Length of stay requirements

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IronGate

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It seems that most inns have a minimum stay requirement. Does anyone have a maximum stay policy, whether stated or unstated? How long would you allow guests to stay? Three days? Five days? A week? A month? As long as the bank extends credit?
 
Sometimes it depends on zoning how long a guest can stay. Other than that...I guess it is up to you...how long can you stand them? :) 6 days was about my limit. Not that we had a max..but after that long of a stay...I usually just wanted to send them packing...not so much that they were bad guests...but that I just didn't want people around me that long:-( I need a break.
 
I have an 'internal' maximum in that I won't take long-term rentals. A week is about as long as any room has stayed.
 
While I know some inns that allow longterm stays, I am always uncomfortable with them.
When I'm managing an inn, I never allow a stay longer than 3 weeks and frown upon stays longer than 7 days.
The reasons are two-fold. In many states, once a guest has stayed 30 days or longer, you run into eviction problems to get them out.
The other reason is that guests who've essentially become tenants change the ambiance for other guests and, IMHO, not in a good way.
 
I have had 8 nights in the past (not counting the student teachers our first "hungry" year) and a couple weeks ago had 5 nights. Great people, but after 3 nights I was ready for them to go home. They even gave me a great tip - but I still say, I was ready!
 
I had two weeks and it was way too long..
The longest "normal" guests I had were two British couples here for eleven days.
After Hurricane Ike, I had a mother and adult daughter here for five months. I loved them though - they stayed in the suite with the kitchenette and made their own coffee every morning, no breakfast required. They joined the "normal" guests on the weekends for breakfast. They saved my bacon, mentally and fiscally, during a tough recovery time.
 
10 days is about my limit. After that they feel way too much at home here and I end up hiding from them as much as possible.
 
My township has set a 30 day maximum stay limit for B & B's. I will take single days midweek & Fridays or 2 nights weekends.
Since I am not Ex tended Stay Am erican, I can't even imaging a month long guest. The longest I have had was 2 weeks and that was a lovely British couple who were in the area to visit their son. I was having trouble thinking up breakfasts by the time they left. At one point they requested 'a lovely porridge'
help.gif
Until I discovered that was simply oatmeal.
Funny thing about the porridge. They liked it with salt instead of sugar or syrup as we have it here.
 
My township has set a 30 day maximum stay limit for B & B's. I will take single days midweek & Fridays or 2 nights weekends.
Since I am not Ex tended Stay Am erican, I can't even imaging a month long guest. The longest I have had was 2 weeks and that was a lovely British couple who were in the area to visit their son. I was having trouble thinking up breakfasts by the time they left. At one point they requested 'a lovely porridge'
help.gif
Until I discovered that was simply oatmeal.
Funny thing about the porridge. They liked it with salt instead of sugar or syrup as we have it here..
16 nights is the longest stay I've had so far, but that was someone who had come from abroad for his fathers funeral and ended up staying to sort out the estate.
I have a booking for 14 nights later this year, and it makes me nervous. What happens if they don't like us or us them, or they don't like the place.
We had a 2 night stay minimum rule betweem May and September (inclusive) although business has been slow this year so we're being a lot more flexible on this rule at the moment than normal.
 
The longest we had was 3 months and they stayed monday through thursday and went home on the weekend as they were working locally. The company was footing the bill and he always got up late and was running out to the taxi to work so saved on breakfast. It was a nice chunk of change. However after a bit long stay people get to casual about when they turn up for breakfast and their rooms and things so we tend to discourage them. Usually 4 days is as much as I can handle. We don't have any limits as to how long people can stay but the most we have every been asked for recently is 4 weeks.
 
Our normal zoning is labeled as short term accommodations, limiting it to 30 days at a time period, which means they would need to officially check out and re-check in if need be. This becomes a benefit to the B&B as well since it keeps the guest a short term guest, not subject to long term eviction regulations.
I have hosted long term guests for special circumstances and for the most part seemed to work out well. I can see how long term guests could become too friendly over a period of time and feel they are entitiled to more than the typical guest.
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them. Under these type of circumstances I think that I would not make a long term commitment in advance in order to be able to split ties in a cordial mannor if you feel you need to.
 
Our normal zoning is labeled as short term accommodations, limiting it to 30 days at a time period, which means they would need to officially check out and re-check in if need be. This becomes a benefit to the B&B as well since it keeps the guest a short term guest, not subject to long term eviction regulations.
I have hosted long term guests for special circumstances and for the most part seemed to work out well. I can see how long term guests could become too friendly over a period of time and feel they are entitiled to more than the typical guest.
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them. Under these type of circumstances I think that I would not make a long term commitment in advance in order to be able to split ties in a cordial mannor if you feel you need to..
copperhead said:
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them.
That's some sweet midweek income.
 
Our normal zoning is labeled as short term accommodations, limiting it to 30 days at a time period, which means they would need to officially check out and re-check in if need be. This becomes a benefit to the B&B as well since it keeps the guest a short term guest, not subject to long term eviction regulations.
I have hosted long term guests for special circumstances and for the most part seemed to work out well. I can see how long term guests could become too friendly over a period of time and feel they are entitiled to more than the typical guest.
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them. Under these type of circumstances I think that I would not make a long term commitment in advance in order to be able to split ties in a cordial mannor if you feel you need to..
copperhead said:
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them.
That's some sweet midweek income.
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We do get a lot of week day business from business travelers. These 2 rotated their 10 days (usually) where one was here over the weekend while the other was home. This was great revenue during the hard economic downturn and helped keep our business a little ahead of the previous year. On top of that, they paid by check so even though I gave them a corp. rate I kept all of it!
I highly recommend working with business clients both with reduced rates and invoicing... it can really help your mid week - and they spread the word too!
wink_smile.gif

 
Copperhead, that's a very nice success story.
As a longterm business traveler myself, I know they really appreciate staying in a homey place if they can find it. They are quiet and gone all day long most of the time. What's not to like?
 
