When they aren't moving and don't show for breakfast...

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JBloggs

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Do you bang on their door? Just wait til check out? Even if it IS NOW check out time? Do you have a late check out fee?
 
I used to not do anything but why frustrate yourself. Unless someone has said they do not want breakfast, then yes within 10 mins of "late time" I certainly would knock on their door and nicely remind them they had a scheduled breakfast at x time.
Ref check out time - do you NEED to get into the room RIGHT THEN? We all know we can only clean one room at a time so making everyone leave by x time is a nice policy but if you have other rooms to clean it does not matter that much if someone checks out a little later - however if it is PAST check out time and you have not heard from them, a knock and a "will you be needing a late check out" is not a bad thing. If they only need an extra hour or two and it does not affect you that much (you don't need the room that night or have other rooms to clean) then no biggie, if it is much later or really inconvenient, just say nicely that you do need to make them aware that a late check out fee of x$ will apply.
Or a knock and "we do need to start cleaning the room in 30 minutes ...."
And no I would not have any breakfast for them other than coffee, leftover baked goods if there are any and cereals/juice.
 
Joey Bloggs said:
Do you bang on their door? Just wait til check out? Even if it IS NOW check out time? Do you have a late check out fee?
If they don't check out on time, I knock on the door. SOP is to ask if they need help with their luggage. Most of the time I get SHOCK, absolute SHOCK that check-out is at 11 and not NOON, 'like every other B&B I've ever stayed at.' Give me strength. It's right on the damn door what time check-out is.
If they don't show for brekkie, their loss. I don't go looking for them as they might be doing something more fun than brekkie.
 
We do have a late checkout fee. $50. After 1 PM I charge for the whole day because it is too late to clean the room at that point. Housekeeper is gone and I'm on to other things.
If the guests hustle and get out in 15 minutes I don't charge. But, if it's noon and they're dragging their feet, I will mention the fee they agreed to when they checked in.
I've never had to charge it.
 
I always have this moment, when I haven't seen them since check-in and they didn't show for breakfast and now it's past check-out time...what if they're dead in there?
It's morbid, I know but who knows what goes on behind those doors, you could be opening the door to a murder-suicide scene for all we know!!!
 
I used to not do anything but why frustrate yourself. Unless someone has said they do not want breakfast, then yes within 10 mins of "late time" I certainly would knock on their door and nicely remind them they had a scheduled breakfast at x time.
Ref check out time - do you NEED to get into the room RIGHT THEN? We all know we can only clean one room at a time so making everyone leave by x time is a nice policy but if you have other rooms to clean it does not matter that much if someone checks out a little later - however if it is PAST check out time and you have not heard from them, a knock and a "will you be needing a late check out" is not a bad thing. If they only need an extra hour or two and it does not affect you that much (you don't need the room that night or have other rooms to clean) then no biggie, if it is much later or really inconvenient, just say nicely that you do need to make them aware that a late check out fee of x$ will apply.
Or a knock and "we do need to start cleaning the room in 30 minutes ...."
And no I would not have any breakfast for them other than coffee, leftover baked goods if there are any and cereals/juice..
Yes.. I need to get into the room right then! I have someone who wants their room by 3PM. I have loads of laundry to do and I need to get the room stripped as soon as possible so that I can start the wash and then start getting the rooms in order for the next person.
When I get into the room late, the next guest will get the room late and I want to avoid that at all costs. My check-in time is 3PM and I have a long list of things that I have to do to get all my rooms ready for check-in. Even if they have later arrival times, I can't relax until all my rooms are ready and done.
 
If they don't show for breakfast, no big deal. It's their choice. But at noon, we need the room and so about that time we knock on the door and remind them.
Now, how often have we had to do that? Once. Not really a big deal. They ask all the time about leaving luggage and we tell them where to leave it and that's fine. But they generally realize that they have to be out of the room by noon (soon to be 11AM).
There was that one day where everyone was out by 9AM... everyone. And no check-ins until after 4PM. Off came my trousers! It was an underwear morning!
 
