WHAT SHOULD OUR HOUSE RULES BE?

No matter how free and easy you may want to be in running your hotel, your likes and dislikes will be reflected in any rules you make, whether written or unwritten. Have you stayed in a hotel where the owners pride themselves in having no rules? It’s absolute chaos! Whatever you decide, stick to it so everyone knows where they stand.

Accepting children

Well-behaved children can bring a lot of pleasure to guests outside the family, ill-behaved ones a lot of displeasure, even misery. Nobody wants to be disturbed in the middle of the night by a baby screaming its head off, or to be woken up at some unearthly hour by children racing around. And no hotelier wants kids wiping their greasy hands on the posh new curtains after a meal.

• The answer is, know your clientele.

If yours is a family hotel, the odd unruly group will have to be put up with, you will have furnished the place sensibly, bearing in mind the abuse to which it may be subjected, and you will be geared up to serve the sort of food youngsters prefer. You may also need to serve food for young children earlier than the adults’ mealtimes.

If, on the other hand, you cater mainly for couples, many of whom may be well past their first flush of youth, set a minimum age for children and keep to it. Just one early morning bout of knock-down-ginger could lose you a lot of future business.

Should you take only the occasional family group on holiday, it is not a good idea to have two or more staying at the same time. Kids tend to side with a new friend against their own brothers or sisters and friction which affects the other guests can result.

Accepting pets

As there are good and bad parents, so there are good and bad dog owners. Those who bring a bed for a clean, properly house-trained dog, which they leave in the car while they eat and take for walks well away from the hotel, present no problems. Those who leave an anxious pet to roam around their bedroom while they take meals or whatever and then let it use your garden as a loo, can cause you all sorts of problems.

To cater for the inconsiderate dog owner, it is advisable to draw up a list of rules if you accept pets and send it with your brochure when you receive an enquiry about taking dogs, together with a notification of any charge you make. Most dogs shed some hairs which stick like glue to carpets. This means that cleaning a room which has had a dog in it takes longer than normal and it is reasonable for a small charge to reflect this.

It is best not to include food in your terms for dogs, as it will probably be different to what the dog is used to and could upset its digestion and what follows, with disastrous results. Leave the owner to give it what it’s used to.

Consider the following for inclusion in your list of conditions:

• dogs must not be left unattended in the bedroom
• no pets may be allowed on any furniture
• dogs must be on a lead while being led through the hotel
• no dog may be allowed to foul the hotel garden
• dogs are not allowed in the dining room (and wherever else)
• owners will be responsible for all damage, however caused.

The responsible owner will accept all reasonable conditions. Should a booking not result after you have sent your list of rules, console yourself that the owner knows the dog better than you do!

Always set out your stall when offering accommodation. If you accept pets subject to certain conditions, say so in your brochure. It is better for a guest with an allergy or a phobia to know you accept pets before booking rather than to find out after arrival.

Many guests always take their dogs with them on holiday. For such people, FHG Publications Ltd of Abbey Mill Business Centre, Paisley PA1 1TJ (Tel: (0141) 887 0428) publish an annual guide to accommodation where pets are accepted, entitled Pets Welcome!

Smoking

An emotive subject? If you smoke, you may not have considered the issue from the point of view of non-smokers. However, those who choose not to smoke often regard the smell of stale tobacco with distaste. In addition, the smell gets into bed linen, wall coverings and curtains and will invade the nostrils of non-smokers literally for days after a heavy smoker has left. Some of your guests, probably a majority, will not smoke and need to be considered.

A partial ban, eg in the dining room and/or bedrooms, will work most of the time. Some, however, will flout the rules and in the absence of ashtrays in no-smoking areas will use a cup, plate, saucer, litter bin and/or throw cigarette ends out of the window.

Again, it is important to know your guests. If a good proportion don’t smoke, at least have some no-smoking bedrooms and a sitting area where non-smokers can go without having to breathe fouled air. If guests’ visits are marred because they can’t get away from the smell of smoke, they will not return. Some hoteliers have found their bookings soar as a result of banning smoking altogether – and publicising the fact.

Notices

Enough notices are required by law to be displayed without adding any of your own unnecessarily. Those already mentioned, not all of which may apply to your hotel, are:

• tariff for hotel residents
• tariff for non-resident restaurant users
• hotelier’s liability – Hotel Proprietors Act
• hotelier’s liability towards employees
• notification under Business Names Act
• what to do in case of fire – guests’ bedrooms
• what to do in case of fire – fire call points
• what to do in case of fire – staff quarters
• bar – Weights and Measures Act
• bar – price list
• Health and Safety at Work, etc Act (if each employee has not been handed a leaflet).

A surfeit of other notices, like ‘please don’t bang this door’, ‘don’t run down the stairs’, ‘keep off the banister’, or ‘please clean the bath after use’ can be a source of ridicule. You will need, however, to put a ‘private’ sign on all doors where guests are not admitted. If not, someone will wander into your bedroom, lounge or whatever, sooner or later.

Notifying guests

Many of your rules will have been set out in your brochure and tariff; eg ages of children, acceptance of pets and so on. If you have set rules with regard to payment of balances due on bookings, tell your guests when you send confirmations.

A complete booking confirmation on which you will insert and/or delete words as appropriate and setting out a few suggestions on settlement of balances is shown in Figure 29. Directions to help guests find your hotel set out on the back of the confirmation should ensure that guests bring the form with them, thus avoiding any dispute. Copies should be filed with your invoices.

Instead of notices all over the place, which quickly become soiled, any other requests you may wish to make to your guests are best communicated in a folder in the bedroom. Start your personal message with, for example, Andrew and Christine Bright welcome you to the Bourne Hotel and wish you a pleasant stay. For your comfort and convenience, may we point out the following:

• Times of meals ...
• We would appreciate it if wet outdoor clothing were not brought into the bedroom. If handed to us, we will be pleased to dry it for you, free of charge.
• Please be so kind as not to remove towels from your bathroom. We will do our best to find you one for beach use on request.
• Should you require any additional bed linen, pillows, etc please do not hesitate to ask.

After any other requests and information, you could end: ‘Thank you for coming to see us at The Bourne. We hope you will visit us again.’

Most guests respond to requests made in a courteous manner. To add to the welcome and enhance the personal touch, a bunch of flowers, a small packet of fudge or box of chocolates with the hotel name on it, or maybe a complimentary ballpen with the hotel name and telephone number (many items can be personalised without huge outlay) will do your reputation no harm at all. Result: more bookings, less formal advertising, more profit.