Well, the linen thieves finally checked out this morning. I stripped the room. Of course the king sheets were still on the queen bed, but I also found that they had taken off the mattress pad and turned it inside out!
Now, I suppose that the mattress pad could have possibly come off when they took off the sheets the first night. However, this is one of those pads that really wraps around the mattress, so I really doubt if that's what happened. Paranoid! But they gave us some very nice cheese and cookies when they left and said that they really enjoyed themselves.
DNR list!.
Glad they are gone. They remind me of a couple, returning guests actually, who bring their own sheets and basically strip the bed before making it up. We won't have them back and I don't miss them!
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Funny - we have guests who have stayed with us more than any others over the 10 years and she brings her own bedspread and pillows with her every time. We have the room made up with just the sheets and blanket and then she "decorates" it like she's at home with her stuff. It seemed quirky the first time, but they are lovely people and I have no issues. I'd rather that than the weirdos who sleep on top of the bed instead of in it.
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The sheet issue was just one of their many quirks. They also had severe feather allergies, which meant I had to strip the room, cat allergies, which meant that they could not even see the cat on our side of the house without freaking out, and a list as long as my arm for all things they did not eat.
As I said, otherwise nice folks but too high maintenance at this point in our inn keeping lives.
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That is why it is good to have at least one hypoallergenic room available
Also, 10% are allergic to cats. And their dander gets into everything. Could never stay at place with cats
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One room hypoallergenic? Undersea...we have 3 accommodations. Period. No way am I sacrificing the comfort of all of my guests for the few that have allergies. Feather allergy? I just remove the down comforter and pillows. If they are more sensitive than that they will have to stay someplace else. I'll cater to the 90% but we are too small to cater to 10%.
The cat never went into the guest side of the house. No one with a stated cat allergy ever had an issue with cat dander, but this gal had a fit if she even saw his scratching post on our side of the house through the dining room door. Anyway, moot issue...no more cat, he died. And moot issue, guest had too many other issues that I no longer want to deal with.
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Exactly, why would one ever cater to the minority? That makes no business sense what so ever. Statistically, there will always be folks to fill rooms without having to pre-filter out every possible allergen (which these days is potentially everything). The key is balance and the ability to adapt to situations as they arise, not automatically eliminate what pleases the majority.
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Because everyone is a minority. A vegan, a person who needs to bring their dog, a smoker, a disabled vet, arthritis, etc. etc.
Statistically, one can compete or one can go extinct.
I have visited several B&Bs here in the Poconos, with horrendously low revenue, which seemed to be much more prosperous in the past. Airbnb, hotel sites and others are eating the lunch of people.
The majority might be alluring, but people are getting more demanding, and they are rapidly going to the places that cater.
10% of people are allergic to cats. Double the % when either of a couple could be the allergic one. Some are allergic to dogs. Or feathers. Or dust mites. Or prior smokers. Some have tuberculosis or respiratory disorders. Some people have asthma. Some have allergies to all sorts of things.
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Believe me, I understand allergies! I am an extremely sensitive person, perfumes, laundry detergents, petrol products, smoke, anything I sniff that is synthetic based, sends me into choking coughing fits, too long of an exposure results in extreme headaches, muscle twitches, nausea. I can't control my guests' fragrance though and there are oft days here that reek and I am utterly miserable. Mold, pets, dust, too. It's a fact of life for me and I don't expect the rest of the universe to cater to me. I've been dealing for over 50 years since this manifested when I was 10. We do however, use all natural cleaning products and fragrance free laundry detergent along with hypo-allergenic bath amenities.
Just had a woman call yesterday asking us to remove all the feathers from her bed because she's allergic. Told her we used hypercleaned Pacific Coast Down Company products. Quizzed her this morning and she was delighted to know that she could sleep on feathers without a reaction!
We will do our best to accommodate food allergies, but that does not mean that we change everyone else's dish or eliminate any item from our repetoire. Au contraire, we simply make a separate portion that excludes the offending food. Easy Peasy.
Am just saying, never swing to one pole. No need to over-react. This, our 10th year has been a new record breaker... breaking very little to sweat to keep everyone happy (except hypersensitive moi).
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