Good quality accommodation and service needed

[guest 4]

Throwing OB two fags, put one behind your ear for later!!

Ruth

[Partridge]

Yeh me, LOADS and I've got a great one in a photo that is not dissimilar to your avator

[Overboard]

Aaah, much better (though the 2nd ciggy doesn't quite fit behind my earing).

[paolo]

In this thread people are talking about the right to disagree, but hounding Margaret for doing so. Why? Can't you allow people who are not like you to use LMH too?

[la vache!]

In this thread people are talking about the right to disagree, but hounding Margaret for doing so. Why? Can't you allow people who are not like you to use LMH too?

Because of the implication that properties which do not offer the same facilites as hers are inferior.

[paolo]

Reading this thread, I am not seeing that implication. I am seeing someone being hounded out.

[guest 4]

I don't think anyone is trying to hound Margeret out.

If you click on her profile and read back through all her posts you may see why some feathers have been ruffled.

I'm sure that Margaret has not tried to cause any ill feeling at all, I just think her style of writing can be easily misconstrued. Of course this is not to say that she should change her style, perhaps we just need to get to know her a bit more and try to read between the lines in the mean time.

Ruth

[Bellywobble]

I agree with you Ruth. I think it's more in the expression than in the sentiment.

[Giddy Goat]

And yes, we would visit to inspect!

Are you looking to create an offshoot business out of this idea Margaret, à la Sawday? It's not quite clear yet what you have in mind, although I agree that it is great to have a fistful of properties to recommend to people who ask.

[vrooje]

I suppose I can see why some feathers might be ruffled, but it doesn't take much investigation to see that Margaret's properties have all been classified as 4- or 5-star properties by various independent agencies. It seems to me that she is talking about this kind of objective standard.

I think everyone on this forum cares about their guests' experiences, but can everyone claim to offer at least a four-star rental by whatever standards apply in your region? I doubt it. And that's good -- if we all had five-star properties, where would mere mortals stay? It's quite possible to provide a memorable guest experience without things like 800-thread-count sheets. But if that's what Margaret's guests are looking for, then it doesn't do her any good to recommend a lovely property with normal (and perfectly comfortable) sheets, even if that property is the "gold standard" of normal-sheet properties. We are all targeting different markets, and she needs to recommend those who are targeting her market, and succeeding at it.

At least, I think that's what she means. Please do correct me if I'm wrong!

[Partridge]

I'm sure it was too Brooke and consider my responses, although fairly to the point, kept doors open but pointed out some bluntness that was apparant to me and others but perhaps that is not how it is viewed by others.

[vrooje]

Partridge,

By quoting "gold standard" I wasn't trying to indirectly refer to you -- sorry, I should have seen that and clarified. I intended the quotes to mean that I agree, there really isn't a single gold standard, but of course I didn't say that... whoops!

Margaret,

I forgot to say that if the e-mail address you posted is the same as the one in your profile, I suggest you remove the actual address from your post and instead direct people to the e-mail button. That's simply because a large number of web spiders crawl this thread every day, and some of them are no doubt the nefarious sort that harvest e-mail addresses for spammers. It'd be a shame if they got yours!

[Giddy Goat]

I suppose I can see why some feathers might be ruffled, but it doesn't take much investigation to see that Margaret's properties have all been classified as 4- or 5-star properties by various independent agencies.

I've never sought any particular classification, although my property and several others on LMH have been selected to be listed in Alistair Sawday's Special Places to Stay guides which, refreshingly, take account of the notion that it's an amalgamation of qualities and not one single yardstick that makes a property unique to its visitors: 'special' means different things to different people, a point that has already been made.

Margaret, I hope you won't be put off by your experience here and will continue posting - you have offered some thought provoking stuff but you're right, and I found also, that it does take a certain amount of practice to write on a forum without causing offence. Smileys, though a crude substitute for speech and facial expression, do serve to give a bit of a clue as to the writer's intent. I tried to do without for a while here but gradually yielded - they are useful, and over time have probably saved me from a few scuffles - though not quite all -

[Musetta]

Standards very greatly as do expectations from Americans (I say this as an American) just as much as with any other nationality! some love budget...some love luxury...some a bit of both