Too weird...would that happen at a hotel? NOT!.
Yeah, but the reason it wouldn't happen is all the hotel room doors are locked! We go the other way...we lock the outside door to avoid this sort of thing.
Remember waaaaaaay back when we used to leave the door unlocked and the keys on the desk so we would know who was here and guests used to just take the keys and go to their rooms without telling us they were here?
I know a place that does that...the innkeepers leave whenever they feel like it (they don't live there) and they leave the extra, unrented room keys in the mailbox. If you call for a room, they tell you to take a key out of the box and pick out your room and let them know which room you picked. (It works for them.)
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Morticia said:
Yeah, but the reason it wouldn't happen is all the hotel room doors are locked!
I've been thinking about this. Doors in most hotels have self-closing hinges and the door self-locks. I can see advantages. Security for the guest in the room since the room's always locked, and security for the guest's stuff since they don't have to remember to manually lock the room when they leave.
Of course, it also makes sure someone can't walk in off the street and help themselves to a room for the night without paying.
But surely a lot of guests end up locking themselves out of the room, with all the headaches that causes.
Do most B&B owners have self-locking bedroom doors, or does the guest have to use a key to lock it when they go out?
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Seems like some people would complain about having to leave their laptops and possessions in unlocked rooms when they're out, for fear of other guests in the house taking stuff. Not that other guests are at all likely to take something, of course, but I'd think a lot of people would worry about that, and some would complain.
I myself might worry about children and teenagers of guests going in other people's rooms. They aren't always as trustworthy as the adults.
Obviously not a problem, though, or you would have solved it.
I'd mention that I've never seen rooms without locks in Europe, but I'm getting the message that y'all are tired of hearing about European ways!
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I do not mind hearing about European ways - I might find something in it. However, I think most B & Bs have locks on the doors although I have toured some that did not (in mid-Ohio River area Ohio - I would never stay there myself however). We have a front door with skeleton key lock so our guestrooms have a key to the deadbolt lock on their door and a key to the kitchen door in case we are out. Many guests leave their doors open - which I do not like - and the guests from NY/NJ lock the door to come down to breakfast!
Self-locking doors are for hotels, they spoil the ambiance of a B & B IMO. Our shared bath has a deadbolt lock and I have the only keys to that. Our guests lock themselves out when they forget to return the bolt into the lock and then shut the door behind them with the keys on the dresser. No biggie - unless it is the bathroom door........at 3 a.m.
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gillumhouse said:
Self-locking doors are for hotels, they spoil the ambiance of a B & B IMO.
I agree completely. Plus the locked-out-in-the-middle-of-the-night problem if they go down the hall to the ice machine without their key.
Which brings up another subject. I've hijacked this thread to ask about door locks. Now ice machines. Do any B&Bs have one out where guests can help themselves? I've never seen one in a B&B.
Since I've been given permission to mention Europe, on a hot day during our recent Britain vacation, my sister was dying for a drink of ice water when we arrived at our B&B. She asked the owner for some ice. The owner's mouth fell open like nobody had ever asked before, then she returned with a cup containing 2 ice cubes.
Those who haven't been there might be amazed at how they get ice in parts of Europe (including, apparently, this UK B&B). They buy them at the store in a sheet of what I'd describe as big bubble wrap. Each ice cube (about a dozen to the sheet) is enclosed its own plastic bubble. They press each precious cube out of it's pocket as they need one (and only one).
This photo is the closest I could find to them, but the ones I've seen are round and look more like bubble wrap than this blister pack:
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