good for you! you never know how you might be fostering good will or geting a future stay. i used to get emails and phone calls like that and at first i got frustrated ... should i be answering the phone 'small town visitor's bureau' ?! but once in a while a person would call or book online and say ' we called for some info about the area last month (last year) and you were so nice, this time we decided to stay with you' or ... very funny ... recommended me to someone else, even tho that person never stayed here or even saw the place or met me.'
save those answers in an info file ... what bothered me was when i had absolutely NO ANSWER to give because i was not from the area. old fashioned assumption that an innkeeper is from the area maybe and is best source for area info?.
what bothered me was when i had absolutely NO ANSWER to give because i was not from the area. old fashioned assumption that an innkeeper is from the area maybe and is best source for area info?
I think the opposite. I think I know more about what is in theee area because I am not from here. I went on day trips searching for what was here - my mapping of assets so I would know what to tell people about. I am sure there are many things I do not know about but I would not be afraid to say that I know about more than most people from here.
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kathleen, i have so much admiration for you. and i'm not sure what word describes you. tenacious? i moved to maine, didn't know a soul, met a few people slowly but hardly got out and about to learn first hand what was around. i relied on guest recommendations and how i reacted to the owners of different thingstodo. i would tell guests, soandso comes highly recommended, i have not honestly done thusandso, but our guests have ......
when i again move on, i'll schedule in time to get out and see for myself what's out there! i left maine with a little packet of free this' and thats' ... good for me and a guest a free windjammer cruise from the captain i referred guests to, a sunset cruise, a shark cage dive, a lobster boat excursion ... etc. don't know if i'll get up that way again to take advantage of those generous offers. i should just SCHEDULE the time and go!
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