Re: Innkeeping: How late?

["Lindsay & Nancy Richards" <lrichards@mountdorahistoricinn.com>]

When we have a late arrival, we leave a note on the front door that says
please pich up the phone to your left and call (our local number). We  are
asleep 30 feet away with the phone between us. Whoever hears the phone
(always my wife) answers the phone and  checks them in. We do a longer check
in in the morning after breakfast. For regular types, we leave the key in
the mailbox and leave a piece of yarn from the front door to their room dor
knob. We live in a small almost crime free town and have no problems doing
this. We leave our phone on all night and treat late callers for the same
night on an individual basis on how we perceive them to be. We have gotten
some great repeaters and referrals from people calling us after we went to
bed. I think in Innkeeping we have to avail ourselves of all sources to be
sucessful.


Lindsay Richards, Innkeeper
Mount Dora Historic Inn

http://www.mountdorahistoricinn.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bubble Bubbleton" <bubblebubbleton@hotmail.com>
To: <innkeeping@innkeeping.com>; <innkeeping@innsite.com>;
<PAII-Members@paii.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 4:20 AM
Subject: Re: Innkeeping: How late?


> I guess it's a call we all have to make at the time ... depending on how
> tired you are, whether you're feeling hospitable, if other guests are
going
> to be woken, etc. Any new arrival is time-consuming and while it shouldn't
> be a chore to spend half an hour or so chatting with new guests or making
> them comfortable, if your mind is on your own warm bed, your heart just
> isn't really in it, and this can be clear to the guests themselves.
>
> We had a couple who'd booked weeks in advance, and when asked for their
> arrival time, they said midday. Our usual check-in time is 3pm but we're
> flexible, so made a point of ensuring that particular room was ready for
the
> guests by 11.30am. At 11.00pm, they phoned from their cellphone(!) to ask
> for directions, having ignored the map on our website, obviously. Well
> they'd been in town for hours, and were phoning after having had dinner.
> They then requested wine and proceeded to sit around and chat loudly for
> another hour before going to their room. Pissed off the other guests no
end.
>
> That leads me to a question perhaps others have faced - if you decide that
a
> booking has become a no-show, and go to bed, you'd presumably tell them to
> go away if they eventually did turn up. But in this situation, would it be
> right to still charge them the no-show/cancellation fee, given they did
> actually show, albeit inconderately late?
>
>
> >From: Frances Walker <sassybb@siu.edu>
> >Reply-To: innkeeping@innkeeping.com
> >To: innkeeping@innsite.com, PAII-Members@paii.org
> >Subject: Innkeeping: How late?
> >Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 22:30:29 -0500
> >
> >Last night (Saturday) we had a telephone call requesting a room for
> >the night at 10:15 PM. We were full, so it wasn't a question of
> >turning a guest away when we had an empty room. But I'm afraid I
> >rather rudely said to him that I thought it was a little late to be
> >deciding where he was going to spend the night. Then my husband and I
> >had a discussion about whether we would (or should) have turned him
> >away if we DID have a room available. What do other people do?
> >
> >Our B&B is about 5 miles out of town at the end of a gravel road, so
> >our walk-in traffic is nil. My vision of him was that he has picked
> >up someone in a bar and was looking for a bed. Am I being cynical? Or
> >was I maybe just ready to go to bed myself.
> > -Frances
> >Frances Walker, Sassafras Ridge Bed & Breakfast
> >in the "front woods" 5 miles south of Carbondale IL
> >mailto:sassafrasbb@go-illinois.com , see us at http://sassafrasbb.com
> >phone 618/529-5261, fax 618/529-1901
> >See all Illinois B&B Association members at http://go-illinois.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
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