When they don't tell you something's wrong(!)

[sgirouard]

This weekend we had what seemed to be the guests guests ever. At the last minute they requrested an extra day, which is against our policies, but we made an exception and were glad we did. So sweet, so appreciative, ***very*** quiet - we had to look in the parking lot to see if they were here! On time on-the-button for breakfast. Each morning, I asked teh standard, "Is everything all right? Can we get you anything, or do you need anything?" I suppose they thought I just meant about breakfast. But, I just had the sense that something was going on...
So after they checked out, I sent a thank you email and a link in case they wanted to join our FB page (we'd all ready chatted about reviews). This morning I got an email saying they'd left a review for us, and also that, "they weren't going to say anything, but..." Turns out there was an issue with their room after all - I'm leaving out details here because I believe the wife was embarassed, which is why they didn't say anything in the first place, I don't want to take the chance of her finding this and getting embarassed all over again. There was totally NO REASON to be embarassed, the issue of their concern was NOT their "fault" as they seemed to think, and I so wish they had said something. If we couldn't have taken care of it, at the very least we could have put them in another room.
Oh, well. DH read it and just chuckled - he agreed with me they should not have worried and should have told us.
So, my gut was right, and in spite of their protestations about our lovely house, wonderful stay, excellent food...they were still uncomfortable. Grr.

 

[Morticia]

So, out of all that, I have to ask- why do you have a policy that guests can't stay longer?

 

[JBloggs]

Can you hide what it was in another post, now I am eager to know. I mean, something you could have just explained or something needing repair? Sounds like you did all you should do as the host, so don't beat yourself up over it.

 

[Samster]

I'm also confused about a policy that doesn't allow guests to extend their stay. Can you explain your thinking on this?
Now, you have us wondering about what happened too! ;-)

 

[Copperhead]

I am also confused:
First, unless there are no rooms available why would you have a policy about not allowing adding a day. (unless there are laws about length of stay in your area)
Second, I really can't grasp what you could be referring to. If something was wrong in the room, why would they have stayed an extra day? Was the review a good one or was it riddled with issues that are not addresed here? If there was something wrong in the room, was it not found when the room was cleaned? Was it something that could not be spotted when doing a fluff of the room?

 

[sgirouard]

Okay, let's see:

• We have a 48 hours notice policy for reservations, and we don't take walk-ins at all. They added the day onto the front of their stay. They called asking if they could less than 48 hours in advance. IOW, let's say the reservation was for a Saturday night, and they called Thursday asking if they could come on Friday (and still stay over Saturday). Is that clearer?
• The problem was NOT something we could see when fluffing the room.

I will ponder how to camoflage the issue. I *do* wish they'd said something while here, but at least I'm glad she told me in the email after the fact so we can make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

Okay, let's see:

• We have a 48 hours notice policy for reservations, and we don't take walk-ins at all. They added the day onto the front of their stay. They called asking if they could less than 48 hours in advance. IOW, let's say the reservation was for a Saturday night, and they called Thursday asking if they could come on Friday (and still stay over Saturday). Is that clearer?
• The problem was NOT something we could see when fluffing the room.

I will ponder how to camoflage the issue. I *do* wish they'd said something while here, but at least I'm glad she told me in the email after the fact so we can make sure it doesn't happen again..

Alright, I'm jumping in on the confusion bandwagon here.
I know you must have a good reason for the 48 hours notice and no extensions.
But I can't for the life of me think of what it is. Can you tell us the reasoning behind that?

 

[JBloggs]

No it is still not clearer, I am confused as all get out - why would you not want to take more of the customers cashola?
You will have to let us guess now on the "issue" 20 questions?
#1) did it have to do with insects or animals (either the bug or animal itself, or carcasses or evidence they had been there?)

 

[EmptyNest]

Oh come on...just tell us...and quit making us guess Just be brief and you can delete it later if you want ;-)

 

[Country Girl]

I bet it was a problem with the toilet.

