What does your check in look like now?

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Morticia

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Just wondering how your check in has changed, or not, over the past few months.

We’ve eliminated credit card processing by doing it all in advance. Exceptions being declined cards, or repeat guests for whom we don’t have cards on file.

We’re not requiring signatures except for state COVID tracking.

But, we still have keys to give to guests and we still show them to their room. We no longer enter the room to point things out.

Guests still seem chatty as can be and stand around talking to us. We still have chats during breakfast and most guests have opted to dine in instead of outside. (I did get a workout for a few weeks running breakfast trays up and down those stairs the guest complained about, but I’m about 10 years younger than she is. A big difference at that age.)

We’re also not doing room cleaning during the guest’s stay. It has made cleaning once they’re gone a lot more difficult, but we’re trying to stay safe.
 
Just wondering how your check in has changed, or not, over the past few months.

Contactless cc payments, Keys left in their door. Welcome spiel at 6 feet, Individual coffee carafes delivered before breakfast and breakfasts timed one room at top of the hour, the next at the next top of the hour, so far so good with three units max. No room freshening during their stay unless specifically requested. Yes more stains on laundry and more cleaning. But oh well.
 
Our checkin is pretty much the same. We put keys in the doors before checkin so we don't even have to touch them. Then after checkout we run them through our dishwasher to sterilize. When i talk at breakfast, i'm wearing a mask and standing at least 6 feet away. We also eliminated mid-stay room services. The only exception is week-long stays, where we still do a full clean.
 
Check in instructions are on a sheet of paper with the key on the coffee table right in front of the door. On the back of the instruction sheet is a hold harmless agreement and the Massachusetts travel advisory. They keep that with them. Instructions are directions to the room, WiFi info, breakfast info and brief restaurant info. Inside the room is a laminated sheet of policies including no smoking and a list of “2020 stop the spread” policies.

We do greet arrivals, but it’s from behind a Dutch door and masked. We remind them of mask requirements in the house and the town and to sanitize their hands each time they enter the house.

No cleaning until after checkout. Each room gets a laundry bag they can fill with used towels if they want clean ones. Most do not request clean towels.

Switched breakfast from buffet to plated. Removed one of the breakfast tables for better distancing. Added breakfast times. 8, 8:45 or 9:30.
 
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It’s not nearly as warm and friendly, but most people are happy to see we are being serious and careful.
 
we do business as usual. We do not wear a mask ( unless guest is requesting it ) and we do ask every guest if they want the room cleaned during their stay. Most do not. We have sanitizer in common areas and guest rooms

Guests seem to be happy the way we do it except one older lady who stayed the other day. She was so nice while here, chatted with us and played with our Golden Retriever. After check out she send an email and complained. "Your failure to wear a mask or maintain social distance made me most uncomfortable. I am going to report the many violations".

Why don't people have the courage to tell me what they don't like while they are here ? How am I supposed to maintain social distance while serving breakfast ? May be she should have chosen McDonalds Drive-Thru if social distancing is so important to her. To be honest, it did upset me a lot but I responded and just apologized :rolleyes:
 
In our state, wearing masks in public spaces is the law for both the guests and for us. We social distance when we talk with guests in the dining room, but obviously not when we're putting food in front of them. I don't think this guest's concerns were unfounded, but I would have found a way to communicate them without a nasty email afterward.
 
we do business as usual. We do not wear a mask ( unless guest is requesting it ) and we do ask every guest if they want the room cleaned during their stay. Most do not. We have sanitizer in common areas and guest rooms

Guests seem to be happy the way we do it except one older lady who stayed the other day. She was so nice while here, chatted with us and played with our Golden Retriever. After check out she send an email and complained. "Your failure to wear a mask or maintain social distance made me most uncomfortable. I am going to report the many violations".

Why don't people have the courage to tell me what they don't like while they are here ? How am I supposed to maintain social distance while serving breakfast ? May be she should have chosen McDonalds Drive-Thru if social distancing is so important to her. To be honest, it did upset me a lot but I responded and just apologized :rolleyes:

Ugh! It is very frustrating when guests do this. Everything seems peachy and then you get a poor review or "that" email. I always respond with saying that unless you tell us what you are dissatisfied with we can't fix it. To complain after the fact is not fair to us. It robs us of the opportunity to make it right during the stay.
 
For us it is business as usual but with a few simply safety measures in place: Plexiglass shield at the desk, sanitized pens and key cards, touchless hand sanitizer dispenser at the desk, and masks are mandatory for all staff and guest in common areas.
 
Mom and pop motel, guest rooms open to a common porch so guests don't need to come in the house to get to their room. Guest is handed a registration form on a clip board at the office door, I and hopefully the guest are wearing a mask, guest signs form, I swipe credit card and guest signs credit slip, receives verbal information on ice, heat, and internet use, clipboard is wiped with sanitizer and my hands washed. Most of our guests are overnight or shorter stays, gap left following their stay before next guest.
 
I am business as usual - what i have done for the last 24+ years. My guests have said they are happy I am doing what I am doing and the way I am doing it.

Same-Same here! Only one person who grilled me on the phone prior to her visit asking "how are you keeping everyone safe" ...she and everyone in her party didn't wear a mask the whole time with us. Overall, it's been a great season and guests have been happy to be able to relax and enjoy their stay!
 
Same-Same here! Only one person who grilled me on the phone prior to her visit asking "how are you keeping everyone safe" ...she and everyone in her party didn't wear a mask the whole time with us. Overall, it's been a great season and guests have been happy to be able to relax and enjoy their stay!

