Anyone charge a late arrival fee?

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

You arrive after midnight for check in - there is a fee?

 

[Don Draper]

I threaten a fee, but after 6 pm you're getting a note anyway, so I've never charged it. DID YOU WAIT UP FOR THEM??? If so, absolutely charge a fee.

 

[swirt]

We don't. That is one great thing about the cabins...they can get here late and check themselves in without needing us (usually).
What I want to charge for are the late arrivals who get lost and call for directions at 1AM. Did they print out directions that we tell them in the confirmation to print...NOOOO Did they print their own directions from google.....NOOOOO Did they have any plan for finding us other than driving around town with their faces pressed up against the car window...NOOOO. These are the ones I want to charge a "******* fee" to.

 

[muirford]

We don't. That is one great thing about the cabins...they can get here late and check themselves in without needing us (usually).
What I want to charge for are the late arrivals who get lost and call for directions at 1AM. Did they print out directions that we tell them in the confirmation to print...NOOOO Did they print their own directions from google.....NOOOOO Did they have any plan for finding us other than driving around town with their faces pressed up against the car window...NOOOO. These are the ones I want to charge a "******* fee" to..

That's what we need in an online booking system - a ******* fee.

 

[Don Draper]

We don't. That is one great thing about the cabins...they can get here late and check themselves in without needing us (usually).
What I want to charge for are the late arrivals who get lost and call for directions at 1AM. Did they print out directions that we tell them in the confirmation to print...NOOOO Did they print their own directions from google.....NOOOOO Did they have any plan for finding us other than driving around town with their faces pressed up against the car window...NOOOO. These are the ones I want to charge a "******* fee" to..

Well said!

 

[EmptyNest]

If you have it in your policies and they know in advance / and or tell them in advance..then charge them...especially if YOU are waiting up for them. We had very few really late arrivals and I just let them do self check in. Yes, I was usually awake...but in bed and did NOT get up to gree them!!! So we never charged a late arrival fee.

 

[NW BB]

Me too, me too......I want the ******* fee. I could retire rich!!

 

[Morticia]

You arrive after midnight for check in - there is a fee?

I tried that. What it did was eliminate the bookings. No one would pay it.

 

[Copperhead]

You arrive after midnight for check in - there is a fee?

I tried that. What it did was eliminate the bookings. No one would pay it..

You arrive after midnight for check in - there is a fee?

I tried that. What it did was eliminate the bookings. No one would pay it.

Maybe this is a better way to eliminate this type of booking rather than saying "Sorry check in is between 3 and 7" or No arrivals taken after 7PM. This would give them a choice, and you payment for the inconvenience. DH would love to hear this as the $ would be his - he is my latenight greeter.

 

[SecondAct]

Question, and I truly have no preconcieved notion of what the answer will be, so .... how often does this happen? Check-in is between 3 and 6 or 7 and unfashionably late arrivals may happen from time to time through to 9. How often does the after-9 check-in happen? How often are you awakened by the person who is struggling to make it to his destination for any number of reasons?

 

[scrambled_eggs]

In the summer times I have had quite a few late arrivals when we are full everynight. It is usually the people who are not from California who are driving up from San Francisco and don't realize how far it really is. It doesn't look far on the map but its 6 hours. I have had them come at 10pm, 11pm, 12am, 1am. I hate late arrivals but I deal with it. If the room is a private entrance room I tell them ahead of time the room lights will be on and I will insert the key in the doorknob for them and they can let themselves in. This has worked out well. It is stated that we request after 6p. arrival arrangements be made in advance. Without such arrangements, rooms may not be held after 7p. . Please call us and let us know if you are running late. That does the trick to make them call.

 

[Copperhead]

In the summer times I have had quite a few late arrivals when we are full everynight. It is usually the people who are not from California who are driving up from San Francisco and don't realize how far it really is. It doesn't look far on the map but its 6 hours. I have had them come at 10pm, 11pm, 12am, 1am. I hate late arrivals but I deal with it. If the room is a private entrance room I tell them ahead of time the room lights will be on and I will insert the key in the doorknob for them and they can let themselves in. This has worked out well. It is stated that we request after 6p. arrival arrangements be made in advance. Without such arrangements, rooms may not be held after 7p. . Please call us and let us know if you are running late. That does the trick to make them call..

