Detailed notes on guests?

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bbinnsitters

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On another thread (the coffee creamer one) someone mentioned that they will make a note on the guests card to have plenty of coffee creamer on hand if that guest ever returns. I thought it was a brilliant idea, but...
I was wondering how many of you keep personalized notes on guests. I always thought it would be a good idea (and I was planning on doing it when I opened my B&B), but I have never worked for anyone who actually does it and I realize now that it would take more of that precious time we don't have enough of to actually do it!
I thought it would be a good idea to write down what a guest had for breakfast so I would be sure not to duplicate if they ever came back...I am now understanding (from this forum) that some people go back becos of the breakfast and want the same thing! I have also worked for places that only have a few recipes that they are good at and thus make the same thing over and over again and don't care how many times someone comes back. Thank goodness that owner let me do whatever I wanted, and one person took me aside and told me they were glad not to get the same old thing!
Thoughts? on detailed notes on guests?
 
I keep notes on guests ... anything that will make their stay better the next time around. I also keep track of what we fed them. We may give them a repeat or two if they come back, but will also work something different into the mix.
Of course there are times when we get overwhelmed and the recording of the notes doesn't happen as well as it should. :(
Both guest management systems we've used here support guest notes (SuperInn and Rezovation). And I think somewhere on this forum is a wish list where I asked for a feature where I could enter the items served each day and it would automatically connect them to each guest that was here that morning... rather than having to go in to each guest and add it in.
 
i kept a data base that i made up myself. with my own peculiar notes in it. alphabetical by last name.
 
I keep notes on things that I should remember but don't. Kids' names, pets' names, food likes and dislikes, if they get a discount or not.
Yes, it takes time, but I if I want to do it, it doesn't take that long. When I do the check-out I send a thank you email. That's the time to make the notes!
Forget the breakfast thing, altho we have guests who are STILL talking about a place they went where the innkeeper NEVER makes the same breakfast for your twice. What a logistical nightmare that must be!
We won't serve the same brekkie DURING your stay, but if you come back next year, you may just see something again. We had guests last week who had just been here so we asked them what they had and they got something different one of the days of the new stay.
 
I take notes. Very brief but extremely helpful. Not only helpful in providing better service, but also helpful in dealing with issues when they arise.
It only takes a few seconds of time and pays back in untold dividends for all. The main thing is to have a system that everyone in the inn uses so you'll actually be able to use the information in the notes on a regular basis.
With a system in place it's super easy. And well worth it.
 
I take notes as well. Some of the notes deals with the guest preferences the others are more helpful for me to know how to shop. i.e. I have a couple of business guests that eat only fruit, yogurt and milk and both stay for several days at a time. When they are coming, I know to stock up.
I know of some places (very expensive ones) that keep track of every detail, I don't have the time or inclination to do so. BUT what I do helps, and provides me with smiles that I can hear when they call to book a return visit and I ask how little Johnny is doing...
 
Yes to the notes. Notes on as much as possible. Reason for stay in detail, waht they ate, any small momento comments from your convers with them. WHen they come back - and they are a blurr and seem to be the same guest as always you can ask How Jenny is doing at West Point? And they will feel "SPECIAL" that you remembered that!
It onlt takes one minute to quickly type a note, less than what I typed on this reply. :)
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them.
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
Well, I'm old and remembering thousands of guests' stories in the course of a year, all of their kids' and pets' names, what ehy do for a living, where their kids go to college, their likes and dislikes in re coffee, tea, juice, sausage or bacon, etc, is just too much for these little brain cells! I need my cheat sheets!
If not for me, then I look at it as a gift for the next owners.
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
not easy for me to remember. i'd like to say i remember but i need those 'cheat sheets'.
when i worked for a dental office, the software had a section to put all kinds of miscellaneous info about the patient - their family - all of it. dentists have been sending out birthday cards for ages, and many are masters at doing the 'warm and fuzzy'. prior to computers it was from rolodex files - the night before, i'd print out the next day's patient info sheets and in the morning all staff would 'huddle' to review who was coming and if anyone had new info about a person it went right into our database.
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
InnsiderInfo said:
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them.
You must have a great photographic memory! I need my cheat sheets!
embaressed_smile.gif

 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
InnsiderInfo said:
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them.
You must have a great photographic memory! I need my cheat sheets!
embaressed_smile.gif

