So much waiting...

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JBloggs

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What do you do to pass the time when we as innkeepers are either very busy, or the other end of the spectrum always waiting.
Example, now waiting for these guests to check out, the table is cleared and I can't really be gone far from the front door, so I am here, which is why I am here around this time so often.
What things do you do to pass the time, or be creative, or hobby near check out or check ins times? Do you have a sudoku puzzle or crossword? A book? or do you just say stuff it, let them find me if they need me? I always feel I need to be prepped for their departure or arrival.
Care to share you method for this madness? This hurry up and wait we often encounter as innkeepers.
 
Check-out times- as an example, right now I am eating breakfast, reading mail, figuring out who is incoming today and if I need to do anything special for them. I read the paper. I chat here. Make my bed, put away laundry. Return phone calls. I leave the door to the office open so I can hear guests walking around in the entry.
At check-in I do whatever I want because they have to ring the bell.
 
i write letters to people I keep in touch with the old fashioned way. At the moment I am sorting out all my xmas cards Ive just bought Debra Meanes book who is a self made millionare from the hospitality industry and so I am going to start that.
 
Still waiting it is now 11am. No nothing needs to be done the day before thanksgiving andmy kids are both here off school...DOH! (Breathe JB Breathe!)
 
My computer is nearest to the door inside our quarters, so it's a good place to be while waiting for check-ins. Lexulous on Facebook. Catch up on the forum or my google reader feed. Have a cup of tea. Browse some magazines. Take care of some accounting tasks - enter receipts, look through bills and pay them, enter my credit card receipts.
 
Still waiting it is now 11am. No nothing needs to be done the day before thanksgiving andmy kids are both here off school...DOH! (Breathe JB Breathe!).
Joey Bloggs said:
Still waiting it is now 11am. No nothing needs to be done the day before thanksgiving andmy kids are both here off school...DOH! (Breathe JB Breathe!)
This is the flip side of the coin- guests do not assume you are twiddling your thumbs waiting. They assume there are plenty of things you are doing while they are dawdling. I used to have a list of tasks based on how long it took to accomplish them. 10 minutes to do x, 15 minutes to do y. Made life simpler.
So, off to do 5 minutes of laundry-folding, 7 minutes of plant-watering and hours of desk-cleaning!
 
I tried Kathleen's "Mother Murphy" method, forgot her terminology, but went to the restroom and then I heard the ramble of footsteps on the stairs. 25 minutes past check out. I had already vacuumed and slammed a door or two...someone else does that, and it didn't work.
I think I will start calling Kathleen Mother Murphy.
teeth_smile.gif
 
I tried Kathleen's "Mother Murphy" method, forgot her terminology, but went to the restroom and then I heard the ramble of footsteps on the stairs. 25 minutes past check out. I had already vacuumed and slammed a door or two...someone else does that, and it didn't work.
I think I will start calling Kathleen Mother Murphy.
teeth_smile.gif
.
I no longer wait. If I have other rooms to clean, they get cut some slack. If I'm twiddling thumbs, I knock and rattle the doorknob like I'm coming in. They generally yelp and ask what I want. I let them know they missed checkout. Always amazed at how many say they didn't know when it was even though it is right on the back of the door, just like in a hotel. No excuses, mate. So, if you don't know when checkout is, how long do you intend to stay? Noon? Tomorrow?
That's another problem- guests who insist, vocally and angrily, that they have never had to vacate their room before noon anywhere.
And all of my clocks are set ahead.
Which also means 99% of guests do not read what they are signing on check-in. Where it is clearly stated check-out is at or before 11 and anything after that incurs a charge. Maybe I need a highlighter.
 
