Diary of an Innkeeper

I debated on even writing about this one. I worried that at some point in all of this, maybe I would end up sounding like a complainer. But I see it not as complaining, more like storytelling! So, a few days ago this lovely couple arrives at the inn. Checking in for a few days, they seemed to like it here immediately. And I liked them immediately too. They brought their things to their room and were back in the lobby licketey split. "Oh they loved it here! It's just lovely!" "Did I have any ideas for them for dinner for their two nights?" After discussing all the possibilities, we decided on two places that I would make them reservations at. A few minutes later, they came back in and wanted to see menus so that they could decide on what they wanted before they arrived at the restaurants. Ok, check. Dinner reservations and menus, done.

Then a couple minutes later they came back in and needed a luggage rack. All the rooms have luggage racks in them, but what happened to the one in their room? Gone. Ok, don't know what happened to it and we're not exactly in an area where I can run out and buy a new one. "Well, what are we going to do?? We can't possibly put our luggage on the floor?" I'll find something, a chair, something for you to use. When I arrived at their room, they already had their luggage on one of the 5 chairs that were in their room. Luggage, check, all taken care of.

A few minutes later, they were calling me from the lobby, "Tina, Tina", they couldn't get their remote control to work. Battery check, they're fine, reprogramming needed, maybe. I told them I would take care of it while they were at dinner. "Do you have any ice?" Of course! A little while later they came in, "We're off to dinner." Great, have fun! The next morning at breakfast they came in to find all the tables taken. "Where are we supposed to sit?? Can you get an extra table and chairs?" Why, of course, and can you wait a couple of minutes while I build an addition to put them in too? Another lovely couple overheard them and asked them to join them at their table where there where two extra chairs. "Oh that would be lovely!" A couple of minutes go by. "Do you have any plain oatmeal? There only seems to be oatmeal with fruit." I am sorry but we only have what is out. How did I know that of all the 58 things we have to choose from at breakfast, she would want the one thing that we didn't have! A few minutes later, "Can you check the times for the art museum for us?" Why of course. I would love to.

After breakfast they left the inn for a while. Now, this evening, I have already made reservations at a restaurant for them. All taken care of. But they passed by a different restaurant and looked at the menu (a restaurant that I told them not to go to because it was wayyyyy to pricey for what you get). They came into the lobby and wanted to discuss this restaurant and why I thought they could charge those prices and could they see the menu for the restaurant that I am sending them to tonight to make sure it wasn't the same as this expensive one. I told them that they had already looked at the menu last night and had already decided on what they were going to order last night and that they thought it was fine. No, they wanted to see it again. Sure, of course. After a few more questions and requests that day, they were off to their dinner and opera.

This morning at check out they told my husband that they had a small problem with their room that they wanted him to be aware of. George said, why didn't you tell us about this during the weekend, we could have fixed it for you immediately. "Well, we would have, but no one was around all weekend." Wait, wait, what!!! You mean during the 147 times you came in and asked for things, we weren't around! Really! That's ok, maybe we can do a better job serving them next time. They'll be back. They've already made reservations for next year and will possibly be back in the fall. Because.... "our inn is so lovely!" At least this will give us a chance to redeem ourselves and be "more around" for them. Perhaps they came in while we were in the bathroom, or sleeping, and needed something. We will be sure to do a better job next time! Because.... we aim to please!!!

When we decided to start making belgian waffles for our guests, we also decided to offer a gluten-free option for those who have wheat allergies. Usually, the people with these allergies either call ahead to let us know or put a note in their reservation when they reserve online. Yesterday, we got a phone call from one of these guests. It kind of went like this:

Me: Hello, Meadowlark Inn.
Guest: Hi, I saw on your website that you serve a gluten free breakfast.
Me: Well, we do serve gluten-free waffles.
Guest: How do you prepare them?
Me: (long explanation of exactly what goes in them)
Guest: Where do you prepare them?
Me: In our kitchen.
Guest: Is it the same kitchen that prepares the non gluten-free foods?
Me: Yes.
Guest: Then you really aren't gluten-free and shouldn't be saying that you serve a gluten-free waffle.
Me: But I don't cross contaminate. I have a separate bowl, spoon, separate waffle iron. I thought I was doing everything right.
Guest: When you prepare foods, the gluten is airborne and contaminates the other foods.
Me: So what you are saying is that when people prepare gluten-free foods you would need a separate kitchen to say you are actually gluten free??
Guest: Yes.
Me: Well, I have a hard time believing that all gluten-free preparations are done in a separate kitchen. How long is the gluten airborne?
Guest: 48 hours.
(a lot more back and forth of me being told how to properly prepare a gluten-free meal!)
Me: We actually do have two kitchens, one in our apartment and one outside our inn dining room. So, if I do all the preparation of non gluten-free foods for 48 hours before you come in in only our apartment kitchen, then the inn kitchen would be pure enough to make the gluten free waffles when you come. Right?
Guest: Yes. But would you mind if I called you in a couple days before I come to remind you of all of this?
Me: Of course. Now, do you already have a reservation with us so that I can put it in your notes?
Guest: Oh no, we aren't staying with you. We are staying somewhere else and just want to come eat at your place because our place doesn't serve gluten free!

