Guests who won't go out !!

[Miki]

[quote]Miki - what would you have done in the case of the elderly lady and the toyboy??!![/quote]

Remind me which episode Debra ? I have the complete set of Fawlty Towers, brought for me by our youngest son who then proceeded to take them back for himself ! But I know where they are hidden !! I shall take a butchers to remind me of the episode...

[Debra]

some people obviously don't know what they are talking about to labour all coppers bent or dozy, shows their intelligence level

OK - bit tongue in cheek here, but here goes.  My comment was based on the majority of those that I have met personally, 'in my experience', which was social experience rather than simply coming across these people in their professional role. 

You and many others may not fall within that description.  However, if you admit in a public forum to being part of the group that has been categorised in this way and want to argue against the description, perhaps you should be careful what you type (ie I guess you meant to type label, not labour) for all the world to see?  After all, your public presentation adds to people's impressions of the group you wish to advocate.  

[Debra]

[quote]Remind me which episode Debra ? I have the complete set of Fawlty Towers, brought for me by our youngest son who then proceeded to take them back for himself ! But I know where they are hidden !! I sh...[/quote]

Hi Miki,

I was referring to the fourth post on this thread by missyesbut........ given what has been posted since, I was having a chuckle to myself imagining how you might have handled that situation!

[Miki]

".....If I wanted that sort of 'chill out' holiday I would go for a gite or possibly if I was chilling out with Mr Russethouse on a romantic break, an hotel.........for one thing I couldn't stand all those 'nudge, nudge - wink, wink' looks from other guests or the hosts in a B&B "

Yes Gay, the noise does travel in some houses !! Early on in our last house when our daughter (quite young then) asked us why the guests in one of the rooms were making stange noises, Tina, quick as a flash said, they were fighting but would calm down.

The next day by the pool, she said to them that it was not nice to fight....me....I run for cover and couldn't come out until I had recovered from laughing so much !

[shauna]

Miki l completely understand where you are coming from and the other likeminded Gite and B&B owners. Did Richard mention Blackpool in the 50,s well all l can say is l wish cos l would have them all out with a stale sandwich in their hand, doors locked and not opened again till 6.00!!!. As for "clever clogs" being offensive, well again l think the last time l heard that expression was on Blue Peter! Perhaps this is the 50,s after all!!!!  Regards and sympathies to fellow owners  " Newbie Shauna"

[Hegs]

I was genuinely surprised by the fact that staying in your room seems to be unacceptable. I've looked at the websites for the 4 CdHs I was planning on staying at next month, all from www.ourinns.com, none make any mention of this at all.

Can someone tell me, as a potential customer (and one with ex-Police relatives too!), why I should stay in CdH's given this? I really don't understand. Why should I risk creeping around feeling like an intruder in someone elses house, seeing as far as I can tell, when well reviewed hotels in the same areas are pretty much the same price or sometimes cheaper.

[Russethouse]

Isn't the point rather that your host REALLY wants to make sure you enjoy your stay but in order to do so needs to be able to perform certain duties, like cleaning your room, with you out of the way ?

I'm sure owners are happy to see their guests come back in the afternoon or even pop back later in the morning, but to render the room inaccessible ALL day leaves them no time to give the service the client is paying for.

[Miki]

"....I was genuinely surprised by the fact that staying in your room seems to be unacceptable. I've looked at the websites for the 4 CdHs I was planning on staying at next month, all from www.ourinns.com, none make any mention of this at all"

Genuinely surprised ? Well that greatly surprises me to be totally honest...When did you ever know of any B&B (CdH) that allowed anyone, with or without ex police or not relatives (how sad is that) to hang around. I think you are simply trying to put fuel on a fire that hopefully is getting to the embers !