... It is stated that we request after 6p. arrival arrangements be made in advance. Without such arrangements, rooms may not be held after 7p. . Please call us and let us know if you are running late. That does the trick to make them call.

I don't understand this. So your rooms are not guaranteed? You are in an area where you would have walk-ins to take the room?
If this is a regular occurrence, the late check in fee is something you should require. Maybe the way to do it is to state the fee will be assessed for late arrivals without advanced notice of such. That may work for you. Then IF they call while on the road (after remembering your policy) because of not planning appropriately, you have the option of charging or waiving the fee as you so choose.

 

[scrambled_eggs]

The rooms are guaranteed but I just have that in there to make them call me. I've had a few who forget to call and I will call their cell at 7pm to find out what time they are checking in. I have a lot of walk-ins I turn away. In a busy summer day I might turn about 10 or so away. I just deal with it. I don't know if I would want to charge a fee. It sounds kind of unfriendly. We charge enough anways. I have a hard time being the bad guy and charging a guest extra for something even though it is their fault.

 

[swirt]

Question, and I truly have no preconcieved notion of what the answer will be, so .... how often does this happen? Check-in is between 3 and 6 or 7 and unfashionably late arrivals may happen from time to time through to 9. How often does the after-9 check-in happen? How often are you awakened by the person who is struggling to make it to his destination for any number of reasons?.

Question, and I truly have no preconcieved notion of what the answer will be, so .... how often does this happen?
It probably depends on the region. We get probably a dozen every season. We are 4.5 hrs from NYC but people that live in NYC seem to think our region is only a couple of hours away. They get out of work late, get stuck in traffic getting out of the city on a Friday and they are not getting here until 11 or later. FOr us in our arrangement it is no big deal but I could see how it would be a pain if they were in our house.
The ones who get toally lost and call after midnight....that happens only 2-3 times per year.

 

[Morticia]

You arrive after midnight for check in - there is a fee?

I tried that. What it did was eliminate the bookings. No one would pay it..

You arrive after midnight for check in - there is a fee?

I tried that. What it did was eliminate the bookings. No one would pay it.

Maybe this is a better way to eliminate this type of booking rather than saying "Sorry check in is between 3 and 7" or No arrivals taken after 7PM. This would give them a choice, and you payment for the inconvenience. DH would love to hear this as the $ would be his - he is my latenight greeter.
.

You arrive after midnight for check in - there is a fee?

I tried that. What it did was eliminate the bookings. No one would pay it.

Maybe this is a better way to eliminate this type of booking rather than saying "Sorry check in is between 3 and 7" or No arrivals taken after 7PM. This would give them a choice, and you payment for the inconvenience. DH would love to hear this as the $ would be his - he is my latenight greeter.

OK, if someone is waiting up, or you have someone there to check them in I would say that the fee covers the expense of having to hire staff for their arrival.
I tried that and got, 'Just leave the door unlocked, we can find our way.' Yeah, like YOU leave YOUR doors unlocked all night. I was insulted by the cavalier attitude towards everyone else's comfort and safety.
It's easier with the keypad entry. So, I don't wait up anymore. BEcause I charge their card as soon as they say they are running late. If the card deosn't go thru, no entry. If it does, I'm sound asleep.

 

[Morticia]

Question, and I truly have no preconcieved notion of what the answer will be, so .... how often does this happen? Check-in is between 3 and 6 or 7 and unfashionably late arrivals may happen from time to time through to 9. How often does the after-9 check-in happen? How often are you awakened by the person who is struggling to make it to his destination for any number of reasons?.

Question, and I truly have no preconcieved notion of what the answer will be, so .... how often does this happen? Check-in is between 3 and 6 or 7 and unfashionably late arrivals may happen from time to time through to 9. How often does the after-9 check-in happen? How often are you awakened by the person who is struggling to make it to his destination for any number of reasons?

40% of my check-ins occur out of the time frame we have planned for check-ins. Some arrive unfashionably early and some late. But, 'late' can be 7:30. We're pretty adamant about the last check in being 9 PM. After that, I run the card and leave them a note.