WHAT????????? Omg, I just can't make this stuff up. I then went on to tell her that we are not a cafe or restaurant and we only serve a complimentary breakfast to the people that are actually staying here. She seemed disappointed and then asked if we had any openings for the night that she wanted in case she could cancel her other reservation (we didn't).

The more we add or the different things that we do here, there always seems that there is always something more to learn. At first, when I got this phone call, the caller seemed very argumentative, so I almost thought I was being "punked". I quickly realized that she was serious and I thought, "Ok, there is always more to learn, and I do want to do everything right so...". But when I heard she was staying somewhere else, it took everything for me to keep my "WTF!!!" bottled up! And although I learned more about how to keep from cross contaminating gluten foods, this is what I learn every day.... Be nice, be kind, be considerate to all of our guests, even the ones that aren't staying here!

It's the one thing that all innkeepers fear the most.... the dreaded double booking! Accidentally booking two guests in the same room! When we bought the inn six years ago, the previous owners handed us their reservation system for the following season. A shoebox with reservations written on index cards in it. Really?? When they went over the business with us, one of the lines they used was, "And when you double book and you will..." I never remember the rest of the line, but I always remember thinking - NO, I won't double book! I signed up with one of the best online reservation systems, making it impossible to ever double book! Many lodging facilities that we know have done it at least once in the past, but this is something that we have prided ourselves on in the past six years of never doing! Well... at least until this week anyway.

On Sunday, one of our guests still hadn't shown by the time we were going to bed. We left the usual envelope with their name and key outside on a hook in case they showed up later that night. But no. There it was - still hanging when we woke. It was one of those moments when you realize something has gone terribly wrong. Things start flashing in your mind. Maybe they cancelled and I forgot. And I left their reservation in place (for four nights!) when we could have rerented the room. No, I know it wasn't that. But I was going to check my past emails and see if I found anything. And there it was..... Not a cancellation, but the original email from months ago. The email where they stated they would like to reserve a room for four nights starting Monday...NOT Sunday. Now this could have been an easy fix. Just shifting their reservation one night over. But we were fully booked on that last night. We only had Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday for them. We now have 11 guests on Thursday with only ten rooms. I sat at my computer just staring at the reservation calendar for hours. As if something would just pop out and tell me what to do.

The choices you have when this happens are never ones that you want to approach a guest with. You can find another hotel for them for all four nights, you can find another hotel for them for their fourth night, or you can let them have your apartment for that fourth night and you and your family and your dogs and your pride can sleep in your car. I stared at that computer and saw that one of our other guests arriving on that Thursday have come several times before and they come just to enjoy the area and the lake. Maybe just maybe they wouldn't mind coming next week. George said he would call them and ask if their trip dates were set in stone and maybe they wouldn't mind coming a few days later, when we had openings.

With my tail between his legs, he explained that we have never done this before and how sorry we were and would they mind changing their dates. Just then, the clouds parted, the stars aligned themselves directly over our inn, and the guest told George that she actually wanted to postpone her trip and was hoping that we would let them out of their reservation this week without a penalty. What! What did she just say! No, this can't be true. From the smile on George's face, I can tell that all was well in the world. The four hours sleep mixed in with the four hours of worrying was all for nothing.

I am sure this is something that I will never live down. "Remember that time that you......blah, blah, blah." Yeah, I did it. But I will never do it again. I will be more careful. And I will take an extra dose of ginko biloba "Natural Mental Sharpness" Formula. And all my future guests can feel confident that yes, that room that they booked for that romantic weekend away will not be shared with complete strangers. And Dear Higher Power in the Sky, thank you, thank you, thank you for watching over me this time and fixing what could have been the ultimate in bad tripadvisor reviews.

Oh and another thing.... my 14 year old son (who will someday be the next Martin Scorsese) posted his movie on YouTube. It is going to be in the Oneonta Film Festival. It's in 2 parts - Carnage of the Minds.

And one last thing... We had an absolutely wonderful photographer that stayed with us a couple of weeks ago as a guest. She was shooting a local wedding. She wrote about us and took some really cute pictures of Sammy (our pup) - North Photography. If anyone is looking for a fantastic photographer, contact Kathleen!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads!!!

