Soon to be guests got lost . . .

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
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J&J
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Soon to be guests got lost . . .

Post by J&J »

Yesterday, a flashy new BMW drove up and two people got out. It turned out they are part of a party due to arrive next week and had decided to come and check the place out !

Their first words to us . . .
"Are you the owners ? Oh, we've had such trouble finding you, we got dreadfully lost"

Now, as they were clutching a copy of the directions which we send to all our guests I was a little concerned as usually everyone compliments us upon how clear the directions are. After a bit more discussion, I learnt that they had completely ignored the directions supplied and relied upon their satnav. Not only had this taken them to completely the wrong house but, when they decided to head to the village, it couldn't cope with the fact that there was a road closed.

If they had used the directions which I sent them and turned the satnav off then they would have got to us without a problem.

It made me laugh (after they had gone). The only problem now is that they are here for a week of playing golf but the weather forecast is predicting lots of rain - Let's hope they don't decide that's our fault !
levelsteps
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Post by levelsteps »

An old friend of mine came to stay last year. We are 45 minutes from Roscoff. The journey took him 3 hours!

Reasons?

(1) No map.
(2) Relied on SatNav.
(3) Could not pronounce the name of the town when asking for directions.

The most worrying thing is that he was the Chief Gunner on the same ship as me. His reponsibilty was to fire the ships missiles using computers and SatNav!!
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

If they had used the directions which I sent them and turned the satnav off then they would have got to us without a problem.
Can I hazard a guess that one if not both of these were men...[ I apologise if not]
but they dont like to read instructions/directions....but playing with a boys toy[sat nav] would appeal..... :wink: :)

Ros who has no sense of direction at all
..but knows how to follow directions and will even [heaven forbid ask someone if Im lost] married to a Man who has great sense of direction but wouldnt tell someone he was lost if his life depended on it.... :roll:
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Sue Dyer
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Post by Sue Dyer »

We send out directions from Multimap or Mapquest using guests postcode then the cottage postcode. As Dave has a pretty good idea on the UK road system, having driven most of it many, many times he knows if it looks okay or not. He knew, of course that the guests from Blackpool wouldn't really want to catch the ferry to Ireland (Dublin) then back over from Belfast as a "short cut". :wink:

I had an argument with a taxi driver last month. I was going to the quiz at my favourite pub (Free Trade!) and he didn't know where it was. It is about 5 mins drive from my house and I said I'd direct him. No, he insisted on sitting for ages setting his Sat Nav. He wanted to take me a complex and longer way cos that is what the Sat Nav said. He told me "that was the way". I had to snap at him "Look Mate, I know where the "fizzing" pub is, I've drank there for 25+ years!) (sorry Thread creep! :oops: )
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enid
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Post by enid »

Last year we had 3 young Belgian families that had booked our large gite. 2 of the families arrived late afternoon Saturday - no sign of the 3rd. They didn't arrive until almost 9p.m. - they had used satnav and had typed in Peyrenègre (the name of our house) as the village - and ended up a few hours north of us in the Dordogne!!!

Most people who have satnav use it to get to the vlllage then my directions to find the house. We dion't have it and I'm notyet persuaded that I need it!
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Sat Nav seems to work really well for getting people to us, it is strange how well it works for some addresses and not for others. My problem is mainly with French people who rarely read the directions and end up in the village itself, wheras although we are in the commune we are 4kms out into the countryside, so it isn't easy to find us without following either directions or satnav.
My forecast is the same as yours J&J, very unsettled and quite a lot of water over the next few days, so the golfers will get wet I'm sure. I'm hoping for a dry window fairly soon to get the grass cut as it is getting rather long!
I think it was really of the guests to turn up early without so much of a courtesy phone call (I hope they are better behaved when they are installed).
LaLuz
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Post by LaLuz »

La Vache wrote: My forecast is the same as yours J&J, very unsettled and quite a lot of water over the next few days, so the golfers will get wet I'm sure. I'm hoping for a dry window fairly soon to get the grass cut as it is getting rather long!
Hope you're not getting the same rain as we have in the UK at the moment or there'll be no window and likely as not no grass if it carries on for much longer!

