Can you legally kick guests out mid-stay?

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jkarennj

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Hi Folks,

Recently I attended the Heartland Conference in Eureka Springs, AR...and was approached with a question that honestly stumped me. Yes, it happens all the time - just ask my wife and staff. :)

If you have a guest staying with you for a 3 night stay, and after 24 or 36 hours you realize they are awful guests - loud, obnoxious, bothering others, damaging something, whatever. As an innkeeper that has a private business open to the public, are you simply allowed to kick them out of the inn?

Would you refund them for the portion of the stay they did not experience? I can understand if you did or if you didn't (please, take your money and GO!...or... this is a busy weekend, and I'm not going to give up the revenue because this guy was ruining it for all the other guests).

What legal or otherwise support do you have to execute a kick-in-the-butt-out-the-door?

Have any of you experienced this? What happened? Did they demand a full or partial refund? What did you do?

Thanks all!
Jay
 
Hi Jay,
Year one I contacted an attorney to find out what our rights were on this very same issue. We had two men show up here who were drinking bottle after bottle of hard liquor, I knew it was not going to be a good finale. I wanted to find out what I could do, in this or similar situations.
What I was told is IF they are a disruption due to inebriation you can kick them out and in fact call the police to remove them if need be. That is standard operation, no questions asked.
Now if they are just obnoxious and loud, you cannot. Drunkness is a definite say goodbye to hollywood. Being fat ugly old or redneck holds no water. I do have stipulations about drinking, those are our house rules, so if we choose to enforce them we can. I had guests say "You have a note that says - We go by granny's rules..No Drinkin' No Smokin' No Cussin' and yet you have wine glasses for guests." Again, the rule is there for anyone who gets out of hand. You have EVERY right to remove someone who is being disruptive or violent, threatening in any way.
Because we live in our businesses, and this is our home, we do have more rights in this area than say a regular hotel. We do have the ability to add things like "We did not feel safe" and such for a guest stay to be terminated, as long as you don't say because they are Mormon, Gay, Mexican, etc. I do not have ANY of that info handy as it was years ago and I would quickly contact this attorney if need be. But the law is ON OUR SIDE.
 
We did it 2 years ago! Or should I say my DH did it. Obnoxious guests who lived in Peru but originally from around our area.
Upon arrival they boasted about how they have enough money to live anywhere in the world and have servants, etc. Well they treated me like a servant, barking at me for things and complaining about every little thing they could think of.
In the morning my DH and they got in a row about it and DH told them to pack their bags and get out. They had booked for 3 nights but we did not want them in the house that long so after the first night they were gone (and did not pay....we did not care). Their relative even came up to try to smooth things over as there was nothing else available in town but still my DH said no way are they staying. He would do it again. He hates disrespectful people. Some people do not realize this is also our home.
 
Great question so now I'm going to have to find the answer. We've never come that close but it's good to know what ground we're standing on.
I do know the PO's requested a drunk and disorderly guest to leave.
 
I had the "Liar from DC" who was insulting all the other guests at the table and made everyone unconfortable, but he was just a small man with a big chip on his shoulder, only here one night, so he checked out and that was that! I did apologise to the other guests and hoped it did not ruin their stay. I felt terrible about that. He was here with his asst to take someone's home away from them and was bragging about it. He was the only guest who made me nearly feel unsafe.
 
I have seen some B&Bs with policies that state if you cause a disruption that requires the relocation or reimbursement of other guests', the disrupting guests will be required to reimburse the innkeepers for the lost revenue.
I have evicted a guest - someone who had stayed with us a few times before but was increasingly behaving bizarrely. The guest threatened to call the police (guest didn't, but the behavior stopped) but when we found out about it the next morning we evicted BizarreBehavior and cancelled an upcoming reservation that weekend. It was not fun but BizarreBehavior did not fight us and we didn't have to call the police. BizarreBehavior did return to the inn several times to ask us to allow another stay, but we did not.
We lost two nights' room revenue for that night, but kept the bothered guest for a second night, along with a second room occupied by a traveling companion. I feel that we were lucky that it wasn't worse.
ETA: The bizarre behavior was neither violent nor sexual harrassing, just to be clear - it was a case of a needy person who went over the edge into compulsiveness which fixated on a person who had been initially friendly.
 
Hi Jay,
Year one I contacted an attorney to find out what our rights were on this very same issue. We had two men show up here who were drinking bottle after bottle of hard liquor, I knew it was not going to be a good finale. I wanted to find out what I could do, in this or similar situations.
What I was told is IF they are a disruption due to inebriation you can kick them out and in fact call the police to remove them if need be. That is standard operation, no questions asked.
Now if they are just obnoxious and loud, you cannot. Drunkness is a definite say goodbye to hollywood. Being fat ugly old or redneck holds no water. I do have stipulations about drinking, those are our house rules, so if we choose to enforce them we can. I had guests say "You have a note that says - We go by granny's rules..No Drinkin' No Smokin' No Cussin' and yet you have wine glasses for guests." Again, the rule is there for anyone who gets out of hand. You have EVERY right to remove someone who is being disruptive or violent, threatening in any way.
Because we live in our businesses, and this is our home, we do have more rights in this area than say a regular hotel. We do have the ability to add things like "We did not feel safe" and such for a guest stay to be terminated, as long as you don't say because they are Mormon, Gay, Mexican, etc. I do not have ANY of that info handy as it was years ago and I would quickly contact this attorney if need be. But the law is ON OUR SIDE..
Joey Bloggs said:
Now if they are just obnoxious and loud, you cannot. Drunkness is a definite say goodbye to hollywood. Being fat ugly old or redneck holds no water.
Made me laugh out loud :)
 
I try and be curtious to everyone as I have done crappy jobs and feel those people ie people who mop the floors at macdonalds have a bad enough time of it without me adding to it! I costs nothing to be polite and I appreciate sometimes all hell does just break loose and it has happened to me enough to be sympathetic however if it above and beyond I will complain but in a polite manner and never shout.
 