Do you really think that we should all tell all guests on our websites etc, that getting out of bed is obligatory then?? Surely common sense will tell you that things like that are de rigeur in all B&B's. It is long held tradition that surely, 99% of people are well aware of what BED AND BREAKFAST means. If you need telling, then ask that staying in bed and lounging around all day, is what you want to be part of your stay... I know our answer and I think I know what most of the others would say as well !! If, as we had before and a member has said on here, one has a pool then that pool is an attraction and a "come on" to get clients. Then we know fullw ell that clients will be using the pool as and when but with an everyday B&B with no pool (and in our case, after having a pool for 7 years, we gave it a big swerve when staring this B&B up !!) then sorry, no can do......

You want a hotel at the same price, go for it, many of us B&B'ers won't stop you. Many hotels have staff who quite honestly wouldn't give two hoots whether you stayed or not and many will show that attitude. Ever been to many French hotels ? Ever seen the way many of the staff act, some are just wonderful, some are downright 'orrible and who can blame them, on the salary they get, I wouldn't be too happy either !!

Like plastic hotels ? Then F1, Nuit Hotel, B&B Hotel and many others can offer you, not a lot, for not a lot of money ! Try getting a breakfast there after 09.30-10h00 and as for an evening meal, no chance and as I have said before, we have used them on occasion on our travels throiugh France but for a holiday, staying on a Zone Industrielle kinda takes the shine off !!

If you think staying in a CdH, also includes staying in bed late, then don't stay, I wont bother to ask you why you should stay in one, as I am not bothered if you do but I do think others will tell you better of why staying in a CdH can so often be much nicer than an hotel (but not always, just to balance the facts out)

Any way, do you think ALL hotels will allow you to stay in bed all day and hang around, I know plenty around here that wont entertain that idea....but I also know plenty that will, just to keep it even.

Quite right Gay, sure guests staying on can come back when they like, they have a key but as has been mentioned already, we need to get in the rooms daily and at an hour to suit us and our lifestyle. We cannot leave a room for 3 days for instance and then find that for two days the toilet is blocked or the sink is cracked or the bed is broke, it is OUR house and we need to clean and see our rooms everyday at an hour to suit our daily life. We have no staff as such, it is us and us alone that have to do everything, cooking, gardening, bottle washing, maintenance, washing linen, ironing and washing crockery, go out to the market, to the wholesaler, to the shops, to the dentis, to the doctors, the garage, to lunch, to cook for guests again in the evening and on and on and on.....

et voila.....

[Will]

Hegs, if you were to stay with us and wanted to remain in the room all the time that would be fine with me, as long as you were happy to forego having everything checked and cleaned if necessary, towels dried or changed, new toilet rolls, tissues, coffee and tea supplies etc topped up, didn't mind the room not being aired or hoovered, or shower, lights, radio, TV etc checked. All of these need access to the guest accommodation.

I always thought it was understood, even in a hotel, that these things were necessary. There have been plenty of times in a hotel room when I have been disturbed by a chambermaid (and not ususally one who would look interesting, even at that time in the morning) before about 8.30am.

[Hegs]

Gay, surely if that was the case a simple "guests should vacate their rooms between x and y if they require the rooms serviced" would suffice? Which many hotels do.

The CdH owners seem to be saying, and justifying, why their guests should not, as a rule, be using the rooms during the MAJORITY of the day.

I can understand why THEY would want that, but what do I, as a guest, get in return to make it worthwhile accepting that? And why don't they make it clear and explicit what they mean, when in fact most of the websites seem to be going on about how nice the rooms are, I guess a "by the way we don't want you to use it when the sun is out" wouldn't look so nice ;-)

[Hegs]

Will, that would be great and is how I work in hotels, I simply tell the maid I don't want the room made up if I want to stay in. I've never had a problem doing that. But the problem is, your attitude seems to be an exception to the general one of B&B owners posting here. There doesn't seem to be any consensus here.

