Guests took something - I contact - then no apology just a mouthful!!!

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Thanks Bree, thats it. I'm gone.
I thought this was a friendly place to exchange ideas and share stoires about our experiences. We're doing fine, thank you very much.
A little tip from my days in Psych 101:
When someone says "not being argumentative" that is exactly what they want to be.
Thanks for clueing me in on what to expect from you..

Thanks Bree, thats it. I'm gone.
I thought this was a friendly place to exchange ideas and share stoires about our experiences. We're doing fine, thank you very much.
A little tip from my days in Psych 101:
When someone says "not being argumentative" that is exactly what they want to be.
Thanks for clueing me in on what to expect from you.

So you get ticked at one person and throw all the babies out with the bathwater? waaaaaahhhh (that is my infant cry). Innkeepers are tougher than that. Don't give up so easily. This is a valuable place to be.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Sorry about that, but I don't need to be "investigated" by having some wannabe web critic go dig through my website's code to find flaws and give me advice off topic.
Not throwing out anybody, but won't engage in that ********. I'll find forums here that Bree isn't contributing to and go from there.
My time is too valuable to me. I'm plenty tough, but I thought we were talking about bad guests stealing or damaging things not critiquing each others websites or keywords. Especially on one's first day as a member. Great way to make someone want to take the time to contribute.

 

[The Tipsy Butler]

Whoa Tim ....... Bree is one of the most helpful, well-informed innkeepers out there. My knowledge of "code" on websites is pitiful but I'm gradually learning bits and pieces from her and other resources on this site. One of the high-points on this forum is the willingness to share what could be competitive edges in this new age of tech-savy B&Bs. I'm sure when we get to know you better we'll understand that you have that side of the business well-in-hand, but until then Bree was only trying to offer some helpful, friendly advice.

 

[egoodell]

I'm new here, so forgive my naivete'. This is a great resource and I've already learned morte in one day here than in years of pouring through the B&B.com message board which is a waste of time and energy.
So this guest admitted on the phone to having the rug?
I'm so fed up with this type of guest regardless of if its only a couple a year. And of course they usually know about TripAdvisor and try to blackmail many of us into not enforcing our policies with the threat of bad reviews whether they tell us that, or we self-censor our actions by believing that's what is coming if we stand up for ourselves.
Perhaps my approach is a little harsher, but just putting a thief and a slob who disrepsects you and your place on a PITA list (here we call it DNBA, Do Not Book Again) wouldn't cut it with me.
Do you not have this person's credit card info on file? How did they hold and then pay for the room?
They can go bash you wherever they like, the kind of guests you want to attract will read right through any bad review and most venues including TripAdvisor allow a management repsonse. We're not punching bags for all the creeps of the world. A corporate hotel chain with millions in reserve wouldn't put up with it and would go after them for recovery.
My final point is that if you enable the behavior by dismissing it with no consequences or accountability to the offender, then that empowers them and one of us somewhere in the world gets to deal with them the next time.
We all didn't get into this to gnash our teeth over the handful of rotten guests we get. We invite people into our homes and give them a lot of latitude to enjoy themselves, that in of itself is deserving of some respect. If some cretin like that won't afford it to you, make them pay.
A piece of advice to everyone, get a little digital camera and always have it in your pocket when you first enter a room after someone checks out, especially the ones you've had any issues whatsoever with during a stay. Document every bit of damage, excessive mess, etc. We've recovered the cost of multiple sets of sheets, towels, etc. by simply tacking on charges AFTER the jerks have left.
If challenged by the guest or their credit card company, we email the photos and a copy of our printed policy about property damage, non-accidental damage, excessive dirtiness, etc. The credit card companies have always backed us up when we explain that our reservation confirmation contains language that clearly states that by requesting a reservation, the guest automatically agrees to abide by all policies. Everybody gets one and even walk ins get it handed to them upon check in and must nod or say yes that they agree..

