guest checking out earlier than booked!

[B&B netherlands]

there is a first time for everything, it seems... guest telling me 1 hr ago, she's checking out tonight around 1.30! she booked 3 nights, so including monday.

i do have a website up (under construction, but no content about T & C's yet... and she didn't look at it) and - she's a hotel owner in austria!

i explained this of course, and told her she's in time for the cancellation for monday, 24 hrs in advance - but NOT for tonight. she agreed. but asked to lower the price (...) since she wasn't going to have breakfast! i told her i would make her sth to eat for underway... no thanks.

i felt a bit uneasy about it; she might 'develop' into a returning guest. i explained that for upcoming bookings, she would get a discount.

anyone here on the forum, with experience in this???

i always refuse guests that want to book without breakfast, explaining where the letters 'B & B' stand for. i make a continental breakfast so no real cooking involved, and as such very little costs for me - though i DO have everything needed in the fridge, esp. when it's a weekend, like now - and no other guest(s) coming monday...

it always feels like people just look for a 'cheap bed to sleep in', which i think should not be the way we hosts should be treated... or am i too picky?

[brenda]

We always make a small reduction if Guests do not want Breakfast any day or if they want to go away overnight mid-stay.

Although it is annoying when people decide to leave early - has only happened a couple of times to us in 7 years - we do not make any charge for the unused nights as long as they tell us by Breakfasttime on the day they want to leave. This is simply as a goodwill gesture and it has paid off with repeat bookings and guest referrals.

I would never refuse a guest because they did not want Breakfast - after all, many people (myself included) do not eat Breakfast for various reasons and it certainly doesn´t mean they will be bad guests.

[B&B netherlands]

thank you brenda. it was a really unpleasant situation; the guest came back home around 5 pm, announcing she was going to take a shower, pack her bags, go to bed and leave around 1.30 that night. she DID know i had to rearrange rooms for her, because she was staying monday as well -luckily my other guests were willing to accept an other room than booked. my pricing is not based on giving a discount of any sort - unless outside high season and for more than 2 nights or for returning guests. the people that specifically ask for a stay without breakfast, are always temp agencies for technicians that look for accommodation for an unspecified longer period, want to get a pricing based on longstay, 'but for now, it's just for 4 days, starting tomorrow'. i have learned a few lessons: they never fulfill their initial promise to book for sometimes up to 3 months. yet, my pricing should be based on it. i once got a telephone call of a guest, explaining he was taken off the job that day!!! and was not returning any more - i had turned down two requests for that room, for the week the agency had specified 'to begin with'... which finished after two days.

i agree, some people just don't take breakfast, or eat very little. or have a special diet, not mentioned when they booked. i never experienced though, that a served breakfast wasn't touched at all.

my experience is that they try to get a compensation/lower price based on breakfast prices in hotels - 10-12 euro per person per day. for two people, if i accept that, it leaves me with 30 euro per room per day... hardly profitable. i pay income tax, 35 percent, and my overhead is 15 percent for each booking.

but whenever it happens to you: what do you offer...? is 2,50 euro reasonable, costwise...?

[gam]

Difficult one. If I was staying at a B&B and for some reason didn't want breakfast, then whilst I'd be delighted to get a discount as a goodwill gesture, I wouldn't expect or demand it - after all, the clue is in the name - breakfast comes in the room price and isn't an optional extra to be added or removed. If the guest said they weren't going to bathe so wouldn't be using towels, or were going to sleep on the floor so wouldn't need bedding, that wouldn't trigger a discount would it. Silly example I know but, you take the point.

Hearing about the sort of issues you B&Bers face and the hard work that goes with it, for quite modest returns for that hard work, and the way some guests behave, I am full of admiration for you.

[aasta]

Hello!
Luckily the positive experiences in running a B&B outweigh the negatives. We empathize with you, it´s disheartening to have difficult and unreasonable guests. Last week we had a guest who wanted a discount on everything. She even asked us if the local restaurants would give a discount on their meals. I could not help myself, and replied that they should consider driving down to Marocco and visiting the Souk where dickering over prices is common. She thought I was joking!!!

