Tired of Waiting!

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Second day in a row that I'm stuck here, waiting. Yesterday I finally got tired and called up the guest at 8:30 to hear them say that they were at the border, an hour away. Well, they finally got here, closer to 10:30 and we just gave them the key and went to bed!
For today, the guest called last night to tell us that the mother and sister, who are now on the reservation as well, will arrive around 3:30PM and she'll be here around 7:30 PM. Well, it's 5:45 PM and there is no sign of them. I am tired of the rude guests! When is it my turn to be rude and tell them what I think?
 
The waiting is what I do not like the most in this business. I feel like a prisoner in my own house
 
There's a B&B here that is strict about arrivals. If the guest is not in by 7 the guest no longer has a reservation. Apparently this works for them. And they tell the guest who calls in late that they need to find other accommodations. Click. They don't help them.
 
There's a B&B here that is strict about arrivals. If the guest is not in by 7 the guest no longer has a reservation. Apparently this works for them. And they tell the guest who calls in late that they need to find other accommodations. Click. They don't help them..
I hate to see the reviews on T/A.
This one is just completely disrespectful. Yesterday they told us they wanted to check in at 3PM. Here it's 7PM and still nothing.
 
There's a B&B here that is strict about arrivals. If the guest is not in by 7 the guest no longer has a reservation. Apparently this works for them. And they tell the guest who calls in late that they need to find other accommodations. Click. They don't help them..
I hate to see the reviews on T/A.
This one is just completely disrespectful. Yesterday they told us they wanted to check in at 3PM. Here it's 7PM and still nothing.
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Finally.... 7.30 PM. Excuse but no apology. We are a no-fault society.
 
Few things can raise my blood pressure like waiting...so we just don't. Check-in is until 6 pm, after that you get self check-in. We've done a LOT of work to make sure we can do this (an exhaustive room binder that answers any and every question they could possibly have).
When they don't even bother to call, their note says "We're sorry we missed you during our 2-6 pm checkin period". I've stopped caring whether they think it's rude or not...YOU were rude first, you're lucky I'm letting you in.
Our confirmation also says that we charge a $25 for all late check-ins which are not pre-arranged. We've never charged the fee, but it has really helped to force people to call, because they don't want to get charged.
 
There's a B&B here that is strict about arrivals. If the guest is not in by 7 the guest no longer has a reservation. Apparently this works for them. And they tell the guest who calls in late that they need to find other accommodations. Click. They don't help them..
Ooooohhh....i LOVE it! I'd never do it, but I can love it anyway!
I told DH last Friday that I just hate Fridays. I'm tired from the week, I've been working hard all day, we have more check-in's on Friday than any other day, and people are always late. The last few weeks I've been trying to get the time to actually CALL my guests the morning of arrival or the day before and re-confirm their reservation and their arrival time...and I ask them to do me the favor of giving me a call if their plans change. It has helped a LOT, but it takes considerable time. And last Friday I was just too busy and didn't get it done.
So anyway, I can LOVE what your nearby B&B does without doing it. It certainly wouldn't work for me.
 
There's a B&B here that is strict about arrivals. If the guest is not in by 7 the guest no longer has a reservation. Apparently this works for them. And they tell the guest who calls in late that they need to find other accommodations. Click. They don't help them..
Ooooohhh....i LOVE it! I'd never do it, but I can love it anyway!
I told DH last Friday that I just hate Fridays. I'm tired from the week, I've been working hard all day, we have more check-in's on Friday than any other day, and people are always late. The last few weeks I've been trying to get the time to actually CALL my guests the morning of arrival or the day before and re-confirm their reservation and their arrival time...and I ask them to do me the favor of giving me a call if their plans change. It has helped a LOT, but it takes considerable time. And last Friday I was just too busy and didn't get it done.
So anyway, I can LOVE what your nearby B&B does without doing it. It certainly wouldn't work for me.
.
Almost all of my Friday check-ins this weekend showed up before noon. I have no idea what they were thinking. And each one had the same line, 'We'll just put our bags in the room, use the bathroom and get out of your hair.'
PEOPLE! At 11:30 last night's guests might still be in the room! I do not wave a magic wand and make it all pretty in 30 minutes!
 