I always have this moment, when I haven't seen them since check-in and they didn't show for breakfast and now it's past check-out time...what if they're dead in there?
It's morbid, I know but who knows what goes on behind those doors, you could be opening the door to a murder-suicide scene for all we know!!!.
Don Draper said:
I always have this moment, when I haven't seen them since check-in and they didn't show for breakfast and now it's past check-out time...what if they're dead in there?
It's morbid, I know but who knows what goes on behind those doors, you could be opening the door to a murder-suicide scene for all we know!!!
You and I think too much alike. I'm always going around asking, 'Have you heard anything from X Room this morning? Anything? Water running? Breathing? Anything at all?'
 
I used to not do anything but why frustrate yourself. Unless someone has said they do not want breakfast, then yes within 10 mins of "late time" I certainly would knock on their door and nicely remind them they had a scheduled breakfast at x time.
Ref check out time - do you NEED to get into the room RIGHT THEN? We all know we can only clean one room at a time so making everyone leave by x time is a nice policy but if you have other rooms to clean it does not matter that much if someone checks out a little later - however if it is PAST check out time and you have not heard from them, a knock and a "will you be needing a late check out" is not a bad thing. If they only need an extra hour or two and it does not affect you that much (you don't need the room that night or have other rooms to clean) then no biggie, if it is much later or really inconvenient, just say nicely that you do need to make them aware that a late check out fee of x$ will apply.
Or a knock and "we do need to start cleaning the room in 30 minutes ...."
And no I would not have any breakfast for them other than coffee, leftover baked goods if there are any and cereals/juice..
Yes.. I need to get into the room right then! I have someone who wants their room by 3PM. I have loads of laundry to do and I need to get the room stripped as soon as possible so that I can start the wash and then start getting the rooms in order for the next person.
When I get into the room late, the next guest will get the room late and I want to avoid that at all costs. My check-in time is 3PM and I have a long list of things that I have to do to get all my rooms ready for check-in. Even if they have later arrival times, I can't relax until all my rooms are ready and done.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
I can't relax until all my rooms are ready and done.
Exactly. Who wants to have unmade rooms hanging over their heads all day? It's awful.
 
If they don't show for breakfast, no big deal. It's their choice. But at noon, we need the room and so about that time we knock on the door and remind them.
Now, how often have we had to do that? Once. Not really a big deal. They ask all the time about leaving luggage and we tell them where to leave it and that's fine. But they generally realize that they have to be out of the room by noon (soon to be 11AM).
There was that one day where everyone was out by 9AM... everyone. And no check-ins until after 4PM. Off came my trousers! It was an underwear morning!.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
If they don't show for breakfast, no big deal. It's their choice. But at noon, we need the room and so about that time we knock on the door and remind them.
Now, how often have we had to do that? Once. Not really a big deal. They ask all the time about leaving luggage and we tell them where to leave it and that's fine. But they generally realize that they have to be out of the room by noon (soon to be 11AM).
There was that one day where everyone was out by 9AM... everyone. And no check-ins until after 4PM. Off came my trousers! It was an underwear morning!
Thank you Eric Arthur ... just what I needed to "imagine" on a Sunday morning, you in your underwear .....
 
I used to not do anything but why frustrate yourself. Unless someone has said they do not want breakfast, then yes within 10 mins of "late time" I certainly would knock on their door and nicely remind them they had a scheduled breakfast at x time.
Ref check out time - do you NEED to get into the room RIGHT THEN? We all know we can only clean one room at a time so making everyone leave by x time is a nice policy but if you have other rooms to clean it does not matter that much if someone checks out a little later - however if it is PAST check out time and you have not heard from them, a knock and a "will you be needing a late check out" is not a bad thing. If they only need an extra hour or two and it does not affect you that much (you don't need the room that night or have other rooms to clean) then no biggie, if it is much later or really inconvenient, just say nicely that you do need to make them aware that a late check out fee of x$ will apply.
Or a knock and "we do need to start cleaning the room in 30 minutes ...."
And no I would not have any breakfast for them other than coffee, leftover baked goods if there are any and cereals/juice..
Yes.. I need to get into the room right then! I have someone who wants their room by 3PM. I have loads of laundry to do and I need to get the room stripped as soon as possible so that I can start the wash and then start getting the rooms in order for the next person.
When I get into the room late, the next guest will get the room late and I want to avoid that at all costs. My check-in time is 3PM and I have a long list of things that I have to do to get all my rooms ready for check-in. Even if they have later arrival times, I can't relax until all my rooms are ready and done.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
Yes.. I need to get into the room right then! I have someone who wants their room by 3PM. I have loads of laundry to do and I need to get the room stripped as soon as possible so that I can start the wash and then start getting the rooms in order for the next person.
When I get into the room late, the next guest will get the room late and I want to avoid that at all costs. My check-in time is 3PM and I have a long list of things that I have to do to get all my rooms ready for check-in. Even if they have later arrival times, I can't relax until all my rooms are ready and done.
Again, if you need the room right then because you have an arrival, I would not wait until check out time to knock, I would have knocked when they no showed for breakfast ..... my post was trying to show the various scenarios
 
