The “voice”
of
independent accommodation providers

Joy was not sure what to do, a male guest was sitting in her breakfast room, singing to the radio.  Last night he had disturbed her three times, the first time to ask for a toilet roll when she thought he had plenty, the second time to ask her how to use the shower, and the third time, with a towel round his waist asking for another towel.  While all of these reasons could have been genuine, and if they were, Joy didn’t mind, she was becoming uneasy at his behaviour.

Joy left him singing and walked back in to the kitchen, where she deliberately retuned the radio so that it went slightly off the station, causing interference over the song “The Candy Man” that her guest Mr Dines had been singing along to. She reached for a glass to pour herself a drink of water and realised that her hand was shaking slightly.

For the first time since opening her new B&B, Joy wondered if she was completely safe, a female on her own with complete strangers in her house.

Her husband Sam would soon be retiring from the army and living here with her permanently.  If she told Sam of her unease, would he make her close until he was home for good.  He was on his way today, Joy wondered how long it would be before he arrived.  She decided that she did not want Sam to arrive and find her in a situation she could not control, she had always told him not to worry about her while he was away, she could take care of herself.

Joy emptied the remainder of the water into the sink, put the glass down, smoothed her skirt and steeled herself.  She walked back into the dining room, Mr Dines had stopped singing.  She smiled at him and said “Am I right in assuming, as you didn’t order, that you don’t want a cooked breakfast today?  Please help yourself to cereals and anything else you fancy on the cold buffet.  Would you like tea or coffee?

Mr Dines turned and studied her for a few moments.  Joy was fairly certain he was playing games and she lost patience.  “I’m sorry, Mr Dines, normally I would be happy for guests to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, but my husband is home on leave, and he will be arriving shortly, so I would like to clean the dining room and kitchen now, so that we have plenty of time together.  If you don’t want a cup of tea or coffee now, that is ok, you still have tea and coffee in your room.  Have you taken all you want from the cold buffet, as I am about to clear it away.”  Joy was aware that her breakfast time was not over, Mr Dines had about another 20 minutes but it was up to him whether he spoke up and pointed it out or not.

He didn’t speak up, he stood up.

“I’m not hungry” he said gruffly, and walked out of the dining room.  Joy heard him walking back upstairs.  He was booked in for tonight as well, but at least Sam would be here for the duration of his stay.  Joy quickly locked the dining room door from the inside, to prevent him from coming back in, and then checked that her office door was also locked from reception.

Joy tried to ring Sam on his mobile phone, the answer phone cut in, so she sent him a text message asking him how far away he was.  A few minutes later her phone rang, it was Sam, he told her that his train was just pulling into Southend Victoria Station, and he would get a taxi. He would be there in 15 or 20 minutes at most, Joy was more relieved than she wanted to admit to herself.  She busied herself cleaning away the breakfast dishes and cleaning the kitchen and dining room.

As she worked, Joy heard the front door slam, then shortly afterwards, she heard the front door bell.  SAM.  Joy hurried to the front door, a huge smile on her face.  Sam stood in the doorway, and swept her up.

“Well, what do you think of your new home?” asked Joy, when they had greeted each other like excited teenagers.  “Yes, you’ve done well, it looks good from the outside, I can see it has had a recent lick of paint, and I like the name plaque, a huge yellow sun with Sunfair written across the middle.  “Yes, I like that, it was inherited, I didn’t have it made.  Come into the office, while I put the kettle on, then I will show you our flat, it is on the top floor”.

Sam started to follow Joy, then stopped, he picked up a key lying by the vase of cut flowers and handed it to Joy.  Joy looked at it.  “Oh, it’s Mr Dines’ key, he must have checked out.  He didn’t say,  He was supposed to be here another night.  Let me just go and check his room.”  Joy tapped on the door of the room occupied by Mr Dines, there was no answer, she tried the handle, the door was open, she looked inside the room.  All Mr Dines belongings were gone, the room looked neat and tidy.  Joy locked the door and went back to Sam.

Sam looked up “a guest gone?” It was a question.  Joy nodded, “Yes, he has left early, I am not sure why, he didn’t say he was going, but I am not sorry to see the back of him”.  “Has he paid?”  Typical of Sam.  Joy shook her head, “no, I took a 50% deposit, which paid for last night, he still owes for tonight, it is too late for him to cancel now.”

“What will you do about it” Sam asked.  Joy thought for a moment and said “I will write it off, I don’t want to contact him, he made me a little uneasy.”  Joy promptly kicked herself, now Sam would want to know why.  He did.  Joy decided not to mention the previous night, she just told Sam about the guest singing to The Candy Man and ignoring her, and she told him how she had handled it.

Sam looked a little uncertain.  “I’m not sure it is right for you to be on your own with strangers, that has been bothering me, I must admit.”

Oh fiddlesticks Joy said to herself.  To Sam she said “No, its ok, it’s fine, I can lock myself in our flat, and it won’t be for much longer.

Sam wasn’t sure, but he decided not to pursue it at present, instead he said “Why don’t you take payment up front on arrival?”

Joy was glad to change the subject “I’m not sure, I have been wondering about that myself.  It is a nuisance when I have to break off in the middle of breakfast to take the remainder of the money, if someone wants to check out while I am cooking for another guest.  I haven’t had anyone check out without telling me before, but I just feel that some people expect to pay on departure, and if someone is not happy with the service, I have already charged them, when I might want to give them a discount”.

