Finally HERE!

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

birdwatcher

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
1,085
Reaction score
0
We finally arrived, and no, we could not get ALL we wanted to bring and regret not leaving some clothes for B & B stuff, but we will just have to tell the owner about the lack of kitchen and dining room stuff we need. (butter dishes?!-why would a B & B not have one of these?)
It was rough right from the start. We where finally ready to drive away, gotten everthing in the cruiser, cats and all, packed tight we where ready here we go; but husband opened the back to put his tools in and lo and behold one of our cats flew out of the car. Desparate would be the word for it looking for him knowing that our other cat would be distrought enough with the trip and not have his buddy with him would just make it worse. Looked for Elmo inside and outside no luck, so we decided to just leave him there-(my daughter is living at the house) it was already close to 7PM (Sunday) and we where planning to depart around 1PM (dont ask---).
I was so upset at the thought of separating the two cats Ozzy and Elmo, but it just could not be helped. My daughter later found him (INSIDE) when she returned home.
So now we're off with the cat crying and shaking the car packed to the hilt and me upset and crying, anyway it started to storm around Charleston WV really hard and with the road work outside of Huntington and the rain and the emotional state I thought just drive as far as you can. Right?! So we ended up driving for at least 3 hours until Ashland KY where even in the dark we could tell it was starting to flood. We spent the night there, upon leaving early yesterday morning we heard about all the flooding in TN and how roads where closed last night and driving along the interstate there where all these trucks (must have been in the 100's) on and off parked on the shoulder plus cars as well. We thought that was weird, but then we figured out that if the interstate was flooding then you had to leave your vehicle at the side of the road. Unbelievable!
Here we are, can't get into the reservation system, the director had an emergency today and will not be in. Walked the garden and for as much as the owner pays for the gardner the garden is not well tended, it has dead bushes, weeds and so forth....crazy if you are paying someone to care for your huge garden, how do I approach this? Do I just tell the owner that the gardner is far from doing his job or do I just keep my mouth shut? Do I ask her WHAT exactly are the responsibilities of the gardner? Should I tell her that the tools that are needed in the kitchen are just not available and need to be purchased?
We are still settling in and have no idea what reservations there are, this bothers me more than anything else. So we shall see.
 
You will be responsible right? You need to see a list of what is expected of the gardener and if he isn't doing it or not properly then I assume you would be the one to tell him so. But...these are all things you need to discuss with the owner. As far as things you need for the kitchen..why should you be responsible for that? I wouldn't have taken anything with me..it is up to the inn to provide the things necessary to run the place. If you find the owner is going to start nickeling and diming you ...that's would be a big red flag for me....these should not be your responsibility.
Reservations...most important...you MUST know how to use their software NOW. Who ever is there, ask if anyone knows anything about it. Otherwise, you will be in a bad position should someone want a room etc. What are they using? Or is it just that you need the password to access it?
Good luck.
 
Ditto to what catlady said about the gardener. If it's your responsibility, speak to the gardener and the owner. But I'd be mindful of the political consequences in your new community of coming on too strong right away. Has the area recently had a storm? Could that explain the untended look? Make your impact slowly but surely there and ask the owner for guidance and background on the gardener.
As for the brekkie supplies, I'm guessing you have a maintenance/operating budget to work with? If you need owner approval to buy some dishes and supplies, make a list and get that approval right away. The sooner you feel at home with what you have there, the sooner guests will feel that comfort level themselves.
What's your daughter going to do with the cat? Will she deliver him to you during a visit?
Good luck birdwatcher! What great stories you'll have to tell about this move...
 
Fingers crossed for you both I did say to be wary. I would broach the thing with the gardener to the owners in a Oh am I responsbile for supervising the gardner? kind of way. Hope your cat rejoins you soon.
 
Work yourself in slowly with the who tells who what. You do not want to put noses out of joint in the very beginning. It wil come back to haunt you.
Take a deep breath and get settled. All will be well. Accept that there is a reason the second cat did not make the trip. Things work out for the best.
 
well, of course you need access to the reservations. hopefully, you'll get that info ASAP.
but work in slowly.
i think it must be hard to step into a kitchen and start looking for what you are accustomed to having on hand. explore the whole kitchen and then i'd make do for now. each time you feel you need something, jot it down. and then take a look after a few days.
as for the garden, take some pictures. find out when the gardener comes. and go out to meet him/her/them ... with a warm hello and then ask what they usually do and how often and gently mention your areas of concern. as in 'it is too bad these bushes are dead. will you be removing these today?' and 'what is your plan about the weeds?' that's what i would do. as though i assume that of course things will be attended to. i paid someone to 'landscape' and it was grass and weed mowing. period. i had to go out every time the crew showed up to point things out and say 'please cut this area BACK' because they'd ignore sections. they'd also move the adirondack chairs out of the way and then not put them back. drove me nuts! but when i found out how little the workers were paid compared to how much i was paying the company, i understood better. but the workers didn't own the equipment or the trucks, etc., so dreams of working for themselves were just dreams.
 
Hello All!
Another sunny beautiful morning in AR! You are right K there must have been a reason our Elmo did not come with us. Daughter will take care of him.
As for the garden: Took pictures last night, owner has had problems with the maintenance of this beautifl place since last year when things where not done either and we will be getting the contract. Its really sad and hurts my heart to see that they have a sprinkler system and its not on and doesn't water the gardens-Since we owned the Inn in WV I had to do all the gardens myself on my property and have learned much in what needs to be done in a garden...this garden is so pretty but its just not taken care of as it should be and they are getting paid a good penny per month to maintain it and its just not happening.
Yea...have to do it slowly (sometimes its my downfall) I tend to voice my opinion quickly which as K said it comes back to haunt you and I don't want that.
Getting aquianted with the kitchen has been a challenge-NO MEASURING CUPS? NO MEASURING SPOONS? so much that is not there, and I have an ongoing list of things that we need. Silverware that has been on backorder since FEBRUARY? see what I mean? Its all good, its just gonna take a little while to adjust to the kitchen and its a small kitchen to boot, I mean when a cookie sheet does not fit into the electric oven it means that oven is really small..Its all good though and I am SO GLAD that I can come here and vent
This by far is the best forum, planning to change my Inn to the Inn I'm in soon...would that be ok?
See ya soon
 
sounds like the last innkeepers brought their own gadgets and took them when they left or have taken the inn gadgets away ... assuming they were being paid by the owners to run the place? not to have measuring cups and spoons?? I would contact the owner with my list of questions and a big one would be ... where are the measuring cups and spoons stored?
i brought all my cooking supplies with me and used them at the inn i started up ... i left lots of pots and pans because they were old, but all my best cooking gear, including the measurings and my mixers, left with me. they were my personal things. i thought i was extremely generous with what i left behind but there were grumbles all the same.
 
Well now we know that we will have a tote or briefcase that will be our "working stuff" that will go to every Inn that we will work for. We brought our kitchen aide with us.
We are hosting our meet and greet at the Inn next week. Finger foods, wine, and I think cold stuff would be good. Will be looking or recipes here, I think Morticia had one not too long ago that was all finger foods.
 
Back
Top