 

[sgirouard]

Okay, wow.
First, it didn't have anything to do with critters. Jeepers - I'd have made for the hills myself. Okay, maybe not, but DH might have had to peel me off the ceiling.
Second - <SIGH> I really can't think of a way to share. I'll have to come back inncognito.
Third - as far as our policy of wanting reservations made 48 hours in advance - I've been pondering how to "explain" it - but the bottom line is, in our current situation, it's what we need to do to provide the quality of experience we want to offer and maintain our sanity. Some factors we take into consideration: our town doesn't have a grocery store. A trip to the nearest grocery store is at least an hour proposition. At least. To complicate matters, DH & I share one vehicle, and there are days when he takes it for work and is gone for 12 or more hours. I keep a decently stocked pantry, but have no deep freeze here yet. Generally, I manage this by pulling rooms from availability on our online calendar, but in this instance, the guest called us directly and we did have food for another morning's worth of breakfasts (without repeats), so we took them to come ahead.
I fully expect at some point we will revisit this policy, but right now I'd rather turn away an unexpected guest for whom I am unprepared in some way than risk a bad experience.

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

Okay, wow.
First, it didn't have anything to do with critters. Jeepers - I'd have made for the hills myself. Okay, maybe not, but DH might have had to peel me off the ceiling.
Second - <SIGH> I really can't think of a way to share. I'll have to come back inncognito.
Third - as far as our policy of wanting reservations made 48 hours in advance - I've been pondering how to "explain" it - but the bottom line is, in our current situation, it's what we need to do to provide the quality of experience we want to offer and maintain our sanity. Some factors we take into consideration: our town doesn't have a grocery store. A trip to the nearest grocery store is at least an hour proposition. At least. To complicate matters, DH & I share one vehicle, and there are days when he takes it for work and is gone for 12 or more hours. I keep a decently stocked pantry, but have no deep freeze here yet. Generally, I manage this by pulling rooms from availability on our online calendar, but in this instance, the guest called us directly and we did have food for another morning's worth of breakfasts (without repeats), so we took them to come ahead.
I fully expect at some point we will revisit this policy, but right now I'd rather turn away an unexpected guest for whom I am unprepared in some way than risk a bad experience..

That all makes perfect sense.

 

[JBloggs]

I see you explained elsewhere, thank you it was making me batty.

I totally get it now.

 

[Samster]

Okay, wow.
First, it didn't have anything to do with critters. Jeepers - I'd have made for the hills myself. Okay, maybe not, but DH might have had to peel me off the ceiling.
Second - <SIGH> I really can't think of a way to share. I'll have to come back inncognito.
Third - as far as our policy of wanting reservations made 48 hours in advance - I've been pondering how to "explain" it - but the bottom line is, in our current situation, it's what we need to do to provide the quality of experience we want to offer and maintain our sanity. Some factors we take into consideration: our town doesn't have a grocery store. A trip to the nearest grocery store is at least an hour proposition. At least. To complicate matters, DH & I share one vehicle, and there are days when he takes it for work and is gone for 12 or more hours. I keep a decently stocked pantry, but have no deep freeze here yet. Generally, I manage this by pulling rooms from availability on our online calendar, but in this instance, the guest called us directly and we did have food for another morning's worth of breakfasts (without repeats), so we took them to come ahead.
I fully expect at some point we will revisit this policy, but right now I'd rather turn away an unexpected guest for whom I am unprepared in some way than risk a bad experience..

AHA! Makes sense now since it was on the front end of the stay, with your situation regarding shopping and transportation. We had a policy where we had folks calling us directly (rather than booking online) for reservations 24 hours or less before their anticipated stay. This was because it was just me most of the time and worked out for the best. We also had to instruct our CVB about this as they started out sending us walk-ins. I totally understand how you didn't want to be caught unawares.
We were ALWAYS very happy when folks extended their stay on the end of their visit!

 

[EmptyNest]

I see you explained elsewhere, thank you it was making me batty.

I totally get it now..

ooops...how did I miss it???? Where???