The “voice”
of
independent accommodation providers

Joy opened the door to her second party of guests on the first eventful day of her life as the new owner of Sunfair Bed and Breakfast in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.  On her way to the door she glanced at her appearance in the mirror and reminded herself that her problems were not her guests problems and so she opened the door wide with a big smile.

Mr and Mrs Jordan stood on the step smiling back.  Joy felt better and was anxious that these guests would actually stay.  “Come in, I’m Joy, how lovely to meet you.  Would you like a cup of tea?” she asked.

“ I’m Sally and this is Tom, it would be nice but we are going straight out again, we just wanted to check in” replied Mrs Jordan.

Joy dealt with the check in procedure and showed Mr and Mrs Jordan to their room, hoping they would like it.  When Joy opened the door, it struck her that this room, a double en suite was actually quite a bit more spacious than her family room”.

“Oh this is nice” agreed Sally and Tom as they looked around.  Joy remembered that it was Mr Jordan who had booked, saying he was here on businss for the week and he was bringing his wife along for company.  Joy started to tell her guests where to find everything, she then told her guests her arrangements for breakfast and then she went on to her housekeeping arrangements  “….and I will change your towels every other day” she said.

“Could we have clean towels daily?” Mrs Jordan asked, only it is something I am quite fussy about”

Joy was taken aback. She immediately wondered what others in her shoes might say.  She didn’t see why the towels would need changing daily, but she certainly did not want to risk losing her second party, so she readily agreed.

As Joy came out of the room she could hear the couple saying “Joy seems very nice, and this is a nice room.”  Joy went back downstairs feeling like she had a lot to learn about this job, which she had assumed would be easy.  Reassuring herself  that it would all be much easier when she was no longer here on her own, Joy relaxed  a little.  Her husband Sam was home from the army in four months’ time, and this time it was for good, he had nearly completed his service.  This business was a joint venture, but because their house had sold quicker than expected, Sam had suggested that Joy should go ahead and find their future home and business herself and he would be happy with whatever she chose.  She hoped he would think she had made a good choice, she had sent him lots of photos.

Joy had bought a three storey town house, the top floor housed their self contained flat, and on the first floor she had three rooms, her family room and two doubles, Mr and Mrs Jordan were in the bigger of the two rooms which had a king size bed, the smaller double had a standard double bed in it, but there was plenty of room to move round the bed and the room itself was very cheery, her family room, she admitted to herself, was quite cramped.  On the ground floor, there was a twin room, a guest lounge and the kitchen and dining room, and guests were welcome to sit in her mature, sunny, small rear garden.  All Joy’s guest rooms were en suite.  Also on the ground floor there was a cosy office that doubled as somewhere for Joy to sit and watch the television when she was waiting for guests to arrive, a laundry room and a storage room.

Joy sat down at her desk and tried to concentrate on some paperwork she knew she should attend to, but she couldn’t concentrate.  She wondered if there was any guidance on how often towels should be changed in hotels, so she searched the internet.  She came across a forum for accommodation providers called Bed Posts, (www.bedposts.org.uk) which she liked the look of, and decided to register.

Once Joy had registered she found lots of interesting posts and reading through them she began to realise that this was like a big community of friendly people all like her, and she wrote her first post.

Hello Everyone, my name is Joy, this is my first post. I have only just started out in this business and I have so many questions that I don’t know where to start, but can anyone please tell me how often I should change the towels in serviced rooms?  I thought that every other day was reasonable, but I have been asked by my first guests to change them daily, is that usual?  I was so surprised when asked that I readily agreed with good humour – or perhaps I should say with dry humour – but it does seem a bit unnecessary both work and cost wise, what do others do? I am really glad to find this forum by the way, it is really nice the way you all help each other.  Joy.