Do you allow guests to eat and drink in their room?

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JunieBJones (JBJ)

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I didn't do a poll as the replies do not format well after the poll.
Do you allow guests to eat and drink in their room?
If not, how do you stop it?
If so, do you provide plates and napkins and other things for the guests to utilize?
 
We discourage it with signs and confirmation notice,etc., that nobody reads.
We have a table and chair set in our guest area, microwave, little fridge and we put out wineglasses, cups or glasses for tea/ice tea, napkins, etc. and another sign requesting them to eat there.
If they ask if they can eat in the room, we just tell them to be careful, especially if its red wine, coffee or greasy stuff, because we will charge a cleaning fee.
You can't stop it. It's futile.
Bags of fastfood, fries in and under the bed, sodas and winebottles dripping in the trash cans, pizza sauce from one end of the...BATHROOM... to the other, wine in bed, stains on your bedding and carpet.
I find self-tanners and make-up more offensive at this point, they will total your bedding and towels, at least you can get food stains out...
Good luck!
 
We never had a problem with guests eating in the room because we gave them food to eat in their rooms.
We did breakfast in bed and put all cakes and cookies etc in the rooms. We had a basket of cups, plates, plastic forks etc they were welcome to use.
We had areas inside and out where they could and did eat but some still did in the rooms as well.
I think it is futile to even try to monitor this kind of thing. I mean think about it...when you go on a trip..don't you eat something in your room???? Have a glass of wine??? etc etc???
It is just part of doing business. If some spills wine, it is not on purpose..for 99% of the guests anyway....you just deal with it.
 
I don't have a policy on food. I do provide plates and silverware and glasses and I sort of wave at the dining room when I say, 'If you bring something back to eat, feel free to use the dining room.'
We've had the McD's bags and the pizza boxes everywhere, too. It's a pain. Wine stains a couple of times that took all day to rectify with all the washing and carpet cleaning.
A brand new duvet cover ruined by greasy fingerprints. That could have been lotion or the pizza.
 
I don't have a policy on food. I do provide plates and silverware and glasses and I sort of wave at the dining room when I say, 'If you bring something back to eat, feel free to use the dining room.'
We've had the McD's bags and the pizza boxes everywhere, too. It's a pain. Wine stains a couple of times that took all day to rectify with all the washing and carpet cleaning.
A brand new duvet cover ruined by greasy fingerprints. That could have been lotion or the pizza..
We do allow them to eat and drink in the room. We tell them that there is wine-out under the sink if they need it. So far (knock on wood) so good, we've been lucky.
Riki
 
We allow food in the rooms.... so far, no problems with it. I think I want to get larger waste baskets for the rooms, but then again that may be an invitation to create more trash! We do have a posted memo requesting children eat in the diningroom under supervision, but we haven't had very many children here.
 
I have not yet have a guest eat in the room. I do have one guest which stays here all summer. He uses the BBQ for some dinner, uses plates and silverware provided in the kitchen, and cleans up after himself. No problems here yet.
Most people are pretty responsible, it's just the few who don't care which ruin it for the rest.
 
I tell my guests about the pizza place that also has salads and sandwiches and the Chinese that has carry-out and they are welcome to use the dining room. I provide plates etc in the dining room. I know they eat in the room, they even bring in the ice chest, but so far, I have not had any bad problems from it. I do not encourage in-room. I will not do breakfast in bed because I do not want spilled coffee or juice on the mattress - I do not have a spare mattress laying aound (I know, why not?) - and even with the mattress pad, the mattress could get soaked.
 
So far we have had 1 suite open and guests use the dining room. Now opening a second suite. It actually has a small galley kitchen and eating area with drop leaf table and 2 chairs. So people probably won't eat in the rooms.
When I get the 3rd open, it will be a small room and no extra space for anything. However it is on 1st floor next to the common area and the galley kitchen used for beverage service, so it will actually be easier to use the dining room. If they eat in the room, I will just clean it up.
 
