Why being nice is a pain

[Silverspoon]

This summer I resorted to posting a note on the front door that basically says, "We are either away from the inn or preparing for guests arriving at their scheduled check-in time." We post a list of things to do to keep them occupied and ask them to return at 3:00 PM. This worked like a charm this summer and also kept a few tire-kickers from ringing the bell to nose around the place.
Since I speak to each and every guest there is the opportunity to explain our check-in time guidelines. They know that we do not have a staff and that we do it all ourselves, not leaving a lot of time for sitting around before 3 PM..

Since I speak to each and every guest there is the opportunity to explain our check-in time guidelines. They know that we do not have a staff and that we do it all ourselves, not leaving a lot of time for sitting around before 3 PM.

We have a note for the door as well. Dang if they don't arrive before I hang it up at 11 AM!
This is a typical phone reservation:
Me- Check-in is from 3 - 7 PM, do you know about what time you will be arriving?
Guest- We'll be there around 11 AM.
Me- You are more than welcome to park your car and go out for lunch in town and we'll see you around 3.
Guest- We'll be there at 11. We'll check in then.
Me- Check-in starts at 3 PM but you may leave your car here and walk 2 blocks down to the restaurants to have lunch and maybe do a little shopping and we'll see you at 3 PM when check-in starts.
Guest- If we get there at 11 can we leave our car, unpack the luggage and use the restroom?
Me- Guests from the previous night will not be out of the house yet. We cannot hold luggage while we are cleaning. It's ok to leave it in the trunk and leave your car here.
They show up at 11. I don't answer the door as I've got the sign out. They complain when they get back at 6 PM that no one was here to let them in at 11.
.

Oh yea, it's tough when they arrive that early. I usually get the sign out by noon since our early arrivals are generally around 1:00-2:00 PM. We highlight the "Regrettably, we can not accommodate arrivals before 3:00 PM." on every confirmation, but occasionally they just don't care and they want IN when they want IN.

 

[Joey Camb]

This summer I resorted to posting a note on the front door that basically says, "We are either away from the inn or preparing for guests arriving at their scheduled check-in time." We post a list of things to do to keep them occupied and ask them to return at 3:00 PM. This worked like a charm this summer and also kept a few tire-kickers from ringing the bell to nose around the place.
Since I speak to each and every guest there is the opportunity to explain our check-in time guidelines. They know that we do not have a staff and that we do it all ourselves, not leaving a lot of time for sitting around before 3 PM..

Since I speak to each and every guest there is the opportunity to explain our check-in time guidelines. They know that we do not have a staff and that we do it all ourselves, not leaving a lot of time for sitting around before 3 PM.

We have a note for the door as well. Dang if they don't arrive before I hang it up at 11 AM!
This is a typical phone reservation:
Me- Check-in is from 3 - 7 PM, do you know about what time you will be arriving?
Guest- We'll be there around 11 AM.
Me- You are more than welcome to park your car and go out for lunch in town and we'll see you around 3.
Guest- We'll be there at 11. We'll check in then.
Me- Check-in starts at 3 PM but you may leave your car here and walk 2 blocks down to the restaurants to have lunch and maybe do a little shopping and we'll see you at 3 PM when check-in starts.
Guest- If we get there at 11 can we leave our car, unpack the luggage and use the restroom?
Me- Guests from the previous night will not be out of the house yet. We cannot hold luggage while we are cleaning. It's ok to leave it in the trunk and leave your car here.
They show up at 11. I don't answer the door as I've got the sign out. They complain when they get back at 6 PM that no one was here to let them in at 11.
.

Oh yea, it's tough when they arrive that early. I usually get the sign out by noon since our early arrivals are generally around 1:00-2:00 PM. We highlight the "Regrettably, we can not accommodate arrivals before 3:00 PM." on every confirmation, but occasionally they just don't care and they want IN when they want IN.
.

I don't mind early arrivals if they book them ie I know they are coming and have the rooms done - its the ones that just turn up at 9am on a saturday morning in the middle of breakfast wanting in that drive me mad!

