innkeeping: difficult guest

[pitcc052@email_address]

We encountered a situation with guests, we will call Mr.&Mr. Wonderful, 
that was so disturbing, we have been unable to talk about it for two 
years.  Compounding the problem, was the way it was handled by our state 
Association.  I am writing this now, in hopes that others may, in some 
small way, benefit from our unfortunate experience.  I am splitting this 
up into two parts:  part 1 deals with the difficult guest, part 2 deals 
with the association.

Part 1 - difficult guest
To the innkeeper who wrote in, I can only say be happy your difficult 
guest took the time to inform you of the problems.  Our Mr. & Mrs 
Wonderful did not.  Even when asked directly (and they were asked many 
times!), they replied that everything was OK.  Then after leaving, they 
wrote letters to our chamber of commerce, PAii,  and our state 
association.   Again, we were not privy to said letter or complaint.  I 
would like to share with you some of the letter's contents, so that 
possibly you will feel better about your complaint letter, and in hopes 
that you can find a way to turn yours into a positive experience for all 
concerned.  Unfortunately, we were never given the opportunity to do so.

First of all let me say that Mr. & Mrs. Wonderful arrived at our home 2 
hours ahead of check-in time.  I remember them distinctly because I am 
not usually home.  My husband is the full-time innkeeper, but had tests 
scheduled at the doctor's office that afternoon leaving me to fill in.  
When they arrived, I was still on the 2nd floor cleaning and did not hear 
them.  They had to walk to the front door and ring the bell.  Upon 
entering, there was a definite attitude, I assumed it to be because there 
had been no one downstairs to greet them.  Mr. W's first comment to me 
was that he had two bicycles with him, and where could he put them.  
Unfortunately, we are an urban inn with very little storage space.  Also, 
our Inn sits very close to two colleges:  Bicycles left outside are fair 
game after dark.  Had he told me he was bringing bicycles, I would have 
explained this to him and suggested other accommodations.  I told him to 
leave them outside and that I would clear space in the laundry roo

Complaint   "There was no furniture in the living room.  We stored our 
bikes there"
Response   My living room is furnished with approx $8000.00 in antiques.  
Upon Mr. W's
visit, two chairs had been removed for a graduation party the weekend 
before.  Two victorian gentlemen's chairs, two tables, several lamps, an 
antique pump organ, and two oriental carpets remained.  Had I realized he 
needed more than two chairs to sit in, I would have been happy to bring 
the other two down for his use.  We placed his bicycles on my oriental 
carpet.   I personally carried the bicycle rack into the house prior to 
retiring that evening when I noticed that it had been left outside.  To 
Mr. W I would just like to say that perhaps when traveling with bicycles, 
you should inform your innkeeper and invest in a good bicycle lock should 
you encounter an innkeeper not quite so willing to put your bikes in 
their living room. 

Complaint:  "We were served pie filling as fruit for breakfast"
Response:  I go weekly to our local farmer's market to purchase fresh 
fruit to serve our guests.  We offer two selections on a daily basis: the 
first being a large full breakfast, the second being a fruit plate with 
bagels or muffins.  On Thursdays with the full breakfast, it was 
customary for me to serve fried apples with cream.  Yep, they were 
canned, but not pie filling.  My guests had always liked them and had 
requested them upon returning.  The part that hurt the most was that he 
never mentioned the baked eggs and ham that accompanied the apples.  In 
response, I quit serving the canned fried apples and, now, I make my own. 
 Personally, I don't think they are as good, but so be it.

There were many more complaints, but the worst follows next.   To me, 
this was the straw and the most disturbing of all.

Complaint:  A gentleman came out onto the porch and picked up his mail, 
obviously          
                evidence of boarders.
Response:  The gentleman in the business suit that came out onto the 
porch to pick up    
                his mail was my youngest son who had only recently moved 
from our home    
                to his own home nearby.  He did not tarry because we had 
guests.  He        
                 picked up his mail, politely said hello, and then left.  
 Are our immediate family members to be considered boarders?  There was 
no opening for introductions that perhaps might have made a difference.  
It is hard to say.  But I digress.  Let's get on with it.

Part 2 - the state association
Still unaware of the letter, we received a call from our association 
saying that we were due for inspection.  They wanted to come over as soon 
as possible.  My husband was going to Florida for our granddaughter's 
christening, so we scheduled the inspection for the following week.  Had 
we been told of the letter, we would have postponed the trip.  Anyway, 
after the inspection, we received a letter from our association along 
with a copy of Mr. & Mrs. Wonderful's letter.  We were never told of the 
letter prior to the inspection, and the inspector had written up items 
that never would have been an issue had he not had a copy of the letter.  
For example:  The inspector wrote that the living room needed two more 
chairs.  Had I been asked, I could have brought down the chairs.  No one 
asked me!  At the time of the inspection, the living room looked exactly 
as it did upon my original inspection.  It was fine, then.  As a matter 
of fact, there were more lamps in the room upon this inspection.  

I would only like to say that I looked for a long time for a way to turn 
this into a positive thing.  I found it so disturbing that I could not 
deal with it.  Everytime I tried to respond, I would get so upset I had 
to put it away.  We have excellent occupancy rates and many, many return 
guests.  I give my guests comment cards that can be returned annonimously 
if desired.  I also have comment books in each guest room.   These speak 
for themselves.  We now believe this entire episode was a set up of some 
sort and even considered legal action, but just couldn't deal with it.  
Because Mr. & Mrs. Wonderful chose to complain to everyone but the ones 
who could have made a difference, no one wins.  And because of the way in 
which our association chose to handle the complaint, there are now hard 
feelings.  Now, we don't recommend any Inns who are members of that 
association, and I am sure that some of them are very nice, but I will 
only recommend exceptional inns who are not members.  We also 

To the innkeeper with the difficult guest, I can only say find a way to 
turn it into a win/win because if you don't, everybody looses.  And as a 
side note, thank you for this web site and a place to discuss issues 
involved with the "business" of innkeeping.  I started my Inn to make 
people happy:  Innkeepers, politics should be left to the corporations.  
Everything doesn't have to be an advertisement:  Your inn should speak 
for itself.