Do you not have this person's credit card info on file? How did they hold and then pay for the room?
If challenged by the guest or their credit card company, we email the photos and a copy of our printed policy about property damage, non-accidental damage, excessive dirtiness, etc. The credit card companies have always backed us up when we explain that our reservation confirmation contains language that clearly states that by requesting a reservation, the guest automatically agrees to abide by all policies. Everybody gets one and even walk ins get it handed to them upon check in and must nod or say yes that they agree.

But you have to remember to call it a "cleaning fee" and not "damage" as the credit card companies will not allow us to charge for damage from what I have learned. And have this in print at the bottome of the guest registry that they fill out and sign
RIki

 

[Morticia]

Thanks Bree, thats it. I'm gone.
I thought this was a friendly place to exchange ideas and share stoires about our experiences. We're doing fine, thank you very much.
A little tip from my days in Psych 101:
When someone says "not being argumentative" that is exactly what they want to be.
Thanks for clueing me in on what to expect from you..

Thanks Bree, thats it. I'm gone.
I thought this was a friendly place to exchange ideas and share stoires about our experiences. We're doing fine, thank you very much.
A little tip from my days in Psych 101:
When someone says "not being argumentative" that is exactly what they want to be.
Thanks for clueing me in on what to expect from you.

Wow. I'm glad I missed Psych 101 or I would have taken that personally. Yeesh, Tim just trying to help. You said you had read a lot on here, I assumed you got a taste for our personalities in that reading. I prefaced my remarks with that comment as most new timers here DO think I'm arguing with them. No, I was trying to elaborate on my statement and why I think you could do BETTER, not that you're suffering for want of guests. I'm glad you're busy as you want to be. I'm glad your website does what it needs to do. Also why my first comment was, 'You didn't ask for this...'
Maybe some newbie innkeeper (which you are not) will take note that MOST SEO does better with text and not all graphics. I would not want anyone to change the way they do business when it works.

 

[swirt]

Sorry about that, but I don't need to be "investigated" by having some wannabe web critic go dig through my website's code to find flaws and give me advice off topic.
Not throwing out anybody, but won't engage in that ********. I'll find forums here that Bree isn't contributing to and go from there.
My time is too valuable to me. I'm plenty tough, but I thought we were talking about bad guests stealing or damaging things not critiquing each others websites or keywords. Especially on one's first day as a member. Great way to make someone want to take the time to contribute..

Tim, I'm not sure if you are just having a bad day or not. If you have truly read more than this one thread on this site, you will see that Bree is a very helpful member of this forum and means nothing of the kind of offence you are taking from her posts.
She is helpfully pointing out without being too blunt like I am about to be.... for the sake of others here. Meta-keywords are not used by any major search engine that is currently active. If your webmaster told you they were good enough, he or she was sadly mis-informed or just sharing bad info because they didn't want to do it the right way. Images of text are a completely flawed way of designing a website and should be avoided at all costs.
Do with the advice what you wish. This is a forum with lots of people on it and everyone has advice to offer. Advice is always an offer, it is totally up to you to take it or ignore it. If you are going to take offence at anyone who offers advice on this forum, then it probably isn't going to end well.
Bree meant well, and acting on her advice in this case could absolutely be in your best interest.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Yawn,
This all so very boring. The biggest mistake I made was filling in my profile with viewable information. I see that Bree is so good at "sharing" that she has shielded everyone from going and doing some analysis on her website.
Frankly, I just went and looked at the websites of those defending Bree's "friendly" advice and they all look like your typical, cookie cutter, mass produced, very short on graphic design skills, long on Frontpage skills, B&B websites.
So yes, you all have it on my homemade website in the programming end of things, but not a one of you can boast a very attractive or visually pleasing website. Anybody can hire Blizzard marketing or some other hospitality website design firm and get one of their dozen or so templated websites and have all the great coding in the world, but not many of those will ever stand out in the minds of the guests for their visual or graphic design quality.
So, we can either leave it at that and get back on topic or not.

