About the Reservation Menu ....

[user 26]

Has this happened to you?
guest makes a reservation online and checks off 'special occasion - birthday' (for example) and even adds details in the comments field
or in comments, guest types in 'we don't eat beef or pork, but do eat eggs and cheese'
so you plan their stay with you accordingly. and then he/she/they express surprise that you aren't serving them pork sausage and say they eat it all the time. or it's no one's birthday.
i was just talking to a local innkeeper who mentioned this happening and, i had to tell her ... yes, this happened to me at least once each year.
odd!
i would think someone checked off the wrong box by accident but when they type in comments??? maybe they made the reservation thinking they were bring someone else?

i have no answer.

 

[wendydk]

Nope, pretty much what I see is what I get in that department.

 

[Morticia]

I had one select 'Gift Certificate' as means of payment but didn't have a GC. But that could just have been the mouse scrolling. Most of the time it's the opposite...no info!

 

[YellowSocks]

I vote mouse scrolling... but the food one is odd. But yeah, you told me you're vegetarians who don't mind eggs and milk, you're getting pancakes not egg flowers. (But now I know, next time it's egg flowers!)
=)
Kk.

 

[Proud Texan]

Do you guys just use an automated reservation confirmation letter?
We only use the automated letter to acknowledge their reservation requests THEN after we have verified their credit card information, I send them a personalized reservation confirmation. On this I reiterate any special requests or dietary needs with a little note asking them to contact me if anything is incorrect.
This has saved my southern butt a couple of times when people contacted me to say that "I didn't mean to click that" or "write that".
It's just good communication.

 

[user 26]

i sent my own confirmation to note their dietary requests or special occasion, or no feathers, or sensitivity to scent, or whatever ... because i wanted to be certain i got it right. and i had color coding in my reservation system to indicate the different things.
i'd have to guess that since it was rare that i got a 'confirmation of my confirmation' they just didn't read what i sent.
so when i saw that baffled look on a guest's face, i'd go back into my correspondence to see what their reservation said and what i'd sent back. just to see if i'd made a mistake. i never challenged them about it ... the guest is the guest after all ... as somebody said.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Do you guys just use an automated reservation confirmation letter?
We only use the automated letter to acknowledge their reservation requests THEN after we have verified their credit card information, I send them a personalized reservation confirmation. On this I reiterate any special requests or dietary needs with a little note asking them to contact me if anything is incorrect.
This has saved my southern butt a couple of times when people contacted me to say that "I didn't mean to click that" or "write that".
It's just good communication..

We do it like you do, but because we use AvailabilityOnline basic, I have to manually copy and paste my standard email confirmation letter. I then change the pertinent information for each different booking.
That's for online bookings only or phone bookings who want both that and the following.
In addition to the email confirmation they get, they and everybody else gets a packet mailed to them with a printout of our map & directions, a little confirmation slip with the details of their stay and a brochure that has an additional "information" sheet slipped inside.
The brochure's layout and style matches what I did for our website so it reflects consistency and the aesthetics we're after. Its main purpose is to first, get a copy of the cancellation and other policies physically in their hands, second, to remind them of when check in/out times and other essential information, etc.
Finally its to let them have something tangible to have and show their family, friends and co-workers about this cool place they spending their weekend, anniversary, vacation, etc. at.

 

[user 26]

so ... in australia June 3 2009 would be 3 6 09 and in u.s. 6 3 09?
i would see 3/6/9 and think march 6 not june 3.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

i sent my own confirmation to note their dietary requests or special occasion, or no feathers, or sensitivity to scent, or whatever ... because i wanted to be certain i got it right. and i had color coding in my reservation system to indicate the different things.
i'd have to guess that since it was rare that i got a 'confirmation of my confirmation' they just didn't read what i sent.
so when i saw that baffled look on a guest's face, i'd go back into my correspondence to see what their reservation said and what i'd sent back. just to see if i'd made a mistake. i never challenged them about it ... the guest is the guest after all ... as somebody said..

We've tried to deal with a few of the oversights of things happening and they usually are pretty innocent. A girlfriend made the reservation and tells us her boyfriend will die if he eats any dairy and the first morning the dude put half a pitcher of H&H in his coffee, slathered on the butter, etc.
When "her royal highness" asks him about it so she's prepared for the rest of his stay, he said "No, I brought my pills and I'm fine"
A bad one was the guest from Australia who for those who don't know it, some countries post the month, date and year in that order, not like here, date, month, year.
She angrily emails me a few months before her arrival and says I've got their reservation all wrong. When I resend it with the month fully spelled out as in arriving September, 5th of 2006, she never bothers to reply with anything, let alone an apology.
Little did we know what was in store upon arrival and the following four days, which is still in our top ten worst guests since opening. That week stays fresh in my mind because it was the week of losing my big lovable lug, Phat Chance, our 165 lb. Mastiff/Rottweiler who had a heart of gold and the sweetest disposition for a massive breed you could ever meet. He deserved our full attention that week and not have us both be so distracted by one of the meanest, most inhospitable, rude, hard to please, vindictive, edgy guests we've ever had walk through these doors.
Since that day in September of 2006, every confirmation or correspondence that has dates or vital information in it is filled in like this:
Arriving: September 12th, 2009 - 9/12/2009
Number of nights: (2) Two
Number of guests: (2) Two

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

so ... in australia June 3 2009 would be 3 6 09 and in u.s. 6 3 09?
i would see 3/6/9 and think march 6 not june 3..

Yup.

 

[Proud Texan]

i sent my own confirmation to note their dietary requests or special occasion, or no feathers, or sensitivity to scent, or whatever ... because i wanted to be certain i got it right. and i had color coding in my reservation system to indicate the different things.
i'd have to guess that since it was rare that i got a 'confirmation of my confirmation' they just didn't read what i sent.
so when i saw that baffled look on a guest's face, i'd go back into my correspondence to see what their reservation said and what i'd sent back. just to see if i'd made a mistake. i never challenged them about it ... the guest is the guest after all ... as somebody said..

i never challenged them about it ... the guest is the guest after all ...

Is a PITA?

 

[Proud Texan]

so ... in australia June 3 2009 would be 3 6 09 and in u.s. 6 3 09?
i would see 3/6/9 and think march 6 not june 3..

Yup.
.

That's how the military do it isn't it?