.
Of course I don't remember everything, but the big stuff it's easy for me to connect with a face. I wouldn't make a comment on something I didn't actually remember (like a child's name or something)...too fake.
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
InnsiderInfo said:
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them.
You must have a great photographic memory! I need my cheat sheets!
embaressed_smile.gif

.
Just this weekend we had guests who remembered so much about us and until breakfast conversation I didn't even recognize them! They were talking about our previous jobs, my 'new' (2 year old) haircut, my kids, etc. Holy mackeral!
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
InnsiderInfo said:
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them.
You must have a great photographic memory! I need my cheat sheets!
embaressed_smile.gif

.
Just this weekend we had guests who remembered so much about us and until breakfast conversation I didn't even recognize them! They were talking about our previous jobs, my 'new' (2 year old) haircut, my kids, etc. Holy mackeral!
.
Yikes! Now that does freak me out a little when that happens. But just think what an impression you made and how much they loved staying with you!
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
InnsiderInfo said:
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them.
You must have a great photographic memory! I need my cheat sheets!
embaressed_smile.gif

.
Just this weekend we had guests who remembered so much about us and until breakfast conversation I didn't even recognize them! They were talking about our previous jobs, my 'new' (2 year old) haircut, my kids, etc. Holy mackeral!
.
Yikes! Now that does freak me out a little when that happens. But just think what an impression you made and how much they loved staying with you!
.
You get to the point you've met so many people, and many who only come once every 3-4 years, that you blank on whether you really do know them, they look like someone you once knew or what!
I was in the store today and I swear this woman who kept smiling at me was someone I knew a long time ago. I kept associating her with 'school' in some way. But who knows!
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
InnsiderInfo said:
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them.
You must have a great photographic memory! I need my cheat sheets!
embaressed_smile.gif

.
Just this weekend we had guests who remembered so much about us and until breakfast conversation I didn't even recognize them! They were talking about our previous jobs, my 'new' (2 year old) haircut, my kids, etc. Holy mackeral!
.
Well, you've had how many thousands of guests? And these people probably have only stayed in a handful of B&B's. They remember you very well - perhaps you were their 1st B&B and you definitely made an impression! I'd take it as a compliment...heck, they came back, right!?
 
We simply write in our schedule book what we served for breakfast each day. When a guest is a repeat we just look up what we had the last time they stayed and will try to make something new unless they professed a great liking for what we served the first time, which most do, they always have a favorite.
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them..
InnsiderInfo said:
We don't keep any other type of notes on specific guests, it's easy enough to remember based on your conversations with them.
You must have a great photographic memory! I need my cheat sheets!
embaressed_smile.gif

.
Just this weekend we had guests who remembered so much about us and until breakfast conversation I didn't even recognize them! They were talking about our previous jobs, my 'new' (2 year old) haircut, my kids, etc. Holy mackeral!
.
Yikes! Now that does freak me out a little when that happens. But just think what an impression you made and how much they loved staying with you!
.
You get to the point you've met so many people, and many who only come once every 3-4 years, that you blank on whether you really do know them, they look like someone you once knew or what!
I was in the store today and I swear this woman who kept smiling at me was someone I knew a long time ago. I kept associating her with 'school' in some way. But who knows!
.
I would have had to go up to her and ask "Do I know you?" it bugs me when I can't figure out where I know someone from. And once I hit the age of 40 I didn't care if people thought I was crazy - you never know until you ask!
 
I use SuperInn & it allows you to make both guest notes and reservation notes. It also has a place to enter special occasion dates. I use all those tools. After about 6 months in business, a lot of the guests started running together.........sad to say.
 
I use SuperInn & it allows you to make both guest notes and reservation notes. It also has a place to enter special occasion dates. I use all those tools. After about 6 months in business, a lot of the guests started running together.........sad to say..
I love, love, love SuperInn! I wish all my clients used it! So simple! Failproof!
 
I use SuperInn & it allows you to make both guest notes and reservation notes. It also has a place to enter special occasion dates. I use all those tools. After about 6 months in business, a lot of the guests started running together.........sad to say..
I love, love, love SuperInn! I wish all my clients used it! So simple! Failproof!
.
suellen222 said:
I love, love, love SuperInn! I wish all my clients used it! So simple! Failproof!
Too expensive for two rooms like us tho.
Riki
 
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