Miki,

>I think you are simply trying to put fuel on a fire that hopefully is getting to the embers

You seem to be quite good at looking up members older posts (despite being rushed off your feet in peak season) have a look back for my post asking for the ourinns site a few weeks back to book some B&Bs. Unless you are suggesting I am psychic :-)

>When did you ever know of any B&B (CdH) that allowed anyone

To my memory, I've only stayed in B&Bs once or twice, in Belgium, when I was working so it obviously didn't trigger as I was out at 8 am anyway. I think this is quite common to people of my age (mid-30s), we just don't have a history of staying at B&Bs for holidays, instead we've stayed at hotels or self catering accomodation.

>Do you really think that we should all tell all guests on our websites etc, that getting out >of bed is obligatory then?

>one has a pool then that pool is an attraction and a "come on" to get clients

This is exactly the problems. You (plural) are advertising all the great rooms, facilities, great gardens, terraces, balconies etc and then complaining when people expect to use them, when you have not made your expectations explicit.

>Ever been to many French hotels

Lots. I don't know anyone who spends more time in hotels than me, both in France and worldwide.

>Like plastic hotels ?

Sometimes. I stayed in an Ibis last week, in Toulose, it was grim but in a fun area. I stayed in another Ibis a few months ago, it was great and had the best breakfast I've had in years. You can't tell. Neither threw me out during the day :-) Late breakfasts? I thought you were complaining about that too? Evening meals? That wouldn't sway me, why not go out to a restaurant, France is not lacking in them.

>I do think others will tell you better of why staying in a CdH can so often be much nicer

>than an hotel

This is what I asked for, and I am still waiting...

>Any way, do you think ALL hotels will allow you to stay in bed all day and hang around

No, I am sure there are some that don't; but all the ones I stay in regularly do do so.

[Miki]

Hegs old boy,

You come on demanding an answer, well start another thread, this was not about you and your world wide travels in hotels, and by the way, we have used many Ibis hotels and we have often found breakfast is well and truly over by 10.00 am so don't give me that old chestnut about great breakfasts and late service as well.

You stay in hotels regularly, great, stay in them and leave us CdH folk alone.

Ibis employ mostly young couples to manage and run their hotels, they employ the staff and have multiple work to get on with, many of the same staff that do breakfasts then move on to cleaning, or on to bed making. They do NOT hang around for late comers to breakfast, how do I know, quite simply through using them and having a an Anglo-French couple as friends who run a hotel in Provence. If you found ONE, then that is rarer than a chocolate teapot.

You can put the same equation to most, if not all the budget hotels inc Campanile to the ones I have already given you. I thought such a worldwide traveller like you would have known that but then you are in bed all the time, so miss what actually happens.

As far as Will is concerned, he would admit I'm sure, he has a room or two and is not interested in making it his business, he is not quite so pressed for time as many of us. But you can be sure, if Bill is pressed for ytime needs to lock up and go out for instance and does not know, or perhaps not quite trust the guests staying, he will think twice before leaving them alone in his own private house !

Yes, I might well check up on other members posts who have taken a pop at me, and often I find, that there spouts a hypocrite, why shouldn't one do that ?

Bottom line hegs, you have not understood what CdH is really about, you keep bringing in the word "hotel", they are chalk and cheese, please look throuhgh the posts. The hints are there.

Cheesed off now, nowt so blind as them that don't listen. I really cannot see how much plainer one can put it. We DO NOT allow it and I couldn't give two monkeys if you and half of the British population don't like it. Because they are often the ones who tak ethe Michael , we don't get it from the French who understand it all and they are 200 years behind us with having B&B's anyway.

Simple answer, don't book a CdH stay in one of those hotels you use yearly and leave us CdH to have people who respect us and don't think that B&B is anymore than that and most definitely know it is NOT a hotel. Is that through your skull yet. It's simple for anyone with just a semblance of as brain to understand, surely ?

[Teamedup]

But Hegs, you wouldn't have booked a room. You've booked nights in a b&b.

 

A chambre d'hote is a B&B.

 

This thread has become surreal.

