Who decides?

[MooseTrax]

Just had an extremely irate guest hang up in mid sentence because we do not allow guests to book rooms that do not have enough beds for all of the guests. We don't care how they sort themselves out once they take the room, but 3 guests do not get a room with 1 bed. Guest got hostile and said it was none of our business who slept in one bed together and said she would book elsewhere and hung up.
Had she waited just a moment before lashing out in defense of her parenting choices to allow the children and parents to all sleep together in one bed, we would have told her about another room with 2 beds that would have satisfied the fire codes and they could have piled into the one bed together, who would care?
But we were 'infringing on her rights to parent as she saw fit.' Slam. Although phones don't slam anymore do they?
Had she started off saying there were 3 of them we never would have mentioned a room with 1 bed. But, as usual, the kid gets forgotten until the last minute.

 

[JBloggs]

I want a phone that slams so I can hang up harshly on telemarketers.

 

[gillumhouse]

I still have one that slams.

 

[Copperhead]

She must have been experiencing this from many others and thus jumped on you for saying - no. I am sure her idea mostly revolves around price and assumes the price will be more for the room with 2 beds.
I had a call the other day wanting to put 8 people in one room. Why not....because the fire marhall could close us down is one reason why not. (many more left unsaid). This call took far longer to handle than I wanted and I wished I had a phone I could have slammed by the end of it.

 

[MooseTrax]

She must have been experiencing this from many others and thus jumped on you for saying - no. I am sure her idea mostly revolves around price and assumes the price will be more for the room with 2 beds.
I had a call the other day wanting to put 8 people in one room. Why not....because the fire marhall could close us down is one reason why not. (many more left unsaid). This call took far longer to handle than I wanted and I wished I had a phone I could have slammed by the end of it..

The price would have been less had she waited for a description of the room. But she hung up as soon as it was stated 3 guests could not have 1 bed. I am sure she is happy elsewhere. And complaining about us all the way.
I would say that she may just get a lot of flak about her sleeping arrangements from more than just strangers. How a husband and wife can be a husband and wife with a child sleeping between them for 5 years, I do not know. And I thank the stars above I never had to find out.

But it is not my concern. She took it that way and that makes your idea that she hears this a lot quite likely.

 

[scrambled_eggs]

I want a phone that slams so I can hang up harshly on telemarketers..

I want a phone that slams so I can hang up harshly on telemarketers.

The other option is to have a playground whistle near the phone at all times. When the telemarketer calls you blow the whistle into the phone and then hang up.

 

[scrambled_eggs]

I've let three people sleep in one king bed before with no problems. Had three women do it and two adults and one child.

 

[MooseTrax]

I've let three people sleep in one king bed before with no problems. Had three women do it and two adults and one child..

I've let three people sleep in one king bed before with no problems. Had three women do it and two adults and one child.

I always picture a room with this arrangement like a clown car in the circus. The door opens and the guests all come tumbling out. It is too much stress on the room itself, not to mention the additional noise for the guests in the nearby rooms. To me, that leads to the slippery slope of subsequently allowing 5 guests in a room with 2 beds. Even if it were allowable by the fire marshal, it is too much for the innkeeper.
At one point we did allow 5 guests in 1 room. 4 adults and a baby. Never again. The adults were cramped and unhappy with their stay even though they insisted on the arrangement. They were unhappy again because we did not have a microwave they were allowed to use, but they did use the kitchen anyway, unallowed. They were unhappy because we didn't have saran wrap and they looked in every cabinet to find it. And they loudly grumbled their dismay at no saran wrap throughout the house so all could hear.
After that we realized when 4 adults with a baby want 1 room, they are penny pinching and they really want a hotel with a kitchenette.

 

[gillumhouse]

I want a phone that slams so I can hang up harshly on telemarketers..

I want a phone that slams so I can hang up harshly on telemarketers.

The other option is to have a playground whistle near the phone at all times. When the telemarketer calls you blow the whistle into the phone and then hang up.
.

Wish I could do that. Most of my calls must be computer generated because when I answer quite often it is dead air - as if the computer did not kick in. One that I get all too often is one purporting to be from my credit card company saying there is nothing wrong with the account at this time but you need to call this 800 number about important account information...
DH took a call while I was at band rehearsal and when I got home he hit with the question "Are you late with your credit card payment? A woman called from the credit card company." First return question was which credit card company? and he did not know. Funny but they never called back.....

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Bottom line - your B&B, your rules.

