Oh, the questions they ask

Anyone who deals with the public on a daily basis can tell countless stories about the people they deal with. Here are a handful from this week.

• We had an e-mail from a woman who said she is extremely allergic to dogs. My response said that while our dogs don't roam the house and are never allowed in the guestrooms, they do live here with us. She took the time to call us (no doubt on our toll-free line) to say that she won't stay with us because of the dogs. What did she think we would say? That we'll get rid of the dogs so she can spend one night with us?
• A man called earlier this week to ask about a Friday night rate later in the month. Mark told him that the least expensive room available was $125 per night. He replied, "Yeah, good luck with that." And then he slammed down the phone. Really? The rates for that night at the downtown chain hotels range from $139 to $249. Guess we should wish them all good luck with those.
• Another man called a while back to ask what our policy is on letting children stay with us. I told him that we are happy to have children stay, depending on the number and their ages. He responded that he and his wife would like to bring their eight (yes, eight) children to stay with us. He wanted one room, because the kids, after all, can sleep on the floor. When I told him that I didn't have any rooms big enough to accommodate their family, he accused me of hating kids. Don't tell my nieces and nephews; I'm keeping that a secret from them.
• Always a favorite are the people who call and ask if our rooms are nice. Obviously, we think they are, and we recognize that some rooms might be "nicer" than others -- maybe bigger or with more windows or whatever. So what are they expecting to hear? Book any room except that one -- it's not nice.
• And then there are the people who really just want you to do their work for them. They don't want to stay with us but they want us to give them contact information for other hotels, provide information about what's going on around town or, like the caller at 7 this morning, they want you to give them a visual map of the city. They don't want to book a room; they want a tour guide.
  

Of course, the vast majority of callers are thrilled to have found us, are anxious to book a room and can't wait to experience all that our city and our house have to offer. To each of them, I say "thank you," truly from the bottom of my heart.