Walk Ins after midnight

[Samster]

Can you put out a "No Vacancy" sign by the road if you're in the country?
Then, you need a sign at your front door that says, "Walk-ins only until _______ . Please go to the Uncomfort Motel here."
Sorry...if people are milling around in your house at night, your system is broken. You need to lock the front door. Either by issuing keys to the front door for your guests or installing some kind of key pad lock.

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

Can you put out a "No Vacancy" sign by the road if you're in the country?
Then, you need a sign at your front door that says, "Walk-ins only until _______ . Please go to the Uncomfort Motel here."
Sorry...if people are milling around in your house at night, your system is broken. You need to lock the front door. Either by issuing keys to the front door for your guests or installing some kind of key pad lock..

Sorry...if people are milling around in your house at night, your system is broken.

Exactly.

 

[Copperhead]

Baygirl - times are a changn' and no matter how deep in the country you are, GPS will get people there and at any time of the day or night. We just recently had a thread about never had walk-ins. In other words - this is only going to get worse...nip it in the bud now!
As Mort stated about her neighor having people wander in looking about for a room... it would be a rude awakening for you and your guests if someone went snooping around in your B&B and walked in on one of your paying guests at 2 in the morning. Don't wait for this to happen - it is time to add a small bit of security to your place.
1 - LOCK your front door! If guests choose to leave their rooms unlocked so be it, but you are responsible for some security while you have guests in your home. For the few that have stated how much they like the openness, there are just as many (or more) that HAVEN"T stated how they felt unsecure.
2 - Get a sign - CLOSED / No Vacancy (you may even wish to leave a list of other local accommodations with 24hr desks)
3 - Sweet Dreams with no rude awakenings!

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

Yep, that is it.
If it is interfering with our sleep, it's likely impacting the guests as well. And if strangers have access to the house after hours, it puts guests at risk.
Folks wonder why B&B insurance is so high. This is it. The risk and liability is altogether different when you're responsible for other folks' safety. And as innkeepers, we are responsible.

 

[user 26]

it may seem lovely and quaint and andy of mayberry for guests to be able to walk in without a key at any time. but you can't control the random incident, that one time, when the wrong person walks in.
please lock the front door when you go to bed. give your guests keys and tell them to use them.
bad things can (and do) happen to good people. i wish this wasn't true, but it is.
as others say, you are the one who is responsible for the safety of your guests.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Baygirl - times are a changn' and no matter how deep in the country you are, GPS will get people there and at any time of the day or night. We just recently had a thread about never had walk-ins. In other words - this is only going to get worse...nip it in the bud now!
As Mort stated about her neighor having people wander in looking about for a room... it would be a rude awakening for you and your guests if someone went snooping around in your B&B and walked in on one of your paying guests at 2 in the morning. Don't wait for this to happen - it is time to add a small bit of security to your place.
1 - LOCK your front door! If guests choose to leave their rooms unlocked so be it, but you are responsible for some security while you have guests in your home. For the few that have stated how much they like the openness, there are just as many (or more) that HAVEN"T stated how they felt unsecure.
2 - Get a sign - CLOSED / No Vacancy (you may even wish to leave a list of other local accommodations with 24hr desks)
3 - Sweet Dreams with no rude awakenings!.

I absolutely agree with CH, GPS has changed everything. We used to never get people stopping in, and now we'll sometimes get them at 11:00 or 12:00 at night. A car full of kids, the parents looking for a cheap room.
Please give your guests their keys, whether they use them or not is up to them. You shouldn't take on any more liability than you have to. We put a no vacancy sign out over our doorbell on the front porch. All we did was to install a couple small hooks in the wall above the doorbell then make a no vacancy sign with two holes to hang on those hooks. Your guests will know that there is a bell under there because they would have used it or seen it when they checked in. Strangers will not know that it's there and will see the no vacancy sign instead. Just get into the habit of putting the no vacancy sign out before you go to bed. LOCK YOUR FRONT DOOR AT NIGHT!!
We also have a driveway monitor which has been discussed on other threads...unless they are walking in, nobody comes or goes without me knowing it. And I live out in the country where you have to know where I am to find us. GPS is a double edged sword.

 

[Proud Texan]

We sit about 1/4 of a mile off the main road back in the woods. People really really have to want to come here. That being said, we do get drive ups (as opposed to walk-ins), although none have ever been late at night.
As soon as I can afford it, I'll be installing a motorized keypad entry gate so that only guests with the code can get in. I suppose I could also get a "NO VACANCY" sign to hang at the entry as well.

 

[wendydk]

Baygirl - times are a changn' and no matter how deep in the country you are, GPS will get people there and at any time of the day or night. We just recently had a thread about never had walk-ins. In other words - this is only going to get worse...nip it in the bud now!
As Mort stated about her neighor having people wander in looking about for a room... it would be a rude awakening for you and your guests if someone went snooping around in your B&B and walked in on one of your paying guests at 2 in the morning. Don't wait for this to happen - it is time to add a small bit of security to your place.
1 - LOCK your front door! If guests choose to leave their rooms unlocked so be it, but you are responsible for some security while you have guests in your home. For the few that have stated how much they like the openness, there are just as many (or more) that HAVEN"T stated how they felt unsecure.
2 - Get a sign - CLOSED / No Vacancy (you may even wish to leave a list of other local accommodations with 24hr desks)
3 - Sweet Dreams with no rude awakenings!.

...you are responsible for some security while you have guests in your home.

That's really the crux of the matter, isn't it? You have a legal responsibility for your guest's safety, and the safety of their belongings.

 

[JBloggs]

Drive ups when we lived rural was usually a van looking for a place out of sight like yours to burgel. Garages with powers tools etc, easy to get to with no neighbors looking in. We installed a gate where we used to live and even though, yes you could walk around it, most crims would not haul a tv or something all that way out to their vehicle, it was a simple deterrent.

 

[gillumhouse]

Great - now I have Patsy Cline rolling around in my head!