Diagnosing a PITA

[Alice I. W.]

It is one of my only problems with internet bookings you have no clue who a person is till the arrive on the door step at least if they ring you can try and get a feel for them in advance. Not that that always works we had 6 men come and they all booked separately to get round my settings of not being able to book more than two twin rooms at once (I do this to keep out stag and Hen parties which are nothing but trouble) But one of them rang and seemed nice and when he came was nice and well behaved however 2 of the chaps they brought with them were a nightmare from start to finish. They played loud music in their room which I had to go and tell them off for (I was on my own that night and could have used some back up) they were a bit drunk and then used rude language telling me what they were setting out to do in town. (not language you would use infront of a woman) and I felt very intimidated. Sometime during the night they must have crashed about broke a lamp and smashed the doors of the wardrobe to bits. My mum checked them in and being very nieve took cash When it is men like this I always take a card so I can charge for damage. So I had to charge the group organisers card. I sent him an email saying he should be careful of people he called his friends if they left him stuck with the bill for his damages. I felt threatened in this situation and there was no weapons involved. I think it depends on the situation. It doesn't take a weapon to be dangerous.

It doesn't take a weapon to be dangerous

And there it is in a nutshell. I've been reading this thread carefully. I think it depends on one's own level of safety. What my friend could handle without breaking a sweat, might put me in a rubber room. Everyone is different...everyone's level is a little different.
.

Good point. Due to some personal history, extreme anger, hostility, yelling, attacking, accusing etc, make me feel very intimidated and threatened, whereas others may just blow it off as the person behaving this way is just a jerk and so what.
.

UPDATE
Discovered today that Mr. Mad immediately went home, signed up on TripAdvisor, apparently read the review guidelines carefully, and left a politely scathing deceitful 2 star review in great detail. For most of it, I was thinking "What? Huh? That never happened... that's not true...." My first less than 5 star review out of 40.
I contacted TA to say that he did threaten to leave a bad review and to please consider removing it, but good luck to me on that. Made a reasoned reply too without calling him a psycho-stalker! And I guess that takes a while to show up.
Also left me a stupid email message and that address is now blocked.
Yikes, must get my head in gear now for my current pleasant guests and two new arrivals. Time to bake some chocolate chip cookies and eat a few too! We usually have a lovely time here with many thankful guests and I think I just need to move on and enjoy that now.
.

Took TripAdvisor just one hour to let me know that the review would remain. Sigh.....
.

As an inn GOER (not owner), one not-so-hot review out of many great ones would not stop me from visiting an inn. Some people just prefer to be upset......

 

[JBloggs]

If there is a redeeming quality to a negative review on TA, it is the ability to read a level headed mgmt response.
As mentioned on other threads, sometimes it gives the inngoer an even better innsight into the innkeepers via their mgmt response. This may be lacking on the inns website, so the TA mgmt response allows a bit of personality to shine through, versus a built-to-sell website by a hired web designer that seems very sterile.

 

[egoodell]

It is one of my only problems with internet bookings you have no clue who a person is till the arrive on the door step at least if they ring you can try and get a feel for them in advance. Not that that always works we had 6 men come and they all booked separately to get round my settings of not being able to book more than two twin rooms at once (I do this to keep out stag and Hen parties which are nothing but trouble) But one of them rang and seemed nice and when he came was nice and well behaved however 2 of the chaps they brought with them were a nightmare from start to finish. They played loud music in their room which I had to go and tell them off for (I was on my own that night and could have used some back up) they were a bit drunk and then used rude language telling me what they were setting out to do in town. (not language you would use infront of a woman) and I felt very intimidated. Sometime during the night they must have crashed about broke a lamp and smashed the doors of the wardrobe to bits. My mum checked them in and being very nieve took cash When it is men like this I always take a card so I can charge for damage. So I had to charge the group organisers card. I sent him an email saying he should be careful of people he called his friends if they left him stuck with the bill for his damages. I felt threatened in this situation and there was no weapons involved. I think it depends on the situation. It doesn't take a weapon to be dangerous.

