What is a bed and breakfast?

[greyswan]

We use $ amount rather than a room give away on our gift certs and have an exp date of one year from the event with the rest of the restrictions, i.e. not redeemable for cash value, age.... I like the idea of using the statement of "same as house policies" That would be less to write and not a hassle if policies change. Haven't had too many calls for donations lately (quickly knocking on wood)

 

[SweetiePie]

[No message].

What's wrong Innsiderinfo are you drawing a blank today?

 

[Proud Texan]

DW and I have discussed donating GC for the various local auctions, but, as was previously pointed out, it IS advertising and as such has to be be thought of that way. For us, advertising locally isn't really to our advantage. 99% of our business comes from the big surrrounding cities and not locally. Since our advertising budget is limited (and stretched) we decided not to give out GC.
This comes close to being in the same discussion about whether to belong to the local Chamber or not. If, bottom line, it's not going to bring us income, what's the point? Good will? You can't eat good will.
Our florist did purchase a GC for a valentine's day promotion. In previous years they had a drawing for a free once-a-month-for-a-year flower delivery. This was really expensive for them. This year the drawing for 2 nights at our B&B was a huge hit and saved them a considerable sum. They have already committed to doing it again next year.

 

[The Farmers Daughter]

A couple years ago we donated a GC for a Hospital Fundraiser. A woman in her 80's (and a hospital volunteer) was the winner. She was so excited when she got here, she fell down the steps and broke her wrist. The amblance came and wisked her back to the same hospital that we donated to.
The grand irony is, then she sued us.

 

[wendydk]

I don't donate gift certificates anymore. We have one or two causes that we donate cash to and respectfully decline all others.

 

[Proud Texan]

A couple years ago we donated a GC for a Hospital Fundraiser. A woman in her 80's (and a hospital volunteer) was the winner. She was so excited when she got here, she fell down the steps and broke her wrist. The amblance came and wisked her back to the same hospital that we donated to.
The grand irony is, then she sued us..

A couple years ago we donated a GC for a Hospital Fundraiser. A woman in her 80's (and a hospital volunteer) was the winner. She was so excited when she got here, she fell down the steps and broke her wrist. The amblance came and wisked her back to the same hospital that we donated to.
The grand irony is, then she sued us.

Can't fix stupid.

 

[DaisyMae]

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount.

 

[Morticia]

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount..

Wow. I've never had anyone THAT miserable. Usually they start off high in the hopes that by the time they're down to $50 you'll offer that much.
We got taken the first year here by some bogus Firefighters fund. When we got the cancelled check back it had been cashed in PA.

 

[Proud Texan]

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount..

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount.

What a jerk! You really don't owe him, or anyone else for that matter, an explanation. I know you were probably polite in your response to his jerktitude....I wouldn't have been.

 

[The Farmers Daughter]

A couple years ago we donated a GC for a Hospital Fundraiser. A woman in her 80's (and a hospital volunteer) was the winner. She was so excited when she got here, she fell down the steps and broke her wrist. The amblance came and wisked her back to the same hospital that we donated to.
The grand irony is, then she sued us..

A couple years ago we donated a GC for a Hospital Fundraiser. A woman in her 80's (and a hospital volunteer) was the winner. She was so excited when she got here, she fell down the steps and broke her wrist. The amblance came and wisked her back to the same hospital that we donated to.
The grand irony is, then she sued us.

Can't fix stupid.
.

A couple years ago we donated a GC for a Hospital Fundraiser. A woman in her 80's (and a hospital volunteer) was the winner. She was so excited when she got here, she fell down the steps and broke her wrist. The amblance came and wisked her back to the same hospital that we donated to.
The grand irony is, then she sued us.

Can't fix stupid.

We fought her and won btw. Since then, I am not willing to donate to that hospital anymore. I do however, donate to many other worthy causes.

 

[NW BB]

I don't donate gift certificates anymore. We have one or two causes that we donate cash to and respectfully decline all others..

I don't donate gift certificates anymore. We have one or two causes that we donate cash to and respectfully decline all others.

Same here! I've had too many negatives regarding gift certificates, that I just stopped and will donate cash to our favorite charities.

 

[NW BB]

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount..

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount.

After a few years of donating gift certificates, I started donating only certificates worth $50. I would always tell them to bundle it with other certificates to make a nice package. Can you believe it? Not one of those certificates ever got redeemed! I even had a pastor refuse a $50 certificate. With him it was all or nothing. Ingrate!! That's when I stopped donating any kind of certificate and just give cash to my own charities.

 

[Morticia]

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount..

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount.

After a few years of donating gift certificates, I started donating only certificates worth $50. I would always tell them to bundle it with other certificates to make a nice package. Can you believe it? Not one of those certificates ever got redeemed! I even had a pastor refuse a $50 certificate. With him it was all or nothing. Ingrate!! That's when I stopped donating any kind of certificate and just give cash to my own charities.
.

we donated 2 $100.00 certs & 1 $50.00 cert this year. However, if we donated to all of the causes that ask us to donate, i would be giving a great many nights away for free. we wish we could afford to donate more than what we do, we need $$ too. We are not greedy but we do have to pay bills and support ourselves. We do not live a lavish lifestyle, by any means, but still...
Do you all feel that a great many people think that just because you are a business owner that you are reeking of money? many times when i tell people that we have already made our donations for the year/season they are visibly disappointed/annoyed and i guess that turns me off even more.
in fact, 1 time a man called, our first year in business, and asked about a $500.00 donation. i told him that unfortunately we would not be able to do that right now but possibly in the future. he says, "yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, i know, its the off season and you don't have any money, blah, blah, blah" i was quite offended by his reaction to my polite,although limited, explanation of why we would not be able to donate that large amount.