I tried Kathleen's "Mother Murphy" method, forgot her terminology, but went to the restroom and then I heard the ramble of footsteps on the stairs. 25 minutes past check out. I had already vacuumed and slammed a door or two...someone else does that, and it didn't work.
I think I will start calling Kathleen Mother Murphy.
teeth_smile.gif
.
I no longer wait. If I have other rooms to clean, they get cut some slack. If I'm twiddling thumbs, I knock and rattle the doorknob like I'm coming in. They generally yelp and ask what I want. I let them know they missed checkout. Always amazed at how many say they didn't know when it was even though it is right on the back of the door, just like in a hotel. No excuses, mate. So, if you don't know when checkout is, how long do you intend to stay? Noon? Tomorrow?
That's another problem- guests who insist, vocally and angrily, that they have never had to vacate their room before noon anywhere.
And all of my clocks are set ahead.
Which also means 99% of guests do not read what they are signing on check-in. Where it is clearly stated check-out is at or before 11 and anything after that incurs a charge. Maybe I need a highlighter.
.
frankly they are just rude a few mins here and there is fine with me but we get a lot of lolly gaggers as they think if they leave their room they have to leave the car park which they don't want to do ie want to go shopping in town We have 12 rooms so there is plenty to crack at but it is the sheer ignorance of it that makes me crazy
 
I have a few "waiting time" things but mostly its ironing on my press iron as its in the kitchen by the sun room door and always have linens in my wine frig waiting to be ironed. Did some this morn before coming to work.....Mary in Bwater
 
I have a few "waiting time" things but mostly its ironing on my press iron as its in the kitchen by the sun room door and always have linens in my wine frig waiting to be ironed. Did some this morn before coming to work.....Mary in Bwater.
Intriguing- you have your linens in your wine fridge?
.
YES damp linens in the wine frig, you can freeze them also . After there washed and still wet I put them in zip lock 2 or 3 gal bags, then in the wine frig. When I press iron them they look very nice and crisp but still very slightly damp so they hang on a line in my kitchen for aday then into the linen closet on 5 line vertical pant hangers for pillow cases. I do not have all white sheet sets, just YesDelorme ,etc, in various colours and patterns, some with lace, some crochet, some with this ,some with that. Remember were all different, Iam a Cottage type B&B. Breakfast is room service on a tray then off to work 8-4..Mary in Bwater.
 
While I am waiting I am usually drinking tea or coffee and I do hand quilting. This is something that I can just pick up or drop as I am needed. I also do some sewing as well. I do this more during check-in time. I watch TV and hand quilt and wait for them to get here. I'm not waiting tonight. Guests called at 4:30pm and said they won't be here until 11pm so I have left the key for them and put up a welcome note.
 
Still waiting it is now 11am. No nothing needs to be done the day before thanksgiving andmy kids are both here off school...DOH! (Breathe JB Breathe!).
Joey Bloggs said:
Still waiting it is now 11am. No nothing needs to be done the day before thanksgiving andmy kids are both here off school...DOH! (Breathe JB Breathe!)
This is the flip side of the coin- guests do not assume you are twiddling your thumbs waiting. They assume there are plenty of things you are doing while they are dawdling. I used to have a list of tasks based on how long it took to accomplish them. 10 minutes to do x, 15 minutes to do y. Made life simpler.
So, off to do 5 minutes of laundry-folding, 7 minutes of plant-watering and hours of desk-cleaning!
.
hours of desk-cleaning!
Did that in minutes last week when the computer was delivered - figured it would be a bit difficult to hook everything up the way it was. NOW I have to get the "first cull" off the table in the AM so I can set it for dinner. The old tower needs to go upstairs and a few other things re-stacked to clear the other wing-back in the Library (one is actually cleared!). Waiting for pies to finish baking. Been putting them off all day so DH would not pop into the kitchen at the wrong moment to see what was going into the pie filling brown sugar, I did use stevia for the regular sugar. This pie is superb. It may be the Jim Beam in it or the fact the pumpkin was cooked a couple days ago.
 
Waiting for check-ins was always the time when I would have a bit of "me" time - reading the paper, doing the crossword, watching news, etc. Of course, there was usually laundry that needed to be swapped from washer to dryer. the never ending pile........
Waiting for check-outs, there was no lack of tasks to do. Putting together the laundry baskets with clean linens to make up rooms, answering email inquiries, finishing the kitchen clean-up.
So, I never really felt like I was just twiddling my thumbs waiting, always something to do.......
 
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