bath. That being said, very few guests were what I felt to be appropriately appreciative of the upgrade, so I rarely do it anymore....only for my own convenience (in order to not have to share my bath).
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The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue and gives kisses freely and enthusiastically to everyone!
I only do it for nice people if I like the sound of them on the phone or a special occasion or something. I had an older couple and they had put on their special insructions we will be checking in about 2pm (our usual time) unless we are having too much fun with the grandkids and then it will be 6pm. I liked that and they made me laugh so they got an upgrade.
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Don't mess with me today or I will kill you!!!!
I've only ever done it on the fly so don't usually write anything down. For us an upgrade is always to a larger bed so they realize what they're getting. I like when we get upgrade-worthy guests! I just checked in someone very sweet and seemingly "normal"...hallelujah!!! If they weren't already in the largest room I would've bumped 'em, considering the week we've had...
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What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons.
I sometimes do it on the fly so I tell them then or I had gold coloured lables done that say something like you have received a compliamentary upgrade that I stick to a postcard and it is slotted into their tea tray.
I usually do upgrades on the fly, so it is not on their form. I DO tell them, tho. Many will book the 'better' room on their next stay all on their own. But some really, really like the room they like regardless of what I think a 'better' room is.
yeah.......you absolutely tell them......