 

[Samster]

No. Stuff happens beyond the guests' control when they are traveling to get here, as you know yourself I am not going to add insult to injury on an otherwise all around sucky travel day. I have been incredibly blessed that our late arriving guests actually do read our confirmation letter and call if they get stuck for whatever reason. I actually choose to wait up to greet them...I think a friendly face goes a looooooooong way. I could leave them a note if I needed to for a self check-in since we have the keypad entries. So far, I haven't done that but I've also only had the after midnight arrivals that I could count on one hand in a year.
If it happened all the time....I'd have those pre-printed self check-in letters ready to GO!! haha...

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

We all are in diff geography as well - so for a couple B&B's near major airports they obv get more fly-ins, where we have very few unless they are business guests or graduations. At least 75%+ of our guests are on the road traveling. Majority plan to get here on time. THose romantic getaways who leave big cities are typically the later arrivals and they LOVE the fact we can leave them a note to get here when they get here. (But they have to call and let us know!)
I think the issue though is like with these guests they were out drinking. They were not flying, they were not tied up in traffic, they were just simply rude. As the innkeeper we don't know which is which until they show up. If they are checked in they can be out as late as they want, I won't be waiting for them.

 

[Don Draper]

We don't have many late, late night check-ins, but we have TONS that never read their confirmation to know that check-in is 2-6 pm, and they think nothing of getting into town, having a full day, eating dinner and arriving here at 8 pm. Our first season here we waited for every single one of them and the burnout was just too much...we begin every day at 5:30 AM, by 6 pm we deserve to be done and to have some quiet time for ourselves and to eat our dinner without keeping one ear cocked to the phone or the doorbell. People just don't get this, they figure "It's your house, you'll be there won't you?"
I have absolutely no problems with people arriving after check-in time, it's just getting them to understand that they need to INFORM you that they will be late.
Last year our policy said check-in 2-6 pm, late check-ins must be pre-arranged by 5 pm on on the day you are arriving or else incur a $25 fee. That worked pretty well but was a lot to read, so now it just says check-in 2-6 pm, late arrivals must be pre-arranged and will incur a $25 fee. I have NEVER charged the fee...it's just a "scare tactic" to get them to give you a heads-up if they are going to be late. It's that whole "common courtesy" is not common, you have to give them a reason to let you know they're running late.
As with most policies, it penalizes the guests who are truly thoughtful...they call very worried that they will get charged, etc. But they were going to call you to tell you they'd be late anyway. When they call I make arrangements with them and tell them we will not charge any fee and to relax and take their time getting here. I make sure they have directions and then I leave them a note.
Now, do I still sit here and sweat and worry that they got in ok? Absolutely...and that's my issue and I'm working on it.

 

[EmptyNest]

We don't have many late, late night check-ins, but we have TONS that never read their confirmation to know that check-in is 2-6 pm, and they think nothing of getting into town, having a full day, eating dinner and arriving here at 8 pm. Our first season here we waited for every single one of them and the burnout was just too much...we begin every day at 5:30 AM, by 6 pm we deserve to be done and to have some quiet time for ourselves and to eat our dinner without keeping one ear cocked to the phone or the doorbell. People just don't get this, they figure "It's your house, you'll be there won't you?"
I have absolutely no problems with people arriving after check-in time, it's just getting them to understand that they need to INFORM you that they will be late.
Last year our policy said check-in 2-6 pm, late check-ins must be pre-arranged by 5 pm on on the day you are arriving or else incur a $25 fee. That worked pretty well but was a lot to read, so now it just says check-in 2-6 pm, late arrivals must be pre-arranged and will incur a $25 fee. I have NEVER charged the fee...it's just a "scare tactic" to get them to give you a heads-up if they are going to be late. It's that whole "common courtesy" is not common, you have to give them a reason to let you know they're running late.
As with most policies, it penalizes the guests who are truly thoughtful...they call very worried that they will get charged, etc. But they were going to call you to tell you they'd be late anyway. When they call I make arrangements with them and tell them we will not charge any fee and to relax and take their time getting here. I make sure they have directions and then I leave them a note.
Now, do I still sit here and sweat and worry that they got in ok? Absolutely...and that's my issue and I'm working on it.

.

"Now, do I still sit here and sweat and worry that they got in ok? Absolutely"
See that was me. Sure I left them the note etc etc...but I was still awake and wondering all the time. My husband told me not to worry..they are adults..but hey..that is me...and I am sure it always will be