 

[Generic]

This summer I resorted to posting a note on the front door that basically says, "We are either away from the inn or preparing for guests arriving at their scheduled check-in time." We post a list of things to do to keep them occupied and ask them to return at 3:00 PM. This worked like a charm this summer and also kept a few tire-kickers from ringing the bell to nose around the place.
Since I speak to each and every guest there is the opportunity to explain our check-in time guidelines. They know that we do not have a staff and that we do it all ourselves, not leaving a lot of time for sitting around before 3 PM..

Since I speak to each and every guest there is the opportunity to explain our check-in time guidelines. They know that we do not have a staff and that we do it all ourselves, not leaving a lot of time for sitting around before 3 PM.

We have a note for the door as well. Dang if they don't arrive before I hang it up at 11 AM!
This is a typical phone reservation:
Me- Check-in is from 3 - 7 PM, do you know about what time you will be arriving?
Guest- We'll be there around 11 AM.
Me- You are more than welcome to park your car and go out for lunch in town and we'll see you around 3.
Guest- We'll be there at 11. We'll check in then.
Me- Check-in starts at 3 PM but you may leave your car here and walk 2 blocks down to the restaurants to have lunch and maybe do a little shopping and we'll see you at 3 PM when check-in starts.
Guest- If we get there at 11 can we leave our car, unpack the luggage and use the restroom?
Me- Guests from the previous night will not be out of the house yet. We cannot hold luggage while we are cleaning. It's ok to leave it in the trunk and leave your car here.
They show up at 11. I don't answer the door as I've got the sign out. They complain when they get back at 6 PM that no one was here to let them in at 11.
.

Oh yea, it's tough when they arrive that early. I usually get the sign out by noon since our early arrivals are generally around 1:00-2:00 PM. We highlight the "Regrettably, we can not accommodate arrivals before 3:00 PM." on every confirmation, but occasionally they just don't care and they want IN when they want IN.
.

I don't mind early arrivals if they book them ie I know they are coming and have the rooms done - its the ones that just turn up at 9am on a saturday morning in the middle of breakfast wanting in that drive me mad!
.

As someone on here suggested, we put up a voluntary option for $25 for early arrival. It's cut down on the number of requests infinitely and made us a few bucks as well.
We still get those who want to leave luggage, as we realize that many people get into the city early, but they don't ask for the room early anymore.

 

[Redbirds]

It appears to be an epidemic! Yesterday guests arrived 2+ hours early, said they didn't know we were on "that other time zone"(?!). DW hadn't yet prepared their fresh fruit add-on, since we like to have that as fresh as possible.
I was cutting the grass and told them I would be done in an hour, or "I could check you in now if you would finish the lawn?" Meant to be a joke, they looked at me with blank stares.
Turns out they were delightful guests, and apologized for not researching the time zone where they were staying.

 

[Madeleine]

It appears to be an epidemic! Yesterday guests arrived 2+ hours early, said they didn't know we were on "that other time zone"(?!). DW hadn't yet prepared their fresh fruit add-on, since we like to have that as fresh as possible.
I was cutting the grass and told them I would be done in an hour, or "I could check you in now if you would finish the lawn?" Meant to be a joke, they looked at me with blank stares.
Turns out they were delightful guests, and apologized for not researching the time zone where they were staying..

They would have been at least an hour early if they had figured out the time zone thing.
We get this every once in awhile when someone from the Maritimes doesn't change their watch. They think they're late or they show up for breakfast at 7.

 

[Silverspoon]

It appears to be an epidemic! Yesterday guests arrived 2+ hours early, said they didn't know we were on "that other time zone"(?!). DW hadn't yet prepared their fresh fruit add-on, since we like to have that as fresh as possible.
I was cutting the grass and told them I would be done in an hour, or "I could check you in now if you would finish the lawn?" Meant to be a joke, they looked at me with blank stares.
Turns out they were delightful guests, and apologized for not researching the time zone where they were staying..

Oh My, I am guilty of forgetting to adjust for the time zone on one occasion. Last spring DH and I took a trip to New Orleans, but I totally forgot to adjust our arrival time when I notified the innkeeper that we would be there at 3:30. When we landed and realized that we would be arriving at 2:30 instead of 3:30 I must say that the innkeeper was very gracious and said "No problem, come along". We tried to repay the favor when we arrived. It just so happened that a rep from Fodor's arrived at the door at the exact same moment that we did so we had a chance, as returning guests to this lovely B+B, to highly recommend all the wonderful things that we love about it.

