No patience!!

[annafern]

Patterns are changing as far as the consumers is concerned.

This year i have had more bartering than ever!! and requests for the strangest of things. Its as if people want to try and stretch you to the limits, just because we are in a recession.

But i have two potential bookings which became non bookings, simply because of my response which they didn't like.

The first booking enquiry turned to a booking and then when i tried to send them a booking form via email he couldn't open the attachment and he started getting annoyed. I posted it to them and then they claimed they didn't know about the dog charge which is stated on the booking, but i assured them it was all included in the price i had quoted. They then turned round and said up to that point their experience in trying to make a booking didn't fill them with confidence so the canceled the booking.

Second one was last night. I won't answer the phone after a certain time at night as i feel its an infringement of my time off. The phone rang at 9.45pm and i ignored it. This morning when i went to my office i saw an email saying they wanted to book the Cottage. It was 7.30am when i start work and i emailed back giving the price and procedure of how to book, which usually means they supplying me with their address.

I called her at 10am to see if she had got my email and she promptly told me she wasn't going to book because they were unable to contact me the night before. When questioning about this decisions, she told she often rang up agencies to book cottages at that time of night!!!

Seems people are looking for excuses not to make bookings.

[Marks]

Better off without them. If they are grumpy, difficult or just a PIA now they are likely to be worse on arrival........

[Nemo]

I'm afraid its just a sign of the way technology is trying to destroy our right to any "down time". I was having a conversation last night about this very thing, but in relation to other areas of business.

Blackberries, iphones etc have raised people's expectations for immediate answers regardless of where or what you may be doing.

As Marks says, if people are not prepared to wait a few hours for an answer, or not deal with a problem document, then you don't want them as guests in your property. Let them treat some other owner or agency that way. We deserve better!

[joddle]

Mmmm - I would be careful on that - I have had some pretty "grumpy" types who queried everthing, challanged prices, asked about things already advertised and who seemed to give us the run around - and then turned out to be model guests!! I would never dis a prospective client person from their initial contact - but try and respond as tactfully as possible and see where it goes. Maybe some people have just had a bad day and are a bit stressed or off colour when they contact you - they might really need that holiday!! and you could just benefit from that!

[Nemo]

I'm assuming that annafern was probably the model of politeness?! No reason to assume that she wasn't and therefore there was nothing she could or should do in these cases to ensure the bookings went ahead.

If a guest is unhappy because you don't reply that evening, then what can she do? Even if I usually do reply promptly, I too have a private life and go out, so can't always receive and reply to emails. Likewise, she tried to deal with a problem document and no doubt fully informed the guest of all the relevant charges, but it wasn't enough.

You need to conduct your business as professionally as possible, but for some people that will simply not be enough.

[Mouse]

Another example of enquirers blurring the line between commercial establishments (hotels) who are available at all hours, and individual rental properties who are not.

I also thing when you get in to a situation where the guest has been wrong about something (like the extra charge for dogs) it's hard to come out of that with the relationship in tact if they suffer from low self esteem or arrogance...simply because your point, they have to admit to being wrong.
But what can you do?

Mouse
x

[Hells Bells]

Mouse, I would be surprised if any of the family hotels I stay at in France responded late at night. I would expect a reply the following morning.

[French Cricket]

Mouse, I would be surprised if any of the family hotels I stay at in France responded late at night. I would expect a reply the following morning.

Or maybe the next morning .....

Or the next ....

Or not

[Circé]

As caretakers for absentee owners we are also folk who get rung up at all hours. We have a dedicated office landline, and that is the number the paying guests AND our property owners are given. No-one gets our mobiles.
When we are out, or watering the garden at 9pm, or eating, or snoozing on a Sunday afternoon they can leave a message, and we will get back to them. If it's urgent we'll call them asap, if it isn't, then at the next reasonable time (depending on who they are and where they are).
We look at the ansaphone without fail whatever time we get home, even if it's 2am.
This 24hour culture serves no purpose IMHO.

[Marks]

Mouse, I would be surprised if any of the family hotels I stay at in France responded late at night. I would expect a reply the following morning.

Or maybe the next morning .....

Or the next ....

Or not

Just like here. Tomorrow never comes..............

[Mouse]

This 24hour culture serves no purpose IMHO

Absolutely agree Circe - good post.

I also think with this type of person that sadly the ground rules have to be set early on as they have no respect, or thought, of your time.
Already this summer I have had to state twice to my clients guests that I actually have a life to lead and cannot build my time around them.

Mouse
x

[Leslie May]

-

[barbersdrove]

I was interested in the 'could not open the attachement' statement as I have had experience of this and now send everything out in PDF format. I used to send it in Word but found a few people did not have word and could not work out how to open it.

[joddle]

Two important issues seem to have arisen here.

The first is one of 24 hour availabiity - and I for one don't think anyone should have to be available at any time of day or night to answer an enquiry. However, if we are advertising our properties and give a phone number then some people may regard that as an invitation to enquire when they want however unreasonable that may seem to others! (or may be from another time zone and not think of the time they calling!) - so my suggestion would be rather then ignore calls after a certain time, have an answer machine message stating thanks for the enquiry, no one is available right now and but please leave a mesasage and someone will call back after x am in the morning.

The second issue is one of message formats and attachments. I note that many people don't have latest copies of WORD etc and so when someone sends a file in a "later" format, it cannot be opened easily using the "older" software. The best way of dealing with this is use a generic file format for all attachments which can be read by any system. The most obvious is a simple TXT file but RTF will appear much better. The rule is avoid software specific formats like DOC or DOCX. The suggestion of using PDF is also a good one although not everyone will have the ability to create a PDF file.

[French Cricket]

The suggestion of using PDF is also a good one although not everyone will have the ability to create a PDF file.

It's easy to create a PDF file from any other format with one of the free PDF writers - I use CutePDF. You simply 'print' your document to it and it saves in PDF format. Mind you, I wonder if one of the problems with documents is that so many people use smartphones now, and they're not always set up to receive documents or attachments.

I do think it's important to have some boundaries around our time - maybe to be clear on our websites what times we're available to take calls, for example, or what sort of delay time we aim for in responding to emails - because so many people now live in a 24/7 connected world that it genuinely doesn't occur to them them not everyone does.

My biggest bugbear is the French habit of calling at 'heures des repas' (meal times). It's generally accepted here that if you want to get hold of someone you phone them during eating hours - but I point blank refuse to answer the phone when I'm 'at table', even if it's just the two of us. But why oh why would you phone a maison d'hôtes that you know serves dinner to guests at .... dinner time?