Should I be nervous ... or what to do when famous people stay at your Inn?

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The Farmers Daughter

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Former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove will be staying with me later this month. This is my first 'celebrity'. I'm not sure whether to simply treat her as any other guest or to glam it up a bit. What would you do?
 
We have a well-known writer in house at the moment for our university's heritage festival; we've had one almost every year of being here. We treat them like regular guests as much as possible although we make allowances for their schedules that are sometimes out of the ordinary. Our first author, Robert Morgan, liked to get up at 4 a.m. to write before his day started, so we put a coffee pot upstairs in our library for him. They sometimes have crazy schedules while here so we do continental or to-go breakfasts if we need to. Then we leave them alone, because they are on stage a lot and want down time. Except one, Adriana Trigliani - she loved meeting our other guests and finding out about them - she never told them that she was an author until after she had chatted them up at breakfast for an hour. Then she sent books to all our guests!
 
My bestselling author told me he doesn't like B&B's as he wants to do his own thing. In fact he wrote am article about a horrible stay in a B&B I think near Niagara, which I never posted, nor will I. I still love him though.
Pants on one leg at a time like everyone else. They appreciate being treated like everyone else in fact they long for it.
 
Do what you normally do? That is why she probably chose you. People are people no matter how famous they are....treat them just as you would any guest.
Sorry to say I don't even know who you are talking about :-( So if she ever came to stay with me, it wouldn't make any difference at all who she is.
 
Do what you normally do? That is why she probably chose you. People are people no matter how famous they are....treat them just as you would any guest.
Sorry to say I don't even know who you are talking about :-( So if she ever came to stay with me, it wouldn't make any difference at all who she is..
catlady said:
Sorry to say I don't even know who you are talking about :-( So if she ever came to stay with me, it wouldn't make any difference at all who she is.
Here is Rita Doves website:
http://people.virginia.edu/~rfd4b/
 
Do what you normally do? That is why she probably chose you. People are people no matter how famous they are....treat them just as you would any guest.
Sorry to say I don't even know who you are talking about :-( So if she ever came to stay with me, it wouldn't make any difference at all who she is..
catlady said:
Sorry to say I don't even know who you are talking about :-( So if she ever came to stay with me, it wouldn't make any difference at all who she is.
Here is Rita Doves website:
http://people.virginia.edu/~rfd4b/
.
Thanks, I already went there after you said her name. Gosh she is only 90 min from me. But sorry....I don't keep up with poet laureates... I couldn't tell you the name of any of them.
 
I agree with SSS...greet her as you normally would, tell her you enjoy her work and leave it at that. Also, I would not bring it up to other guests. If she opens the subject up during conversation, fine, but leave it up to her.
In my past career, I was around famous people all the time. Treat them like anybody else, which is want they want unless they have huge egos. If they have the ego, then they're PITAs like all the other PITAs!
 
I agree with SSS...greet her as you normally would, tell her you enjoy her work and leave it at that. Also, I would not bring it up to other guests. If she opens the subject up during conversation, fine, but leave it up to her.
In my past career, I was around famous people all the time. Treat them like anybody else, which is want they want unless they have huge egos. If they have the ego, then they're PITAs like all the other PITAs!.
YEah, my sister has tons of stories she told me about the famous and infamous. She was the wardrobe coordinator for a concert venue. She dealt with all kinds of "stars." Some she just loved and the PITA ones,she just did what she was told. For the most part everyone was grateful for all her help backstage.
 
since this person is famous to you, you may feel nervous ... and that's normal. but you treat her as you would anyone else. if you are familiar with her work, then as you greet her i would tell her so. then let it go. she's coming to your place to relax i assume. so it's your job to let her relax.
and if she is staying with you doing 'celebrity type stuff' in the area, it's even more important that she is able to 'just be' at your place - home base. you take your cue from her.
 
We've had some poets... one who lives in France and came here to read at the University. Sounds like quite the life! Well... turns out he also has a real job and also lives Jersey.
Like SS said...
=)
Kk.
 
Do cowboy poets count? Let us know how it all works out.
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We just had a houseful of internationally renowned musicians here but a lot of people might not know who they were. I had no clue who they were when they were booked in here but since they came through our university, they got a little bit of the VIP treatment. Just a few extra special things.
If your guest travels a lot & stays in hotels, she'll appreciate what a smaller lodging property has to offer. We even had a couple of snafus when these guests were here and they took it in stride. Stuff happens.
One thing I did not do was ask for photos or autographs. I did pretty much treat them like any other guest.
 
Do what you normally do? That is why she probably chose you. People are people no matter how famous they are....treat them just as you would any guest.
Sorry to say I don't even know who you are talking about :-( So if she ever came to stay with me, it wouldn't make any difference at all who she is..
I like a combo of Samster's suggestion w/the others. Do what you normally do with a bit of TLC to make it special for her. She'll appreciate any extra attention as she's worked hard to get where she's gotten to (as with all guests) and knows you have too. Enjoy her stay. If she does, she'll tell others and you may become a haven for other celebs. Wouldn't that be a hoot!
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The Farmers Daughter said:
Former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove will be staying with me later this month. This is my first 'celebrity'. I'm not sure whether to simply treat her as any other guest or to glam it up a bit. What would you do?
This is one reason I don't Google anyone whose name I don't recognize immediately, I just don't want to know! Something special like a small welcome basket with a note would be nice.
Our 'most famous' as in name recognition guest who stayed here was a big name Hollywood producer/director. I sweated that one and then once he got here I told myself I would now measure every other 'famous' person by the gracious way this person acted.
What I wouldn't do is draw attention to her to the other guests when she's there. If anyone else recognizes her and they seem to be annoying her, ask them to kindly respect the other guest's wish for privacy as they would want their own privacy respected.
 
Do you know I am more nervous over an innkeeper staying with me than anyone else? TRUE.
 
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