Hello Innkeepers,

I am looking for positive feedback on how you secure your guest entrance to your B&B?

Do you give your guests a front door key, access card, leave un-locked or any other way.  If you leave open only when you are home, then how to the guests enter when you are not home?

Do you use signage at the doorway and if so, what does it say that works? Keeping people from just walking in who are not guests or who have not registered.

Any suggestion, vendors, examples of signage would be appreciated. We have a four room B&B.

Jennifer

We send a very comprehensive Confirmation and in it, we explain exactly where to park, where to check in and get the key and what to do if they are arriving "after hours". (Our office is open from 8AM to 6pm).  I am playing "Monopoly" here and buy historic houses to fix up and use in the business.  Four  of them are all in a row (one has the office with 2 suites, two have two suites and the last one I go to when the office is closed. ) Since we hardly ever get walk-in traffic (and if we do, they are usually looking for such a low-rate bargain that we wouldn't offer them a room anyway!), our front door is open all the time which lets them in to our foyer where our Restaurant Guide, pay phone, inn brochures are located.  The inner door is kept locked at all times as I built this particular Victorian-replica house for the office, kitchen and 2 suites and it is sound-proof and I don't want to be "surprised" by someone just walking in on me. There's an antique bell in the inner door they ring. When I go out on errands, I leave a cute sticky note on that door so that checked-in guests or others will know when I am returning.  When the office closes, I leave a sticky note saying when the office will reopen and an emergency number they can reach me at (my cellphone). For After-Hours Arrivals, when booking, I ask them what time they will arrive and if it will be after office hours, I tell them we will be glad to accommodate their after-hours arrivals by leaving a key in an envelope with their names on it at the front door where the office is located and inside I put a map showing where all the good restaurants are and their hours, where you can get carriage rides, where the various clubs and music shows are, etc. I also draw on the outside of the envelope exactly where they are to park, even showing little cars to indicate the exact spaces (people don't always read the entire confirmation  I have found or even in it when I tell them to bring the part about parking along with them, they forget to do so.) I then explain that in order for us to be able to leave keys out to any of our properties, the reservation has to be fully prepaid. (I found in the past when I didn't get it all up front, they would arrive and see the two-fer signs on the motels up on the highway and then they would tell me in the morning that "something has come up" and they would check out without paying the second night of the required two-night weekend stay. This way, you have it all up front and don't have to worry.  Then, for after-hours arrivals, before the office closes, I go over and turn on all the lights, make sure the heat or air is set properly, turn on the sound therapy machines, electric faux fireplace, etc. so that the suite is very welcoming when they get there.  I've been doing this now for 13 years and not a single guest has been upset about the after-hours arrival plan -- I tell them on the phone, "This way, you don't have to worry about racing to get here before the office closes and arrive all exhausted...you can take your time, enjoy the scenery and know that your gorgeous suite is ready and waiting for you."  When guests check in when the office is open, I do go out to make sure they got the parking right.  Even with all the explanations, I find sometimes they don't get it and then that messes up our whole parking.  We are right downtown Eureka Springs and parking is at a total premium. We are lucky to have offstreet parking for all our guests....as long as they park where they are supposed to!  If someone has parked wrong, I gently suggest that "we move the car just a wee bit over so the next car won't ding your door when it arrives."  Just a note on the automatic push-button or card entry systems...I thought about them but don't like the idea that my historic 1880s inn will then look like a Holiday Inn. No one has ever "borrowed" anything in all the years and in fact, when a guest loses something, I call around to my "spotters" downtown and if they find whatever it is, they come and put it on the hutch in the foyer since the front door is always open.  Such things as a guest's wallet filled with cards and money, a credit card, a diamond bracelet all have been placed there by one of my storeowner spotters to the great amazement of our guests!  Good luck in implementing a plan that will work for you as well as this one has for me!  Cliff Cottage Inn, Eureka Spgs, AR

we have a 10 room B&B built in 1888, and we have the original doorknobs with their intricate butterfly design on them.  we have dead bolt(antique bronze) on the door above them ,and each guest gets a key chain with a key to the Inn and to their room.  In 30 years as a B&B , there has never been any robberies.  We leave our doors to the outside locked , but not for safety(our town is like Mayvberry), but to keep new guest arrivals or delivery people from just wandering in .  We do not sit in an office, we could be anywhers on the premises. or in our own owners cottage.  We have a door phone sytem, which rings directly to our handheld phone, and our guests come and go as they wish.

Many innkeepers use Simplex locks to avoid problems with guests losing keys etc.  Typically there's a four-digit code for guests to punch in, and most innkeepers change the combo daily or at least weekly.

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Sandy Soule
BedandBreakfast.com
Sandy@BedandBreakfast.com

Call it paranoia, but I will tell you what I look for in a B&B and what I would provide for guests (and my own peace of mind).    I am absolutely not ok with the front door being open 24 hours.  I think it is the innkeeper's duty to greet a guest at any time, but understand that things happen.  In that case, or in the case of late returning guests, I like the idea of a keypad on the door and preferably one that changes on a weekly basis.

We have a 4 suite B&B and have found that the keypad entrance lock works well.  It is a 4 digit code that can be changed as often as you like. The only thing I don't like about it is it uses batteries which in our very cold winters tend to run down very quickly. I would like to find one that is just a tumbler system- no batteries to fail at inopportune times. The really nice thing about the keypad is there is no key to lose ( room keys end up in the guests pockets at home often enough!) and I don't have to wait up for guests past my bedtime!   Karen Herbig, Morning Glory B&B, Grand Rapids, MN