One Nighter-Ville

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JBloggs

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Is there anything you have found to get you through One Nighter-Ville?
I seem to have an overabundance of them coming up - not the same night, not the same week, oh no, not one of them is the same night, they are sporadic.
So we will have a new room booked in for 'one night only' sounds like a concert promo! I need strength as it will be one of those - clean, wait, check in, make the same conversation, clean, wait, check in, make the same conversation ... cycles. These wear me out moreso than having a full house. Again, locked into the B&B for one check in at a time. The last one nighter we had was the "We will be there at 4pm" so I was here and ready and waiting for check in and they showed at 1015pm. I did put a note on the door at 830pm. But that is still 4hours plus of being "ON" and waiting. I need to get a grip on this this year. That is what I vow.
 
We're nearing the end of our slow season... I realized yesterday that I haven't made Eggs Florentine in months. In fact, I've made the same two breakfasts over and over, plus a third one on occasion, for the past six months.
I'm ready for a four night stay!!
All I can say is call their cell phone, pretend to be perky, and ask if they have a guesstimate of when they'll arrive. When I haven't done it, I've regretted it.
Of course, yesterday's 2ish checkin was in regular contact with me via their blackberry... and finally ready to arrive about 10 minutes after I left for church last night! So my advice is worth what you paid for it.
=)
Kk.
 
So, 'one nighter-ville' being only one room booked, not lots of one nighters on the same night, right? It is tough because the whole show has to go on.
So, how do I get thru a lot of one-nighters? I don't know! Because, generally, one-nighters do not leave until 11. They sit and chat for hours. But, they usually have something to say, so it's fun. For me the 'show' is like being in a play everyday. Some days the 'audience' is really good and the show is great. Other days the audience is flat and so is the show.
We are more like a vaudeville show than a play with a script. Like George & Gracie. But we can tag team. I don't have to stand there the whole time talking and neither does Gomez. He can clean the kitchen while I talk or I can answer the phone while he talks.
 
Well except for requiring a 2 night min...not really much you can do. I always required 2 night min on weekends. Maybe a higher room rate for only one night??? Just thinking here :-(
 
Had a 1 nighter last night (we have 2 night minimum on weekends but this was filling in a gap) so we waited and waited......waited some more. They had been here 10 and 11 years ago with PO. They turned out to be a no show. I hated waiting around and being "on", but I love it today because I don't have to clean that room again. Double edged sword I suppose.
I think the waiting game is one of the worst parts of innkeeping.
 
Don't get me wrong, we want the room nights, esp midweek. It is "Ground Hog Day" and I am Bill Murray in this scenario, but I don't want to wait 4 hours for every one nighter and have them arrive at the last possible minute, or no show, I am listening to all the advice, thanks so much.
I do have the rez system set with the reminder "Your reservation is three days away!" so hopefully if anything changes they would let me know. But travel is uncertain, traffic, and I will add GPS are sending people miles and miles out of their way now. We used the GPS yesterday and three times I had to say "Wait! Stop! This is no where near where we want to go!" GPS give you a TIME OF ARRIVAL but more and more it is sending people down stray paths. #1 it is sending them BUSINESS ROUTES and people for some reason don't get it, Don't get off a highway and go on a BR for the same highway. But they do.
 
Don't get me wrong, we want the room nights, esp midweek. It is "Ground Hog Day" and I am Bill Murray in this scenario, but I don't want to wait 4 hours for every one nighter and have them arrive at the last possible minute, or no show, I am listening to all the advice, thanks so much.
I do have the rez system set with the reminder "Your reservation is three days away!" so hopefully if anything changes they would let me know. But travel is uncertain, traffic, and I will add GPS are sending people miles and miles out of their way now. We used the GPS yesterday and three times I had to say "Wait! Stop! This is no where near where we want to go!" GPS give you a TIME OF ARRIVAL but more and more it is sending people down stray paths. #1 it is sending them BUSINESS ROUTES and people for some reason don't get it, Don't get off a highway and go on a BR for the same highway. But they do..
Interestingly, here the GPS tries it's darndest to get (or keep) people on the interstate when another route will get them someplace much faster. We thought they were all programed that way.
 
maybe a ring when you are 15mins away policy? so you don't have to hang about?
 
I always give explicit directions on their confirmation and also explicitly tell them that GPS will not work for our address but still they try to get here using their GPS. We get a lot of one room bookings as well JB and often when they arrive they are shocked when I tell them that they are the only guest, almost as if things must be really bad or not such a great place if they are the only ones. Weekends we're busy, week days not so much....one here, one there....now no guests for 3 days and then just one again. UGH!
 
Don't get me wrong, we want the room nights, esp midweek. It is "Ground Hog Day" and I am Bill Murray in this scenario, but I don't want to wait 4 hours for every one nighter and have them arrive at the last possible minute, or no show, I am listening to all the advice, thanks so much.
I do have the rez system set with the reminder "Your reservation is three days away!" so hopefully if anything changes they would let me know. But travel is uncertain, traffic, and I will add GPS are sending people miles and miles out of their way now. We used the GPS yesterday and three times I had to say "Wait! Stop! This is no where near where we want to go!" GPS give you a TIME OF ARRIVAL but more and more it is sending people down stray paths. #1 it is sending them BUSINESS ROUTES and people for some reason don't get it, Don't get off a highway and go on a BR for the same highway. But they do..
Our guests this weekend were going to a restaurant that is 12 miles from here, on the same 'street.' They got the address from the menu and plugged it into the GPS. GPS immediately put them on the highway and took them off 3 exits away going in the wrong direction. They wandered aimlessly around for awhile until they got back on the right road and drove past the restaurant.
When I told them where they needed to go for an event, they said, 'Oh, we passed that last night on the way to the restaurant!' I asked what rest and they told me. I was astonished, 'Why did you go that way?' 'GPS,' was the reply.
 