If they don't show for breakfast, no big deal. It's their choice. But at noon, we need the room and so about that time we knock on the door and remind them.
Now, how often have we had to do that? Once. Not really a big deal. They ask all the time about leaving luggage and we tell them where to leave it and that's fine. But they generally realize that they have to be out of the room by noon (soon to be 11AM).
There was that one day where everyone was out by 9AM... everyone. And no check-ins until after 4PM. Off came my trousers! It was an underwear morning!.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
If they don't show for breakfast, no big deal. It's their choice. But at noon, we need the room and so about that time we knock on the door and remind them.
Now, how often have we had to do that? Once. Not really a big deal. They ask all the time about leaving luggage and we tell them where to leave it and that's fine. But they generally realize that they have to be out of the room by noon (soon to be 11AM).
There was that one day where everyone was out by 9AM... everyone. And no check-ins until after 4PM. Off came my trousers! It was an underwear morning!
Thank you Eric Arthur ... just what I needed to "imagine" on a Sunday morning, you in your underwear .....
.
Here... hope this helps....
130369209v7_480x480_Front_Color-White.jpg

 
I used to not do anything but why frustrate yourself. Unless someone has said they do not want breakfast, then yes within 10 mins of "late time" I certainly would knock on their door and nicely remind them they had a scheduled breakfast at x time.
Ref check out time - do you NEED to get into the room RIGHT THEN? We all know we can only clean one room at a time so making everyone leave by x time is a nice policy but if you have other rooms to clean it does not matter that much if someone checks out a little later - however if it is PAST check out time and you have not heard from them, a knock and a "will you be needing a late check out" is not a bad thing. If they only need an extra hour or two and it does not affect you that much (you don't need the room that night or have other rooms to clean) then no biggie, if it is much later or really inconvenient, just say nicely that you do need to make them aware that a late check out fee of x$ will apply.
Or a knock and "we do need to start cleaning the room in 30 minutes ...."
And no I would not have any breakfast for them other than coffee, leftover baked goods if there are any and cereals/juice..
Yes.. I need to get into the room right then! I have someone who wants their room by 3PM. I have loads of laundry to do and I need to get the room stripped as soon as possible so that I can start the wash and then start getting the rooms in order for the next person.
When I get into the room late, the next guest will get the room late and I want to avoid that at all costs. My check-in time is 3PM and I have a long list of things that I have to do to get all my rooms ready for check-in. Even if they have later arrival times, I can't relax until all my rooms are ready and done.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
Yes.. I need to get into the room right then! I have someone who wants their room by 3PM. I have loads of laundry to do and I need to get the room stripped as soon as possible so that I can start the wash and then start getting the rooms in order for the next person.
When I get into the room late, the next guest will get the room late and I want to avoid that at all costs. My check-in time is 3PM and I have a long list of things that I have to do to get all my rooms ready for check-in. Even if they have later arrival times, I can't relax until all my rooms are ready and done.
Again, if you need the room right then because you have an arrival, I would not wait until check out time to knock, I would have knocked when they no showed for breakfast ..... my post was trying to show the various scenarios
.
agoodman said:
Again, if you need the room right then because you have an arrival, I would not wait until check out time to knock, I would have knocked when they no showed for breakfast ..... my post was trying to show the various scenarios
As I said, not showing up for breakfast, that's their choice. But when it gets close to noon, we remind them of their impending doom. Usually, we start stripping the beds loudly to give them the needed hint and as I said, I have only had to go in at noon once to remind people... they usually get the hint a long time before then.
 
"My weekend begins when you leave" :) If it was getting close to check out time, we started cleaning rooms around them and if by check out they weren't gone, we knock on the door and tell them. It is passed check out time and we need to get the room ready for our next guests....even if we didn't have anyone else really coming in.
 
