Check in time

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JBloggs

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We have discussed this before, we are not robots. I understand guests do not get this, they think we are 24/7 fully staffed (and we are) but they show up at midnight or later, they show up at 2pm or sooner. They just need to check in at check in time. I wish we could get that through, but they battle it.
A lady called "Check in time begins at 4pm, but we will be there at 1pm." Okay, and? Our inn opens at 4pm.
It's 225pm and dude from midwest already told me we will be checking in early, so when we get there hope you are ready for us. ...I want a nap, that is what I want to do! Since he is here 5 nights I will allow this, just today, but chances are and mother murphy's law of innkeeping dictates that he will end up being here at 6pm or 7pm anyway! It is the way it is...
goodnight gracie
 
JUST SAY NO! (repeat over and over to yourself). You must protect yourself because they sure won't. The crazy time of the year is starting for most of us. Now's the time we all need to reinforce in our brain that we are not robots like you said in your post. We have created rules for a reason and they are not unreasonable!
I got an e-mail last night from guests that will be checking in tomorrow. "We look forward to our romantic 1st anniversary get away weekend to your bed and breakfast. We were wondering if early check in and/or late check out was possible? We can't wait to meet you on Saturday!"
Thank goodness these folks actually asked! I wrote back a polite response saying no. I have my door sign ready that I'll put out after check-outs each day saying we're readying the inn for guest arrival and check-ins are not possible until 3:00.
I'm putting on my seatbelt, because it's going to be a bumpy ride this summer...it's already started. I've got a whopper of a story I'll tell in a few days. The crazies are coming, the crazies are coming!!!
 
We had an expected early arrival followed in the door by someone we did not expect early. 12:30 or so.
 
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
You want the room at 9AM? Oh, we do that all the time, just reserve the preceeding night and it will be available at 9AM. Otherwise, the guest that is currently in there, will have to leave first and the cleaning crew must get in. Unless, of course, you want to forgo the cleaning of the room, the clean sheets, the fresh towels, etc.
 
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
You want the room at 9AM? Oh, we do that all the time, just reserve the preceeding night and it will be available at 9AM. Otherwise, the guest that is currently in there, will have to leave first and the cleaning crew must get in. Unless, of course, you want to forgo the cleaning of the room, the clean sheets, the fresh towels, etc..
Eric Arthur Blair said:
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
Letting them leave their luggage is never that quick and easy. It interrupts the work being done and eats up my time. Our guests can't arrive via public transportation, so they have to have a car. Let them leave their stuff in the trunk, take a walk on the beach or have a nice late lunch. And it never fails, every time I go against our policy and am a softie, and have rushed around to get their room done, they never show up early.
I'll cater to them all night and day once they've checked in, but not before or after. At least that's what I say right now...
confused_smile.gif

 
I am very firm about it. I have the sign on the door, they are told from the moment they book when they are asked what time to expect them and the lines says "OUR INN OPENS AT 4PM, YOU MAY CHECK IN..."
It is not how I word it, they know and again on the confirmation LINE 1 - CHECK IN TIME...
Reminder email LINE 1 - CHECK IN TIME...
But they still ask. Or some even pout, yet pout "Well we could have been in the room earlier instead of outside running around for 2 hours"
Issue with me - there is no open toilet to use, and once they are in they are in. You all know that. And...those who say they want early are never here when they say. Case in point: Mr 2-230pm from the midwest, well golly gee willickers it is now 3:40pm and approaching our regular check in time! SHOCK HORROR!
So here I am ready for them, where are they? You know, the difference between a cat nap and a shower or not is HUGE in an innkeeper's life.
 
Yep! You are going to forego your nap, then he won't show til later like you said!
 
I am very firm about it. I have the sign on the door, they are told from the moment they book when they are asked what time to expect them and the lines says "OUR INN OPENS AT 4PM, YOU MAY CHECK IN..."
It is not how I word it, they know and again on the confirmation LINE 1 - CHECK IN TIME...
Reminder email LINE 1 - CHECK IN TIME...
But they still ask. Or some even pout, yet pout "Well we could have been in the room earlier instead of outside running around for 2 hours"
Issue with me - there is no open toilet to use, and once they are in they are in. You all know that. And...those who say they want early are never here when they say. Case in point: Mr 2-230pm from the midwest, well golly gee willickers it is now 3:40pm and approaching our regular check in time! SHOCK HORROR!
So here I am ready for them, where are they? You know, the difference between a cat nap and a shower or not is HUGE in an innkeeper's life..
Joey Bloggs said:
So here I am ready for them, where are they? You know, the difference between a cat nap and a shower or not is HUGE in an innkeeper's life.
I fall asleep everyday doing my crossword puzzles. I wake up when the doorbell buzzes. NOT a pretty sight!
 