It doesn't take a weapon to be dangerous

And there it is in a nutshell. I've been reading this thread carefully. I think it depends on one's own level of safety. What my friend could handle without breaking a sweat, might put me in a rubber room. Everyone is different...everyone's level is a little different.
.

Good point. Due to some personal history, extreme anger, hostility, yelling, attacking, accusing etc, make me feel very intimidated and threatened, whereas others may just blow it off as the person behaving this way is just a jerk and so what.
.

UPDATE
Discovered today that Mr. Mad immediately went home, signed up on TripAdvisor, apparently read the review guidelines carefully, and left a politely scathing deceitful 2 star review in great detail. For most of it, I was thinking "What? Huh? That never happened... that's not true...." My first less than 5 star review out of 40.
I contacted TA to say that he did threaten to leave a bad review and to please consider removing it, but good luck to me on that. Made a reasoned reply too without calling him a psycho-stalker! And I guess that takes a while to show up.
Also left me a stupid email message and that address is now blocked.
Yikes, must get my head in gear now for my current pleasant guests and two new arrivals. Time to bake some chocolate chip cookies and eat a few too! We usually have a lovely time here with many thankful guests and I think I just need to move on and enjoy that now.
.

Took TripAdvisor just one hour to let me know that the review would remain. Sigh.....
.

Usually with irrational people like that their review shows that they have problems. I'm hoping his bad write up shows him for what he is. People will read it and compare it to your 39 other five stars and know that he is what he is.
RIki

 

[Redbirds]

Sorry you had to endure that, Pollyanna. It comes with the territory, though, and every time I get a thicker skin.
In a previous life, I ran workshops at a major university in the summer. A hundred people for each one-week session, for five weeks. My staff could pick out the people we were going to have problems with as soon as they checked in. Most times, we were correct.
My boss said something that I would call a corollary to Innkeeper Coping Rule #1 ("they pay, they stay, they go away"):
"We only have to have them for a week; but they will be like that their entire lives."
Sad comment, indeed

 

[Pollyanna]

Sorry you had to endure that, Pollyanna. It comes with the territory, though, and every time I get a thicker skin.
In a previous life, I ran workshops at a major university in the summer. A hundred people for each one-week session, for five weeks. My staff could pick out the people we were going to have problems with as soon as they checked in. Most times, we were correct.
My boss said something that I would call a corollary to Innkeeper Coping Rule #1 ("they pay, they stay, they go away"):
"We only have to have them for a week; but they will be like that their entire lives."
Sad comment, indeed.

Thanks for the encouragement, Redbirds, and thanks to all who offered encouraging words and instructional words. I'm beginning to get things in perspective now and have really enjoyed our new guests. This AM had 3 rooms at the table for butter pecan banana waffles and brown sugar bacon or maple turkey sausage and everyone was so appreciative. It got me right back in the swing of things. Onward and upward.....

 

[Joey Camb]

Sorry you had to endure that, Pollyanna. It comes with the territory, though, and every time I get a thicker skin.
In a previous life, I ran workshops at a major university in the summer. A hundred people for each one-week session, for five weeks. My staff could pick out the people we were going to have problems with as soon as they checked in. Most times, we were correct.
My boss said something that I would call a corollary to Innkeeper Coping Rule #1 ("they pay, they stay, they go away"):
"We only have to have them for a week; but they will be like that their entire lives."
Sad comment, indeed.

Thanks for the encouragement, Redbirds, and thanks to all who offered encouraging words and instructional words. I'm beginning to get things in perspective now and have really enjoyed our new guests. This AM had 3 rooms at the table for butter pecan banana waffles and brown sugar bacon or maple turkey sausage and everyone was so appreciative. It got me right back in the swing of things. Onward and upward.....
.

I am lucky before I came into B&B I worked for the Inland Revenue (this is like the IRS in USA) and spent all day being shouted at by people accusing me of single handedly runining their business and making them bankrupt. They did excellent complaints training for this reason. But after that trial by fire my B&B people are a walk in the park. I wouldn't suggest it as a way to develop thick skin though!