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Arks

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Happens a few times a year. How about you?...

Reservation comes in for 2 people in the room. They arrive and are shocked, SHOCKED that the room is just a king size bed, and they have to share with a brother or friend.

Of course, the website says there's just one bed, but, as we know, nobody reads.

So I end up putting in an air mattress, which is additional $12/person/night, and they are all upset, because a) they don't read and b) motel rooms have 2 queens in the rooms.

Drives. Me. Crazy!
 
I’ve had a few incidents where guests have looked at the photos and made assumptions about the room layout. The description states there are two beds but they assume the beds are in different rooms even tho the words say otherwise.

To assume any room has two KING beds is a bit of a stretch. They must have the same problems at motels.

And, you know I’ve got that one room with the bath across the hall. Oy! The problems I’ve had with that.
 
Ditto on the one room with the bath across the hall. I'm in that club.

As for those people who somehow think a queen is going to magically transform into two beds, tough.
When that comes up, if I have an opening in a 2-bedroom suite I offer them the option to upgrade. They never want to spend the extra money. When I don't have it, tough. It's what you bought (and you know it's what you bought).
 
Yes, we’ve had that. My favorite is the four guys on the fishing trip who landed here at an antique house decorated in toile and mirrors. They had two rooms reserved. One had two beds, one of which is a four poster with a canopy. The other room was a queen bed. We did give them an air mattress. They ended up being the nicest guests! Promised to bring their wives back. And they laughed the whole time about who would get the “princess bed!”
 
Mort, because of covid, mostly because we needed the storage space, we closed the bathroom-down-the- hall room last year. A nice surprise was how we never had to explain the bathroom down the hall or feel badly for someone who didn’t know that’s what they booked. A nice side advantage.

( it was a shame to close it because we had had it recarpeted and had done some work on the bed frame and reorganized the furniture placement before we realized we needed it for blanket, sheet and tp storage.)
 
I went from my first 10 years as 3 with shared to 1 ensuite and 2 that share (since 2006). Everything says shared with those rooms and I have never had a problem (I do offer an extra fee option to not rent the other room). It really depends a lot (I believe) on your location expectations. I have had calls asking if there were 2 b3eds in the room and explain this is an old house - the rooms are not big enough for 2 beds. (And I do have a spring-loaded cot - no cross bar - that I have put up for 2 men in the room for extra fee of course. No air mattress here.)
 
Mort, because of covid, mostly because we needed the storage space, we closed the bathroom-down-the- hall room last year. A nice surprise was how we never had to explain the bathroom down the hall or feel badly for someone who didn’t know that’s what they booked. A nice side advantage.

( it was a shame to close it because we had had it recarpeted and had done some work on the bed frame and reorganized the furniture placement before we realized we needed it for blanket, sheet and tp storage.)
We also closed that room last year and used it for storage! It was nice not to worry someone didn’t read anything but the price.
 
Another big battle we have in the post-AirBnB era is guests who want to jam as many people as they can in their room. If it's rated for 2, they want to throw another person in on the floor. If it's rated for 4, they want 5 or 6 .

We always blame the fire marshall, but it's a constant battle with us.
 
Another big battle we have in the post-AirBnB era is guests who want to jam as many people as they can in their room. If it's rated for 2, they want to throw another person in on the floor. If it's rated for 4, they want 5 or 6 .

We always blame the fire marshall, but it's a constant battle with us.
Here as well, and not only the air crowd. We get it a lot with families. Parents don’t want to pay for beds for their children. They insist they’ll bring inflatables for the kids. Our rooms are small! An inflatable would mean no one could move without stepping on someone.

The fire marshal comes in handy. We also have a limit on the number of guests in the building. If I allow 5 in a room for 2, I have to close off 2 other rooms. For every wise ass who asks if I *really* think the fire marshal will show up that particular day I have to tell them they (the guest) are not worth me losing my license and they should really go to a hotel. A friend recently had two rooms booked for a single guest in each room. When she got a call asking for room for a family she contacted the single guest to ask if she would switch rooms. That’s when she found out there were seven guests in the party when she was told there were only two.
 
Must be something in the air this week, or else this thread jinxed me.
Got a call last night trying to jam a 5th person in a 4-person room. Couldn't get her to understand why we couldn't do it. ("It's just a small child!")
SO explained the fire marshall thing, even that fell on deaf ears. She pointed out we could lose our license, and we wouldn't be insured if something went wrong. Crickets.
She knows she can only have 4, but I figure I have a 30% chance of her showing up with 5 anyway.
 
Isn't it usually all about money with folks? I can understand an extra toddler that sleeps with mom and dad. System will allow an extra for a fee but most wouldn't like the fee for an extra adult. I guess I got old and grumpy, my place, my rules, hard for someone to argue
 
Must be something in the air this week, or else this thread jinxed me.
Got a call last night trying to jam a 5th person in a 4-person room. Couldn't get her to understand why we couldn't do it. ("It's just a small child!")
SO explained the fire marshall thing, even that fell on deaf ears. She pointed out we could lose our license, and we wouldn't be insured if something went wrong. Crickets.
She knows she can only have 4, but I figure I have a 30% chance of her showing up with 5 anyway.
I know I'm getting old because my first thought is to respond 'which one of you are you willing to leave in the burning building when I tell the fire marshal there are only four in your room?'
 
Oh yes, I got chewed out a few weeks ago because the couple arrived and there was no sofa bed for them to use for the 3rd and 4th person they brought. I said, "But you made the reservation for 2 people. If I'd known it was 4, I would have set up the queen size air mattress, and it would have cost extra for that."

So instead of backing down, since she was planning to slip in 2 free ones, she doubled down. When we made the reservation months ago the website said there was a sofa bed in the room, she said.

I said yes, the fold-out mechanism stopped working, so I set up an air mattress now.

So why didn't you tell me, she says.

Because you said only 2 people were coming, I said.

That shouldn't matter, she said. Your website said there was a sofa bed!

I realized I was wasting my breath. They didn't get the air mattress and I didn't charge extra for the 2 extras. I have no idea where they slept.

It ruined an otherwise perfectly good weekend!
 
I actually told a guest in January that was combative upon arrival for a one-night stay:
"You don't HAVE to stay here, and in fact I ENCOURAGE you to call and go somewhere else."
Then I wheeled and left him in the lobby as I went back to the kitchen.

He went outside, stewed, made phone calls only to discover that on a holiday weekend there were NO rooms for his family.

The final joke was on me though: He stole two bathrobes when he left.
 
The final joke was on me though: He stole two bathrobes when he left.

I hope you thanked him for the purchase as you charged his card! I also offered to cancel my recent trouble guest with no cancellation fee if they wanted to go to Days Inn. The woman said, no, we don't have time to move. I'll bet! They were staying in my 1100 sq ft apartment. Can't compare with a room and 2 queen beds at the hotel.
 
I wonder if this is an American thing that you're all describing?
It would be curious to hear if innkeepers from Europe or other places are having as many "customers with attitudes", especially in regards to the number of people in the room.
 
I wonder if this is an American thing that you're all describing?
It would be curious to hear if innkeepers from Europe or other places are having as many "customers with attitudes", especially in regards to the number of people in the room.

Based on a Facebook group that I follow it does not seem to be only an American thing to desire to slip in extra guests.
 
I don't recall how it is now, but I remember that the first time I visited Europe, the hotels there usually charged "per room" regardless of number of people, while the US has always charged extra for more than 2 in a room.

So the incentive here is to book for 2, then slip in more people without paying for them.

Plus, the pandemic has people more grouchy than normal, I think!
 
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