one of my biggest grrs

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Joey Camb

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I have probably gone off on this one before but I have 5 neighbours who have B&B's (within 100 yards) and we all get along really well but the other 5 are often unmanned so miss out on the considerable passing trade (the way our town is set up due to conferences our street is the first to be hit by people looking for accomodation) They will send an email round the network (all the B&B's are on a group email where we try and send each other referals when we are full) saying we have a double for tonight so If I am full I say oh ashgrove has a double but when they go there there is no one in and no one answers the bell so they just walk on. Like today I knew Micky had rooms so I rang him when a chap came to the door looking and all I got was the machine. Does this seem like madness? crying for help and money then when you try to help no answer? I hate to say some people get what they deserve but I'm not far wrong.
 
A desparate call from a woman I had referred to a B & B for a reservation stopped me from referring to them again. She made the reservation and when she arrived on a horribly hot day needing shower and rest found no one there, no one answering the phone so she called me who had told her weeks before that I was booked - and I was in the middle of making dinner for MY guests and did not have time to console this guest of another inn. I think she went to the chain hotel.....
 
I know what you mean. I actually had a guest come here the next morning and complain to me that no one answered the phone where I sent them and that I should take them off my list! Well, sometimes we have to get out of the house!
But, I know if it happens more than a couple of times I will stop sending folks there. You do need to be onsite if you get a big walk-in crowd where you are. We know we've missed some business because we've decided to just go out to eat. But, sometimes getting away is worth it!
 
A desparate call from a woman I had referred to a B & B for a reservation stopped me from referring to them again. She made the reservation and when she arrived on a horribly hot day needing shower and rest found no one there, no one answering the phone so she called me who had told her weeks before that I was booked - and I was in the middle of making dinner for MY guests and did not have time to console this guest of another inn. I think she went to the chain hotel......
Oh dear for properly booked guests? I just meant for walkins I.e. people who just turn up looking that is bad unless it was a complete emergency. My neighbour Tabs keeps her place locked up till check in time of 2 if you come earlier its tough which I think is a bit harsh. But she is on her own and has to do her shopping sometime. I suggested she think about a lock box system.
 
We have a B&B here that has been in business quite awhile. They have been be-moaning their extremely low occupancy for quite some time. When I was in business, guests would constantly tell me that no one answered the phone, their emails, and walk-ins encountered an empty house. Seems cRaZy to me if you want to make $$$!
 
A desparate call from a woman I had referred to a B & B for a reservation stopped me from referring to them again. She made the reservation and when she arrived on a horribly hot day needing shower and rest found no one there, no one answering the phone so she called me who had told her weeks before that I was booked - and I was in the middle of making dinner for MY guests and did not have time to console this guest of another inn. I think she went to the chain hotel......
Oh dear for properly booked guests? I just meant for walkins I.e. people who just turn up looking that is bad unless it was a complete emergency. My neighbour Tabs keeps her place locked up till check in time of 2 if you come earlier its tough which I think is a bit harsh. But she is on her own and has to do her shopping sometime. I suggested she think about a lock box system.
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I keep the door locked ALL the time! Otherwise there'd be people wandering in here at 10 AM looking for rooms!
 
I think we all agree with you on this. We are not the " innkeepers keeper" If they aren't answering phones etc etc. that is THEIR problem. Obviously they don't have a clue. I actually got a call from a fellow last night during supper telling me "the owners" aren't there, they aren't answering the phone and I have people standing here who have reservations with them!! Well DUH..what am I supposed to do??? I don't even run an inn any more and they still call me!!!
 
I think we all agree with you on this. We are not the " innkeepers keeper" If they aren't answering phones etc etc. that is THEIR problem. Obviously they don't have a clue. I actually got a call from a fellow last night during supper telling me "the owners" aren't there, they aren't answering the phone and I have people standing here who have reservations with them!! Well DUH..what am I supposed to do??? I don't even run an inn any more and they still call me!!!.
That happened here, too! Innkeeper left a note on the door that he was gone to help out in the hurricane, he'd be back next week. Sorry.
And nothing else. No one to call, nowhere to stay. Nothing.
Some locals were walking down the street, saw the guests, knew the guy was gone and brought them to us. Well, they had 6 people in their party and had booked the B&B's 'apt'. No one else had room for them. They had young kids, needed more space than any of us had and one place finally just let the kids sleep on the floor.
But they were expecting to pay $x and ended up getting charged $x+ and they had no idea if the other inn had charged their card or what. It was a mess.
 
We have one innkeeper in our little regional county group who drives me crazy. NEVER updates his webervations, so always shows all rooms open, rarely answers his emails...put huge money into building his Inn from scratch, and much as I have tried to throw hints, nada.
 
I always make it a point to know who has rooms anytime the inn is getting even close to full. And those are the same inns I'd be calling in the morning on a slow day to tell them to send folks my way.
But I don't knowingly refer someone to an inn that I think might reflect badly on me. And that's how I'd feel if I sent someone to a place and the innkeeper had just flaked. There's a good chance I'm going to see those folks again somewhere down the road and I don't really want to be part and parcel of a bad experience.
I also make it a point to never get roped into criticizing another inn to any prospective guest. I just don't refer to them once they've burned me once. Just can't afford to. Guests get home and can't remember one inn from another; I don't really want an inn I'm working at to get mixed up in that.
That, of course, gets trickier when you've got a group agreement to refer to each other. But in those cases, if I absolutely had to refer them to the other inn, I'd give the inn a call myself. No answer, no message. Next.
 
I think we all agree with you on this. We are not the " innkeepers keeper" If they aren't answering phones etc etc. that is THEIR problem. Obviously they don't have a clue. I actually got a call from a fellow last night during supper telling me "the owners" aren't there, they aren't answering the phone and I have people standing here who have reservations with them!! Well DUH..what am I supposed to do??? I don't even run an inn any more and they still call me!!!.
That happened here, too! Innkeeper left a note on the door that he was gone to help out in the hurricane, he'd be back next week. Sorry.
And nothing else. No one to call, nowhere to stay. Nothing.
Some locals were walking down the street, saw the guests, knew the guy was gone and brought them to us. Well, they had 6 people in their party and had booked the B&B's 'apt'. No one else had room for them. They had young kids, needed more space than any of us had and one place finally just let the kids sleep on the floor.
But they were expecting to pay $x and ended up getting charged $x+ and they had no idea if the other inn had charged their card or what. It was a mess.
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I can't believe that! what if there hadn't been any rooms? where I am sometimes there literally isn't! However when a small hotel near us called the Fern sold they sold as a house so the people who bought wanted to clear the place and make it into flats so they did a sort of yard sale/auction of all the furnature my mum and godmother went to get things for her hotel and while it was going on guests were turning up to check in! so they were stood in the portch looking dazed while the other people were carrying out the soft furnishings and carting them off! Mum and yoko scooped them up and popped them into their hotel but I always wonder what all the other people who had bookings after that date did because they obviously hadn't told anyone they were selling and to make other reservations.
 
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