Breakfast with your guests?

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Iris

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Hey everybody, I have been too busy to look in for a while, today though, I had a few minutes
I read some of the threads tonight and suddenly I thought to myself - you guys created and opened your B and Bs because you love to be hosts and meet new people, feed people and all that goes with that. Have you all ever been able to sit with your guests and enjoy breakfast with them or are all of you cooking like mad until they all run out and don't give a hoot what happens to you
 
It is small enough here for me to sometimes sit down and eat with them. I only have 4 rooms. I will only do it if they invite me to sit down and most do. Usually when this happens it is only one room eating and they don't have anyone else to talk to. When I am serving 8 people at once I can't sit down because I am running back and forth with all the courses and making sure everyone has enough coffee. Most want to help clear the table too. They are so nice.
 
I do the same as oceans. I only sit when invited. besides that, i would get too fat if I'd eat all the goodies I make every morning...:)
But I do remember once at a B&B, I was by myself and there were 4 other guests. The table was able to seat 14, and 7 places were set.
The host told me to pick a seat and I picked one 3 chairs down. "Oh no", she replied, "My husband is sitting there".
I will never forget this. I think it was rude and I would never ever tell my guests where they can and can not sit.....
Well, husband came in and decided not to eat....enough said :)
 
I have 2 B&B cottage type units.Breakfast comes up on a tray and the guest very often end up eating in bed.........NO I have never eaten with them...
wink_smile.gif
Mary in Bridgewater Va.
 
I eat prior to preparing the meal and don't eat what I serve the guests. If they invite me, I will sit down and join them for coffee. Those usually end up being the best guests anyway.
 
We are careful about this as most of our guests are here to get away and to reconnect, or for a romantic weekend. For example, we just had a charming couple - she whisked him away right after he stepped off the plane from Afghanistan. They were on a wine tour with Chris in the green vineyards when just the day before he was sitting in a tent with an M16 on his lap.
We for sure left them alone as much as we could. I love guests like this. They notice and appreciate every little thing!
But even with our regular guests, we come out and chat with a cup of coffee only and leave them to enjoy the morning alone.
If I had a guest traveling alone I would sit with them if asked. But we don't get single travelers.
RIki
 
Sorry I do not think it appropriate to sit down and have breakfast with guests. I don't want to get that friendly with them. We chat as we serve and after breakfast is over we chat and answer questions etc. Honestly, I don't enjoy it when the hosts sit down with us when we stay somewhere either. I don't want to be "chummy"...sorry.
 
If by 'enjoy breakfast with them' you mean pull up a seat and eat my breakfast with the guests, then no, we don't do that. The guests didn't come here to eat breakfast with my family. We will stand around with cup of coffee in hand and chat, but if guests are happily chatting to each other or to the group at large, we let them chug along on their own.
 
Sorry I do not think it appropriate to sit down and have breakfast with guests. I don't want to get that friendly with them. We chat as we serve and after breakfast is over we chat and answer questions etc. Honestly, I don't enjoy it when the hosts sit down with us when we stay somewhere either. I don't want to be "chummy"...sorry..
catlady said:
Sorry I do not think it appropriate to sit down and have breakfast with guests. I don't want to get that friendly with them. We chat as we serve and after breakfast is over we chat and answer questions etc. Honestly, I don't enjoy it when the hosts sit down with us when we stay somewhere either. I don't want to be "chummy"...sorry.
Plus, it is much easier to say to another guest, 'Hope we see you around!' as you extricate yourself from boring conversation. Much harder to do that with the innkeepers.
 
It feels awkward to sit down and eat breakfast with the guests... we've done that with guests who insisted but it still felt strange. Now we've had friends come and stay and after finishing serving, we'll join them. We frequently will stand with coffee cup in hand and visit, if encouraged by the guest.. we wait tho' to get the cue from the guest first.
 
IrisoftheWayfarer said:
I read some of the threads tonight and suddenly I thought to myself - you guys created and opened your B and Bs because you love to be hosts and meet new people, feed people and all that goes with that.
Umm...actually, that may be the reason that some innkeepers get into the business but it doesn't even hit my top 5.
We don't eat breakfast with our guests but we will sit down and chat with a cuppa (tea, in my case) after they've done most of the heavy eating. I was at a B&B once where the innkeeper plunked down right after he brought the food out. We were the only guests there and then he grilled us about how we do breakfast. Not the way I wanted to enjoy the morning meal. I want my innkeepers to be available but not intrusive, and that is how we run our place.
 