 

Has every last thing got to overlap these days. Should I expect a phone at my tent side next time I camp and be able to call room service.

 

The differences in what I should expect from all the varying accommodation available seem startlingly clear to me. I pays me money and I makes me choice.

[Hegs]

TU, to me it is *very* surreal. Look at the websites yourself and see if you think you are booking a room or nights.

To me, I do not think hotels and CdH are not completely unrelated. I want accommodation in a particular place on a particular date. I don't care what it's called, but some days I want to leave at 8 am but when I stay two days I want to be able to come back to the room when I want.

Is that so unusual?

>The differences in what I should expect from accommodation seem startlingly clear to me. I pays me money and I makes me >choice. [Smile]

If the hotels were a lot more expensive, I would agree. But they are not and in some cases the hotels are cheaper, even after accounting for breakfast etc.

Is there really no-one out there who is prepared to tell me why I should book a CdHroom vs a hotel?

[Debra]

I'm not really experienced in all this but I can tell you why it seems you would from what I have read in this forum!  A CdH is a family home, an individual house, where the hosts are friendly and welcoming and only have a maximum of 6 rooms, many only having one or two rooms.  Any meals you take are taken with the family and you eat what the family eats - joining in with their lifestyle.  Comparable to staying with friends - but you have to remember that those friends have a certain amount of work to do during the day!  Traditionally the service was performed by busy farmer's wives who would busy doing their other work during the day, I believe?  Hence its not an 'all day service' like you get in a hotel.  A hotel is large, has a lot of guests to look after, so the service is more impersonal and you order food from a menu and eat it with the other guests in a guests' dining room or in your room.  The concepts are totally different.  I guess an auberge is somewhere inbetween the two?

[Miki]

[quote]But Hegs, you wouldn't have booked a room. You've booked nights in a b&b. A chambre d'hote is a B&B. This thread has become surreal. Has every last thing got to overlap these...[/quote]

The voice of sense (and others have done so of course) but this was nice and simple and was obvious that TU understood very well that you simply book what you want, for what you want, at the price you want and one that will do exactly what you want....there easy !

[Missy]

Hegs!

Here is why you should stay in a Chambre d'Hote.

It is a different way of experiencing France. It is not as bland/impersonnal as a hotel Etape thingy or Formule 1 rabbit cage on the edge of the industrial estate for the night.

You are entering someone's HOME who, in order to make a few more cents by welcoming people such as you the weary traveller, has gone to some considerable extent to re-arrange his/her home, under some severe constraint laid down by local/national organisations to make sure some criteria are the same where ever in France.

You will more often the not (if the host is the kind of congenial fellow after you have seen your room and refreshed yourself) be taken around the 'propriété' and be given a conducted tour and Monsieur in a long soliloquy will tell you all that you need to know around his domain and things to visit and gawp at in the locality, if you have the faintest notion of boredom!... whilst Madame is busy in the kitchen preparing an evening meal (IF only IF you have booked one, don't expect it otherwise) with vegs from the garden, the best, the most mis-shaped, and freshest organic vegs you dream off when going round the supermarket in Blighty and at breakfast she will get out her home-made jams, compotes of fruits, locally made bread/croissants etc...

You must remember that you are entering someone's home, so the least is to have some decency about yourself and your goings on and behave like a proper guest. Think how annoyed you would be if your guests did misbehave (or not behaving as you would) in your own home!!

Bad enough when the kids bring back all their friends from University! to keep the oldies amused  !! as told by my 23 year old

So about chambre d'hote is just another way to see France and French people. And you are in a foreign country for a bit of 'dépaysement' so leave your fears on the british shores and travel wide open minded....

Really nothing much more different than a Bed and Breakfast in Blighty. Except the Frogs are quite new at the game so give them a little time and they will catch up!... 

Once some of us will have exhausted the for and against of british B&B and french Chambre d'hote I will tell you my experience of 'HOMESTAY!' as set up by the Indian governement as I experienced in Agra !! See if that compares!

