As Innkeepers, we all love welcoming our guests and sharing our homes and property with you. Every property is a unique experience and set up to meet the needs of the Innkeepers and guests. One of the things that we all have are Guest policies. What! Why would you have policies you might ask? Well, let’s talk about this a little and by doing so we hope it will make your experience and ours the best ever.
Let’s start off with why do we have policies?
You the guest are our sole focus and we want to treat you the best we can and offer you a wonderful experience when you stay with us. But, because our property is usually where we live and work, we have some needs and concerns for us also. Most of us have a check off box when you make an online reservation that says, yes, I have read and understand the policies of this place and agree to abide by these policies as a guest. Now, we all know that most people never read those policies and just check the box. Sometimes, these are the guest, that when they arrive have issues with their stay simply because they didn’t take a few minutes to read.
So let’s just take a look at a variety of common policies that we might have listed for you to be aware of before you make your reservation.
Check in & check out times. Many of us run our ship on a tight schedule and may not have help to clean a room when you leave and the next guest comes in. So please be aware of this time line. Some properties are open to an early check in or possible late check out, but that needs to be discussed ahead of time, please don’t just show up 2 hours early and then be unhappy that your room is not ready since the last guest just checked out a few hours before.
Dogs and pets. Well, we all have different policies on this one. Some properties are no pets due to many different reasons, so please don’t ask to bring your pet if the policy says no pets. The only exception to that is for a trained Service Animal, we all welcome them, we just need to know you are bringing them. This does not however cover Emotional Support animals in the state of Texas. If you do have pets, then please be aware of them not being on the furniture or left in a strange room and bark while you are gone, and please clean up after them. We do have some properties that are all about dogs and even provide some great amenities for them.
Kids is our next topic. Again, some properties are happy to have your kids of all ages as guests. Some properties are set up as Adult only properties. Some may allow them to be on grounds for a wedding or party but not spend the night. If it is kid friendly, then please be aware of other guest.
Smoking. I don’t know of any Inn that allows smoking in rooms, but most offer a nice place outside for you to smoke.
Hot tubs, wow this is a hot subject! (Pun intended) Hot tubs are a wonderful amenity for our guests, but they are very time consuming to maintain and keep in balance. Most of us would ask that you please shower before getting in to remove lotion or oil from you skin so that it does not cloud the water. The temps on tubs take over 24 hours to change, so when you try to take a toasty 102 down to 84, it will not happen for you and the next guest will not enjoy a hot tub at that temp. Also, when you change the temp, it throws the PH balance off really quick. It is always best not to have glass containers in the hot tub in case one breaks.
Additional guest, again each property has a guest policy and one for extra guests. Please don’t book a room for 2 and show up with 8 to fit in that room. Yes, it does happen! If you are holding an event then the Innkeepers need to know how many to expect and they will have a guest time line also.
Damage fees: I have to say this is not used a whole lot, but there are guest who feel like they can party and leave the place a mess. Most innkeepers are pretty nice about this one, so our request is to treat our property with respect.
Cancellations: Every property has a cancellation fee and policy on how far out you can cancel, so be sure to check with the Inn before making reservations. We are all small properties and when you cancel last minute, we may not be able to rebook and then we loose our income. For many of us, this is our source of income, so please be aware of this policy.
There are other policies out there. I just wanted to point these out, to those who might need a reminder. We work hard to keep our Inns in the best of shape and want you to experience the best stay ever. We don’t have the DO Not signs out often, but we do ask that you, “READ THE POLICIES PAGE”!
We hope you will soon book a stay at one of the #greatstaysoftexas” and we will look forward to you being a guest that we hope will come again and again.