This is just as rude as one that comes early (11:40am) before checkout time on a Sunday. Guests got in (another story) and called 'HELLO!!!" "We're here to check in early!" Then of course they did not come back until 6p.
 
My wife's aunt, who with her husband ran a B&B in NC for years, described the problem as "velvet handcuffs."
Of course, that was before the Internet and cell phones and call-forwarding, and so they were prisoners of their phone, as well.
We're much more strict about early check-in than late. People who show up at noon with hope in their eyes and an explanation, "we just wanted to make sure we could find your place in daylight" can come back at four with the rest of the hoi polloi.
Occasionally, a family will show up in the early afternoon with shrieking children and desperation in their eyes and we'll take pity, because their room is ready. But I had to caution one dad about not trying to drown his son, a whirling dervish he had tucked under his arm, in the pool. "Our insurance rates would go up."
"You think I'd do that?!" he asked me, sticking his jaw out.
I looked at him and at the child kicking deep indentation bruises into his butt. "Well, I would."
We reached an understanding. They gave us an awesome TA review and turned out to be exceptional parents with very nice children, when there weren't blood-sugar and sleep issues.
Since we're here on-site, late check-ins aren't nearly the issue for us as they are from some other posters. In the winter, it isn't unusual for us to leave the lights on until the wee hours of the morning, in hopes that the Colorado Department of Transportation will have cleared the avalanche(s) on the pass and opened the road.
Truly, it's a nuisance to get the panicked calls at 10 at night from guest-wannabes thwarted by a closed pass, concerned that we're gonna charge them because they just can't "get there from here" and we have to explain to them in sleep-deprived voices that avalanches are an act of God, and they just need to hole up in a motel on the Interstate and we won't charge them for their reservation.
Don't get me started on the two UK couples who were so disappointed at not getting the chocolate cake that we had promised them (as a joke) because of an avalanche last winter, that they drove the long way (4 hr) around the avalanche (and, damn, told us what they were doing), so that at 9 o'clock at night, I baked a cake timed for their arrival.
They were so tired when they arrived and just wanted to go to bed that I didn't have the heart to deliver my speech: "You better eat that damned cake, or there'll be blood on the floor."
They've already booked with us for next winter; I've promised to bake another cake; and I swear, it the weather goes sour, CNN will be reporting on an ax murder in Grand County.
 
My wife's aunt, who with her husband ran a B&B in NC for years, described the problem as "velvet handcuffs."
Of course, that was before the Internet and cell phones and call-forwarding, and so they were prisoners of their phone, as well.
We're much more strict about early check-in than late. People who show up at noon with hope in their eyes and an explanation, "we just wanted to make sure we could find your place in daylight" can come back at four with the rest of the hoi polloi.
Occasionally, a family will show up in the early afternoon with shrieking children and desperation in their eyes and we'll take pity, because their room is ready. But I had to caution one dad about not trying to drown his son, a whirling dervish he had tucked under his arm, in the pool. "Our insurance rates would go up."
"You think I'd do that?!" he asked me, sticking his jaw out.
I looked at him and at the child kicking deep indentation bruises into his butt. "Well, I would."
We reached an understanding. They gave us an awesome TA review and turned out to be exceptional parents with very nice children, when there weren't blood-sugar and sleep issues.
Since we're here on-site, late check-ins aren't nearly the issue for us as they are from some other posters. In the winter, it isn't unusual for us to leave the lights on until the wee hours of the morning, in hopes that the Colorado Department of Transportation will have cleared the avalanche(s) on the pass and opened the road.
Truly, it's a nuisance to get the panicked calls at 10 at night from guest-wannabes thwarted by a closed pass, concerned that we're gonna charge them because they just can't "get there from here" and we have to explain to them in sleep-deprived voices that avalanches are an act of God, and they just need to hole up in a motel on the Interstate and we won't charge them for their reservation.
Don't get me started on the two UK couples who were so disappointed at not getting the chocolate cake that we had promised them (as a joke) because of an avalanche last winter, that they drove the long way (4 hr) around the avalanche (and, damn, told us what they were doing), so that at 9 o'clock at night, I baked a cake timed for their arrival.
They were so tired when they arrived and just wanted to go to bed that I didn't have the heart to deliver my speech: "You better eat that damned cake, or there'll be blood on the floor."
They've already booked with us for next winter; I've promised to bake another cake; and I swear, it the weather goes sour, CNN will be reporting on an ax murder in Grand County..
HML- I LOVE reading your posts! Most of them, such as this one, make me laugh out loud. :)
 
