Things to do in the area questions

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Morticia

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
17,771
Reaction score
685
Had an email this morning from a person obviously coming to town, but not coming here, wanting to know where he could go to ice skate. At first, I almost blew it off. (BTW, this was from a directory I'm on, and will be counted as a guest emailing me in my stats. However, the guest was not emailing me to stay, just to get free info which was obviously not available at the place he booked.)
But, instead, I replied with the best place I know around here to go ice skating. It still irked me to do that given he's not staying here, won't stay here and is probably staying at the $59 hotel down the road where no one knows anything.
 
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.'
wink_smile.gif

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?
 
It will come back to you. I've had a couple of folks referred to me because I took the time to answer their friend's question. :) Also, have been told by guests that we were much better at "concierge" services and know our town better than the downtown hotel and other B&Bs. I don't think that we necessarily do, but we try to help folks find what they're looking for.
 
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.'
wink_smile.gif

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.
 
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.'
wink_smile.gif

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.
.
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!
 
Innkeepers are the best source of information for ANY area!!! Are you kidding? Dang we know 100 times more info on things to do and see than anyone in our area!
If I go anywhere with those who were born and raised here I AM THE ONE DRIVING and know the shortcuts and how long it takes and in fact how to get there at all. This is always the case tho, as I move to an area I like to explore it!
Ice Skating - I can tell you two places from here right off the bat.
That is a good trivial pursuit for you to play with your friends or hubby. Make a list of things to do or things to buy and where you would go to find this? (like a treasure hunt, altho stay home where it is nice and warm and cozy).
 
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.'
wink_smile.gif

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.
.
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!
.
I hope you did not take that as a slam because it was not meant to be that. I have been the "stranger in the shore" so many times that I had to learn where things were. In Illinois, if a guest asked the desk clerk how to find something they turned to me - I had to learn where things were when I moved there.
If someone took me someplace or if driving to somewhere I had not been before, I would say out loud the cross streets so even if I did not know exactly how to get somewhere, I would know the general area because I knew what streets crossed that main artery. DH grew up near Chicago but would get in the passenger seat to go there.
DO schedule time to go back to Maine - especially for the windjammer cruise. Trust me, you were very well thought of if you were given gifts like you describe. Remember, the giver can only get the glow of giving if the givee accepts it and uses the gift. As you well know, a GC is just a piece of iseless paper until redeemed.
And yes, I could be described as tenatious. The word my Daddy used was granite-hard-head (what happens when German-Irish breeds with Scots-Irish-English-German-Swedish) that does not have the brains GOD gave you to give up - words not in our family vocabulary.
 
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.'
wink_smile.gif

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.
.
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!
.
We were in the same boat. Heck, we needed directions to the grocery store! But, we worked with guest recommendations until we could see at least SOME of the coast on our own! We've tried to eat at every restaurant around so we can tell guests where to go. Still, guests show up with menus saying, You didn't have this one in the menu book.
 
We get this type of call 2-3 times a year too. Normally I refer them to my website as I have a page dedicated to what to do in the area.
I recall the one a few weeks ago. Man trying to find a certain hotel in 'Big town near us' so he called me to help him, of course using my TOLL FREE (to him) number!! He infact told me that he wanted to talk to a human and thought a B&B would be helpful as he had not been able to find it on the internet. - I could not find it either and wished him well. No sence trying to turn it into a booking as he was going to that hotel to be a suprise guest of an old war friend at his retirement party. I told him he should call back his original source for the party info.
 
We get this type of call 2-3 times a year too. Normally I refer them to my website as I have a page dedicated to what to do in the area.
I recall the one a few weeks ago. Man trying to find a certain hotel in 'Big town near us' so he called me to help him, of course using my TOLL FREE (to him) number!! He infact told me that he wanted to talk to a human and thought a B&B would be helpful as he had not been able to find it on the internet. - I could not find it either and wished him well. No sence trying to turn it into a booking as he was going to that hotel to be a suprise guest of an old war friend at his retirement party. I told him he should call back his original source for the party info..
It's so wonderful, they consider a B&B useful for information, but not an actual stay. Yeesh. When we had the christening for the battleship earlier this year, the inn was booked for 6 rooms for 5 nights. They eventually cancelled all but 10 roomnights. One night, the whole inn was from that party...right, until the HOTEL they WANTED had openings. We're just not prestiguous enough for the CEO's, etc. (The regular folks liked us, tho.)
 
We get this type of call 2-3 times a year too. Normally I refer them to my website as I have a page dedicated to what to do in the area.
I recall the one a few weeks ago. Man trying to find a certain hotel in 'Big town near us' so he called me to help him, of course using my TOLL FREE (to him) number!! He infact told me that he wanted to talk to a human and thought a B&B would be helpful as he had not been able to find it on the internet. - I could not find it either and wished him well. No sence trying to turn it into a booking as he was going to that hotel to be a suprise guest of an old war friend at his retirement party. I told him he should call back his original source for the party info..
It's so wonderful, they consider a B&B useful for information, but not an actual stay. Yeesh. When we had the christening for the battleship earlier this year, the inn was booked for 6 rooms for 5 nights. They eventually cancelled all but 10 roomnights. One night, the whole inn was from that party...right, until the HOTEL they WANTED had openings. We're just not prestiguous enough for the CEO's, etc. (The regular folks liked us, tho.)
.
...just not prestiguous enough for the CEO's, etc.
I don't necessarily think that, it most likely was that they wanted to be seen.
 
We get this type of call 2-3 times a year too. Normally I refer them to my website as I have a page dedicated to what to do in the area.
I recall the one a few weeks ago. Man trying to find a certain hotel in 'Big town near us' so he called me to help him, of course using my TOLL FREE (to him) number!! He infact told me that he wanted to talk to a human and thought a B&B would be helpful as he had not been able to find it on the internet. - I could not find it either and wished him well. No sence trying to turn it into a booking as he was going to that hotel to be a suprise guest of an old war friend at his retirement party. I told him he should call back his original source for the party info..
It's so wonderful, they consider a B&B useful for information, but not an actual stay. Yeesh. When we had the christening for the battleship earlier this year, the inn was booked for 6 rooms for 5 nights. They eventually cancelled all but 10 roomnights. One night, the whole inn was from that party...right, until the HOTEL they WANTED had openings. We're just not prestiguous enough for the CEO's, etc. (The regular folks liked us, tho.)
.
...just not prestiguous enough for the CEO's, etc.
I don't necessarily think that, it most likely was that they wanted to be seen.
.
Copperhead said:
...just not prestiguous enough for the CEO's, etc.
I don't necessarily think that, it most likely was that they wanted to be seen.
Right, and no one was going to see them here! No after hours schmoozing in the bar here. You know deals were being made left and right that weekend.
 
There used to be a time when I thought I was a branch of our Chamber of Commerce! I got phone calls / emails all the time asking me about things to do, places to go etc etc. I just helped them as best I could. yes, it irked me that they weren't even staying here with me....but, it helped me foster the "goodwill and welcoming" that we want our town to project to potential visitors. So it was a good thing:) You did good!
 
Back
Top