 

[Copperhead]

Yawn,
This all so very boring. The biggest mistake I made was filling in my profile with viewable information. I see that Bree is so good at "sharing" that she has shielded everyone from going and doing some analysis on her website.
Frankly, I just went and looked at the websites of those defending Bree's "friendly" advice and they all look like your typical, cookie cutter, mass produced, very short on graphic design skills, long on Frontpage skills, B&B websites.
So yes, you all have it on my homemade website in the programming end of things, but not a one of you can boast a very attractive or visually pleasing website. Anybody can hire Blizzard marketing or some other hospitality website design firm and get one of their dozen or so templated websites and have all the great coding in the world, but not many of those will ever stand out in the minds of the guests for their visual or graphic design quality.
So, we can either leave it at that and get back on topic or not..

Hi Toad and welcome to the forum. This is a very active and helpful group. I do hope you will stick around a little while at least. Please note that Bree IS a very helpful source on the group and was in no way trying to insult you or your site. I know very little about website jargen as I leave that up to my DH to handle. I went to your site after your reply to Bree and I will say that on the front end your site IS very attractive but it did come in a little fuzzy at first. I have a very high speed connection so the fuzziness was very brief...but for those on dial up it may pose more of an issue.
Beautiful pictures - and pictures do sell a place that is for certain! Looks like you have a nice oasis there...I look forward to hearing your views on topics. One topic that some of us would be interested in hearing your views of Availability Online as reservation systems have been an active topic in the last few months.
Gee you have had quite a few PITAs haven't you. It takes all kinds to make the world go round...I just wish some of those PITA's would choose a different orbit.

 

[gillumhouse]

Yawn,
This all so very boring. The biggest mistake I made was filling in my profile with viewable information. I see that Bree is so good at "sharing" that she has shielded everyone from going and doing some analysis on her website.
Frankly, I just went and looked at the websites of those defending Bree's "friendly" advice and they all look like your typical, cookie cutter, mass produced, very short on graphic design skills, long on Frontpage skills, B&B websites.
So yes, you all have it on my homemade website in the programming end of things, but not a one of you can boast a very attractive or visually pleasing website. Anybody can hire Blizzard marketing or some other hospitality website design firm and get one of their dozen or so templated websites and have all the great coding in the world, but not many of those will ever stand out in the minds of the guests for their visual or graphic design quality.
So, we can either leave it at that and get back on topic or not..

Most people find this Forum very lively. There is never a lack of opinions, never a question that goes unanswered, and never a poster "put down". I can tell you that the advice given freely from experts (and NOT in quotations either because they truly know their stuff) would cost more than this innkeeper could ever afford!
The only times we have ever had anyone "pick up their marbles and storm off" have been folks who knew everything already and did not take kindly to offers of helpful suggestions. I have been doing this for 13 years now and learn things from this group all the time. They hold your hand when you need it, say "poor baby" when you whine, and sympathize when we have PITAs. Rarely is it the innkeeper (at least not here) who is the PITA.
I suggest you do a bit more reading before you decide to bugger off, and if you still feel that way, please do - bugger off I mean.
Whatever could have happened that people would intentionally trash a room as you describe? The rose petals? They probably had no clue what it would do to sheets - probably read it in a romance novel and though it was ROMANTIC! Accidents happen - vandalism means call the cops!

 

[scrambled_eggs]

Thanks for the warm welcome. Let me be clear, we're not trying to charge guests for what we consider normal wear and tear, or accidental damage that occurs to all of us. I'm talking about the egregious, careless, vindictive, purposeful stuff.
The vast majority of the time we don't do anything but put them on our DNBA list, thank our lucky stars they didn't negatively affect any other guest's stay and nobody got hurt.
Like the two we had our first year that purposely took full cups of coffee back into their room after breakfast on their last morning and dumped them on the bed and took the spent ash out of the fireplace and threw it all over the room.
Thankfully, there weren't any live embers left, or who knows what would have happened with them getting the shower of a lifetime from our full house sprinkler system.
They were angry the whole time while here because despite the male being a geography major, them having a full size Rand McNally atlas in hand, a cellphone they used to multiple times while en route to call me and get detailed directions, they ended up taking the one wrong turn I warned them about anyway and added two hours to their drive here.
Or the newly married couple who decided that they would embrace the wife's Thai custom of spreading four dozen worth of wet, deep red rose petals on the bed and make love on top of them, grinding them into an amazingly gross bed-size red stain that looked like a crime scene photo.
These are just a few of our worst examples, and I won't bore everyone with some of the others.
As far as our website goes to Bree, there are hundreds of invisible to the viewer, keywords called "metatags" built into the code that are recognized by the search engines just like any html text you'd have in the body of your site. With our dozens of listings on B&B directory sites, 60 or so reviews on TA and other travel sites, etc. we don't seem to have any problem with folks using any part of our name in a search find us..

