Dividing Personal and Professional With Guests

[JimBoone]

We usually do not mind any personal questions as usually guests stay at a b&b to have a personal experience but sometimes they go way personal, when this happens we usually do like everyone else on here as well and turn the questions back on them. What we sometimes like less is guests leaving the front door open, switch on all of the lights everywhere and we even had people walk in underwear!.

our solution to the light problem in the communal areas is key operated light switches - only person who operates them is me. - in room lights is a whole nother issue.
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That would be a great idea! I was thinking of timers but the ones we saw in the shops were not very good looking haha, I'll try to search for the key operated ones, thanks! I don't mind the lights in the bedroom although sometimes I do have the habit of entering the rooms a few minutes after our guests leave the house just in case they left the a/c or the lights on.
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You can get light switches that sense movement, light comes on when you walk into room, off a few minutes after you depart, of course if you sit quietly at you desk too long the light may switch off and require you to wave your hand.

 

[Tamelon]

I find that I truly enjoy talking with our guests and I don't mind if they get personal. Many people are curious about how we end up as innkeepers. I think we have had a lot of repeat visitors because people feel as though we are a kind of friend. And several customers have become real friends. So far, no one has opened the closed door to our suite; that I would not like as it is almost never "guest ready" like the rest of the place!

 

[TheBeachHouse]

I find that I truly enjoy talking with our guests and I don't mind if they get personal. Many people are curious about how we end up as innkeepers. I think we have had a lot of repeat visitors because people feel as though we are a kind of friend. And several customers have become real friends. So far, no one has opened the closed door to our suite; that I would not like as it is almost never "guest ready" like the rest of the place!.

We were talking about this at home last night. The first day we owned the house, someone walked into our apartment. It has never happened since. It sure did scare us thinking that we'd face this again and again, but it was a fluke.

 

[EmptyNest]

I find that I truly enjoy talking with our guests and I don't mind if they get personal. Many people are curious about how we end up as innkeepers. I think we have had a lot of repeat visitors because people feel as though we are a kind of friend. And several customers have become real friends. So far, no one has opened the closed door to our suite; that I would not like as it is almost never "guest ready" like the rest of the place!.

We were talking about this at home last night. The first day we owned the house, someone walked into our apartment. It has never happened since. It sure did scare us thinking that we'd face this again and again, but it was a fluke.
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Always kept our doors to our area locked unless we really wanted to interact

 

[Lee2014]

I find that I truly enjoy talking with our guests and I don't mind if they get personal. Many people are curious about how we end up as innkeepers. I think we have had a lot of repeat visitors because people feel as though we are a kind of friend. And several customers have become real friends. So far, no one has opened the closed door to our suite; that I would not like as it is almost never "guest ready" like the rest of the place!.

We were talking about this at home last night. The first day we owned the house, someone walked into our apartment. It has never happened since. It sure did scare us thinking that we'd face this again and again, but it was a fluke.
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We can usually figure out at check in who will be the ones to try to poke their heads in places they shouldn't be. They usually ask questions like, "What's behind that door?", "How many rooms does this place have?" or try to open doors while we are talking to another guest. (Off of the foyer are five doors. Its irresistible to them!)
I once had a group who came in from supper and claimed that a breaker went off that morning in their room. Then they went upstairs. Ok. That's strange to let me know now but I went up the back stairs to the breaker box for their room. Hmm. I couldn't find a tripped one. As I was standing there trying to decided whether to turn it off and back on just in case, the door next to me was jerked as someone was trying to open it. After a minute it was tried again. I would love to go back in time and unlock that door within that minute wait time… I wonder about their looks and words when they open the door. The people probably thought I was in the basement not on the other side of the door they were trying. I didn't touch the breaker but went back downstairs and around to the front of the house. There I met one of the men coming down to complain about the breaker again. I said, Ok. Lets go up and check the room together. When we walked in the ladies gushed thank you for fixing the breaker. The lights etc were on in the room. Yeah!

 

[Jcam]

I find that I truly enjoy talking with our guests and I don't mind if they get personal. Many people are curious about how we end up as innkeepers. I think we have had a lot of repeat visitors because people feel as though we are a kind of friend. And several customers have become real friends. So far, no one has opened the closed door to our suite; that I would not like as it is almost never "guest ready" like the rest of the place!.

We were talking about this at home last night. The first day we owned the house, someone walked into our apartment. It has never happened since. It sure did scare us thinking that we'd face this again and again, but it was a fluke.
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Always kept our doors to our area locked unless we really wanted to interact
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im working through putting combi locks on everything - sick of a big bunch of keys but good ones arn't cheap.

 

[happykeeper]

I read the thread and reread you post.
Everyone's style of guest management is different and the cultural expectations vary geographically, so thoughts about this are going to be all over the map. That said, there is a general consensus amongst experienced hospitality professionals that having a strategy to move out of the gray area when a guest pushes to far into your space is essential. Your gray area sounds like it is very far to the right of ours, but ultimately the point most here were trying to make is that it is our responsibility to have a strategy for guest management that will meet your needs and the needs of your guests. Mort shared a strategy. Tonio shared a strategy. GH shared a strategy. Jcam shared a strategy.
Your follow up post was a bit odd to me. Reminded me of a previous poster from awhile back.

 

[Basil Fawlty]

We have been able to configure our house so that the guests come in to the foyer and straight up the stairs to the Guest Quarters. The foyer doors to our area are locked with a sign on them that says "Private Residence. Please call or text our cell if you need anything. Please do not ring doorbell to summon the innkeeper as we may be on another part of the property". Still, once in a while people will knock, call out in the foyer disturbing the other guests!
We keep to the "five minute rule" while talking with guests or answering requests. Do not sit down with guests unless you feel very comfortable socializing, stay on your feet, and make an excuse to leave after you see they have all the information and everything they need. Sometimes a person will say, something like "I've just come off chemotherapy" - and I will say, "I'm so glad you're here, please let us know if you need anything." And once in awhile, if the signals are comfortable, I will say - "can I give you a hug?"

 

[Jcam]

We have been able to configure our house so that the guests come in to the foyer and straight up the stairs to the Guest Quarters. The foyer doors to our area are locked with a sign on them that says "Private Residence. Please call or text our cell if you need anything. Please do not ring doorbell to summon the innkeeper as we may be on another part of the property". Still, once in a while people will knock, call out in the foyer disturbing the other guests!
We keep to the "five minute rule" while talking with guests or answering requests. Do not sit down with guests unless you feel very comfortable socializing, stay on your feet, and make an excuse to leave after you see they have all the information and everything they need. Sometimes a person will say, something like "I've just come off chemotherapy" - and I will say, "I'm so glad you're here, please let us know if you need anything." And once in awhile, if the signals are comfortable, I will say - "can I give you a hug?".

We have a call phone in reception ie foyer - always say please use this as we are always running round the property and still we get people opening the breakfast room door and shouting - what do they think we do all day? sit hiding behind the door?