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
You want the room at 9AM? Oh, we do that all the time, just reserve the preceeding night and it will be available at 9AM. Otherwise, the guest that is currently in there, will have to leave first and the cleaning crew must get in. Unless, of course, you want to forgo the cleaning of the room, the clean sheets, the fresh towels, etc..
Eric Arthur Blair said:
But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
That's our stand. However, that makes not a bit of diff to the person standing at the door wanting their room NOW. So, our new 'Plan B' is you get whatever room is open if you insist on checking in NOW. And that is your room for your stay. No switching later. If the guest agrees, we reprint the check-in sheet with the new info that they sign and we're good to go.
This is only for those people who insist. For those who are ok with coming back at the standard check-in time, nothing changes for them.
 
Yep! You are going to forego your nap, then he won't show til later like you said!.
Mtatoc said:
Yep! You are going to forego your nap, then he won't show til later like you said!
YOU ARE 100% CORRECT. That is exactly what happened... And as BD said, It always ends up biting us when we try to be nice ahead of schedule. When they are here, we are on, 100%, until they check in, well let's just wait and see...
 
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
You want the room at 9AM? Oh, we do that all the time, just reserve the preceeding night and it will be available at 9AM. Otherwise, the guest that is currently in there, will have to leave first and the cleaning crew must get in. Unless, of course, you want to forgo the cleaning of the room, the clean sheets, the fresh towels, etc..
Eric Arthur Blair said:
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
Letting them leave their luggage is never that quick and easy. It interrupts the work being done and eats up my time. Our guests can't arrive via public transportation, so they have to have a car. Let them leave their stuff in the trunk, take a walk on the beach or have a nice late lunch. And it never fails, every time I go against our policy and am a softie, and have rushed around to get their room done, they never show up early.
I'll cater to them all night and day once they've checked in, but not before or after. At least that's what I say right now...
confused_smile.gif

.
I just took a reservation (remember, I speak to every guest before booking) and said 3 different times "We can check you in any time AFTER 3 but not before. We can not accommodate arrivals before 3: PM Please let us know when to expect you when your plans firm up." "We do not have a staff and can not extend an early arrival. You may arrive anytime after 3 pm as long as you give us some idea of when to expect you so we can be prepared to greet you." yadda yadda yadda. So after telling her umpteen times she finally says "We would like to get there early. Do you mean that our room will not be ready until 3:00?" DUHHHHH! So one more time......Right!!! " There is someone in your room the night before and we need to clean the room and do the laundry. We also need to have lunch and shop for breakfast foods. Do not arrive before 3:00 PM." They are arriving on Sunday...we'll see if they finally got the message.
 
We have found that almost every single guest who books online recently puts down on the reservation request that they will be checking in early, even though we clearly state that 3 p.m. is check-in time. They don't ask, they tell us. I used to allow it but not anymore unless they are the only guests and we don't have anyone in that room the night before. Even with that though it still is mentally hard. I need that down time to do whatever needs to be done, or nothing at all. Take a nap and/or a shower? Never happens once they step through the door. We had a guest who wanted to check-in at 9 a.m. I said sure, just pay for the night prior and you can check-in at 9. She was appalled that I would charge her and then realized she really didn't need to check in before 3. Yup, thought so.
 