I had one of these yesterday 2pm on the form was getting a bit worried when at 8pm still not arrived so rang mobile left a message as we wanted to get to the super market. They came a few mins later with the confirimation in their hand saying 2pm! said oh I don't know why we filled that in as we were flying in and wouldn't be here any earlier.
 
I had one of these yesterday 2pm on the form was getting a bit worried when at 8pm still not arrived so rang mobile left a message as we wanted to get to the super market. They came a few mins later with the confirimation in their hand saying 2pm! said oh I don't know why we filled that in as we were flying in and wouldn't be here any earlier..
Justifiable homicide, Camberley. If you smothered them in their beds and could get a true jury of your peers (i.e., other innkeepers), you'd absolutely be acquitted.
devil_smile.gif

 
I had one of these yesterday 2pm on the form was getting a bit worried when at 8pm still not arrived so rang mobile left a message as we wanted to get to the super market. They came a few mins later with the confirimation in their hand saying 2pm! said oh I don't know why we filled that in as we were flying in and wouldn't be here any earlier..
Justifiable homicide, Camberley. If you smothered them in their beds and could get a true jury of your peers (i.e., other innkeepers), you'd absolutely be acquitted.
devil_smile.gif

.
InnBloom said:
Justifiable homicide, Camberley. If you smothered them in their beds and could get a true jury of your peers (i.e., other innkeepers), you'd absolutely be acquitted.
devil_smile.gif
hysterical. there is also double jeopardy, right? can't be tried for the same crime twice-so if you/we have to "off" more than one dinghbat....
 
My wife's aunt, who with her husband ran a B&B in NC for years, described the problem as "velvet handcuffs."
Of course, that was before the Internet and cell phones and call-forwarding, and so they were prisoners of their phone, as well.
We're much more strict about early check-in than late. People who show up at noon with hope in their eyes and an explanation, "we just wanted to make sure we could find your place in daylight" can come back at four with the rest of the hoi polloi.
Occasionally, a family will show up in the early afternoon with shrieking children and desperation in their eyes and we'll take pity, because their room is ready. But I had to caution one dad about not trying to drown his son, a whirling dervish he had tucked under his arm, in the pool. "Our insurance rates would go up."
"You think I'd do that?!" he asked me, sticking his jaw out.
I looked at him and at the child kicking deep indentation bruises into his butt. "Well, I would."
We reached an understanding. They gave us an awesome TA review and turned out to be exceptional parents with very nice children, when there weren't blood-sugar and sleep issues.
Since we're here on-site, late check-ins aren't nearly the issue for us as they are from some other posters. In the winter, it isn't unusual for us to leave the lights on until the wee hours of the morning, in hopes that the Colorado Department of Transportation will have cleared the avalanche(s) on the pass and opened the road.
Truly, it's a nuisance to get the panicked calls at 10 at night from guest-wannabes thwarted by a closed pass, concerned that we're gonna charge them because they just can't "get there from here" and we have to explain to them in sleep-deprived voices that avalanches are an act of God, and they just need to hole up in a motel on the Interstate and we won't charge them for their reservation.
Don't get me started on the two UK couples who were so disappointed at not getting the chocolate cake that we had promised them (as a joke) because of an avalanche last winter, that they drove the long way (4 hr) around the avalanche (and, damn, told us what they were doing), so that at 9 o'clock at night, I baked a cake timed for their arrival.
They were so tired when they arrived and just wanted to go to bed that I didn't have the heart to deliver my speech: "You better eat that damned cake, or there'll be blood on the floor."
They've already booked with us for next winter; I've promised to bake another cake; and I swear, it the weather goes sour, CNN will be reporting on an ax murder in Grand County..
HML- I LOVE reading your posts! Most of them, such as this one, make me laugh out loud. :)
.
Thanks, Penelope. We have had a few spectacular PITAs (Pains In The Ass) at the Lodge, but most of our less-that-optimum guests just suffer from self-absorption.
We figured out long ago that our guests' travel plans were more important to them than our policies (imagine that!). We have good "boundaries" so that we don't feel put-upon when guests push our policies. If we can accommodate guests' requests, whether it be early check-in or late check-in, or the Lord only knows what else, then we will do so, because these people are paying our bills, and it isn't up to us to teach them manners.
If we can't accommodate their requests, then we tell them. And if they don't communicate with us before inconvienincing us, then we charge the hell out of their credit card.
We don't punish people because they're assholes or stupid. We are not our guests' parents. We have established policies that we happily invoke when something goes sour.
We don't get angry when guests push our buttons. We just say, "sorry, no."
 
