4 Star guest accommodation v 4 star hotel

[Puddingchops]

Hi

We own and run a large (18 bed- sleep 53) guest accommodation. We used to be rated 4 diamond and obviously inline with the new legislation this changed to stars.

The problem we continually now encounter is the fact that Jo Public only recognises 4 star and they come with expectations of a four star hotel which we cannot in anyway fulfil. This in many cases leads to nasty comments on questionnaires and review sites because we have not lived up to their expectations.

We have a full section in the guest information folder explaining all the differences, but these arrogant types unfortunately know everything anyway and so dont need to read a guest information folder.

Does anyone have any ideas how we can overcome this problem and does anyone else suff this problem too?

Many thanks

[Martin]

I hate the term 'Guest House' or 'Guest Accommodation'. We're a B&B, however many bedrooms we have.

It's mostly our overseas guests who seem to expect something different to what we provide. And that's more often getting us confused with a 'Boarding House' than a Hotel, and they seem to expect full use of our kitchen. It's like pushing water uphill with a spoon!

Cheers,

Martin

[Raincliffe1]

Totally sympathise with you. Unfortunately, we are finding that people want more and more and yet a sizeable proportion of people want to pay less and less for it. In our experience people want drinks on arrival, luggage carrying to the room (I carried a 30kg bag up our stairs last week), evening turn down service, room service, laundry service, new towels every day (a family this year got through a staggering 63 towels in a week), 12 cereal choices at breakfast plus an array of 8 different types of fresh fruit (in addition to the fruit salad, yoghurts and muffins/cakes etc), free parking, up to 3 showers a day (each), 24 hour reception and telephone answering - I'm sure there are many other things.

You can only do your best with the resources and time you have. I genuinely think that many customers think you are in an extremely lucrative business, you see people mentally adding 'doing the headcount' at breakfast time. Quite often we are asked 'when do the cleaning staff start?' my husband replies, 'when she has finished serving the breakfast and clearing the tables' or 'your gardener does a good job' - yes, that's me too. People are dismayed when the room is not ready when they turn up at midday, hey it's only me doing the rooms, if you want them done to an excellent standard they will not be ready at this time...

Regards, foreign guests, yes, they are extremely demanding and the bottom line we have found is that you just end up bending over backwards even if it means your yields are reduced.

Katherine

[Der Alte Fritz]

It is about perception.
The general public and Foreign public do not understand the nuances of the B+B, Guesthouse, Guest Accommodation, Small hotel , Country hotel, etc etc grading. And why should they?

If you do not get the results you want calling yourself one thing, then change to something else. In your case, doing 18 beds yourself, I would proudly put yourself in the B and B category on all your advertising and literature and see if it changes things.

I remember talking to lady who had run an award winning 4 star Gold VB guesthouse. She was then made up to 5 star Gold VB. It was the worst thing that ever happened to her, at 4 star her guests were amazed and delighted by the standard of service. At 5 start she could do nothing right and was deluged by complaints by people who expected 5 star HOTEL service.