Don't get me wrong, we want the room nights, esp midweek. It is "Ground Hog Day" and I am Bill Murray in this scenario, but I don't want to wait 4 hours for every one nighter and have them arrive at the last possible minute, or no show, I am listening to all the advice, thanks so much.
I do have the rez system set with the reminder "Your reservation is three days away!" so hopefully if anything changes they would let me know. But travel is uncertain, traffic, and I will add GPS are sending people miles and miles out of their way now. We used the GPS yesterday and three times I had to say "Wait! Stop! This is no where near where we want to go!" GPS give you a TIME OF ARRIVAL but more and more it is sending people down stray paths. #1 it is sending them BUSINESS ROUTES and people for some reason don't get it, Don't get off a highway and go on a BR for the same highway. But they do..
I used GPS to get from The Homestead to a certain B & B. That sucker took me down a road that would be suspect even in WV!! More Kiss-your-A turns than I like on a January day when the snow is "interesting"... Then some back streets with snow piles to nudge my muffler strap into submission (snap)! I will stay with my road maps I think.
Folks coming here that rely on MapQuest or GPS are told to exit 10 miles north of me and to take a popular commuter route that is a 2-lane (narrow), no-shoulder (just ditches both sides) with many places with no lane marking lines that I will only use in the daylight - and I know the road! From the south, it takes them off the Interstate one exit too soon on to a 4-lane for about half the distance and then narrows to a narrow 2-lane pretzel road than as one nears US Rt 19 to come north to my city, has 3 90-degree turns and comes into the highway just north of a blind curve. Yep, just the way I want my guests to arrive - white-knuckled and bug-eyed! Lets hear it for GPS!
The way I bring guests does have a "scenic country road that follows along a meandering creek......" but it has less distance than either of the other routes to traverse after leaving the Interstate.
 
Don't get me wrong, we want the room nights, esp midweek. It is "Ground Hog Day" and I am Bill Murray in this scenario, but I don't want to wait 4 hours for every one nighter and have them arrive at the last possible minute, or no show, I am listening to all the advice, thanks so much.
I do have the rez system set with the reminder "Your reservation is three days away!" so hopefully if anything changes they would let me know. But travel is uncertain, traffic, and I will add GPS are sending people miles and miles out of their way now. We used the GPS yesterday and three times I had to say "Wait! Stop! This is no where near where we want to go!" GPS give you a TIME OF ARRIVAL but more and more it is sending people down stray paths. #1 it is sending them BUSINESS ROUTES and people for some reason don't get it, Don't get off a highway and go on a BR for the same highway. But they do..
O.K. Favorite GPS story via friends w/ a resort nearby. Two retired teachers (women) were routed up an ATV trail; and they left the highway to do it! Oddly, they made it!
 
Hang in there! Have some good magazines or a book that you've been meaning to read at the ready for when you're waiting.
 
So, 'one nighter-ville' being only one room booked, not lots of one nighters on the same night, right? It is tough because the whole show has to go on.
So, how do I get thru a lot of one-nighters? I don't know! Because, generally, one-nighters do not leave until 11. They sit and chat for hours. But, they usually have something to say, so it's fun. For me the 'show' is like being in a play everyday. Some days the 'audience' is really good and the show is great. Other days the audience is flat and so is the show.
We are more like a vaudeville show than a play with a script. Like George & Gracie. But we can tag team. I don't have to stand there the whole time talking and neither does Gomez. He can clean the kitchen while I talk or I can answer the phone while he talks..
Very much how I see it EXCEPT when I'm absolutely exhausted. The only thing I would add is that I see every one-nighter as a potential repeat muti-nighter ... and it happens alot. We have a pleasantly high repeat guest / referral percentage and in theory every one-night, first-timer is tomorrows repeat.
 
So, 'one nighter-ville' being only one room booked, not lots of one nighters on the same night, right? It is tough because the whole show has to go on.
So, how do I get thru a lot of one-nighters? I don't know! Because, generally, one-nighters do not leave until 11. They sit and chat for hours. But, they usually have something to say, so it's fun. For me the 'show' is like being in a play everyday. Some days the 'audience' is really good and the show is great. Other days the audience is flat and so is the show.
We are more like a vaudeville show than a play with a script. Like George & Gracie. But we can tag team. I don't have to stand there the whole time talking and neither does Gomez. He can clean the kitchen while I talk or I can answer the phone while he talks..
Very much how I see it EXCEPT when I'm absolutely exhausted. The only thing I would add is that I see every one-nighter as a potential repeat muti-nighter ... and it happens alot. We have a pleasantly high repeat guest / referral percentage and in theory every one-night, first-timer is tomorrows repeat.
.
and in theory every one-night, first-timer is tomorrows repeat.
Let us pray................
 
I always ask what time they expect to arrive and try to be here when they show up. But if they are late or I can't be here I leave a note on the door with directions to their room and information about where to find snacks, etc. And I leave my cell phone number if they want to reach me. If they are arriving really late at night I do the same thing. I've been doing this for 13 years and it has never been a problem. Usually I find the guests happily settled and relaxed when I return.
 
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