Each guest has to sign a registration sheet. Besides name and address (required by the state) I put my policies about smoking, etc. on the sehht. The last policy, which I think I probably borrowed from someone else on this forum is "Guests can be asked to leave for any reason that is disruptive to the operation of the inn"
Fortunately, that hasn't come up yet.
 
We are under Hotel Motel Law and can kick someone out. Under that law you have to return any money for nights they don't stay. I know this from a bad experience. Did kick them out and put all their stuff on the porch so they could not do any more damage.
 
Total tangent, but I am starting to realize how completely bizarre people are. Some keep it to themselves better than others. And I realize now that the B&B person level/intensity of bizarreness is completely different from say, the pay-by-the-hour type of motel people bizarreness must be, and by the same token completely different from the $500/night luxury hotel people bizarreness must also be...
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession.
 
We have threated to do it, but not yet done it. We have refused one guest on arrival, though. And we were going to do it when the guest did it themselves.
This is our home. If you can't respect that, you don't belong here.
 
Total tangent, but I am starting to realize how completely bizarre people are. Some keep it to themselves better than others. And I realize now that the B&B person level/intensity of bizarreness is completely different from say, the pay-by-the-hour type of motel people bizarreness must be, and by the same token completely different from the $500/night luxury hotel people bizarreness must also be...
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession..
Don Draper said:
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession.
You and me both.
 
Total tangent, but I am starting to realize how completely bizarre people are. Some keep it to themselves better than others. And I realize now that the B&B person level/intensity of bizarreness is completely different from say, the pay-by-the-hour type of motel people bizarreness must be, and by the same token completely different from the $500/night luxury hotel people bizarreness must also be...
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession..
Don Draper said:
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession.
You and me both.
.
Alibi Ike said:
Don Draper said:
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession.
You and me both.
Next life? Why not be one now.
embaressed_smile.gif

I am serious about making a tshirt Curmudgeons Unite or Proud Member of the Curmudgeon Club... I will wear it boldy.
 
Jay, this topic has come up at our B&B/Hotel association several times. From what I remember, we can request a guest that is disruptive and/or distructive to leave and if need be request police assistance to do so. The topic of refunds was not (as I recall) ever discussed. But as for me, if I wanted a person off my property, I surely would not want to ever have anything else to do with them so I would refund their money at that time.
Laws may vary by community or state. Each of us need to know the laws that govern our businesses.
 
Generally, I say yes, of course we can (although I'm sure there are laws about how to do it), because of the simple fact that after 30 days we can't, because that's when landlord/tenant law kicks in.
After 30 days removing a person involves a formal eviction process.
=)
Kk.
 
Total tangent, but I am starting to realize how completely bizarre people are. Some keep it to themselves better than others. And I realize now that the B&B person level/intensity of bizarreness is completely different from say, the pay-by-the-hour type of motel people bizarreness must be, and by the same token completely different from the $500/night luxury hotel people bizarreness must also be...
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession..
Don Draper said:
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession.
You and me both.
.
Alibi Ike said:
Don Draper said:
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession.
You and me both.
Next life? Why not be one now.
embaressed_smile.gif

I am serious about making a tshirt Curmudgeons Unite or Proud Member of the Curmudgeon Club... I will wear it boldy.
.
You all have been so much help to me, if any of you really needs to get away, you are welcome here anytime. No people here. Literally. House to yourself, lake to yourself. Serious offer in thanks to you all, shoot me an email if any are coming this way.
 
Generally, I say yes, of course we can (although I'm sure there are laws about how to do it), because of the simple fact that after 30 days we can't, because that's when landlord/tenant law kicks in.
After 30 days removing a person involves a formal eviction process.
=)
Kk..
YellowSocks said:
Generally, I say yes, of course we can (although I'm sure there are laws about how to do it), because of the simple fact that after 30 days we can't, because that's when landlord/tenant law kicks in.
After 30 days removing a person involves a formal eviction process.
=)
Kk.
Very true K. The law here prevents us from allowing long term guests (aka 30+ days), but we have had long term guests before. We just require them to officially check out after 29 days and check back in. We were told this work around when we got our permit, and we are still able to legally remove anyone if they get out of hand.
 
Total tangent, but I am starting to realize how completely bizarre people are. Some keep it to themselves better than others. And I realize now that the B&B person level/intensity of bizarreness is completely different from say, the pay-by-the-hour type of motel people bizarreness must be, and by the same token completely different from the $500/night luxury hotel people bizarreness must also be...
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession..
Don Draper said:
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession.
You and me both.
.
Alibi Ike said:
Don Draper said:
I so need to be a hermit in my next life/profession.
You and me both.
Next life? Why not be one now.
embaressed_smile.gif

I am serious about making a tshirt Curmudgeons Unite or Proud Member of the Curmudgeon Club... I will wear it boldy.
.
You all have been so much help to me, if any of you really needs to get away, you are welcome here anytime. No people here. Literally. House to yourself, lake to yourself. Serious offer in thanks to you all, shoot me an email if any are coming this way.
.
white pine said:
You all have been so much help to me, if any of you really needs to get away, you are welcome here anytime. No people here. Literally. House to yourself, lake to yourself. Serious offer in thanks to you all, shoot me an email if any are coming this way.
I think I need to find a reason to be coming that way soon!!
=)
Kk.
 
For those who have rental property....the eviction process process can be very easy and short. Go to Wal-Mart buy a large "FOR SALE BY OWNER" sign put it in the front yard of your rental. They leave soon. Mary in Bwater :)
 
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