It's more fun to eat in your room. I can see why guests don't want to eat in a kitchen or dining room. They are out all day and bring something back for a snack or a late meal.
As a guest I will eat whatever I want in my room. When I am out of town in a diff part of the country or world, and bring something back, I will eat it in my room. The best garlic king prawns ever were eaten in an old iron bed in Townsville Australia. They were legendary. We waited outside this chinese take-away place with a couple of drunks. We had just got off a boat after snorkeling and scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef. Then walked back in the dark with the food.
If you are in a place where guests can walk to and fro places, then I would expect it to be a more often occurence. If you are out in the hills with noplace nearby, then maybe noone will ever bring food into the room.
You have to treat adults like adults. If they mess up the room BAD charge them, if minor, then it is the cost of doing business. Like a blood or other stain.
 
We have 3 out of 5 rooms that actually have a place to sit down and eat in the room. We had guests in one of those rooms in the Main House who brought back all this BBQ and the trimmings. They were considerate enough to ask if they could eat in the dining room. YES! Make yourselves comfortable. I brought them glasses and real silverware and a couple of plates. They were very grateful since the place was a carryout only type of place.
I agree that people will eat in their rooms, but I don't encourage it in the other 2 rooms where there is really no place to sit and eat and there is just no room to put a table in those rooms (one of them has a large desk that works OK for one person).
This last group brought me a bunch of fast food trash saying, "The trash cans in our room just aren't big enough for all this!" Ya think? It looked like they cleaned out their car from several meals on the way here. Now, I know what Bree has been talking about. Helloooooooooooo? There is a kitchen sized trash bag in all the closets for dirty clothes that they could have used. Doh! But I didn't say that...I just took it and said, "I'll be happy to put that out back in the large trash can. Thank you so much."
 
I always (ahem, I try to) have a second trash bag liner under the current liner. I originally didn't do this and had boxes of leftovers stuffed into the waste baskets.
So i thought, if I do this then they pull it up around the rubbish and they might see the spare, which many do now.
So oftentimes I go into a room and the basket has been emptied as they used the liner for their leftovers and tied it up and then there is a fresh waste basket.
 
I always (ahem, I try to) have a second trash bag liner under the current liner. I originally didn't do this and had boxes of leftovers stuffed into the waste baskets.
So i thought, if I do this then they pull it up around the rubbish and they might see the spare, which many do now.
So oftentimes I go into a room and the basket has been emptied as they used the liner for their leftovers and tied it up and then there is a fresh waste basket..
We leave the whole roll in the bottom of the trash cans. RARELY does a guest realize this. One guest emptied her trash cans everyday and left the nicely tied bags on the bathroom floor. Otherwise, even those with babies don't think to look and they live with the stinky diapers all night. (Most of the time I remember to tell them about the trash can liners.)
 
I always (ahem, I try to) have a second trash bag liner under the current liner. I originally didn't do this and had boxes of leftovers stuffed into the waste baskets.
So i thought, if I do this then they pull it up around the rubbish and they might see the spare, which many do now.
So oftentimes I go into a room and the basket has been emptied as they used the liner for their leftovers and tied it up and then there is a fresh waste basket..
I do that too, except there are usually at least 4 in the bottom. Mostly for my convenience if the bag had a tear with something wet or something. I also have at least 2 trash cans in the rooms - one in the bathroom and one in the room which is larger. I discovered their problem - the room trash can was full of the empty water bottles from their car or something (different brand that what I have stocked now). I have a smaller trash can in the guest service area for a reason. I could see people just cramming all their stuff up there & it would stink up the hallway if I didn't get to it right away. But, I'm thinking of adding something for recycling...just can't figure out where to put it in either house near the guest rooms. I have something already in the suite with the entire kitchen.
 