“I think you should take the deposit in advance, and the remainder on arrival.  You can always give a refund if is is appropriate.”

“I will log on to the forum later and ask the friendly lot on the forum what they do” Joy replied.

“What forum” Sam asked.  Joy told him about www.bedposts.org,uk, and how everyone had given her lots of advice, and how much she had come to rely on the forum members.

Joy decided she would post two messages on the forum later.  She would ask whether other members think she should have told Sam the full story, or whether she was right not to worry him, and whether it is a good idea to take the balance on arrival.

What do you think?

It was a couple of months ago that Joy opened her B&B, and although she was still new to the industry she was starting to feel a little less like a fish out of water.

She had quickly discovered that there were far more things to learn about running a B&B that she didn’t know than there were, things she did know.

Before opening, she had worried about whether or not she could cook enough breakfasts in the time she had set herself, and whether she would get in a muddle with double bookings, but she had soon discovered that the things that would throw her off course the most, would prove to be things like the comments in the guest book, how often she should change the towels, and whether or not being graded was essential for her business.

Today Joy didn’t care.  Sam was coming.

Sam had arrived back at his barracks in Colchester a couple of days ago, and had a week’s leave, he then had to report back to his barracks for two more weeks after which, he would be retiring from the army and coming to help her run their new business.

Joy looked at the clock, an hour to go before the first guests appeared for breakfast.  She took extra care with her appearance, and smiled to herself in her mirror.  She had suggested driving to Colchester to pick Sam up, but he wanted to come by train and gain an impression of Sunfair as a guest.  He said it was the only opportunity he would ever have of seeing it through guests’ eyes and it would be an invaluable experience.

Trust Sam to be practical, Joy thought, and recognised that it would take a long time before his training in reconnaissance and other military skills would enable him to think in a more emotional way.  She was sure it would mean that he would be the ideal business partner and that was why she had decided to wait for Sam to join her before making any major changes, like whether or not to seek a grading or take beds out of the family room.

Joy went into her dining room and started to lay the tables, she had dedicated one table to each of her rooms, this morning she was cooking breakfast for two couples who were in her two double rooms, and a single man who was in her twin room.  Her family room was empty, she had not let it since the first night when Mr Brown had demanded his money back.  As Joy laid the tables she thought about Mr Brown, she had sent him his deposit back but he had not responded,  At least he hadn’t (so far) left a bad review on TripAdvisor,

Joy went into the kitchen and started preparing the food ready for cooking.  She had decided from day one that she would only use fresh ingredients and she liked to bake her own bread.  Warm food smells soon enveloped her and as they wafted up the stairs, her guests started to come downstairs for their breakfasts.

The two couples sat down within a few minutes of each other and Joy was able to take four orders and prepare their breakfasts at the same time.  She could hear them talking to each other which was always a good sign.  Guests who sat in silence, she had discovered, were more likely to find fault with their stay.  She popped her head round the door to make sure that the two couples had all they needed, and she went back into the kitchen to start preparing food for her final guest.

Joy did not quite know what to make of the final guest, Mr David Dines the single man in the twin room who said he was in town to carry out inspections on arcade gaming machines.  Last night he knocked on her office door three times, the first time was when he asked for another toilet roll.  What had he done with the other two she had wanted to ask.  Then he knocked on her door about an hour later to ask her to show him how to work his shower.  She followed him to his room and realised as he opened the door that the room was in darkness, she quickly reached out and flicked the light switch.  For a moment she thought she saw a flicker of what was it, disappointment on his face?  No, she had imagined it.  She explained how to use the shower, asking herself if she had forgotten part of her usual patter when she first shown him to his room.

Shortly after that, he again knocked on her door with a small towel round his waist, saying that he had dropped his bath towel in the shower so could he have another one.  Joy glanced to one side of him and said she had a pile of towels she had just finished ironing, if he would just wait there a moment.  Joy left him standing in the hall outside her office and went to retrieve some clean towels, she opened the door and handed him two large towels and stepped back into the office, shutting the door.  Was it her imagination, was this man trying to make her notice him.  She had noticed him alright, but perhaps not in the way he had intended.

She hoped that the two couples would still be chatting when Mr Dines came down, she did not particularly want to be on her own in the dining room with him.  She wondered what sort of inspections he did on gaming machines, but she didn’t want to ask, he might think she was interested.

Joy heard the scraping of chairs and went into the dining room in time to see one of the two couples getting up to go.  Joy said “See you later, have a nice day” and turned to the second couple saying “More coffee” she wanted to add “please”.  “No, it’s ok, we are just finished, that was a lovely breakfast thank you.”  “OH, er oh, thankyou” said Joy, trying to sound relaxed.

Then she heard footsteps, Mr Dines came through the door as the second couple stood up.  Joy looked at him and smiled.  He totally ignored her and sat down at his table.  She went up to him and asked what he would like for breakfast.  He stared straight ahead and started singing loudly along with the radio…

The Candy Man can ‘Cause he mixes it with love  And makes the world taste good.

Joy did not know what to do,  Where was Sam when she needed him.  She felt quite out of her depth, was this man trying to impress her, or unnerve her, or was he just messing about?

What do you think Joy should do in this situation?