Every now and again guests can be challenging

[Arks]

I removed anything and everything from the guest rooms that was valuable, monetary or sentimental.

Absolutely! Don't have anything you can't stand to see broken or taken! My thinking is, it's an inn, not a museum.

 

[Eugee]

@Eugee I had a very valuable, beautiful, and comfortable antique sofa that was in a guest room damaged by "acrobatic"? guests perhaps. From that point on, I removed anything and everything from the guest rooms that was valuable, monetary or sentimental. I went out the next day and bought two attractive chairs at a home goods store for that room that went great with the decor. I had a receipt for them and didn't care if they got destroyed. Just my very humble advice. People do silly things...

That’s the way to do it and I’ve done a lot of that, removing really good art from rooms and putting smaller expensive pieces together in period display cabinets but it seems like they’ll always manage to find the one piece thats ‘exceptional’ to have an accident with- with almost laser like precision. Luckily it’s a rarity but I still get steamed about it when it does happen. Guests enjoy the way the house is decorated with a mix of old and new (because who lives like this anymore) but it does have it’s downside when a piece gets dinged... the other problem is that theres so many antiques in this place- I really don’t have anywhere else to stash them-but that’s a whole other issue!

 

[JimBoone]

@TheBeachHouse But, yeah, do not make that exception. There’s a reason you had that ‘rule’ in the first place!
We always get calls in the summer (even this one!) where someone wants to put 5-6 guests in one room.

Many seem to feel they are renting the room and are free to cram as many folks in as desired and/or are used to large properties where no one notices the number. My approach was to add a fee for extra folks as most rooms would accommodate an extra toddler and that fee is small, but if one wants to cram extra adults it would be cheaper to just book the larger room.

 

[Generic]

Many seem to feel they are renting the room and are free to cram as many folks in as desired and/or are used to large properties where no one notices the number. My approach was to add a fee for extra folks as most rooms would accommodate an extra toddler and that fee is small, but if one wants to cram extra adults it would be cheaper to just book the larger room.

I charge a larger fee for extra people because I don't want them cramming extra people in. For the most part, it's difficult to get away with. One woman brought her two children and her parents and "might" have gotten away with it, had they not played with a door that hadn't had the locked used in over 100 years and locked themselves inside.

I have had one person try to have a party, only to find out that I wasn't having any of it and was about to call the cops on trespass for the extra guests. Whoops...

I did have one time that it made me smile. It was a family that had their son graduating. My guess is this was the first family member to graduate university. They booked 2 of my rooms and begged me for a third, but it was already booked. I will make exceptions, but you have to talk to me honestly about it. For the sake of $20 a night, it's not worth the extra effort to hide it from me, when it includes breakfast, linens, etc. Instead of discussing it with me, they snuck in an extra with an air mattress... we played a game of hide-and-seek. They put away the air mattress in the morning and we ignored it... and put all the furniture back. Was it worth saving $40? You had to buy an air mattress, bring sheets, bring towels, skip the breakfast for one person... and the secret... that room had a single bed that pulled into a short King.... and they could have been treated like a guest for $40 for two nights and the likely spent more to sneak them in.

 

[Eugee]

I have cameras on the entrances and most importantly outside so I can see when guests arrive to get a head start before the doorbell rings. The cameras seem to keep guests from cramming, half the time if they ask I don’t charge anyway.
Altho I don’t use anything but the ‘arrival cam’ my other half has video of a guest swilling my rum I had chilled in the fridge for something I was making- it was kind of funny seeing her look at the bottle then taking a couple swigs..

 

[TarahDunlop]

Long time members know the story of the serial bed-wetter we had eons ago — wet the bed seven nights in a row. Even with that, we were still a bit nervous about demanding payment. For one thing, the parent denied it the first time and then avoided us completely for the next six days. (Actually snuck out of the house in the morning and did not return until after dinner.)

We did not charge for the additional daily laundry, the lost pillows, taking the room offline for two days to air it out. Just the mattress and box spring.

It was a family vacation with four generations. Everyone knew the kid was a bed wetter, but only mom refused to deal with it. Grandpa paid the bill. Great grandma backed us up saying she had also had to replace bedding after the kid stayed over.

Oh I can one up you on this one...hahaha We had a couple stay in one of our suites for 5 nights and the wife had incontinence issues. They requested no housekeeping so we did not find out until departure that she had sat on every piece of furniture in the room. The entire room smelled terribly of urine and the mattress had to be replaced. We did charge them for the damage. Expect the unexpected in the Inn business.

 

[savvyofferings]

We recently had guests, that let's us know that they had friends staying in the area. Could the friends spend the evening by the fireplace with them. Sounded fine. Next morning my neighbor called to tell me that the guest friends were camping in front of the house and the girl had just hoped out and peed in my neighbors flowerbed. The guest said the friends had not taken the time to find a place to camp, so they thought we wouldn't mind. NOT... The guests were booked for three nights, but left that day with the pee girl in tow.