We do and we don't. Our dining room/kitchen/livingroom is an open floor plan. The table is set up for six (our max number of guests) And then we have a pennisula well off to the side. While DW is doing most of the cooking I am plating the food on the penninsula and serving the guests. When I have nothing to do, I take my seat at the penninsula and then DW joins me there when she is done cooking. It beats standing there like servants waiting for the plates to finish (which would probably make people more uncomfortable).
We help fill in the quiet spots as well as answer any regional questions...where to go ...what to see. The talk almost always turns to wineries :)
We do not sit at the table with our guests. We have only done it once when we had repeat-repeat guests and they happened to be the only ones here, so it felt natural to sit with them...and they invited us to sit with them.
 
I don't want to eat breakfast ever again. LOL!
I have coffee with them every day! Typically only small talk before breakfast or the food will be burned, as soon as they are done chewing I spend time with them. Some days it is not so fun, esp when you know you have a ton of rooms to strip and clean, some days you thoroughly enjoy the conversation.
I have 3 couples eating as I am here typing. They conversation is good, no need for me to intrude. :) Sometimes I get called in on larger tables when questions are asked about the area or house.
But you are correct, 100% for me in this business is breakfast, they are happy campers and it makes me a happy camper. "Fat and Happy" so to speak.
 
And back to a horror story where we were the only guests on a well needed getaway and the owners both sat down and ate without even asking and we had to lsiten to them talk about their business (they didn't know we are innkeepers). It not only was torture, it angered us. So be sure to read your guests, you can see the ones who want alone time.
Helo-hovering. They did not book a stay at your place to be with YOU. It turns people off BnB's when they encounter this, another reason many business guests avoid them.
 
I rarely sit and eat with guests (possibly if it is a single woman or a repeat-repeat). IF it seems appropriate, I will sit with a cup of coffee when they are finishing. Usually it will be standing in the doorway. If I have several couples or a group, they are usually talking away and I am not necessary. If conversation goes non-existent or sounds as if it is getting out of hand, I do put in an appearance.
We do dinner packages and I can only think of twice that we joined the guests - and that was ONLY after they REALLY INSISTED.
 
And back to a horror story where we were the only guests on a well needed getaway and the owners both sat down and ate without even asking and we had to lsiten to them talk about their business (they didn't know we are innkeepers). It not only was torture, it angered us. So be sure to read your guests, you can see the ones who want alone time.
Helo-hovering. They did not book a stay at your place to be with YOU. It turns people off BnB's when they encounter this, another reason many business guests avoid them..
Yes..for sure I agree with you on this one. We had a similar incident happen to us. Innkeepers made us all wait until they had everything on the table, they then sat down with us, proceeded to say grace with the meal and then dominated the entire conversation around the table. It was VERY AWKWARD!!!! That was one of my 'lessons learned." prior to start up of our own place. We are there to "serve the guests" not intrude on their get away.
Certainly we are there to help "pick up the conversation" if things are quiet, pour the coffee and chat in the most friendly of manner, but even with our regulars we served them and then maybe after the meal would sit down and chat.
 
I rarely sit and eat with guests (possibly if it is a single woman or a repeat-repeat). IF it seems appropriate, I will sit with a cup of coffee when they are finishing. Usually it will be standing in the doorway. If I have several couples or a group, they are usually talking away and I am not necessary. If conversation goes non-existent or sounds as if it is getting out of hand, I do put in an appearance.
We do dinner packages and I can only think of twice that we joined the guests - and that was ONLY after they REALLY INSISTED..
Ditto. I would not be comfortable eating with guests unless they were uber-repeats....even then, they would have to insist.
 
I just went through and gave info for a show this evening and told a joke and made everyone laugh as I cleared plates and exited on to the kitchen.
 
We have former guests that have now become really good friends. When they come to stay with us we ask them to wait until everyone else is finished eating and then we'll sit down with them in our kitchen, never in the dining room. I am like most of you, I walk in and out "visiting" with my guests, but I am always uncomfortable sitting down with them. If they insist, I grab a cup of tea and will sit for a while. If they are repeat guests and they are alone, then I feel much more comfortable. I still would not eat with them but I would sit and visit and get caught up.
 
I often have a single person and will sit and have coffee with them while they finish. Only a couple of times have we eaten with guests and it was just a couple that we were very comfortable with.
 
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