Some days you just can't shake the blahs. Today started off badly. When you wake at 1:30 in the morning and can't go back to sleep until the sun comes up - you just know it's gonna be a bad day. Waking with a total of 3 1/2 hours sleep this morning, I just kept telling myself - you'll take a nap later and catch up. Well, there really is no such thing as catching up on sleep when you are an innkeeper. I laid down around 3 this afternoon, to be woken up by my son 45 minutes later, who said I was needed by a guest in the lobby. Nooooooo...... Just a couple of hours really. That's all I needed. So off I go to see what I was needed for. Directions. To a place that was already closed for the day. Oh well. There is always something to do, someone to help.... I'll sleep in September.

Now I can't go back to sleep. I keep thinking... well I am going to have to wake soon to cook dinner anyway. And who feels like eating. I just ate that leftover donut that was staring me in the face (that I didn't need, wasn't hungry, and now I feel even worse than I did before). And to top it off, I sit down at the computer just now and see that there is a tornado warning in our area until late tonight. What is this? Kansas? And it's going to be almost 20 degrees cooler tomorrow with heavy rain and a thunderstorm. Maybe I can just go back to sleep and wake up in a few days. On Friday, when summer comes back.

It's amazing how the weather can sometimes affect our moods. Yesterday was a warm and sunny day. We went out on the boat with friends from NJ (who happened to bring Italian bread, garlic peppers and fresh mozzerella fresh from Hoboken, NJ). Top that with some beer and life was good for a few hours. We barbequed last night and hung out talking with our friends and our guests. A good night. When I woke at 1:30 last night it was to one of the worst thunderstorms I have ever seen. It was as if a switch was flipped. I got up to make sure all the windows were closed and that's when all hell broke loose with my internal clock. Well, I will try to go to bed early tonight... possibly... probably not. A couple Tylenol PMs/some earplugs. Yep. That's what I need. So I can wake up refreshed and chipper. Ready to meet the day... and guests. We just have to get through tonight... and that upcoming tornado. Maybe I dreamed that part. During that 45 minute nap. No, just checked again, it's still there. That warning. With big red letters. And with the way my day is going I can only hope I sleep right through it.

It was a quiet weekend here with some really sweet guests. George and Aidan went away for a few days to Delaware for NASCAR. They met some friends down there and camped out in what appears to be a mall parking lot. Well, Aidan camped (in a tent). George was in a luxury RV, so not really the equivalent of camping. And the added bonus of being in a mall parking lot - Aidan got to go shopping for dvds and video games. Yep, they were living the good life, the American dream. Camping/malls/car racing, all at the same time! While I held down the fort, George had sent some videos from his phone. A real guy weekend. Aidan was standing next to a fence with cars racing by. I was carsick just looking at it on my 2 x 2 phone screen. Yep, I'd rather be here all cozy with my 2 puppies. Just me, Maggie and Sam and half a dozen strangers, I mean guests.

Only a few guests this weekend, but fine by me. I need a breaking-in phase when we start up the season. Can't throw 10 rooms of guests at me. I go into a panic. Especially when I am by myself. One room of guests were men from the UK. They were traveling by bike from Boston to Chicago! Did I mention - by bike - bicycle. Did I mention they were around 65 years old. Yeah, if that didn't make me feel out of shape! I don't even like to ride my bike to the store. Even with that cute basket that I have on there to carry the groceries. It's just so much easier to get in the car. A couple of months ago George saw an infomercial for P90X. This extreme workout DVD set. He convinced me to do it with him. You work out for 90 days/7days a week. By the end of that time period (if I was still alive), I was to have the body of a 20 year old. Well, I gave it a good 34 days. I was then officially a P90X drop out. First, I gained 6 lbs. If I am going to suffer for an hour every day, I'll be damned if I am going to gain weight. Yeah, yeah, George said, "But it's muscle!" I Don't Care!!

Well, after meeting those incredibly in-shape older men, I am going to start working out again. Tomorrow. Well, maybe Monday. Not today. Too much to do with the inn this weekend. Remember, I am holding down the inn all by myself. When it's slow like this I can't justify hiring my cleaning girls yet, so isn't - checking in guests/making breakfast/cleaning rooms/washing linens a workout in itself? I am definitely going to start working out again, though. Starting Monday! Not P90X working out, but - maybe I'll go for a bike ride. To the store. With my cute basket. And maybe this 48 year old body can look - 42 1/2 again!

This past weekend we opened the inn for the season. We had some really nice guests, some we knew from previous visits and some were new. It was a great start to hopefully a wonderful season. Every year we try and do something a little different as we open the inn. Sometimes it's as subtle as buying new comforters, one year we added a volleyball court, another we brought in a dvd library for the guests. This year it's a baseball field! People love to play ball in the backyard of the inn. We thought, "Hey, they'll love having their very own ballfield to play on when they stay here." I don't know what we were thinking!