Why do they do this???

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Don Draper

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2008
Messages
2,863
Reaction score
1
Have a reservation for 4 MONTHS and then walk in the door (20 minutes before check-in ends, mind you) and expect me to be able to pull tours, dinner reservations, etc. together for them at the drop of a hat??? Especially as we specifically OFFER to do all this with their email confirmation??? It always seems to be the couples traveling together. And they get here and can't believe "how busy" everything is...we are busy well into the winter here. I love the looks of shock that they are not the only people traveling this week...c'mon people get a clue!!!!
 
We've had that every weekend...9 PM ringing the doorbell...'You have NO rooms? Why not?'
Or, 'Do you think I need reservations for dinner?' This at 4 PM. Yeah, I think you do and I think you're going to have to go NOW, not later.
 
Rupes I have been there once. From an outsiders perspective - they have no idea! I had no idea! Once I was there I would probably get caught up in the destination as well. Not excusing them, but just confirming that there is more there than you realize to see and do til you are actually there.
 
Under a similar heading, this one entitled 'get a map'- a month-old booking just called to find out the cancellation policy as they drove right by here today and JUST realized how far away where they ended up is from here. So, they are turning around tomorrow to drive right back over here. A little planning would have helped out there. From point A to point B is 200 miles. Point C is halfway between. Why go from Point A to Point B when from Point A to Point C made more sense? THEN go on to Point B.
My guess is that Point C (me) is closer to the airport.
 
Consider this....Some people lead really, really busy lives and it's an effort to get away. They make the reservation and then put it on the back burner until it's time to go. It's all that they can do to pack their bags, get out the door, and get in the car by the time they've sewn up the arrangements for housesitters, kid sitters, pet sitters, and so on. They may not plan to get there toward the end of your check-in, put that's how it works out.
I know it was this way when my dh and I had demanding corporate jobs and were active in community stuff. We could hardly breathe until the next morning at our arrival somewhere because we were so stressed out about just getting away from it all!
Life.....it gets in the way. :)
 
See, that just isn't the case here. We draw from five major metro areas, we get a lot of stressed out and busy people. And they are almost without exception the ones who utilize our website and have every aspect of their stay planned when they get here so they can make the most of their time.
After some further interaction two things became clear: These folks are pokey, they are retired and have all the time in the world (took them 8 hours to make the 4 hour trip here because they got side-tracked), and 2, they aren't that swift on the uptake...the bright side is that they got over being made at ME yesterday and realized they should have planned ahead, and were more than happy this morning to take my alternate suggestions.
 
See, that just isn't the case here. We draw from five major metro areas, we get a lot of stressed out and busy people. And they are almost without exception the ones who utilize our website and have every aspect of their stay planned when they get here so they can make the most of their time.
After some further interaction two things became clear: These folks are pokey, they are retired and have all the time in the world (took them 8 hours to make the 4 hour trip here because they got side-tracked), and 2, they aren't that swift on the uptake...the bright side is that they got over being made at ME yesterday and realized they should have planned ahead, and were more than happy this morning to take my alternate suggestions..
(took them 8 hours to make the 4 hour trip here because they got side-tracked),
My dearest friend's son was getting married in Abilene (pre-mapquest) so I flew into Dallas and rented a car. She had sent me the address to the bride's apt where we were all meeting. When I arrived about 1 p.m. a group of both families were there. After the greetings and the surprise in my friend's voice, the bride's father asked if I had had trouble finding the apt. and i said no, I had made one wrong turn because one street was not a thru street so I went around the block. My friend turned to him and said, "I am not surprised she founf the apartment! I am surprised she is here and it is not Midnight! She usually finds something interesting to stop and see." (Sorry Texas, but there is NOTHING between Dallas/Ft Worth and Abilene).
 
See, that just isn't the case here. We draw from five major metro areas, we get a lot of stressed out and busy people. And they are almost without exception the ones who utilize our website and have every aspect of their stay planned when they get here so they can make the most of their time.
After some further interaction two things became clear: These folks are pokey, they are retired and have all the time in the world (took them 8 hours to make the 4 hour trip here because they got side-tracked), and 2, they aren't that swift on the uptake...the bright side is that they got over being made at ME yesterday and realized they should have planned ahead, and were more than happy this morning to take my alternate suggestions..
Rupert said:
These folks are pokey, they are retired and have all the time in the world (took them 8 hours to make the 4 hour trip here because they got side-tracked),
This is why my parents don't make reservations. They never know what interesting thing they will meet up with along the way.
 
I know this isn't practical for most of you, but since I send out a monthly newsletter of activities for the upcoming month to a growing mailing list, I already have the information set up on a weekly basis.
I send out a special email to our guest coming that week and let them know what activities are available and what requires an advanced reservation. So far, each guest has made their own reservations or contacted me well in advance to facilitate it for them.
We did have a guest this last week that thought she had scheduled a massage for both she and her husband. Turns out she thought she had clicked the box on Webervations to do that, but apparently hadn't. Had she looked at her itemized confirmation, she would have seen that the massages were not listed. Fortunately, the therapist had an opening and could accommodate them.
This same guest (apparently a B&B newbie) also did not realize that breakfast was served EVERY morning. She thought they were only to be fed on the first morning and so skipped breakfast the next day. Her hubby was pissed. What part of Bed and Breakfast did you not understand? Oh yeah.....the breakfast part.
 
I know this isn't practical for most of you, but since I send out a monthly newsletter of activities for the upcoming month to a growing mailing list, I already have the information set up on a weekly basis.
I send out a special email to our guest coming that week and let them know what activities are available and what requires an advanced reservation. So far, each guest has made their own reservations or contacted me well in advance to facilitate it for them.
We did have a guest this last week that thought she had scheduled a massage for both she and her husband. Turns out she thought she had clicked the box on Webervations to do that, but apparently hadn't. Had she looked at her itemized confirmation, she would have seen that the massages were not listed. Fortunately, the therapist had an opening and could accommodate them.
This same guest (apparently a B&B newbie) also did not realize that breakfast was served EVERY morning. She thought they were only to be fed on the first morning and so skipped breakfast the next day. Her hubby was pissed. What part of Bed and Breakfast did you not understand? Oh yeah.....the breakfast part..
Bless their hearts...
 
Back
Top