Waited till 11 last night for folks that never showed up. Reservation was thru Expedia/BB.com and I was not provided with any contact info.
I also detest Fridays...waiting around all afternoon and evening! Love when the guests show up early. Our check in is supposed to be between 3-8, and most guests are considerate. I hate when they ask for early check in and don't show up till much, much later!! Oh, how I wish I had the chutzpah to charge for something like that!
 
Waited till 11 last night for folks that never showed up. Reservation was thru Expedia/BB.com and I was not provided with any contact info.
I also detest Fridays...waiting around all afternoon and evening! Love when the guests show up early. Our check in is supposed to be between 3-8, and most guests are considerate. I hate when they ask for early check in and don't show up till much, much later!! Oh, how I wish I had the chutzpah to charge for something like that!.
Aussie Innkeeper said:
I hate when they ask for early check in and don't show up till much, much later!! Oh, how I wish I had the chutzpah to charge for something like that!
If they ask, tell them there is a $25 charge for early check-ins, non-refundable if they show up at the regular time. And charge it when they book. It will either cut down on the early guests or it will give you some extra money for your aggro.
 
Waited till 11 last night for folks that never showed up. Reservation was thru Expedia/BB.com and I was not provided with any contact info.
I also detest Fridays...waiting around all afternoon and evening! Love when the guests show up early. Our check in is supposed to be between 3-8, and most guests are considerate. I hate when they ask for early check in and don't show up till much, much later!! Oh, how I wish I had the chutzpah to charge for something like that!.
Aussie Innkeeper said:
Waited till 11 last night for folks that never showed up. Reservation was thru Expedia/BB.com and I was not provided with any contact info.
I also detest Fridays...waiting around all afternoon and evening! Love when the guests show up early. Our check in is supposed to be between 3-8, and most guests are considerate. I hate when they ask for early check in and don't show up till much, much later!! Oh, how I wish I had the chutzpah to charge for something like that!
We stopped giving permission for early check-ins. The answer now is always a polite no, I'm sorry, it's not possible. They NEVER show up early.
Of course we still have to deal with the early birds who don't ask, but at least we haven't busted ourselves getting their room ready. If it's ready, I'll probably let them in, but if not, away they go!
 
Waited till 11 last night for folks that never showed up. Reservation was thru Expedia/BB.com and I was not provided with any contact info.
I also detest Fridays...waiting around all afternoon and evening! Love when the guests show up early. Our check in is supposed to be between 3-8, and most guests are considerate. I hate when they ask for early check in and don't show up till much, much later!! Oh, how I wish I had the chutzpah to charge for something like that!.
You can actually call Expedia and they will call the client or give you the phone number. BB isn't much use, but Expedia can be very nice about it. 1.888.EXP.1.STOP (888-397-1-7867) in North America or +1 702-933-5452
 
Waited till 11 last night for folks that never showed up. Reservation was thru Expedia/BB.com and I was not provided with any contact info.
I also detest Fridays...waiting around all afternoon and evening! Love when the guests show up early. Our check in is supposed to be between 3-8, and most guests are considerate. I hate when they ask for early check in and don't show up till much, much later!! Oh, how I wish I had the chutzpah to charge for something like that!.
I so can relate to this waiting game-thought well maybe, I could put up preserves everytime I needed to wait-well that was a great thought but now I call around noon of the check-in date and say "this is a courtesy call, and was wondering your approximate check-in time, thus far it has proved to be a great time saver!
 
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