[lizzy h]

hi there we have a chambre d hôtes in limousin and as far as Im concerned the guests do get the room and can stay in it all day if they want! I always ask the guests on arrival if they would like their room cleaned daily and bed made and 99% of the time they say no. I ask them daily if they would like their towels changed and they usally hand me them,we have a pool so alot of the people hang around (at this time of year) and sit by the pool or go for walks etc and sit on the terrace, and it doesnt bother me, we have tea making facilites in the dining room so they can help themselves to drinks (free) anytime. and we have no bother,however we do have seperate living accommodation and therefore we can still have our privacy,

sorry to be the opposite but if I stayed in anband band didnt want to go out I think i would hate to be chucked out every day!

cheers Liz

[Debra]

horses for courses - like I said ages ago: when you book you ask, and if you don't like it you book elsewhere!  Whether that be another CdH with less strict rules or an hotel...........

[Miki]

[quote]hi there we have a chambre d hôtes in limousin and as far as Im concerned the guests do get the room and can stay in it all day if they want! I always ask the guests on arrival if they would like thei...[/quote]

Yes, just like when we had our pool, it is of course the attraction that appeals to people and obviously they want to hang around on nice (or dull !) days to use the pool.

Only one thing Liz, your site is lovely but you are slightly OTT for a B&B under the legal terms and I am afraid that what you offer, is not strictly Chambres d'hotes under the GdF regulations, which as, has been said on here a million times, are the group that speak on behalf of B&B's at the top level and enable us ALL to carry on in the face of strong opposition from the Hotel and Camping associations. I would think that with all you offer, you must be with the C de Com ?

"...sorry to be the opposite but if I stayed in anband band didnt want to go out I think i would hate to be chucked out every day!"

Liz, you do seem to be pointing your place to a mainly British clientele and running it how a British B&B would be run.

Here in this part of France I am afraid, those of us with GdF CdH do not like one to stay in all day. The 7 CdH's in the "Valley" here all insist that clients leave at least for a few hours, whilst they sort out the house and have time to go out for whatever themselves. It might be that there is just so much to do around here, but at a rough count, some 99% of our guests can't wait to get out anyway. For my part, I could not think of anything more boring than hanging around a strangers house on holiday anyway ! (Except for a pool, that is !) And quite honestly, if I wanted to hang around somewhere, then I would hire a cottage...

[Polycarpe]

Hi Miki,

I agree with you. While paying reasonable to the comfort and needs of your guests, its not unreasonable that they should show some consideration towards you.

We've stayed in lots of CdH s always on the understanding that the hosts might like their life back for a few hours midday. A french owner with whom we stayed a number of times made it clear that she and her elderly husband liked to take a break between 12noon and 4pm and that they would like to clean rooms and attend to the other chores before this quiet time began. Message clear and understood.

As for breakfast, after dishing up an amazing dinner and just before she headed off to bed, she'd ask us at what time we'd like breakfast (giving herself the opportunity to correct anyone who thought they might come down at 11.00), whether we'd prefer tea or coffee, then wish us a 'Goodnight'.

We all knew where we stood in the nicest possible way and were grateful for the clarity. I think the way you've explained things on booking forms and in rooms seems perfectly clear. And a few verbal cues does no harm either.

Best wishes

Rob 

[lizzy h]

Hi again, yes we are all above board and work immensly hard from morning till night to give our guests a great service as I said we let the guests stay in but to be honest they all go out househunting or sight seeing and tend to come back about 4 and then go in the pool etc its not a problem for us as our house is so big and we have a three bedroomed grenier to escape to, most of our guests are as you said english and Irish and we get alot of Dutch and Beligins, but this year we have got afair few french which is great, these are usually passed on from the tourist office and ring last minute whereas the brits etc book well in advance, we give all the nationalities the same sevice and hopefully we have got it right,even though me and my hubby are knackered! I wanted to go with GDF but french isnt up to the required standard yet but this is still an option, however we dont grow our own veg we get it from the allotments oppositewe have a deal with the french neigbours! we do get the odd French lovers who stay in their room for up to three days only surfacing to go for a quick meal somewhere, nice good guests as you never see them!