 

[Arks]

The guests were booked for three nights, but left that day with the pee girl in tow.

Ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do! They didn't ask because of the thinking "easier to ask forgiveness than permission".

 

[bluedragonflyinn]

I had a couple book, arrive late, and tell me they were from an area with a huge virus outbreak and he was told by his employer not to leave his state. My Inn rooms are all under one roof along with our living space. To say I was upset is an understatement. Then I find out they are smokers on a "how many places can I post NON SMOKING" reservation. Taught me a valuable lesson in calling guests as they make reservations, as the very next day I receive another reservation for one person. I call to find out the nature of "his" visit. Long story short, he was going to cram himself, his wife, and three small children into one king room, violating the 25% occupancy rate at that time as well as the no kids under 12 rule, as well as being dishonest about the whole thing. That's pretty brazen considering there's nowhere else to go here at that time of night if I refuse to let a guest stay. It puts me in a very uncomfortable position, but I'm also not here to be taken advantage of. Just be honest, folks!

 

[Anon Inn]

Wow. Just wow. I can’t wait lol.

Definitely giving us things to think about in terms of policies to put in place & how to handle issues.

And waterproof mattress covers! One lady’s dog peed on the bed. She paid for a replacement cover. Air guest. (We have a dog friendly unit)

 

[McQuade72]

We just had a guest with two little dogs, that they left behind to bark the entire day. Top it off last night their toddler threw up all over the bed and broke the table side lamp. August fun!!! always August fun here!!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I had a couple book, arrive late, and tell me they were from an area with a huge virus outbreak and he was told by his employer not to leave his state. My Inn rooms are all under one roof along with our living space. To say I was upset is an understatement. Then I find out they are smokers on a "how many places can I post NON SMOKING" reservation. Taught me a valuable lesson in calling guests as they make reservations, as the very next day I receive another reservation for one person. I call to find out the nature of "his" visit. Long story short, he was going to cram himself, his wife, and three small children into one king room, violating the 25% occupancy rate at that time as well as the no kids under 12 rule, as well as being dishonest about the whole thing. That's pretty brazen considering there's nowhere else to go here at that time of night if I refuse to let a guest stay. It puts me in a very uncomfortable position, but I'm also not here to be taken advantage of. Just be honest, folks!

I just went to your inn's website and wondered if you knew that your reservations page is now going to VRBO? It doesn't even show your inn on the page it goes to. BedandBreakfast. c o m is now VRBO. Maybe this is why you got a couple lately that tried to sneak them all in. They thought it would be a vacation rental?

 

[GoodScout]

Have a family with me this week that are challenging to say the least. Breakfast is always special requests, and lots and lots of "just one more question." Last night the dad and mom sat around while their children ran feral around my grounds, then at 7:20 accosted us, angry that only one restaurant in town was open on Mondays, and wanted us to cook them all dinner. This after we printed out four menus from restaurants in nearby towns. I found him one more, printed it out, and when he challenged me again, said "this is all I have for you," wheeled, and walked back into the house.

Clearly I have no more f's to give for this family. And they're here until Friday!

 

[Morticia]

@GoodScout Wowser! Who does that sort of thing? I’ve had guests demand breakfast items we don’t have or make, but never dinner.

 

[Como Depot]

They would have got short shrift from me, I have got reasonably good at spotting these types and the best way to deal with them is cut them off immediately, they can not be placated.

 

[InnTheWoods]

Sorry for the longer post but it’s really a venting post, rather therapeutic..

Well, going into my 16th year here I used to always start a new season with a sense of dread as to what weird thing will happen THIS year at the B&B- usually guest related weird and yes, I’m the one that always gets to deal with it.

Well, one of my long time guests who is actually very nice brought his family entourage again this past weekend with several rooms over three days. After the first day, he evidently ate something in our little town (that I never eat in btw) that really gave his stomach a turn for the worse. After nothing else to talk about, we discussed what he may have consumed and have narrowed it to bbq venison someone brought to the bar (presumably to keep from having to throw it out after his family tired of eating it) to chicken Oscar with shrimp or hollandaise being a possible culprit. The debacle laid him out that night and all the next day and into the next Morning he finally felt better able to eat toast. But just before checking out, his girlfriend told me to consider that he, on the first night of his stomach sickness, got up and proceeded to trip/swoon/fumble (or all) into an antique child’s rocker from the 1870’s that was in the room. She mentioned I could probably glue it back. He hadn’t had that much to drink, only 6 beers and two goblets of wine- so “that can’t be it” she said.. She also added she slipped across the hall and used another bedroom presumably to escape his malaise that evening or two.

Well, up to then I really felt sorry for him and had set the room rate to zero for his room the one day he was sick out of the three days but after hearing what his girlfriend just said, I immediately grabbed my iPad at breakfast no less and reset the rate back to what it was as they were minutes from settling the bill and basically said screw it, I don’t feel sorry anymore.

