Lay My Hat Forum

aasta

hello Everyone! I thought I had seen something about this question posted here before, but can not find the thread.
I am not sure how much to tidy up in the guests rooms each day during their stay. I do the bathrooms and make the beds and vacuum. Lots of guests leave the curtains drawn closed. Should I open them. If they move the furniture around do i leave it and wait to right things until they are gone...as I write this, it seems a silly question......
thanks, aasta
_________________
aasta
www.colinaflora.com

brenda · Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 1257

If our Guests move furniture around I leave it until they leave unless it is causing an obstruction/danger.

I do open curtains.

I make the beds, change towels as required, clean the Bathroom, sweep the floors and replace any used Drinks from the Honesty Bar. I also tidy up/hang any clothes up but make sure to leave any jewellery/money in the same position I find it.

aasta · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:00 pm Post subject:

Thanks Brenda! I have not touched any of our guests clothes, even if they are strewn about. Feel a bit awkward doing that. Two recent guests asked that their rooms not be cleaned during their stay and I respected that.
The rooms do look tidier with the curtains open. do you close windows that they´ve left open.

What do you provide in the honesty bar? Do you have one in each room. How does it work?
thanks, aasta
_________________
aasta
www.colinaflora.com

petitbois · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 124

clean bathrooms & loos, make beds & change linen when necessary, close windows & shutters if hot & open curtains, stock up toiletries & glasses etc, empty waster bins, but never, ever touch any personal property...... Wouldn't hang up clothes etc if strewn about, especially not advisable when you have teenagers to stay - can result in a major strop.......

Normandie · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 3:33 pm Post subject:

petitbois · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 124

Gosh how do you manage that when teens come to stay??? We very quickly decided that the only way to avoid conflict & a bad atmosphere for our other guests, was to put parents 'in charge', give them a 'do not disturb' sign on arrival & just keep away. Last year we had a family stay whose 2 teenage boys locked themselves in their room for 4 days without emerging...shutters & windows were shut & Mum just fed them bottles of milk & croisants left over from breakfast once in a while.... they came with a wealth of electronic gadgetry...the room was like an oven when they left & smelt very strongly of teenage boy....... In my day I would have loved to stay somewhere with a 17metre pool, tennis court, bikes & lots of woodland to disappear into, but times have changed...... Mind you we have had a few wives lock themselves in rooms too on occasion, & don't get me on the subject of Parisain wedding parties who sleep till the afternoon.....

Normandie · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:06 pm Post subject:

LOL! I've not had a situation where teens have closeted themselves in their rooms all day. We're a very rural location, 50 minutes from the best beaches, no swimming pool, and where we've had families staying they tend to have the two-room family suite with the bathroom located in between.

This means I can get at the bathroom without going into the bedrooms anyway and with the en-suite room, it's a double bed so adults always choose that room. Generally, guests go out for the day, usually by about 10am / 11am.

We've had wedding parties but they've been up and about well before midday and anyway, midday is a guideline - if someone hasn't managed to extract themselves from their pit, I'll check later.

So far, daily access to bedroom / bathroom just hasn't been an issue for me. And I'd be even more keen to check a bathroom's efficent functioning if teens were using it!

Edited to add:
Actually, there was one couple who said that they didn't "need" me to go in and service their room. I just said that it was no trouble, they wouldn't know I'd been in, that as the weather was hot I was scrupulous about emptying bins daily and at the same time I always checked that loo and shower etc was emptying satisfactorily. Say it with a big smile and there's no problem. In my experience, anyway.

petitbois · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 124

that's our problem, people very rarely go out when they stay with us - obviously make it too comfortable for them....we are also in a very rural location, 2-3 hrs from nearest beach, but with the facilities of pool, tennis etc together with guest kitchen & each room having the space to eat outside on their private terrace, no-one wants to leave.... Any recommendations on how to get the Parisian wedding parties to get up before midday??? Haven't found a foolproof way yet in 8 years & have a few booked for this summer.... as you say I can always check later when they go out to eat again.......& I do, but 14 hr days get a bit much after a while.....

pete · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:37 am Post subject:

I would worry if they moved the furniture, for one we have wooden floors and although most stuff has pads on the feet dragging stuff around is not encouraged, have you thought that maybe its in the wrong place, could you re arrange stuff so its more or less where guests move it too ?

mrsp changes towels every other day, until this year it was every day, but sense prevails (well my nagging) and unless they leave them on the floor they are left the first day.

Most of our guests are non english so making beds is usually not necessary but on the second day bins would be emptied and a quick dust around visible surfaces but would never move or tidy stuff, if there was too much clutter we would just leave it all alone.

I think it also depends on your price, at top end I would expect clean towels and bins and dusting etc, but I would not expect anyone to touch my stuff, even if it was untidy,

pete

aasta · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:29 pm Post subject:

Thanks for all your input.
Do you post the house guidelines somewhere visible or have them in a folder of some kind in the room?
I also prefere to get into the rooms once a day to make sure everythings ok and empty the trash. Guess, I am treading carefully, being new at this!!

I was curious about opening the curtains, especially since there are beautiful ocean views with 6 windows giving quite the panorama.

The folks who moved the furniture (was the table and chairs from against the wall to the middle of the room) was a 14 year old sulking teenager, who wanted to be in a Lisbon hotel not in a rural B&B, and his overindulgent father. The father even canceled the next B&B on their trip for a Holiday Inn to appease the son.
_________________
aasta
www.colinaflora.com