 

[Coco]

A very interesting thread this and I think I fall somewhere in the middle.

I don't particularly want people hanging around all day.  However, there was a thread a while back about what you provide in your B&B for guests and it seemed to me that people were going well over the top, TVs, hi-fi, DVDs, phones, armchairs.....  I don't provide ANY of these, because I don't want to encourage people to hang around all day.  GdF suggest that you should provide armchairs and a table in each bedroom if possible, they also want you to provide areas in the garden for people to sit it.  Both of these only encourage people to hang around all day, so I don't understand why it would be a problem under GdF rulings.

When people reserve a room with me (and it is a room, not a night, I don't quite understand why people are stipulating a difference here?) I send a confirmation email and lay out a few ground rules so that they know them BEFORE they arrive and can choose to cancel the booking if they don't want to abide by them.  We serve breakfast between 7.45 and 9.30 (although we occasionally make exceptions if people have arrived particularly late after a long journey).  I won't leave trays out beyond that time as freshly squeezed orange juice separates and looks aweful and tea and coffee kept warm in those vacuum things tastes horrible.  I want people to experience the best breakfast I am able to give them and that means me being in attendance to make sure it is so.

I also stipulate that they must have vacated their room by 10.30 on the day of departure to allow me to prepare it for the incoming guests.  I would expect someone to appear for breakfast but if they were staying for more than one night and chose to go back to their room afterwards it wouldn't bother me.  They would have to accept two things though: as others have  stated, they could not expect the room to be serviced and I will not creep about it my own home because they have chosen to stay in bed for half the day; if I want to hoover, have the radio on or whatever, I will continue to do so.

Now having said that I don't mind people hanging around in their rooms if they want to, or sitting in the garden and reading or playing table tennis or boules is one thing.  What I DO object to is those that hang around the property and follow me around or want my undivided attention all day.  As Miki has said, we run our CdH single-handed and have to be a jack of all trades - for the last few weeks, with daily turnrounds and evening meals to shop for and prepare, we have been doing 15 to 16 hour days for days on the trot without a break, so it's not an easy life, and without some space and time to yourself, you would quickly become very worn down and then you are of no use to anyone.  Tempers become frayed and you can't offer the genuine, friendly welcome that every guest is entitled to expect. 

So Hegs and Lynarth, if you want to come here and laze about, that's fine by me - but please respect my privacy and the fact that I need some time to myself - all work and no play makes Jill a very dull (and grumpy) girl to stay with

[lizzy h]

Coco, I totally agree with you in everything you said, this is on the lines of how we (me and hubby) run our b and b, we do get  knackered especially at this time of year but at the end of the day when we don't have guests we spend half our life promoting our b and b and trying to get guests and moan that we haven't got them, and when we have, we moan that we're knackered so you can't win but we find it good fun and better than psyciatric nursing and being a chef as we were when we were back in Newcastle!

[lynarth]

Coco

My sole reason for joining in the thread was the slurs that were being thrown at the police, I wasn't having a go on the rights and wrongs of people who do or don't stay in their rooms in a BandB. Personally I would use it for just that and expect to be out during the day, certainly until after dinner in the evening. I wouldn't have a business such as you all do for all the tea in China, I know its very hard work. I have been a member of the Forum for some time, but have never gone on the the Chabre Hotes catergory, I did out of curiousity yesterday ,and not only see my profession being insulted but then my grammar being called into question. So there will be no more comments from me the best thing is a dignified silence to such remarks. That said there are now definetly a couple of CDH's I would now never dream of using, even if the the alternative was to sleep out in -50 degrees.

lynarth