I always (ahem, I try to) have a second trash bag liner under the current liner. I originally didn't do this and had boxes of leftovers stuffed into the waste baskets.
So i thought, if I do this then they pull it up around the rubbish and they might see the spare, which many do now.
So oftentimes I go into a room and the basket has been emptied as they used the liner for their leftovers and tied it up and then there is a fresh waste basket..
I do that too, except there are usually at least 4 in the bottom. Mostly for my convenience if the bag had a tear with something wet or something. I also have at least 2 trash cans in the rooms - one in the bathroom and one in the room which is larger. I discovered their problem - the room trash can was full of the empty water bottles from their car or something (different brand that what I have stocked now). I have a smaller trash can in the guest service area for a reason. I could see people just cramming all their stuff up there & it would stink up the hallway if I didn't get to it right away. But, I'm thinking of adding something for recycling...just can't figure out where to put it in either house near the guest rooms. I have something already in the suite with the entire kitchen.
.
Usually guests leave all their plastic water bottles on a dresser or outside the basket, recycling.
But here is one you will enjoy soon - I just thought of it as I have twor ooms from the UK this weekend. Overseas guests - esp ones enroute back to DC or ATL to fly out will do a major clean out in a room. I mean of course if they are flying out that day or next day. They can fill entire baskets full of tags and fillers from things they have purchased. I can see Bree would have this issue being in a shopping area that she is. Shoe boxes, hangers, all sorts of stuff that they remove before flying home.
I actually appreciate the shoe boxes as we do Operation Christmas Child every year, so from this business i get a half dozen extra shoeboxes. Because they CAN'T fit in the baskets, they are never in the trash, so always clean.
 
I always (ahem, I try to) have a second trash bag liner under the current liner. I originally didn't do this and had boxes of leftovers stuffed into the waste baskets.
So i thought, if I do this then they pull it up around the rubbish and they might see the spare, which many do now.
So oftentimes I go into a room and the basket has been emptied as they used the liner for their leftovers and tied it up and then there is a fresh waste basket..
I do that too, except there are usually at least 4 in the bottom. Mostly for my convenience if the bag had a tear with something wet or something. I also have at least 2 trash cans in the rooms - one in the bathroom and one in the room which is larger. I discovered their problem - the room trash can was full of the empty water bottles from their car or something (different brand that what I have stocked now). I have a smaller trash can in the guest service area for a reason. I could see people just cramming all their stuff up there & it would stink up the hallway if I didn't get to it right away. But, I'm thinking of adding something for recycling...just can't figure out where to put it in either house near the guest rooms. I have something already in the suite with the entire kitchen.
.
Usually guests leave all their plastic water bottles on a dresser or outside the basket, recycling.
But here is one you will enjoy soon - I just thought of it as I have twor ooms from the UK this weekend. Overseas guests - esp ones enroute back to DC or ATL to fly out will do a major clean out in a room. I mean of course if they are flying out that day or next day. They can fill entire baskets full of tags and fillers from things they have purchased. I can see Bree would have this issue being in a shopping area that she is. Shoe boxes, hangers, all sorts of stuff that they remove before flying home.
I actually appreciate the shoe boxes as we do Operation Christmas Child every year, so from this business i get a half dozen extra shoeboxes. Because they CAN'T fit in the baskets, they are never in the trash, so always clean.
.
You remember my guests I griped about a few years ago who picked up their son at the end of the Appalachian Trail and figured here was a good place to dump everything he didn't want/need anymore. They filled, on their own, my 50 gal trash can outside. Did a wholesale clearout before driving home. And, no sorting, either. It all went in the can...things that could be recycled with nasty old packaged foods that had split open.
I know you thought it was odd I would complain about it, but it was rude. My guess is they thought the trash got picked up everyday or week or it's a hotel so who cares if we use up all the trash space.
Yes, I DO get a lot of boxes and wrapping and bags and tags! The worst is the plastic that holds the price tag to the garment. That flies everywhere when removed and I'm always finding them where the vacuum missed them.
 
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