Guest expectations

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Tournesol
Posts: 74
Joined: Thu May 18, 2017 11:46 am
Location: Charente
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Guest expectations

Post by Tournesol »

Also a problem in Chambres d'hotes/B & Bs. Some people expect the same facilities as a hotel and don't seem to appreciate that they are actually sharing your home!
I have realised we need to put some house rules up e.g. We would prefer you not to take alcohol into your room, rather than being asked for wine glasses and then being told they were not the right sort. "Those aren't for red wine!" (I really don't want to be trying to get red wine stains out of bedding; they are welcome to sit out on the terrace.)
We put a squeegee in the shower cubicle but no-one has used it yet, maybe that was asking too much!
We now have greasy marks on our bedding and make up stains on the towels too. One of their party, rather than using their own en-suite, used our bathroom and my towel that I had left hanging up after my shower!
What you've never had you never miss!
Tournesol
Posts: 74
Joined: Thu May 18, 2017 11:46 am
Location: Charente
Contact:

Guest expectations

Post by Tournesol »

By the way, Greenbarn, love the way you cater for dogs and how it is written!
What you've never had you never miss!
petitbois
Posts: 347
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:54 am

Post by petitbois »

2 tips Tournesol - close off your part of house or you will find guests using your facilities & eating out of your fridge, raiding your wine rack etc. second have a coin cuisine available for guest use. within days of opening back in 2004 we found guests in our kitchen when we came back from shops, another couple snuck down after we had gone to bed to our living room & watched TV while working their way through our Cognac collection & our very first guests arrived with bottles of beer & wine which they put in the bath to chill, hung bags of cheese from their door handles & cut up melons on our antique desks.... Now all are free to eat & drink at leisure on terraces, in garden etc. They have a place to prepare & clean up, shared fridge, microwave, coffee machine etc - virtually all our B&B guests self-cater at least 1 meal/day. As to towels & bedding - we supply black wash mits for make up removal, but the stained sheets are a fact of life - Vanish works wonders & Dr beckmann does a great fake tan stain remover. Have a great season
Tournesol
Posts: 74
Joined: Thu May 18, 2017 11:46 am
Location: Charente
Contact:

Guest expectations

Post by Tournesol »

Unfortunately the layout of our house means they have to go through our lounge to the stairs, so can't close it off.
There are notices on the doors to the kitchen, our bedroom and office saying "Private/Privée" so hopefully they will respect those. (I'm probably being unrealistic!)
Most of our guests are just stopping one night en route to their holiday destination so not usually a problem. Last weekend was the first time we'd had a 2-nighter (no problem) and a 3-nighter. The only full week we had booked cancelled when I replied to a request for a ground floor room that we only have two guest rooms and they are both upstairs. Trouble with B.com is they keep referring to "this hotel" so some guests expect something rather different.
We're operating on a shoestring at the moment but I'm hoping that we'll be in a position by next year to afford more sets of bedding so it's not so frantic when we have several 1-nighters consecutively!
What you've never had you never miss!
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