Getting once-off B&B guest to pay - advice needed

mikehn

Hopefully someone may be able to advise me on a situation than may arise tomorrow.
We do bed and breakfast once a year for the week of listowel races, its kind of a normal thing in the town if anyone has a spare room to register with the accomodation office. Its been grand for the last couple of years, we dont make a lot but it puts oil in the tank for the heating and we meet some really interesting people. this year for the first time I have a worry about a guy that booked in for four nights, both my wife and I were talking about it tonight and we would not be surprised if he was going to do a runner without paying. Would anyone have any suggestions as to what we can or cant do if he was to attempt to drive away. This year has been a rough one one financially, lost job 18 months ago, daughter starting 3rd level so every euro is really needed and cant afford to take this possible hit if it happens.
Any advice as to what we can legitimally do would be really appreciated.
Thanks

biko

Perhaps you could say that you have some bills coming in and could he please pay in advance?

This isn't really Motors related so I'm moving it to Accommodation forum.

wmpdd3

A friend does B&B and she gets the guest to fill out a 'booking in card' with their name address car reg number etc.

This information may not be much good unless he has bolted but just the fact that he knows you have this may be enough for him to reconsider.

Also she has a friendly chat with them

I would have asked for one night's charge as a deposit but this is hard to do with out a CC machine.

mikehn

Thanks Guys but my difficulty is that he has been here 3 nights already, our concerns have grown over the last day from a couple of comments that he passed that we reckon are untrue. We of course have his reg. no. but dont want to have to go down the road of chasing him if things do go pear shaped.
.

foggy_lad

mikehn wrote: »

Thanks Guys but my difficulty is that he has been here 3 nights already, our concerns have grown over the last day from a couple of comments that he passed that we reckon are untrue. We of course have his reg. no. but dont want to have to go down the road of chasing him if things do go pear shaped.
.

Maybe he is just a spoofer Talking sh1te and saying stuff that is not true which has got ye worried but in reality that is all he is and has every intention of paying his bill?

hfallada

OP the gardas track people down for doing a runner on €20 worth of petrol. I imagine they will track him down for you, if he doesnt pay

biko

mikehn wrote: »

Thanks Guys but my difficulty is that he has been here 3 nights already

It doesn't matter, you can still ask him to pay in advance for "a sudden expenditure", he doesn't need to know what it is.
Worst case scenario, it's "rude" of you to ask and he won't be back.

But tbh you need to man up. If he does a runner and you suspected it (but did nothing about it) then it's more embarrassing than approaching him now.

The gardai any other suggestion might work but you would have to chase him down after the fact. Better imo to be pre-emptive and be paid upfront.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Citizenpain

can you block your drive "accidentially" so he cannot do a runner in the morning?

Santa Cruz

Citizenpain wrote: »

can you block your drive "accidentially" so he cannot do a runner in the morning?

That's the job. Show a bit of initiative. A couple of CCTV signs around the place would be no harm either.

MarriedButBi

Citizenpain wrote: »

can you block your drive "accidentially" so he cannot do a runner in the morning?

Great idea...if he's parked in the driveway.

I would pass some remark about how I like his car, tell him you took a few pictures of it as you are looking for something similar, just so he knows you have his reg.

Or you can pray he has a winner or two, in which case he'll be flush

Trish56

Can you present him with his bill tonight and ask him to settle it there and then as you are going to be very busy in the morning as you have a lot of new guests arriving.

Good idea about blocking in the car maybe get a neighbour to do it and you can't locate the neighbour until you have the cash in your pocket.
Best of luck

Victor

In future, for something like this, ask for the money up front.

L1011

MarriedButBi wrote: »

I would pass some remark about how I like his car, tell him you took a few pictures of it as you are looking for something similar, just so he knows you have his reg.

This would sound horrendously suspicious.

djimi

In the age of camera phones I wouldnt have thought that it would be too difficult to take a few pictures of someones car without them knowing about it...!

miss no stars

Trish56 wrote: »

Can you present him with his bill tonight and ask him to settle it there and then as you are going to be very busy in the morning as you have a lot of new guests arriving.

Good idea about blocking in the car maybe get a neighbour to do it and you can't locate the neighbour until you have the cash in your pocket.
Best of luck

This. Just say to him that you'd like to settle up now and that leaves him free to come and go as he pleases tomorrow and neither of you have to worry about running into each other. If he says he has no cash then say "well okay but you will need to settle up by breakfast tomorrow anyway...". Don't let him think "ah these eejits are too embarrassed to ask!"

crackcrack30

Well........ is he gone?

lukesmom

Did you get paid???

Idbatterim

Id agree about asking for it upfront, if you reckon someone could be dody. just says its policy as you have had people up and leave before (it doesnt have to be true)...

mikehn

Not gone, Breakfast finished about an hour ago, silence from room,waiting with interest to see what happens next, when I got the papers this morning I just happened to leave the car in front of the gate, so until thats moved nobody is going anywhere. Oh the joys of doing the occassional B&B.

UDP

mikehn wrote: »

Not gone, Breakfast finished about an hour ago, silence from room,waiting with interest to see what happens next, when I got the papers this morning I just happened to leave the car in front of the gate, so until thats moved nobody is going anywhere. Oh the joys of doing the occassional B&B.

Its either car in front of gate or payment up front.

emo72

I hope you get paid. Not a nice situation to be in.

manonboard

Thats a very good idea with the car in front of the gate. It's subtle, socially accepted, 'accidentally' likely, and a great bargaining chip.

If he causes hassle, "I'll have the local gardai down here in a matter of minutes to sort it out".

Hope it goes well for you OP

Swamp3

Hmmm maybe he's a Boardsie and he's having a great laugh up in the room, reading this thread!
Asking for payment upfront is the only way to go. You shouldn't have to go through all this stress for a few quid.

MisterKipling

i feel i'm back waiting to see what was in the safe again.....Suspence

foggy_lad

Is he gone yet? Did he pay up? or have you invited him to stay for dinner op?

Grandpa Hassan

foggy_lad wrote: »

Is he gone yet? Did he pay up? or have you invited him to stay for dinner op?

I stumbled on this thread, and I'm following it purely to find out how this finishes....

SirDelboy18

Was it a case of him losing money or something that he can't pay or do you think that he never had any intention to?

Anyways I wanna see how this plays out.

foggy_lad

Just waiting for "The Guest" to post

"I booked into a nice B&B for the races down in Listowel the other evening but I am worried now that it is more like Bates Motel! The owner has been staring me out of it every time we see each other and has now blocked my car into the drive so I cant get to the bank machine to withdraw cash to pay my bill I felt quite uneasy over breakfast and don't know if I will get out of here wit my body or sanity intact:D Should I bite the bullet and ask if there is a problem?"

TommiesTank

Any update on this, OP?

jaxdasher

We need more threads like this. Riveting stuff.

emo72

Well it's the middle of the afternoon now. He either paid or bailed. The OP is off celebrating or weeping miserably in the shed.