Check-Out Time? Whenever!
Fridays are our busiest days. Not only do we normally have a lot of check-out/check-ins, but it is the turn-over day for our rental houses. It was 10 am this past Friday and I was getting ready to leave to check on our rentals. George was cleaning up breakfast and the girls had started the room cleanings. All the guests had either checked out or had gone out for the day. There were no cars in the driveway.
Around 10:45 Emily came in to tell me that I had mistakenly put Room 9 as a full-clean, but it was a refresh since the guest's things were still in the room. Oh, ok, I don't normally mess up like that, but let me just recheck that on the computer. No, that guest was supposed to check out. I went down to the room. Maybe they had packed up and ran out to get gas, were coming right back to check out and get their stuff. Yeah, that's it, I had convinced myself of that on my way down to their room. When I opened their door, nothing was packed. This was a very lived in room. There was a tip for the girls on the bureau and it looked very much like they had gone out for the day. All I could think about was that in 3 hours there would be a family arriving to check into this room. I ran to the front desk to hopefully get their cell phone number off of their reservation. But there was just a home phone - no way to contact them. George and I decided to wait about an hour or so and we would have to start packing their stuff up ourselves.
George started calling around to see if he could find them another hotel to stay at. Obviously they thought they had reserved for two nights, not one. When they got back and found we had evicted them from their room, they were not going to be happy. Oh, damn you TripAdvisor! Hopefully, they never have heard of THAT site. But they reserved their room, got a confirmation, and paid for one night!! How could they think they had two nights booked??? Did they just decide to stay another night and forget to ask if it was available for another night?? WHERE WERE THEY??????
Me, never one to panic (ok, panic is my middle name), started running around like a crazy person. I put a yellow sticky note on their door to come immediately to the office if they came back. We found a place for them to stay that night and decided we would start packing up their things around 1 pm.
Then around 12:30, the wife came walking into the lobby.
"Why did you want me to come down here?"
"Do you think you are staying another night?"
"No, we are checking out today."
Oh thank God! But then it hit me, she was very casual with her, "No, we are checking out today."
WHAT TIME DO YOU THINK CHECK OUT TIME IS???? ANYTIME YOU WANT????
No, I didn't say that! But if you were in my head, you heard it loud and clear. What actually came out was, "Check out time was 11 am. We were so worried that you had wanted to stay another day and we had no rooms available."
"Oh no, we went hiking this morning and it was such a beautiful day that we decided to stay out longer. Then we went to the farmer' market. Sorry if we worried you."
"Well, I was more worried that you had no where to stay tonight." And that I was going to have to pack up your stuff, and wait around all day to explain to you that you were staying somewhere else, and change the locks on that door because god forbid you walk into the room that others were staying in. And then you would give us a bad review!
"Oh no, I wasn't worried."
A little while later she walked into the lobby to check-out. "I had a very nice stay, but I do want to inform you that you do not have an updated menu in your binder in the room for The Rose & Kettle restaurant and you should really update that." Are you kidding me! And you should check out on time!!!! You check out 1 1/2 hours late and I should be reprimanded for not keeping up with the changing menus of the restaurants in the area!!!!
I keep adding more and more things in the rooms or in the lobby. Along with that updated menu, you will now see a frame in the room, complete with check out hours.
Around 10:45 Emily came in to tell me that I had mistakenly put Room 9 as a full-clean, but it was a refresh since the guest's things were still in the room. Oh, ok, I don't normally mess up like that, but let me just recheck that on the computer. No, that guest was supposed to check out. I went down to the room. Maybe they had packed up and ran out to get gas, were coming right back to check out and get their stuff. Yeah, that's it, I had convinced myself of that on my way down to their room. When I opened their door, nothing was packed. This was a very lived in room. There was a tip for the girls on the bureau and it looked very much like they had gone out for the day. All I could think about was that in 3 hours there would be a family arriving to check into this room. I ran to the front desk to hopefully get their cell phone number off of their reservation. But there was just a home phone - no way to contact them. George and I decided to wait about an hour or so and we would have to start packing their stuff up ourselves.
George started calling around to see if he could find them another hotel to stay at. Obviously they thought they had reserved for two nights, not one. When they got back and found we had evicted them from their room, they were not going to be happy. Oh, damn you TripAdvisor! Hopefully, they never have heard of THAT site. But they reserved their room, got a confirmation, and paid for one night!! How could they think they had two nights booked??? Did they just decide to stay another night and forget to ask if it was available for another night?? WHERE WERE THEY??????
Me, never one to panic (ok, panic is my middle name), started running around like a crazy person. I put a yellow sticky note on their door to come immediately to the office if they came back. We found a place for them to stay that night and decided we would start packing up their things around 1 pm.
Then around 12:30, the wife came walking into the lobby.
"Why did you want me to come down here?"
"Do you think you are staying another night?"
"No, we are checking out today."
Oh thank God! But then it hit me, she was very casual with her, "No, we are checking out today."
WHAT TIME DO YOU THINK CHECK OUT TIME IS???? ANYTIME YOU WANT????
No, I didn't say that! But if you were in my head, you heard it loud and clear. What actually came out was, "Check out time was 11 am. We were so worried that you had wanted to stay another day and we had no rooms available."
"Oh no, we went hiking this morning and it was such a beautiful day that we decided to stay out longer. Then we went to the farmer' market. Sorry if we worried you."
"Well, I was more worried that you had no where to stay tonight." And that I was going to have to pack up your stuff, and wait around all day to explain to you that you were staying somewhere else, and change the locks on that door because god forbid you walk into the room that others were staying in. And then you would give us a bad review!
"Oh no, I wasn't worried."
A little while later she walked into the lobby to check-out. "I had a very nice stay, but I do want to inform you that you do not have an updated menu in your binder in the room for The Rose & Kettle restaurant and you should really update that." Are you kidding me! And you should check out on time!!!! You check out 1 1/2 hours late and I should be reprimanded for not keeping up with the changing menus of the restaurants in the area!!!!
I keep adding more and more things in the rooms or in the lobby. Along with that updated menu, you will now see a frame in the room, complete with check out hours.
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OMG -- what nerve!!!!