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
You want the room at 9AM? Oh, we do that all the time, just reserve the preceeding night and it will be available at 9AM. Otherwise, the guest that is currently in there, will have to leave first and the cleaning crew must get in. Unless, of course, you want to forgo the cleaning of the room, the clean sheets, the fresh towels, etc..
Eric Arthur Blair said:
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
Letting them leave their luggage is never that quick and easy. It interrupts the work being done and eats up my time. Our guests can't arrive via public transportation, so they have to have a car. Let them leave their stuff in the trunk, take a walk on the beach or have a nice late lunch. And it never fails, every time I go against our policy and am a softie, and have rushed around to get their room done, they never show up early.
I'll cater to them all night and day once they've checked in, but not before or after. At least that's what I say right now...
confused_smile.gif

.
I just took a reservation (remember, I speak to every guest before booking) and said 3 different times "We can check you in any time AFTER 3 but not before. We can not accommodate arrivals before 3: PM Please let us know when to expect you when your plans firm up." "We do not have a staff and can not extend an early arrival. You may arrive anytime after 3 pm as long as you give us some idea of when to expect you so we can be prepared to greet you." yadda yadda yadda. So after telling her umpteen times she finally says "We would like to get there early. Do you mean that our room will not be ready until 3:00?" DUHHHHH! So one more time......Right!!! " There is someone in your room the night before and we need to clean the room and do the laundry. We also need to have lunch and shop for breakfast foods. Do not arrive before 3:00 PM." They are arriving on Sunday...we'll see if they finally got the message.
.
Silverspoon said:
I just took a reservation (remember, I speak to every guest before booking) and said 3 different times "We can check you in any time AFTER 3 but not before. We can not accommodate arrivals before 3: PM Please let us know when to expect you when your plans firm up." "We do not have a staff and can not extend an early arrival. You may arrive anytime after 3 pm as long as you give us some idea of when to expect you so we can be prepared to greet you." yadda yadda yadda. So after telling her umpteen times she finally says "We would like to get there early. Do you mean that our room will not be ready until 3:00?" DUHHHHH! So one more time......Right!!! " There is someone in your room the night before and we need to clean the room and do the laundry. We also need to have lunch and shop for breakfast foods. Do not arrive before 3:00 PM." They are arriving on Sunday...we'll see if they finally got the message.
"You hear but you don't listen!"
Shall we place bets on arrival time? This can be the new innkeeper past time, like in an office when you bet on the delivery date of a coworker...
 
My bet is IF they must be in early, you schedule your whole bloody day around them, like I did today, and voila they show up let's see, what was it? 3 hours past the time they DEMANDED to be allowed in.
Okay now I am going to step over the line.
There are people, (guests) who like to assume the control, they like to tell YOU how things will be done. These are bad guests. These are guests who push or break all boundaries in the orbit where everything is circling around them.
For those of you who do not have a partner in this business, I feel for you. For those who do not have a full time partner I feel for you. In some innstances we have that, let's call it suspicion or sixth sense or intuition, and we know it is better if the other partner made his or her presence evident. If at all possible by checking in said guest.
We have this, the two very needy, very overbearing guests this past week giggled like school girls when I sent in the snaker charmer. He was mad, "Don't make me go in there I have to get to work!" I made him anyway. After that, boy what a difference. It is what it is.
I have the effect on others where the other half seems brash (and he is not at all) and they find me delightful.
A man's touch, a woman's touch, whatever the heck is needed, it is needed sometimes.
For those who don't operate an inn - ignore this post it will make little sense to you. Just call us part time lion tamers.
 
My bet is IF they must be in early, you schedule your whole bloody day around them, like I did today, and voila they show up let's see, what was it? 3 hours past the time they DEMANDED to be allowed in.
Okay now I am going to step over the line.
There are people, (guests) who like to assume the control, they like to tell YOU how things will be done. These are bad guests. These are guests who push or break all boundaries in the orbit where everything is circling around them.
For those of you who do not have a partner in this business, I feel for you. For those who do not have a full time partner I feel for you. In some innstances we have that, let's call it suspicion or sixth sense or intuition, and we know it is better if the other partner made his or her presence evident. If at all possible by checking in said guest.
We have this, the two very needy, very overbearing guests this past week giggled like school girls when I sent in the snaker charmer. He was mad, "Don't make me go in there I have to get to work!" I made him anyway. After that, boy what a difference. It is what it is.
I have the effect on others where the other half seems brash (and he is not at all) and they find me delightful.
A man's touch, a woman's touch, whatever the heck is needed, it is needed sometimes.
For those who don't operate an inn - ignore this post it will make little sense to you. Just call us part time lion tamers..
Joey Bloggs said:
Just call us part time lion tamers.
You had it right the first time- snake charmers.
Yes, you are absolutely right that sometimes you just need the other person to step in and handle a 'situation'. For whatever reason. That person needs to see there is a man around. Or a woman. Or another person period.
If I get a yeller on the phone I do not check that person in. They need to understand they will be dealing with someone else if they have an attitude problem.
I can be doing a song and dance in the dining room for 2 hours and it isn't until 'the cook' steps away from the kitchen that the conversation gets going.
 
