Making the A List: Get Free Stuff by Being a Great Guest

Insider Secret:
The owners of small lodging facilities keep lists of the guests they like, and we share the lists of guests we don't like with others in the business.

These are the types of notes we keep on guests in our reservation system. 

What we do with the lists of great guests ranges from simple acknowledgement to piling on the free stuff. At our resort we always do little things for our favorites like rushing them through check-in, leaving them cookies or flowers in the room, or allowing late checkouts at no charge. Our best customers get discounts, free night stays, and even free boat rentals. We know of one facility that gives an entire family reunion a free weekend in the offseason because they have been such good customers during the busy season for so many years.


So how do you get on the A-List? 

• Be respectful. This applies to our property, our rules, and our other guests. This is our home and we love sharing it with you, but leaving messes, playing music so loudly that the whole place is forced to endure it, or allowing your children to terrorize the place will never get you on our Christmas card list.

• Be friendly, but don't monopolize too much of our time. As much as we love to chat, innkeepers are busy people. We all try to make this job look easy, but it can be grueling during our busy times. Brighten our day with a quick friendly conversation, then go enjoy your stay. Guests frequently invite us to join them for meals, but what we really appreciate most is when someone fixes us a plate and brings it to the office. Those people move right to the top of the list. 

• Don't be needy. There's a difference between asking for assistance during your stay and calling five times between check-in and midnight for information that is available to you in the guestbook found lying on your dining table, or that you could have asked for at check-in.

Note the discount. Code x13 means this year's Christmas card list.

• Use onsite services. Obviously not every place you stay will have services to offer, but if they have a restaurant, equipment rentals, movie rentals, sell ice, or have a gift shop, spending your money with your hosts is a quick way to make a good impression. 

• Repeat. If you enjoy a place, making it a habit is good for you as well as for the owners of the establishment. Even regulars that aren't the perfect guests get perks that others don't. 

• Write a good online review, or leave us a personal note. These two things go farther than almost anything you can do to get on our A-list. Public acknowledgement of our place helps us build our business and private acknowledgement keeps us going from week to week.

• Remind us. As hard as we try to remember names and faces, we simply cannot keep up with everyone. When you call or email start by telling us when you stayed with us last. It keeps us from embarrassing ourselves by not remembering your name and helps us help you to those A-list perks.