Departure Procedures

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
Bunny
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Post by Bunny »

greenbarn wrote:What's the problem with sending guests a short list of things you'd like them to do on leaving? Look on the positive side - you're doing them a service by supplying information they'll need.
We learnt very early on that guests would often do unnecessary things (as well as the guests who did nothing) so we produced a list entitled What to do - and what you don't need to do - on leaving. Our key "Don't bother" is the whirlpool baths; we'd frequently find that guests had spent time cleaning and drying the bath and the first thing we do is to fill them up and run sterilising solution through the pipework, thus negating the cleaning and drying. Some guests would neatly fold and stack towels or return the bathrobes to the wardrobes - we want them chucked in the bath where we know to find them without playing a jolly game of "Hunt The Towel" for 20 minutes. Others would wash floors which we're obviously going to wash anyway. No guest is going to leave the place clean enough for the next guest, so it's far better if they can spend their time doing the few things that really help rather than wondering what they should/shouldn't do.

Giving guests departure information is helpful for the guest.
If they actually do what you ask :roll: , it's helpful for you.
That's what I'm now doing GB i.e. emailing it to them. I used to rely on detailing the departure procedures in the Welcome Brochure. As we know, no matter what you do, guests just don't read stuff, so I just want to encourage them to do so and act on it.
S Thain
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Departure procedure

Post by S Thain »

I know it's not possible with those that have frequent early departures, but a few years ago I changed my departure time to 11a.m. (from 10a.m.) and my check-in from 3p.m. to 4p.m.

It has made a difference and the extra hour seems to give people extra time to clean up, strip beds, put toys away, put the dishwasher on, etc.

Saying that, we have a bottle bank less than 70 metres from the front door, yet they are usually stacked in the wheelie bin. Grrrrr :evil:
You don't get anywhere standing still.....go for it!
JaneV
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Post by JaneV »

I have a section on my booking form asking for bank details too. Most seem happy to supply this, after all, it's no different from when you are sent a cheque, with their signature on as well. If they haven't written down their details, but have sent me a cheque, I will note down their details from the cheque to return the deposit by bank transfer. No-one has objected to this or complained about receiving a bank transfer.

Funnily enough I was given feedback by guests this week that they would have liked to have known what to do on departure. I haven't done this before as I take a lot of weekend bookings, where they are on a short timescale anyway and I don't want to them to feel as if they've got to allocate too much time to departure cleaning - although they have up to 6pm to check out on a Sunday! We've only had one or two occasions where guests have left it in a dirty state, one with their meal left on the table! However, I've now taken Aspire's view and added some info to the pre-arrival notes, which will be repeated in the guest file at the cottage. I really like the idea of adding this to the pre-arrival info as I'm not always confident that guests always read the guest file in that much detail, especially if only there for a weekend.
Bunny
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Post by Bunny »

JaneV, it was at Aspire's suggestion that I've now incorporated departure notes into my arrival notes/directions document. In my head that somehow seems more acceptable than just emailing a document called departure notes. One particularly useful thing Aspire suggests is "returning all items to the same location that they were originally found" or words to that effect. I often spend a good twenty minutes looking for things and putting them back where they belong, so this will be really useful to me if guests heed the request. The other day I walked in to find one of my armchairs moved and placed completely blocking one of the doorways! Why would you do that and not put it back? Being on my own it was quite a challenge to move it back. I'm not expecting guests to fully clean before departure, not by any means, but I just want to stop the frequent 'get up and goers' that I seem to be getting more and more often, despite departure guidance being in the welcome brochure. Mind you, I've been emailing arrival instructions and guidance on the cottage for ages and it is very clear that quite a few don't even read that. Or they just choose to ignore it. I'll report back if I see any improvement.
Bunny
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Re: Departure procedure

Post by Bunny »

S Thain wrote:I know it's not possible with those that have frequent early departures, but a few years ago I changed my departure time to 11a.m. (from 10a.m.) and my check-in from 3p.m. to 4p.m.

It has made a difference and the extra hour seems to give people extra time to clean up, strip beds, put toys away, put the dishwasher on, etc.
I would love to give them until 11.00am but I've just brought my departure time forward and delayed my arrival time because I was seriously struggling to turn my larger cottage around in the timeframe. Perhaps if my new system works and I have to spend less time doing the things guests should be doing for themselves, I could try this too.
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

I was asked by my manager to bring the departure time forward to 10am. Otherwise they wouldn't manage to get everything turned around in time for all of the apartments they look after.
waterwitch
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Post by waterwitch »

I email a .pdf with arrival information which also includes directions, parking information, location of shops, lots of helpful information, and a short check list for departure. Then there is no excuse they had not read or had not been aware of our requirements, simple as they may be.

I did recently have a couple who absolutely ignored everything - front door left unlocked, back door unlocked, central heating on full blast, every light on in the house, soaking wet towels left on the bed, all the rubbish left in overflowing bin, drink bottles everywhere. But that's rare thank goodness!
JaneV
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Post by JaneV »

I had guests recently who switched all the sofas and armchairs around and then left them like that after departure!

A word of warning about asking guests to leave towels in the bath - recent guests did this but also didn't quite turn off the shower, resulting in totally sodden towels. Luckily the bath didn't overflow but it would only take a dripping tap to perhaps cause some chaos!
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