I Am Not A Free Tourist Attraction!

[Generic]

So today, as with many days, someone comes to the door and asks me for a tour. I live in the inner city and I don't need to give thieves a chance to case the joint. Or worse! As usual they want to see the house and the rooms, for a future stay. SURE! You are holding a Lonely Planet guide, you don't have the local accent, you are a tourist and think that you can get a free tour of one of the beautiful houses on the street because my sign outside indicates that I am a Bed and Breakfast.... but you are staying elsewhere in a dump or a generic hotel. You booked too late, you booked elsewhere, I don't care... I don't do tours.... the price of entry is a reservation, otherwise go look at the pictures on the website. You aren't getting in.
Some days I see people outside taking pictures of the house. I wish I could put up a sign in the window that says "We could have stayed here, but we didn't." or worse a sign that says "Don't believe us.... we stayed at the Motel 6 instead of this beautiful B&B".
And other days, I wonder if I should post a sign that says "No Tours" or "Tours $100". We get maybe 2 or 3 legitimate requests a year, usually a phone call ahead of time. Or maybe I should make it something like "Tours free with purchase of $50 gift certificate. No refunds, no exchanges."
A few days ago, some Burk comes to the door to ask me to help them interpret the parking signs on the street. Really? I'm some sort of information desk? What the heck is wrong with people?

 

[gillumhouse]

You are a B & B and everyone knows how kind, sweet, and hospitable innkeeper are. We just ooooooze helpfulness.

 

[Madeleine]

I'm one of those people. We were lost in Ireland and I said, "stop at that b&b, they are used to strangers knocking at the door."
In an amazing coincidence, she knew my cousin and gave us directions to her house.
But I would not have asked for a tour of her place.

 

[gillumhouse]

I'm one of those people. We were lost in Ireland and I said, "stop at that b&b, they are used to strangers knocking at the door."
In an amazing coincidence, she knew my cousin and gave us directions to her house.
But I would not have asked for a tour of her place..

I got asked for directions just Friday. People come up on my porch all the time to ask questions and for directions - BUT I am NOT in a big city, do NOT have a beautiful house (it is just a pretty foursquare but it IS old), and oftentimes they are sent to me (no heads up warning of course). AND I really do not have anything worth stealing other than DH paintings.

 

[EmptyNest]

Put out a sign saying NO TOURS AVAILABLE!

 

[happykeeper]

We have a picture perfect opportunity and we see many cars stop and take the same picture of our long country lane leading up to our yellow plantation style house with the big veranda. Having built it ourselves, we take that as flattery.
However, that is where we draw the line. We rarely allow tours and have become pretty good at saying, "that we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy." I often forget to bring a brochure with me and it is a bit of a race to get back into the foyer and back to the door before they can sweep past all the shoes outside and rumble in, shoes and all. I have kind of been getting a chuckle out of it lately- to see if I can fly in and out before they can get past the door.
Thank you for the link. I had no idea what a burk was.

 

[happykeeper]

Put out a sign saying NO TOURS AVAILABLE!.

To add on: we have gotten quite a few reservations from folks who sought us out after snapping a pic of the house on a previous visit. It's the, next time, we are staying there!" thing.

 

[Joey Camb]

I get a lot of people asking directions to number 53 (we are 52-54) but 53 which should be opposite isn't its about a mile and a half up the road.

 

[MtnKeeper]

We have a picture perfect opportunity and we see many cars stop and take the same picture of our long country lane leading up to our yellow plantation style house with the big veranda. Having built it ourselves, we take that as flattery.
However, that is where we draw the line. We rarely allow tours and have become pretty good at saying, "that we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy." I often forget to bring a brochure with me and it is a bit of a race to get back into the foyer and back to the door before they can sweep past all the shoes outside and rumble in, shoes and all. I have kind of been getting a chuckle out of it lately- to see if I can fly in and out before they can get past the door.
Thank you for the link. I had no idea what a burk was..

HappyKeeper - we put a brochure holder that has a cover to keep out rain/snow outside the front door. So when I go outside to stop the tours and shut the door behind me, I have brochures right there to give them. Maybe this could work for you so you aren't trying to race them!

 

[Bigbid]

We have quite a different situation. We happily give 1 or 2 tours a day because we are located next to a Shakespeare festival so the people requesting tours usually come to the area every year for the festival. I guess about 25% of our tours book rooms for the next year before they leave. Who knows how many more book online later because they have seen what we offer. I guess every B&B knows their situation and what works best for them. Now ringing the bell to use our bathroom is a different story.....

 

[Mini]

We have a picture perfect opportunity and we see many cars stop and take the same picture of our long country lane leading up to our yellow plantation style house with the big veranda. Having built it ourselves, we take that as flattery.
However, that is where we draw the line. We rarely allow tours and have become pretty good at saying, "that we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy." I often forget to bring a brochure with me and it is a bit of a race to get back into the foyer and back to the door before they can sweep past all the shoes outside and rumble in, shoes and all. I have kind of been getting a chuckle out of it lately- to see if I can fly in and out before they can get past the door.
Thank you for the link. I had no idea what a burk was..

I like that. " we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy."
I'm going to put that on our front door with our website. I know people want tours at 4:30 in the afternoon when most of our guests have checked in.

 

[JBloggs]

We have a picture perfect opportunity and we see many cars stop and take the same picture of our long country lane leading up to our yellow plantation style house with the big veranda. Having built it ourselves, we take that as flattery.
However, that is where we draw the line. We rarely allow tours and have become pretty good at saying, "that we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy." I often forget to bring a brochure with me and it is a bit of a race to get back into the foyer and back to the door before they can sweep past all the shoes outside and rumble in, shoes and all. I have kind of been getting a chuckle out of it lately- to see if I can fly in and out before they can get past the door.
Thank you for the link. I had no idea what a burk was..

I like that. " we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy."
I'm going to put that on our front door with our website. I know people want tours at 4:30 in the afternoon when most of our guests have checked in.
.

I like that. " we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy."
I'm going to put that on our front door with our website. I know people want tours at 4:30 in the afternoon when most of our guests have checked in.

Are you a mini cooper or a mini skirt?

 

[Mini]

We have a picture perfect opportunity and we see many cars stop and take the same picture of our long country lane leading up to our yellow plantation style house with the big veranda. Having built it ourselves, we take that as flattery.
However, that is where we draw the line. We rarely allow tours and have become pretty good at saying, "that we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy." I often forget to bring a brochure with me and it is a bit of a race to get back into the foyer and back to the door before they can sweep past all the shoes outside and rumble in, shoes and all. I have kind of been getting a chuckle out of it lately- to see if I can fly in and out before they can get past the door.
Thank you for the link. I had no idea what a burk was..

I like that. " we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy."
I'm going to put that on our front door with our website. I know people want tours at 4:30 in the afternoon when most of our guests have checked in.
.

I like that. " we can not allow tours out of respect for our current guests privacy."
I'm going to put that on our front door with our website. I know people want tours at 4:30 in the afternoon when most of our guests have checked in.

Are you a mini cooper or a mini skirt?

.

there is nothing MINI about me!

 

[user 26]

guilty!
totally lost in a foreign country i kept looking for a 'business' to ask for info as i didn't want to approach doors of private homes. i didn't want a tour, didn't want to use the restroom, just wanted a little guidance.
at my b&b, i had maps in a box outside that i handed out all the time as i told them they'd have to turn around because there was nothing but ocean the way they were headed.