22 . Always ensure that wherever possible you record your guests ’ mobile phone number when the book is booked . This is invaluable as it enables you to contact the guest on the day to pinpoint his arrival time depending on the actual travel / traffic situation , and can allow you to leave the house rather than wait unnecessarily all day for the arrival of a guest who may have booked months earlier without any particular knowledge of an arrival time . This makes for a far more sensible use of your time .
23 . Ensure your booking diary is maintained accurately with all deposits logged and all information on the booking clearly marked . If any problem arises that needs to be clarified contact your guest immediately – honesty is the best policy in all matters and you could be surprised by their understanding attitude .
24 . Faced with a complaint it is best to deal fairly and honestly with the guest ; discuss the problem openly and try to remedy it helpfully . In our experience , the few guests who are disgruntled may well sign the visitors ’ book with a positive comment , and then contact you several days after they ’ ve left with a list of grievances – usually minor ; the best way to deal with this is to address each of their points objectively without getting emotional or taking the points personally . We once had such a situation ; one of the complaints included the omission of a fork at the breakfast table : the guest had to ask for one , which he found upsetting !
25 . What to do when a guest oversleeps – you have discussed breakfast times with your guest , you should even have these printed on the information sheet in their room ; however the guest has a late night and oversleeps . As it gets to the end of breakfast time you should contact them in their room with a gentle reminder about breakfast ; if as expected they say they will be down shortly it is only polite to wait for them to appear ( no doubt apologising profusely ) and serve them breakfast . There is also the possibility that they may decline breakfast all together . Whatever happens it is essential that you do awake your guests and they are not left to sleep undisturbed till lunchtime .
26 . Ensure that guests are aware of the check out time for leaving their room so that you are not faced with the situation of having no changeover time between guests . This can be helped by offering those who are leaving the chance to store their luggage in a public area downstairs so that you have access to clean their room ready for the next guest . If the unexpected happens and your new guests turn up early they can also store their luggage or wait in a public room until their rooms are ready , offering them a tray of tea or coffee while they are waiting .
27 . Ensure all your own private rooms are marked as such with PRIVATE signs above or on the door . This sounds obvious but it does help to mark out where the guests can or can ’ t go and stops you coming across guests in unexpected places ( and deprives them of the excuse that they did not realise the room was off limits ).
28 . Hot Water – try to have separate hot water tanks for your guests so that there is sufficient hot water to go round the whole household . They can then be switched off when not in use to save energy .