 

[MooseTrax]

Bottom line - your B&B, your rules..

Bottom line - your B&B, your rules.

That's the line she hung up on.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Bottom line - your B&B, your rules..

Bottom line - your B&B, your rules.

That's the line she hung up on.

.

Great minds think alike. Good riddance to her.

 

[Samster]

I wonder if someone is calling around the country on this? I rarely get calls like this & got a call for our 2 room suite to put either 6 or 7 people in it. The caller didn't consider very yound children as part of the occupancy. What the heck? I just said that the max occupancy for that room was 4 and the caller asked if they would then have to get a room that could accommodate the rest of them? Uh, yeah! Boy that room would be quite a deal with that many people and complimentary breakfast for 6 people that would probably eat it. Caller kept saying that they wanted to stay in one of the B&Bs here. There is one B&B with separate free standing cottages and I told him to try that one but I had no clue.
The bottom line is that they are trying to be super cheap.

 

[aieechihuahua]

I want a phone that slams so I can hang up harshly on telemarketers..

I get satisfaction by turning on a tv, setting the phone next to it and walking away for a while. Better for the phone!

 

[EmptyNest]

Move on...you don't need any more guests like that then you have already :-( No loss.

 

[sgirouard]

From a parent/guest point of view:
I do not think this is necessarily about the cheapest price. As I have mentioned in another thread, we travel fairly often, and children under two (sometimes under three) "don't count" in hotels and other establishments.
She may very well be embarassed at having to discuss personal parenting practices with you (I bet you're not the only person she's run into who she has perceived as critical). I think she did, in her embarassment and frustration, forget the findamental premise though (your business, your establishment, your home, your rules). The fact that you had to remind her (and I think you really needed to) may very well have increased her embarassment.
As a parent who has embraced certain non-mainstream parenting choices (did I mention being in hotels a couple times a month?), I am careful to do reasonable "reconnaisance," and that practice extrends well beyond lodging.
It's too bad that she didn't maintain her composure - as you pointed out, once they're in the room, they sort themselves out, and it's very likely they would have been happier in the other room.
It's also too bad you had to deal with someone's bad behavior. Her frustration and embarassment (IMO) is no excuse for the way she spoke to you. After all, to answer your original question, The innkeeper decides (unless the fire marshall trumps him/her).
Form the aspiring innkeeper poitn of view: The issue of max guests in a room is something DH & I are mullng right now. The property we're trying to purchase has been run as an inn for about 10 years - and one of the practices allowed guests to cram as many bodies in those rooms as they could. Okay, that's extreme, and generally, it wasn't an issue, but there are a couple annual events where it would happen. We've already been looking at day beds (the folding kind). The current owners/seller would provide one extra (portable) bed on request, and I guess everybody else slept in sleeping bags. In light of the fact the entire place was furnished with antiques of a certain value, I doubt the innkeepers permitted the furniture to be abuse (like sleeping on couches - yikes). I'm trying to find a solution in my mind that is satisfactory - one of the larger resort hotels in the area will actually provide air mattresses for a small additional fee (only up to the fire marshall's occupancy limit, though). I really don't want to be sucked into that vortex, but the fact that another lodging offers it means I want to think it through and be able to explain exactly why we don't offer air mattresses and what alternative (if any) we do. Whatever we do, we will charge extra per person - it's not about breakfast. It's about extra laundry - towels, sheets, napkins - those daybeds, heating water, running electricity...
Bottom line, as the resort that offers air mattresses points out in their printed literature - what the fire marshall says is the end of the discussion on occupancy.

 

[SweetiePie]

Gives me an idea for a book, "When Guests Attack!"

 

[JBloggs]

I think there is a place for it. Retreat center, lodges and specific hotels with swimming pools etc where families tend to stay on vacations where kids UNDER 18 are free! That is their gimmick to get people to book rooms, eat free, stay free, etc.
A BnB is not such a place. Whoever thought it was needs their brain examined, never in my life had I ever considered bringing young kids to a BnB (exceptions made now that we are an innkeeping family and the kids are not little).
We are crossing the line to hotel when we start making policies and acting the same as hotels... I agree with the statement, we are not hired help, we are not front desk people, we OWN these BnB's and people need to realize that. They don't, of course, if they are not BnB people they don't get it.
Last night had a lady and her male friend show up bangingon the door to rent an apartment. We told her this is a BnB NOT AN APARTMENT, she went on and on, it said parking on that street, so THIS HAS TO BE IT. Let me assure you this is NOT an apartment. "Well where is it then?" She asks. "You want ME to tell you what YOU are looking for?" oh brother.
People don't get it, don't have a clue. Fortunately those are not the people we get as guests.
I just delivered breakfast to a 20th wedding anniversary couple, she opened the door in her robe with a big smile, he was kicked back on the bed watching the morning news...I had a small blue vase with bright yellow daiseys on the tray, it was lovely. It was NOT a hotel with a room packed full of kids.