 

[Aussie Innkeeper]

So, we get some 'drive-bys' check in last night just for a last-minute one night. Question me over and over about breakfast details. It's almost 9pm by this time, so I have breakfast already planned, but now I have to make two more servings. Tell them what's for breakfast. "Oh, that sounds wonderful, we're really looking forward to it."
Guess who's NOT at the breakfast table!!

 

[JBloggs]

So, we get some 'drive-bys' check in last night just for a last-minute one night. Question me over and over about breakfast details. It's almost 9pm by this time, so I have breakfast already planned, but now I have to make two more servings. Tell them what's for breakfast. "Oh, that sounds wonderful, we're really looking forward to it."
Guess who's NOT at the breakfast table!!

.

So, we get some 'drive-bys' check in last night just for a last-minute one night. Question me over and over about breakfast details. It's almost 9pm by this time, so I have breakfast already planned, but now I have to make two more servings. Tell them what's for breakfast. "Oh, that sounds wonderful, we're really looking forward to it."
Guess who's NOT at the breakfast table!!

 

[Innkeep]

So, we get some 'drive-bys' check in last night just for a last-minute one night. Question me over and over about breakfast details. It's almost 9pm by this time, so I have breakfast already planned, but now I have to make two more servings. Tell them what's for breakfast. "Oh, that sounds wonderful, we're really looking forward to it."
Guess who's NOT at the breakfast table!!

.

Honeymooners requested breakfast in their room. I have it on the website, but it is rarely requested, so I've left it on there.
I don't charge extra because people might read it and think that's a nice extra but usually don't ask for it (don't tell me to charge extra).
So between the two of them maybe 3 mouthfulls of all that food were eaten.

 

[EmptyNest]

So, we get some 'drive-bys' check in last night just for a last-minute one night. Question me over and over about breakfast details. It's almost 9pm by this time, so I have breakfast already planned, but now I have to make two more servings. Tell them what's for breakfast. "Oh, that sounds wonderful, we're really looking forward to it."
Guess who's NOT at the breakfast table!!

.

Honeymooners requested breakfast in their room. I have it on the website, but it is rarely requested, so I've left it on there.
I don't charge extra because people might read it and think that's a nice extra but usually don't ask for it (don't tell me to charge extra).
So between the two of them maybe 3 mouthfulls of all that food were eaten.
.

I have a feeling they were otherwise occupied

 

[Tom]

Don't get me started, today of all days.
Was a beautiful autumnal day here so DH and I went out into the garden to cut some of the trees back that are blocking our view of the Loch. We're in the middle of this with DH on a steep slope holding a rope around the tree to make sure it doesn't fall on the village hall and me with a chainsaw fighting my way through the stinging nettles and what happens....a guest arrives. 2 1/2 hours before check-in time. I was furious, and pretty short with her, pointing out she was early.
And then later on she came down and said could she have the heating on because her room was chilly. I told her the room was chilly because she'd arrived so early before the heating comes on.
One nighter, single occupancy!! Sheeeeesh.
Anyway, I've been meaning to re-word my confirmations for some time, this has prompted me do it tonight. It now contains the following, to strong or not strong enough.??

Check In Times:
Check in is from 4.30 onwards, this is to allow us time to clean the rooms as well as run any errands such as shopping. If you would like to check in earlier than this please let us know in advance and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Please be aware that if you arrive early without prior notification we may be out..

I opted for THE INN OPENS AT 4PM, in other words, GET A CLUE PEOPLE!
**Hey I have to tell you about STINGEZE if you don't have it there, when you come to the states go to any chemist and you will find it, even walmart. It works immediately on stinging nettles (and ALL bee stings!). I was speaking to a herpetologist re herp biolblitz they do and they ALWAYS GET STUNG numerous times, as they lift rocks and tear apart old stumps etc. One bottle lasts for years, looks like a little super glue bottle. Here is a link.
.

Stingeze contains phenol and camphor which are good germicides - I use it on minor cuts and scratches as when clearing brambles.