"My weekend begins when you leave" :) If it was getting close to check out time, we started cleaning rooms around them and if by check out they weren't gone, we knock on the door and tell them. It is passed check out time and we need to get the room ready for our next guests....even if we didn't have anyone else really coming in..
Because this sort of thing has been going on since before we had an online avail calendar, I have to say most guests who overstay their welcome are just clueless sprites. They live their entire lives with the people around them tearing out their hair because they, the sprites, just don't care about time. In reality, it is rude behavior, not cute like they think it is. It is not 'in the moment' living it is theft of time and services.
For anyone who reads this as us being rigid and inhospitable, get real. You show up for work late, you get docked pay or are expected to stay later to make it up. (Do it often enough you get fired.) You show up for your dr appt late you might just be rescheduled. You show up after the store is closed, you don't get what you came for. It's a fact of life. Deal with it.
Is it really THAT hard for you (the clueless sprite) to understand that other people are involved here? There are days I would love to know what they're thinking. 'Oh they won't mind, they're such nice people.' 'They're cleaning the other rooms, they can't do this one at the same time.' 'Their maid will take care of this whenever we leave.' 'There's no one checking into this room today, why should they care when we leave.' 'Sheesh, it's only 11:30 what's the big deal?' Etc.
The entire attitude is that we are here to serve. Not a single guest ever considers we might have planned something because we KNOW check-out is 11 AM. This is why I block off the day BEFORE my vacation begins. So I'm not racing around hoping guests will leave on time.
 
138PM and she is finally up and moving up there. We knocked on her door and asked if she is okay, and then are you checking out today, it is 11am. She did sign up for a breakfast seating for this morning. She said "I am checking out Sunday" we replied, "It IS Sunday" "Well can I check out Monday?" "Sure" and left it at that.
DH wants me to find out what is going on, and I said "None of my business."
cry_smile.gif
 
We had two of them today and not a sound! and their room is in a postion where all the others have to troop past it to get down the stairs so they must sleep like the dead as they were all banging their bags and laughing and chatting loudly (I didn't quiten them cos thought that will get them up) DH was going it Ive bet theyve done a runner! I was more worried they had done a runner cos they had thrown up in the room or some other awful thing. (room has brand new carpet) they were fine only 15 mins late and no damage or mess!
 
Btw, we had guests from another state a couple years ago. From the same city as an innkeeper here on this forum, I mentioned their B&B and they told me about their business rep who stayed at an inn on the same street as the inn from this forum, who died. He was a young man, married wtih kids, never away from home. The office called the inn to find out what was keeping him, as he didn't answer his mobile phone, the maid went to check and found him dead of a heart attack on the toilet.
The innkeeper on this forum had not even heard about it, so they hushed it up pretty well. But it DOES happen. I am always worried about single guests like this, as is this one here today, on her own here. I always try to give single guests a bit more attention. Most of our female business travelers will give me brief schedule for their visit to just have someone know where they are or should be.
But then there are the stalkers. Have had one here before, and they always are on their own in their stalking, guess it is not a group sport.
 
138PM and she is finally up and moving up there. We knocked on her door and asked if she is okay, and then are you checking out today, it is 11am. She did sign up for a breakfast seating for this morning. She said "I am checking out Sunday" we replied, "It IS Sunday" "Well can I check out Monday?" "Sure" and left it at that.
DH wants me to find out what is going on, and I said "None of my business."
cry_smile.gif
.
Joey Bloggs said:
138PM and she is finally up and moving up there. We knocked on her door and asked if she is okay, and then are you checking out today, it is 11am. She did sign up for a breakfast seating for this morning. She said "I am checking out Sunday" we replied, "It IS Sunday" "Well can I check out Monday?" "Sure" and left it at that.
DH wants me to find out what is going on, and I said "None of my business."
cry_smile.gif
Holy cow.
 
When checking in 1 nighters, I try to remember to tell them that check-out tomorrow is by 11:00. This seems to help. When we first bought the inn, it was much more of a problem than it is now. The POs used to let everyone check-in early and check-out late. We get lots of repeats, so this was a huge issue until we were able to retrain the guests. If they're not out by 11:15, they get a knock. Most of the time it's because they think check-out is 12:00, but since we've got notices in several places, there's no excuse for that.
 
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