You have no reception and no receptionist’s schedule. You have a phone in your pocket that rings while you clean a room, buy breakfast supplies or simply sit at the table with your family. In such a property the day is not arranged by hours, but by interruptions. So we will describe an ordinary day and look at it as an analysis, not as a complaint.
This is an illustration, not a measurement of a specific property. The times and topics are typical for a small guest house, but yours will be different. That is exactly why below there is a way to see them yourself.
A day through the phone
The morning starts with a guest from room 2 who asks whether breakfast is included and until what time it is served. The answer is in the rules, but you are saying it for the umpteenth time. A little later an unknown number calls: they ask whether there is a free room for next weekend and whether you accept dogs. Your hands are wet from cleaning, so you miss the call and think you will call back.
Around noon two messages arrive: one about parking, the other asking how to get to the house when the satnav leads to a different street. In the afternoon a guest arrives who wants a late check-in, and in the evening an enquiry about dates, sent at a moment when you are at dinner. Around ten in the evening another message comes about the check-in time for the next day. If you see it in the morning, it may already be too late.
None of these things is complicated. The problem is that each comes at a different moment, in a different place, and needs your attention right then.
Where the time actually goes
The first thing lost is concentration. When you interrupt your work to reply, you lose not only the minute for the reply. Getting back to what was interrupted takes extra time, and in a guest house the interruptions number in the dozens.
The second is the late reply. A person looking for a place for the weekend may be writing to several properties. A reply that waits until the evening may arrive after they have chosen another.
The third is the fatigue of repetition. Most questions are the same: check-in time, breakfast, parking, pets, directions. You know them by heart, but each time you say them as if they were new.
How to measure the interruptions
Do not start with software. Start with a sheet of paper or notes on your phone. For three days, write down for every call or message the time, the topic and whether it could have waited.
After the third day, sort the notes into three piles:
- questions where the answer is always the same;
- questions that need your judgement or decision;
- urgent things that must not wait: a guest at the door, a water leak, a problem in a room.
Usually the first pile is the biggest. It is also the easiest to prepare. The second is the reason nobody can replace you. The third is short, but it decides whether the phone must always be on.
Windows for replying
Once you see the rhythm, set two or three windows in the day when you answer everything that does not need an immediate reaction. For example, one in the morning after breakfast, one in the early afternoon and one in the evening before dinner. The rest of the time the phone is not your boss, but a tool that you check at agreed moments.
This works only if the guest knows what to expect. A short phrase in your profile, on the website or in the automatic reply that says when you respond reduces tension on both sides. A guest who hears “we will reply by noon” is more patient than a guest who simply gets no reply.
Urgent things stay outside the windows. So give guests a phone number to call only for a problem in the house, and clearly separate it from reservation questions.
What to prepare in advance
The first pile is your stock of ready answers. For each recurring question, write a clear answer once and keep it in one place:
- check-in and check-out times and what happens on a late arrival;
- what breakfast includes and when it is served;
- parking: where it is, whether it is free, whether there are restrictions;
- pets: whether you accept them and under what conditions;
- how to get to the house and where the entrance is;
- what is nearby: a shop, a restaurant, a pharmacy.
This list has two benefits. First, you reply faster and consistently. Second, if someone else stands in for you for a day, they have something to read from. There is more about preparing the information in the article on reducing repeated questions.
What is left for a person
Not everything can be prepared. Changing or cancelling a reservation, a guest complaint, a request for something unusual, a group enquiry or a long stay need your judgement. The more clearly you have set these cases apart, the less you risk replying mechanically where the guest expects understanding.
Where an assistant can help
If the venue has a website, part of the recurring questions can be taken by an assistant that answers from the information you have approved. It does not replace reception and there is no live chat with a person: when there is no data, it directs the guest to the venue’s phone. It can take a room reservation request, which comes in as new, and one of your staff confirms it. Your work stays the same, but the first pile shrinks. There is more about the capabilities and limits on the ISKA Assistant page. The price is on the pricing page.
A small plan for the week
On Monday, start the notes. On Thursday, sort them into the three piles. On Friday, write the answers to the five most common questions. The following week, set the windows and mention them where guests find you. After two weeks, review the notes again: if the interruptions are fewer and shorter, you are on the right track.