Or the newly married couple who decided that they would embrace the wife's Thai custom of spreading four dozen worth of wet, deep red rose petals on the bed and make love on top of them, grinding them into an amazingly gross bed-size red stain that looked like a crime scene photo.

You must of had the same guests I had. They ground their rose petals in to the sheets and I washed them everyday for three weeks before the stains came out.

 

[egoodell]

Yawn,
This all so very boring. The biggest mistake I made was filling in my profile with viewable information. I see that Bree is so good at "sharing" that she has shielded everyone from going and doing some analysis on her website.
Frankly, I just went and looked at the websites of those defending Bree's "friendly" advice and they all look like your typical, cookie cutter, mass produced, very short on graphic design skills, long on Frontpage skills, B&B websites.
So yes, you all have it on my homemade website in the programming end of things, but not a one of you can boast a very attractive or visually pleasing website. Anybody can hire Blizzard marketing or some other hospitality website design firm and get one of their dozen or so templated websites and have all the great coding in the world, but not many of those will ever stand out in the minds of the guests for their visual or graphic design quality.
So, we can either leave it at that and get back on topic or not..

Frankly, I just went and looked at the websites of those defending Bree's "friendly" advice and they all look like your typical, cookie cutter, mass produced, very short on graphic design skills, long on Frontpage skills, B&B websites.
So yes, you all have it on my homemade website in the programming end of things, but not a one of you can boast a very attractive or visually pleasing website. Anybody can hire Blizzard marketing or some other hospitality website design firm and get one of their dozen or so templated websites and have all the great coding in the world, but not many of those will ever stand out in the minds of the guests for their visual or graphic design quality.

Oh please lose the attitude. I know my website does not have great photos. I am working a week job and running the B&B and a tour business with my husband, and we don't have the extra money yet for professional photos. We have to use the cash for our second wing to get up to speed and have five rooms instead of two.
Some of us have to work things as they can to get up to speed.
Riki

 

[YellowSocks]

Yawn,
This all so very boring. The biggest mistake I made was filling in my profile with viewable information. I see that Bree is so good at "sharing" that she has shielded everyone from going and doing some analysis on her website.
Frankly, I just went and looked at the websites of those defending Bree's "friendly" advice and they all look like your typical, cookie cutter, mass produced, very short on graphic design skills, long on Frontpage skills, B&B websites.
So yes, you all have it on my homemade website in the programming end of things, but not a one of you can boast a very attractive or visually pleasing website. Anybody can hire Blizzard marketing or some other hospitality website design firm and get one of their dozen or so templated websites and have all the great coding in the world, but not many of those will ever stand out in the minds of the guests for their visual or graphic design quality.
So, we can either leave it at that and get back on topic or not..

Yawn,
This all so very boring. The biggest mistake I made was filling in my profile with viewable information. I see that Bree is so good at "sharing" that she has shielded everyone from going and doing some analysis on her website.
Frankly, I just went and looked at the websites of those defending Bree's "friendly" advice and they all look like your typical, cookie cutter, mass produced, very short on graphic design skills, long on Frontpage skills, B&B websites.
So yes, you all have it on my homemade website in the programming end of things, but not a one of you can boast a very attractive or visually pleasing website. Anybody can hire Blizzard marketing or some other hospitality website design firm and get one of their dozen or so templated websites and have all the great coding in the world, but not many of those will ever stand out in the minds of the guests for their visual or graphic design quality.
So, we can either leave it at that and get back on topic or not.