It's been absolutely pouring down for the last 36 hours and is forecast for the next 36 - Dreadful!

Now that really is thread creep - sorry!
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Post by LaLuz »

Sue Dyer wrote: I had to snap at him "Look Mate, I know where the "fizzing" pub is, I've drank there for 25+ years!) (sorry Thread creep! :oops: )
You might have trouble finding the way back eh Sue but never the way there :lol:
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Alan Knighting
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Post by Alan Knighting »

Big Sis,

I know I’m only a man but I know where I’m going, I can read maps and I don’t get lost even though I’m frequently told “get lost�.

Joan can’t read maps so she asked me to get her a TomTom. It has its own maps, it doesn’t get lost and it talks to her from time to time. It even talks to me at the end of a journey by telling me “you have arrived at your destination�. That’s information overload but it keeps Joan happy.

Sue,

Most of the Newcastle taxi drivers, even those who don’t speak English, know where the Free Trade is except for those who think it might be in Karachi.

Alan
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The Moles Mother
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Post by The Moles Mother »

Satnavs are inventions of the devil.

You can bet your bottom dollar that the people who get really badly lost are the ones who try to find us using Satnav. Some of them end up at the local nudist colony which has a similar name to ours.

We publish very specific directions to our place on the website but a quarter of our guests don't read them and end up in the village about five kilometres from us which is our postal address. We just heave a weary sigh when they phone all confused and direct them from there.

MM
A vegetarian oasis in the heart of Boeuf Bourguignonne country
http://www.lesbattees.com/
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J&J
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Post by J&J »

Maybe we are losing the art of reading instructions. The children in my class at school were brilliant at pressing the right buttons on the computer, but only 50% had the stamina to follow through a written exercise without becoming distracted. And yes, interestingly, boys were worse than girls!!!
Judith
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

Satnav
And Why is it called that...what happens the other days of the week :roll: ... :lol: :lol:
Nightowl
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Post by Nightowl »

I got one for my birthday. it's great, unless a road is blocked. Mine is a fairly cheap one and doesn't have the facility to say 'not that road'. It drives me mad. I drive up to London every night and there are often roadworks that start at 10pm so it's not unusual to find that I can't go my normal route.

And for some reason, no diversion routes are set up.

I don't know the sidestreets of London and if I set my satnav, it invariably takes me back to my 'normal' route, where the road block is. A few months back there were a lot of overnight roadworks around the Imax roundabout at Waterloo and the surrounding roads. The traffic, even at 10pm was a nightmare and several times I got took a detour off hoping to get away from the jams and then ended up getting lost. so I put the satnav on, and TWICE it took me back to the IMAX roundabout where the traffic was at a standstill. It took me about 45 mins to get out of it, and I only work at the Strand, just over the bridge, so the journey from the Imax is about 3 mins by car.

I think they are a good thing in general, but yes, you do have to get the destination right in the first place... and I think at some point in the future I will have to upgrade to one that has a 'not that road' facility.
Nightowl
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Post by guest 4 »

I love my sat nav, We have a very softly/well spoken lady, she keeps me company on my trips to M&S. I talk back to her, telling her where I am going shopping and what I will buy today. I know the route like the back of my hand, after all, it is only 2 minutes up the road. :lol:

It's like meeting an old friend everytime I turn the key in the ignition. I call her Imogen, seems to suit her voice.

Yes, time for the men in white coats I think, especially when your best friend is the Satnav voice. :shock:

BTW You can download a new voice for your tomtom from here:

http://www.satnavvoices.com/

Ruth
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Post by Sarah »

We've had the same experience with people ignoring my directions and trying to get to us using Satnav. The latest people mentioned that their Satnav was screaming at them that they were going the wrong way but they were strong and turned it off. They had no problem getting here. We are very rural here and I think possibly some of the single lane back roads which we use all the time but are little more than tracks are not covered by the Satnav.

I've never used one but was quite impressed by the background music played by a friend's tomtom. It was Barry White, ideal for calming you down when it has sent you in the wrong direction.
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