Charging for additional folks at breakfast

[gillumhouse]

Hey Innkeep I want an update, what happened, did it happen already?.

breakfast update:
She called the day of arrival to "ask" if she could invite a 3rd person to breakfast. I said I'd rather not, then she proceeded to tell me the third would be coming. I really felt over a barrel because this was a GC I donated to the public TV station, so I didn't feel like I could tell her to go take a hike because I wouldn't be able to meet her expectations. The money was already spent for a worthy cause. I am seriously re-thinking what to do about giving the GC's. This might be a reason to quit.
Anyway, she knew when check-in time was, came a half an hour early. This month has been sloooow, so I was ready and didn't have an excuse not to let her in. Room was ready and that way I didn't have to wait for a later arrival. The husband was a real sweetie, and he wasn't the one on the phone each time.
Breakfast comes today, one of the 3 was a no-show, the other two extras picked at their food. The real guests ate their entire meal. Breakfast conversation is about how they'd love to come back again and do the same thing over. I explained again, this time in the presence of the husband that I am not allowed by county ordinance and that the health dept is really strict, and that their presence could get me in trouble... also said that their "extras" barely ate anything anyway. She finally "got it".
Then she proceeded to tell me about their stay at a B&B in another state that prepared lovely breakfasts and lunches for the public, but they weren't allowed to prepare supper. You guessed it. She was able to get supper out of that B&B too.
I really do understand that by sticking to my policies I help out every other B&B that has policies. I am the beneficiary of someone else who didn't stick to theirs in regards to feeding non-guests. If y'all knew how often I cave in I'm afraid you'd kick me off the forum. I guess I need to join some sort of a support group.
BTW, I did get a very substantial "tip"
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I really do understand that by sticking to my policies I help out every other B&B that has policies. I am the beneficiary of someone else who didn't stick to theirs in regards to feeding non-guests. If y'all knew how often I cave in I'm afraid you'd kick me off the forum. I guess I need to join some sort of a support group.
Nah, whether we admit it publicly or not, most of us are guilty of trying to "be nice" or "not be a hard-nose for fear of giving B & B a bad name" at some time or another. Because so many live in fear of the "bad review" or are trying to reverse the stereotpye image people seem to haver of B & B, we think we have to bend over and grab out ankles for guests instead of standing on the policies that any business will have created and stick to them. It is a learning process - meaning we learn as each situation presents itself to US (we always have all the answers for others).
PS: Situations and attitudes like that are what soured me on Public Broa dcasting - I used to give 6 one-nighters every year which they "accidently" over-gave offering to pay for the 1 or 2 "extras" expecting me to do as I did, forget it. THOSE people would use the GC, never leave a tip, and never come when they had to pay. They "gave & paid" for this stay when they gave their tax-deductable donation.

 

[Proud Texan]

We charge $15.00 per additional person for breakfast. The few times we've had this request, there wasn't even a pause before acceptance. People are used to paying this much when they go out for breakfast.
If you don't value your own work and product, how can you expect anyone else to?.

We charge $15.00 per additional person for breakfast. The few times we've had this request, there wasn't even a pause before acceptance. People are used to paying this much when they go out for breakfast.
If you don't value your own work and product, how can you expect anyone else to?

Can you do this legally in your area? Many places state that if you charge for breakfast you are considered a restaurant and are subject to those rules... THIS SAID so those reading will REVIEW your license and laws associated before charging, you never know who you may be serving.

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We charge $15.00 per additional person for breakfast. The few times we've had this request, there wasn't even a pause before acceptance. People are used to paying this much when they go out for breakfast.
If you don't value your own work and product, how can you expect anyone else to?

Can you do this legally in your area? Many places state that if you charge for breakfast you are considered a restaurant and are subject to those rules... THIS SAID so those reading will REVIEW your license and laws associated before charging, you never know who you may be serving.

I wouldn't know who to ask. We are in a county that has absolutely no regulations concerning Bed and Breakfast. As long as we are not in a municipality, we can pretty much do what we want. That's not to say we are lax. We set ourselves to a higher standard and everything is done as if we were regulated and inspected.
All that being said, we don't encourage extras for breakfast and it's only come up a couple of times.

 

[JBloggs]

I had to laugh as I just checked in some guests and she says "And what about meals, what time do you serve dinner until?" You forum are making me a mad-woman, I nearly laughed out loud! I guess when I showed her a "restaurant list" she must have thought restaurant CHOICE or menu choice. Pretty funny.

 

[Alibi Ike]

I had to laugh as I just checked in some guests and she says "And what about meals, what time do you serve dinner until?" You forum are making me a mad-woman, I nearly laughed out loud! I guess when I showed her a "restaurant list" she must have thought restaurant CHOICE or menu choice. Pretty funny.

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We get a fair number who ask about dinner. I tell them there are tons of restaurants in town but I wonder what makes them think we serve dinner? There is nothing on the website that even shows a hint of a dinner menu (other than a list of restaurants).

 

[bc30md]

Our policy is $35.00 for extra room guests whether they sleep here or not. We are located near two colleges and have similar situation with parents visiting and asking if the student(s) could join them. As long as we do not already have a full house (seating arrangements would not permit extras in dining room during breakfast and fire code would not permit extra guests sleeping here with a full house), and as long as they do not mind paying for the extra "guest" in their room, I do not mind feeding an extra mouth. Also, by recording the extra "guest" it gets around the not serving breakfast to non-guests.

 

[Alibi Ike]

Our policy is $35.00 for extra room guests whether they sleep here or not. We are located near two colleges and have similar situation with parents visiting and asking if the student(s) could join them. As long as we do not already have a full house (seating arrangements would not permit extras in dining room during breakfast and fire code would not permit extra guests sleeping here with a full house), and as long as they do not mind paying for the extra "guest" in their room, I do not mind feeding an extra mouth. Also, by recording the extra "guest" it gets around the not serving breakfast to non-guests..

And that's the one and only situation where we allow non-guests to dine...college students whose parents are staying with us. The students can stay for free in the room with their parents or just pop in for breakfast. We offer this to the parents, who love it, and it rarely costs us a dime as most college students won't stay with their parents and none of them get up in time to come here for breakfast.