OK, you made me look...
Beautiful pics. Blurry text... hurt my eyes.
Since I was not defending Bree, does that mean you didn't scope out my website? It's neither professional, nor Frontpage. I did use a bunch of free advice I got on this forum, though.
Bree is incognito because she wants to be able to vent. But regulars have scoped out her website lots of times, and she's been willing to bare it all and take her licks. It is because she's learned the hard way, it as she's gone along, that she wanted to be helpful.
Obviously, you didn't want helped. Ooops.
To say that "not one of us" can boast an attractive website is a slap in the face.
Truthfully, mine's not as attractive as I'd like it to be, so I have a new, professional one in the works. BUT, mine shows up on the first page of Google for "ashland ohio bed and breakfast" so I am content with the appearance for now.
Welcome to the forum... there are no end of opinions here. My theory, if I want to give mine I gotta hear others' -- and vice versa.
=)
Kk.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Well, some of you convinced me with all this "innkeepers are tough", "there are no end of opinions here." "My theory, if I want to give mine I gotta hear others"," say "poor baby" when you whine", etc.
Frist of all, I didn't give an opinion of anybody until an incognito user decided to "investigate" my identity and website and go off topic to masquerade a question "OK, you didn't ask for this, but I have to ask, how the heck does any search engine find your website when it's all jpegs and no text?" and then launch this whole off topic direction the discussion has gone.
I mistakenly took this website for a place that fellow colleagues use to share info, ideas and experiences. A B&B boot camp is more of what it feels like with enough passive/aggressive garbage posing as "friendly" advice to choke a person.
Not welcoming at all, not helpful at all, just as picky, critical and overly nosy as some of the guests we all get and who needs more of that dynamic?
Thanks but no thanks. I'll lurk and grab good advice when I see it.

 

[gillumhouse]

Well, some of you convinced me with all this "innkeepers are tough", "there are no end of opinions here." "My theory, if I want to give mine I gotta hear others"," say "poor baby" when you whine", etc.
Frist of all, I didn't give an opinion of anybody until an incognito user decided to "investigate" my identity and website and go off topic to masquerade a question "OK, you didn't ask for this, but I have to ask, how the heck does any search engine find your website when it's all jpegs and no text?" and then launch this whole off topic direction the discussion has gone.
I mistakenly took this website for a place that fellow colleagues use to share info, ideas and experiences. A B&B boot camp is more of what it feels like with enough passive/aggressive garbage posing as "friendly" advice to choke a person.
Not welcoming at all, not helpful at all, just as picky, critical and overly nosy as some of the guests we all get and who needs more of that dynamic?
Thanks but no thanks. I'll lurk and grab good advice when I see it..

I'll lurk and grab good advice when I see it.
See, you DID learn something without even trying. You learned the value of this Forum is grabbing good advice when you see it. We have succeeded!
Best to you in the future. And do not forget, Toads can turn into nice men eventually. they just have to get off their lilly pad.

 

[wendydk]

Well, some of you convinced me with all this "innkeepers are tough", "there are no end of opinions here." "My theory, if I want to give mine I gotta hear others"," say "poor baby" when you whine", etc.
Frist of all, I didn't give an opinion of anybody until an incognito user decided to "investigate" my identity and website and go off topic to masquerade a question "OK, you didn't ask for this, but I have to ask, how the heck does any search engine find your website when it's all jpegs and no text?" and then launch this whole off topic direction the discussion has gone.
I mistakenly took this website for a place that fellow colleagues use to share info, ideas and experiences. A B&B boot camp is more of what it feels like with enough passive/aggressive garbage posing as "friendly" advice to choke a person.
Not welcoming at all, not helpful at all, just as picky, critical and overly nosy as some of the guests we all get and who needs more of that dynamic?
Thanks but no thanks. I'll lurk and grab good advice when I see it..

I'll lurk and grab good advice when I see it.
See, you DID learn something without even trying. You learned the value of this Forum is grabbing good advice when you see it. We have succeeded!
Best to you in the future. And do not forget, Toads can turn into nice men eventually. they just have to get off their lilly pad.
.