After a few years of donating gift certificates, I started donating only certificates worth $50. I would always tell them to bundle it with other certificates to make a nice package. Can you believe it? Not one of those certificates ever got redeemed! I even had a pastor refuse a $50 certificate. With him it was all or nothing. Ingrate!! That's when I stopped donating any kind of certificate and just give cash to my own charities.

I'm still doing the whole night GC's but I have a list of my 'favs' to donate to. This year I did the bundling myself and got some other folks to go in on it with me to offer dinner, lunch, that sort of thing to make it more likely they might want to stay longer. BUT, these are all local, so not likely that anyone will do more than what they won.
And now that almost every group has the list of auction items on the website, I check to see if there are a ton of lodging GC's and then I won't participate. People get bored bidding on the same things.
I've been asked to do 2 nights (and cajoled with 'your neighbor is doing 2 nights...'). No thanks. 2 free nights? I don't think so.
I will say that one new group I did this year was very thankful for the 'bundled' pkg. They told me a number of times no one else had done that and it was really a good combo of items. We'll see. That auction in tomorrow. I always liked winning a getaway night with 'stuff to do' in the pkg.

 

[Country Girl]

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire.

 

[swirt]

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire..

GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire.
I think that varies from state to state so you'd have to check that out for your area.
I think many in the regions where they can't "expire" them put in a disclaimer that it is for an amount only rather than "one free night in xyz room"
If it were me (and I couldn't expire it) I'd have her pay the difference if it is significant.

 

[gillumhouse]

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire..

It would depend on whether it was a piad or a donation. My donated certificates are sometimes used as presents. A couple weeks ago a freebies was used - she bought it at the Gov Conf Silent Auction - that she had called me before Christmas to see if she could get something a bit more "personal" because she was giving it to her feller for Christmas. I did up a Christmas tree with ornaments of covered bridges photos & my logo, etc. It still had the 6 month expire.
I have had paid GCs take a couple years to get used. I just honor them. Had one take 5 years because they thought it was history since it burned when their house burned down. It was a wedding gift from her co-workers. I met them at another Conference and knew what B & B it was when she told me their names. Yes, the rates had changed and it was now a private bath instead of shared but I honored it as the one night stay that was given to them.

 

[Morticia]

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire..

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire.

If she doesn't have it the GC, make sure she signs off on your copy when she arrives. That way she doesn't 'find' the GC next year! And, yes, if the amount is substantial enough, I would tell her she will need to pay the difference. We've had that twice already this year.

 

[JBloggs]

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire..

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire.

I once stuffed a starbucks gift card in a magazine and threw the magazine out. I wonder if starbucks would give me the $30 in coffee now?
If the GC was for a specific room and you are honoring the gc, then you can't charge her anything extra, unless it stated the value "One night stay in The ABC Room $150 Value" ? I think you are being more than generous to honor it, if it is lost then she can't redeem it in opinion. I am sure starbucks has copies of all their sales as well...SOL.

 

[Morticia]

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire..

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire.

I once stuffed a starbucks gift card in a magazine and threw the magazine out. I wonder if starbucks would give me the $30 in coffee now?
If the GC was for a specific room and you are honoring the gc, then you can't charge her anything extra, unless it stated the value "One night stay in The ABC Room $150 Value" ? I think you are being more than generous to honor it, if it is lost then she can't redeem it in opinion. I am sure starbucks has copies of all their sales as well...SOL.
.

What would you do in this situation? A woman called the other day and said she received a gift certificate from her friend 3 or 4 years ago (she couldn't remember) but never used it. Now she wants to use it but she lost the certificate. Could she still stay with us? Luckily I found my copy. So I said yes. Our rates have gone up since then. Do I charge her the difference or just leave it as it is? Also, we put a one year expiration date on our GC but I've heard recently that that is not legal and GC should never expire.

I once stuffed a starbucks gift card in a magazine and threw the magazine out. I wonder if starbucks would give me the $30 in coffee now?
If the GC was for a specific room and you are honoring the gc, then you can't charge her anything extra, unless it stated the value "One night stay in The ABC Room $150 Value" ? I think you are being more than generous to honor it, if it is lost then she can't redeem it in opinion. I am sure starbucks has copies of all their sales as well...SOL.

But if she doesn't have the GC, she doesn't know what it says, does she? My guess is she's looking right at it, sees the expiration date and is trying to get something for nothing. It's worth a try, right?
This scenario is why I don't sell GC's for anything other than a stated cash value. And even THAT didn't work because the people I sold the GC to printed up their own and took the price off and put a room name instead.
And, as you said, would Starbucks take a GC I printed out on my computer rather than the one they sold to me in the first place?
We had a rash of 'I lost the GC but I know it was for this room for 2 nights.' Always the most expensive room. We found copies of some of them, but not all of them.

 

[happykeeper]

We just provided a substantial set of prizes to a visitor's bureau promotion. The difference is that these folks have an advertising budget and our name was plastered all over the radio across our island and now in Honolulu. Obviously, we could never afford this kind of publicity and advertising, so the GC's we gave have helped us reach a broad market over an extended promotional period. We provided talking points and hoped for the best. We have had several people we know comment on how they kept hearing our name on the radio as the grand prize. While many of our local listeners might not be interested themselves, you never know who will remember us and send someone our way. This is how a GC should work IMHO