We do not discount for guests not eating Breakfast, as mentioned, it´s part of the B&B and if guests choose not to eat, their choice. We have some guests who only want coffee or only fruit......

[B&B netherlands]

thank you gam! you see my point. and i'll use (with politeness...) the examples you gave for not 'needing' towels, or bedding... hahaha. as a matter of fact, i always explain were the second 'B' is standing for... or reply with 'no' when asked if 'i rent rooms'. and then explain what a B&B is exactly.

most guests are happy with my accommodation and service. 4 guests from israel with no previous experience staying in B&B's even mentioned the feeling of 'being at home, away from home', 'much more than in a hotel with anonymous personnel and a standard breakfast like in all european hotels'.

i go great lengths to please my guests. supply them with tourist info, book tours for them, offer tea or coffee or a cold drink upon arrival, bake a birthdaycake if i know in advance, arrange taxi's, stay up (very) late if a flight has been delayed... get up extra early to prepare breakfast for 4 guests who want a packed lunch as well...

the chores of cleaning, mopping up puddles, stripping beds, washing 3 loads of laundry each day if fully booked... it all comes with the job!

[B&B netherlands]

yes aasta, you are right. one guest last year, refused to pay as i didn't supply airconditioning! it was one of these very very rare hot spells in the netherlands, and i DID supply a fan... extra water in the minibar... please sit in my garden (private!) as long as you wish during the night... take an extra shower, yes you DO get a fresh bath towel, of course...

funny experience with 4 guests (two befriended couples). after arrival at 7 pm, they wanted homemade bread for breakfast... TWO different kinds! honestly, making ONE bread in my breadmachine, takes almost FOUR hours! it would have meant a very short night for me, i explained...

one guest made the following remark: 'well, at least you have a cheap breakfast yourself, from our leftovers.' i pointed out that a. i eat breakfast before i start making breakfast for my guests; and b. all leftovers are binned, because of hygiene.

running a B&B: never a dull moment!

[brenda]

If Guests just decide not to have Breakfast one day without telling us in advance they are charged the normal rate.

However, if they give us 24 hours notice we reduce their nightly price by €7.50 - worth it to us not to have to provide the food or get up quite so early that day if we don´t have other guests in! €7.50 per couple per night is what we budget for Breakfast - a substantial Buffet or full English Breakfast. If Guests book Room Only then decide to have Breakfast some days we charge €10 per couple.

I hate waste so would much rather not provide the food in the first place than throw it away unused.

We have been doing B+B for 7 years and find this system works very well. Unlike you, B+B netherlands we do not accept any agency/long stay bookings.

Perhaps with only having 2 rooms we can be a bit more flexible than you owners with larger properties.

[B&B netherlands]

thanks again, brenda. my breakfast is 'typically dutch', fresh rolls, croissants and/or homemade bread, good quality cold meat, no plastic wrapped cheese, but freshly bought, plenty of butter, good quality orange juice, homemade jam, the typical dutch sweets like chocolate sprinkles, peanut butter and honey. a boiled egg, though i usually make a large omelet 'a la lydia' with homemade pesto when 4 people have breakfast in the garden. in the season, i supply fresh tomatoes and strawberries from my own garden. you give a discount of 7,50 euro per couple, for much more than i offer. so i think 5 euro per couple is quite okay.

the agencies try to make as little costs for their workers as possible. they usually start trying to persuade me to accept, when the days become shorter and the weather worse... a plumber or a carpenter has to start working at 7 am, and if living more than 2 hrs driving away, they are entitled to get an overnight stay which the agency pays for. they want to save even more money, by no breakfast being served and trying to persuade me to have guests cook in my private kitchen!

i might decide for next winter not to accept long term stays, like you do.

i also only have two rooms, and run my B&B singlehandedly.
lydia