Our normal zoning is labeled as short term accommodations, limiting it to 30 days at a time period, which means they would need to officially check out and re-check in if need be. This becomes a benefit to the B&B as well since it keeps the guest a short term guest, not subject to long term eviction regulations.
I have hosted long term guests for special circumstances and for the most part seemed to work out well. I can see how long term guests could become too friendly over a period of time and feel they are entitiled to more than the typical guest.
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them. Under these type of circumstances I think that I would not make a long term commitment in advance in order to be able to split ties in a cordial mannor if you feel you need to..
Under these type of circumstances I think that I would not make a long term commitment in advance in order to be able to split ties in a cordial mannor if you feel you need to.
I had a lady call who was a welder at the power plant outage (maintenance) would would be here from 4 to 6 weeks arriving Sunday and leaving Saturday morning. Since it was a long empty winter, I said why don't we try it for a week and see how it works for both of us. She was wonderful - so quiet we had to look to see if her truck was here to know if she was in-house, AND she paid cash! no cc fees. But I will not do something like that without making it clear that we will try it for a week.
 
Our normal zoning is labeled as short term accommodations, limiting it to 30 days at a time period, which means they would need to officially check out and re-check in if need be. This becomes a benefit to the B&B as well since it keeps the guest a short term guest, not subject to long term eviction regulations.
I have hosted long term guests for special circumstances and for the most part seemed to work out well. I can see how long term guests could become too friendly over a period of time and feel they are entitiled to more than the typical guest.
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them. Under these type of circumstances I think that I would not make a long term commitment in advance in order to be able to split ties in a cordial mannor if you feel you need to..
I am occasionally asked about a long-term accommodation with arrangements for leaving over the weekend and returning for work or classes Sunday night. Most of the time this hasn't gone beyond the initial inquiry because the rate I offered (50% of published rate) was higher than they wanted to pay. This sort of ties in with the other thread about half price rates. How low (percentage-wise is OK instead of dollar amount) are you willing to go for these folks?
 
Our normal zoning is labeled as short term accommodations, limiting it to 30 days at a time period, which means they would need to officially check out and re-check in if need be. This becomes a benefit to the B&B as well since it keeps the guest a short term guest, not subject to long term eviction regulations.
I have hosted long term guests for special circumstances and for the most part seemed to work out well. I can see how long term guests could become too friendly over a period of time and feel they are entitiled to more than the typical guest.
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them. Under these type of circumstances I think that I would not make a long term commitment in advance in order to be able to split ties in a cordial mannor if you feel you need to..
I am occasionally asked about a long-term accommodation with arrangements for leaving over the weekend and returning for work or classes Sunday night. Most of the time this hasn't gone beyond the initial inquiry because the rate I offered (50% of published rate) was higher than they wanted to pay. This sort of ties in with the other thread about half price rates. How low (percentage-wise is OK instead of dollar amount) are you willing to go for these folks?
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It would really depend on how long they wanted to stay, how slow it was and whether or not I wanted to work around them.
Long term guests mean I can't leave the inn. I can't leave them here alone and go on vacation and if they're only paying a low rate, I couldn't hire anyone, either. Plus, I think they get too comfortable. Want to use the kitchen to save money, ditto the laundry room.
 
Our normal zoning is labeled as short term accommodations, limiting it to 30 days at a time period, which means they would need to officially check out and re-check in if need be. This becomes a benefit to the B&B as well since it keeps the guest a short term guest, not subject to long term eviction regulations.
I have hosted long term guests for special circumstances and for the most part seemed to work out well. I can see how long term guests could become too friendly over a period of time and feel they are entitiled to more than the typical guest.
My latest 2 business guests stayed here for 6 months but they did check out each 10 days to go home for 3-4 days then return. I was able to store their personal items and rent the rooms while they were away allowing them not to have to haul all their luggage back and forth. They were ideal guests, 2nd time around for one of them. Under these type of circumstances I think that I would not make a long term commitment in advance in order to be able to split ties in a cordial mannor if you feel you need to..
I am occasionally asked about a long-term accommodation with arrangements for leaving over the weekend and returning for work or classes Sunday night. Most of the time this hasn't gone beyond the initial inquiry because the rate I offered (50% of published rate) was higher than they wanted to pay. This sort of ties in with the other thread about half price rates. How low (percentage-wise is OK instead of dollar amount) are you willing to go for these folks?
.
As I said, it was a long empty winter so I quoted a weekly rate of less than 50% per night - but it it worked out, I could pay my taxes - no breakfast but said I would provide coffee & juice. She asked for nothing other than(meekly) "could I put some lunch meat in the refrigerator?" I truly believe she was the exception though. It was also during a time it was doubtful I would have a rez during the week - and she was in a room that shared the bath so I still had my "desireable" room if I did get a rez. With tax added, I was about $15 per week more than the motel north of here but she cancelled her "just -in-case" rez with them because we were 3.2 miles from the job instead of 30-40 minutes.
There have been many, many calls for this thru the years and I give them the number of the motel - she had called them but they had a waiting list and when I found out it was for her decided to try it. If it were now - no way. But as she left, she asked how busy were we in October - in case she gets the call for that outage. If she calls, I will probably take her, but would not do it for anyone else in Oct.
 
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