As they were all checking out I scrambled upstairs armed with my titebond glue and clamps and looked at what was a nice antique rocker reduced to firewood with 2 stringers that snapped at their dowels, with one leg that had a vertical 3” chunk that cracked out and another leg in the front that popped out of the rocker part- but not before breaking the front chunk of the rocker. Nice. I love my job. Knowing full well this is one of the first antique pieces my other half bought 30 years ago I was really ticked off. Amazingly, I managed to piece it back perfectly glueing and orienting the wood splinters on the stringers so they meshed back nicely. After describing the damage to my other half I was happy to hear “it wasn’t as bad as I thought”... my god, it was literally reduced to firewood in pieces. Glad to say I didn’t have a picture. It now has a nice ribbon across which is now just to make the point to not even let a child sit in this chair let alone a big adult butt.
That, my friends, is innkeeping, prepare yourself if just starting out for the weird, the absurd because it’s not a matter of if but when. They will manage to screw up any adult child proofed environment you carefully labor to create.. trust me. Luckily though I reached solace in the fact that I just got the weird thing the guests would do out of the way for THIS season anyway... at least I hope so. Venting complete...

I have been doing this forever, my Dad started our 'family camp' as a boys camp in the 50's - many former campers come back year after year. Last week, I had a former camper here who rented the whole place for the second year in a row. What I am learning NOT to do - I trusted him and let him decide who was going where, what could go wrong?? To start with he put six teenage girls in my best cabin. Making a long story short, they left all sorts of damage, ruined wall to wall carpeting in the bedrooms with stains a spills, popcorn all over the master bedroom floor to name a few. Other cabins were left a mess too and my growing list of rules were broken frequently all week. One of my specific requests is that if something is damaged or broken, please tell me so I can fix it. They never said anything. When confronted, this guy acted like he had done nothing wrong and he challenged my pointing out that his family had done the damage. In these last few years it seems that the people who you give the most courtesy to are the ones who take the most advantage and then go ballistic when confronted. This was truly the worst week I've ever had in over 30 year of cottage rentals and, the most damage ever sustained. So yeah, here I am feeling guilty about saying so, charging him, and telling he he can't come back again. I know I shouldn't have said the last thing but, I did and I'm ok with that. At least we have some control over knowing we don't have to take this nonsense from certain people!

 

[Morticia]

@InnTheWoods It’s perfectly ok to fire guests who act like that! We’ve only done it a few times and the response was NEVER, ‘gosh you’re right, we did screw up.’ It was always, ‘what? We didn’t do that!’

One was a woman who was a long time guest with previous owners as well as us. She had a standing reservation for a popular weekend. In four years she canceled her reservation three times exactly seven days prior to arrival. So, for 51 weeks she held the room, then canceled. The last time I refused to book her in for the fifth year saying she could call us the week before tI see if the room was open. That was the last time I heard from her and it’s OK with me! But she was mad!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I have been doing this forever, my Dad started our 'family camp' as a boys camp in the 50's - many former campers come back year after year. Last week, I had a former camper here who rented the whole place for the second year in a row. What I am learning NOT to do - I trusted him and let him decide who was going where, what could go wrong?? To start with he put six teenage girls in my best cabin. Making a long story short, they left all sorts of damage, ruined wall to wall carpeting in the bedrooms with stains a spills, popcorn all over the master bedroom floor to name a few. Other cabins were left a mess too and my growing list of rules were broken frequently all week. One of my specific requests is that if something is damaged or broken, please tell me so I can fix it. They never said anything. When confronted, this guy acted like he had done nothing wrong and he challenged my pointing out that his family had done the damage. In these last few years it seems that the people who you give the most courtesy to are the ones who take the most advantage and then go ballistic when confronted. This was truly the worst week I've ever had in over 30 year of cottage rentals and, the most damage ever sustained. So yeah, here I am feeling guilty about saying so, charging him, and telling he he can't come back again. I know I shouldn't have said the last thing but, I did and I'm ok with that. At least we have some control over knowing we don't have to take this nonsense from certain people!

I feel your pain! This year saw many more bookings for the whole property. Yes, I charge a lot more for groups, but I've now decided that on top of the extra whole house price will be a security deposit. Live and learn. You did right by telling him he wasn't welcome back.

 

[Eugee]

@InnTheWoods I agree that if guests would only tell you they broke something.. today, a guest that has a screened porch as part of the room somehow put a small 2” “L“ shaped tear in one of the screens. I just fixed all the screens so I know it was them. Guests like to play ‘decorator’ moving chairs and tables to suit and I’m guessing that’s what did it.. but the $5 they left should take care of it.. . After going on 16 years here, sad to say this but when I get a tip I look a lot closer for stains and something broken..

 

[Arks]

After going on 16 years here, sad to say this but when I get a tip I look a lot closer for stains and something broken..

Yes, sad but true. But how do you fix a ruined screen for $5? Assuming you can repair and not replace.