We'll see how my own scheme works. Current plan is this...
  • The code to unlock your door will become active at 3:00 p.m. (15:00) on your arrival day. Before that time your code will not unlock the door.
  • The code to unlock your door will become inactive at 11:00 a.m. on the day of your departure. After that time your code will not unlock the door.
I won't really inactivate their code until noon, but I'll never tell them that.
The joys, I hope, of having a "no staff on site" operation.
I'm sure I'll discover many drawbacks to the plan.
I'm sure I'll enjoy a few benefits.
 
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
You want the room at 9AM? Oh, we do that all the time, just reserve the preceeding night and it will be available at 9AM. Otherwise, the guest that is currently in there, will have to leave first and the cleaning crew must get in. Unless, of course, you want to forgo the cleaning of the room, the clean sheets, the fresh towels, etc..
Eric Arthur Blair said:
But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
That's our stand. However, that makes not a bit of diff to the person standing at the door wanting their room NOW. So, our new 'Plan B' is you get whatever room is open if you insist on checking in NOW. And that is your room for your stay. No switching later. If the guest agrees, we reprint the check-in sheet with the new info that they sign and we're good to go.
This is only for those people who insist. For those who are ok with coming back at the standard check-in time, nothing changes for them.
.
I have hooks for the keys. And for their door code. I sometimes put away the keys if I know someone is checking in early, so that they see it's not there. I tell them that it will be there, after the room is cleaned, when they come back after 3PM.
 
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
You want the room at 9AM? Oh, we do that all the time, just reserve the preceeding night and it will be available at 9AM. Otherwise, the guest that is currently in there, will have to leave first and the cleaning crew must get in. Unless, of course, you want to forgo the cleaning of the room, the clean sheets, the fresh towels, etc..
Eric Arthur Blair said:
As long as they tell me ahead of time, I'm glad to let them leave their luggage. But we won't guarantee that your room is available until 3PM.
Letting them leave their luggage is never that quick and easy. It interrupts the work being done and eats up my time. Our guests can't arrive via public transportation, so they have to have a car. Let them leave their stuff in the trunk, take a walk on the beach or have a nice late lunch. And it never fails, every time I go against our policy and am a softie, and have rushed around to get their room done, they never show up early.
I'll cater to them all night and day once they've checked in, but not before or after. At least that's what I say right now...
confused_smile.gif

.
I have guests that someone are thrown off of a cruise ship at 8AM in the morning with their luggage. Red-Eyes from the west coast. Etc. We tell them the earlier the better to drop of luggage. We had them a map, an electronic code for the door, show them where the key will be, after 3 PM. Point them at a bathroom and tell them to have a nice day.
And if I'm really harried, at noon, I put up a sign "Will return at 3PM." But I usually don't have to. And if their arrival time is 6PM or after, we send them the self-checkin instructions. It's made things much simplier and we have managed to go out to eat a few times in the last two weeks, like normal people.
 
Ive got a bunch of golfers comming in at 11.30 then they are straight out to play golf which starts at 12 so I know I can get them in and out. Just booked early check in for 1 of their rooms (they have 8 booked) so that they can put all the bags in and get the keys for later. Am happy with that as it clears out all those rooms for the day!
 
My confirmation says "if you would like to check in early please let us know in advance and we will do our best to accommodate you. If you arrive early without prior notification we may be out". That means when we get home from the shops and people are sitting in their car waiting for us there's no excuse.
Our new guest management system sends a re-confirmation 7 days prior to arrival for people who book more than 60 days in advance, the re-confirmation contains the same check-in text and this does seem to be making a difference.
One German gentleman got really stroppy becuase they'd been at the house for an hour waiting. I printed off a copy of his confirmation email, drew a big red circle around the appropriate paragraph and left it in his room, never mentioned it again.
 
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