 

[egoodell]

From a parent/guest point of view:
I do not think this is necessarily about the cheapest price. As I have mentioned in another thread, we travel fairly often, and children under two (sometimes under three) "don't count" in hotels and other establishments.
She may very well be embarassed at having to discuss personal parenting practices with you (I bet you're not the only person she's run into who she has perceived as critical). I think she did, in her embarassment and frustration, forget the findamental premise though (your business, your establishment, your home, your rules). The fact that you had to remind her (and I think you really needed to) may very well have increased her embarassment.
As a parent who has embraced certain non-mainstream parenting choices (did I mention being in hotels a couple times a month?), I am careful to do reasonable "reconnaisance," and that practice extrends well beyond lodging.
It's too bad that she didn't maintain her composure - as you pointed out, once they're in the room, they sort themselves out, and it's very likely they would have been happier in the other room.
It's also too bad you had to deal with someone's bad behavior. Her frustration and embarassment (IMO) is no excuse for the way she spoke to you. After all, to answer your original question, The innkeeper decides (unless the fire marshall trumps him/her).
Form the aspiring innkeeper poitn of view: The issue of max guests in a room is something DH & I are mullng right now. The property we're trying to purchase has been run as an inn for about 10 years - and one of the practices allowed guests to cram as many bodies in those rooms as they could. Okay, that's extreme, and generally, it wasn't an issue, but there are a couple annual events where it would happen. We've already been looking at day beds (the folding kind). The current owners/seller would provide one extra (portable) bed on request, and I guess everybody else slept in sleeping bags. In light of the fact the entire place was furnished with antiques of a certain value, I doubt the innkeepers permitted the furniture to be abuse (like sleeping on couches - yikes). I'm trying to find a solution in my mind that is satisfactory - one of the larger resort hotels in the area will actually provide air mattresses for a small additional fee (only up to the fire marshall's occupancy limit, though). I really don't want to be sucked into that vortex, but the fact that another lodging offers it means I want to think it through and be able to explain exactly why we don't offer air mattresses and what alternative (if any) we do. Whatever we do, we will charge extra per person - it's not about breakfast. It's about extra laundry - towels, sheets, napkins - those daybeds, heating water, running electricity...
Bottom line, as the resort that offers air mattresses points out in their printed literature - what the fire marshall says is the end of the discussion on occupancy..

Form the aspiring innkeeper poitn of view: The issue of max guests in a room is something DH & I are mullng right now. The property we're trying to purchase has been run as an inn for about 10 years - and one of the practices allowed guests to cram as many bodies in those rooms as they could. Okay, that's extreme, and generally, it wasn't an issue, but there are a couple annual events where it would happen. We've already been looking at day beds (the folding kind). The current owners/seller would provide one extra (portable) bed on request, and I guess everybody else slept in sleeping bags. In light of the fact the entire place was furnished with antiques of a certain value, I doubt the innkeepers permitted the furniture to be abuse (like sleeping on couches - yikes).

I believe if you allow more than two people per bed - using daybeds or air mattresses you had better get ready for the rooms to be trashed. Even if they are careful, you will have more luggage in the room, and more junk in the bathrooms than the rooms were designed to hold.
If you plan to let more than two occupy, I would remove all the valuable furniture and furnishings, and put in sturdy and indestructable. I would also purchase back up paint for the walls so you can touch up where the suitcases will be banging.
I would also hope you are not on a well!
We designed our suites to allow an extra body in case parents are coming to scope out the university with a child. I decided early on when I saw the luggage and "stuf" that people travel with that I would not allow more than two per room. We put too much blood, sweat, tears and money into them to have to worry about abuse by sheer volumn of bodies and baggage.
RIki

 

[mooseberry]

I want a phone that slams so I can hang up harshly on telemarketers..

I want a phone that slams so I can hang up harshly on telemarketers.

What I do to telemarketers is say " Yes, sure I am interested, could you please hold on a sec ?" They say sure, I put the phone down and go on with my routine. Once you hear the bussy signal, you know they hung up.