Quite honestly, it is IMPOSSIBLE for US to keep anyone SAFE. WE cannot control where they go, who they see, WHAT they do. The mask manufacturers even do not claim to protect from COVID. What the politicians, Media, and the unelected talking heads in the Health & Medical community have done to YOUR businesses is criminal. They did not give you a choice to make based on actual data. They used "models" that have been proven to be full of BS. My question is this - How many of those who died in the nursing homes (the majority of the deaths) died because of age related causes that maybe" had a cold (which is the same "family" as COVID) or even WITH but not OF. Every related article, "news " story, internet blast starts with the death count. What better to scare the bejesus out of people than with the death count that has been revised DOWN in many places.

Sorry, but i cannot keep anyone safe - not even me because I drive, take walks, get groceries, and live my life. Oh, I also cross busy streets.
 
I trust scientists. I trust doctors. I trust public health professionals.
I don't trust cable news shows. I don't trust politicians with an incentive to underplay the dangers.
I can't make my place 100% safe, sure. But I can take steps that will REDUCE the likelihood of viral transmission. And that I'm doing and will continue to do. And I won't apologize for that.
200,000 dead is enough of a number for me to take it seriously. And I won't stay at a place that doesn't. I don't shop at places that don't.
 
I trust scientists. I trust doctors. I trust public health professionals.
I don't trust cable news shows. I don't trust politicians with an incentive to underplay the dangers.
I can't make my place 100% safe, sure. But I can take steps that will REDUCE the likelihood of viral transmission. And that I'm doing and will continue to do. And I won't apologize for that.
200,000 dead is enough of a number for me to take it seriously. And I won't stay at a place that doesn't. I don't shop at places that don't.
Agree with all of this.
 
Absolutely agree. All we can do is follow CDC/ local sanitization procedures and protection guidelines to the best of our ability. I’m immunocompromised so careful. Ive already had a few good reviews since buying the Inn for making folks feel safe, so something is working. Frankly science is a thing, in my world - I was raised by a scientist and am married to one.

We check in fairly normally, but don’t enter the rooms, keys are left in a dish in the room - rooms are open until check-in to facilitate this. We leave an info sheet on our Covid changes to standard operations - ie: if guests would like room “fluffing” they can request, but we will not enter during their stay otherwise. Masks required in all common areas. Masks worn to serve and distance maintained as is practicable.

I had a couple today that needed to have a Covid test arranged before they could re-enter Massachusetts from here in Virginia. I arranged it. A new kind of concierge service indeed!
 
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It's not BS to me.

I've lost eight people to Covid-19 - one in his early 30's - most in their late 50's, early 60's.

There also are some elderly who passed too soon because of Covid-19. For the sake of argument, I won't include them in the eight. But those last precious years of life were all the more precious because they were limited. Covid-19 spread like wildfire in the two assisted living facilities where they lived. They did not die from catching a cold.

I am doing whatever I can to try to prevent the spread and I do not shop or stay where masks are not worn.

I inquire ahead of time and make my plans. I am not a confrontational person. If I arrive and feel uncomfortable with precautions, I leave.

I have lost business, lost work, lost money, lost opportunities ... I may lose my home. Wearing a mask a lot of the time is not my favorite thing.

But I have also lost friends and loved ones ... and you can't tell me they wouldn't otherwise be here but for Covid-19.
 
Begs tshe question why they are travelling in this COVID era, the safest thing would be to stay at home. Is their journey really essential?
 
Begs tshe question why they are travelling in this COVID era, the safest thing would be to stay at home. Is their journey really essential?
Most travel right now is non-essential. 99% of our guests are on vacation. We’ve only had a couple of people who were traveling because of essential business needs.

We’re open, but I’m not expecting to be full. I’m actually surprised by the traffic I see. There’s a store in town that has a line outside all day, every day. Generally there are 10-20 people waiting to get in. Makes no sense to me.

It’s a mystery why anyone is traveling right now. What’s a bigger mystery is why anyone is complaining about what’s not open or disappointed that their favorite restaurant closed permanently or upset they have to eat outside. It does seem like a lot of people don’t realize the severity of the situation.

My area (generally speaking) got hit hard and fast. Thousands of people got sick and died because no one knew how to handle the disease. That scared us in a way that lots of people don’t understand. Until you live thru it and know people who have died it’s ‘someone else’s problem.’

We were getting callers from hot spots that were not taking any precautions wondering why they couldn’t just stay here. Why were we being so stupid and restrictive? So many of them told me they’d just go elsewhere. That’s OK with me. Argumentative guests are not my strong suit. I can’t flatter them. So it’s best, still, that they go somewhere else. And I’ll stay home. I live in a beautiful place and I have time to enjoy it.
 
Just wondering how your check in has changed, or not, over the past few months.

We’ve eliminated credit card processing by doing it all in advance. Exceptions being declined cards, or repeat guests for whom we don’t have cards on file.

We’re not requiring signatures except for state COVID tracking.

But, we still have keys to give to guests and we still show them to their room. We no longer enter the room to point things out.

Guests still seem chatty as can be and stand around talking to us. We still have chats during breakfast and most guests have opted to dine in instead of outside. (I did get a workout for a few weeks running breakfast trays up and down those stairs the guest complained about, but I’m about 10 years younger than she is. A big difference at that age.)

We’re also not doing room cleaning during the guest’s stay. It has made cleaning once they’re gone a lot more difficult, but we’re trying to stay safe.
I have had some guests show up wearing masks but none of them wear masks after they initially check in. It is their choice. I continue to sanitize but I do not wear a mask either. If someone meets the criteria for exemption from wearing a mask I cannot legally ask what their issue is and they are exempt. Even the CDC has inadvertantely admitted that the masks are not really effective (see attachment). The virus is much smaller than smoke particles. If someone is high risk they need to stay home.Screen Shot 2020-09-25 at 11.29.35 AM.png
 
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