Guests, friends and expectations

I told the story last week of an inconsiderate guest. It's true, I don't love them all. 
However, some guests surpass the status of guest and become friends. 
It's one of the nicest things about this industry. 
We meet wonderful people and make good friends.

We have two guests in the house currently, who have crossed the barrier to become personal friends.
They are people that I would invite to my own home, even if it wasn't at Toad Hall.

 

This vibe seems to have rubbed off on everyone this week. Wow! We have hosted the friendliest, fun, considerate and interesting folk this week. It's been an absolute pleasure hosting them all.

The breakfast table is a hive of chatter. Folk are sharing experiences and plans. Grouping together for day-trips and making plans for shared meals. This is exactly as a shared-house model should be. 

Feels like a win!

Roof terrace design

Summer has finally chased out the rain, for now anyway, so it was time to tackle the issue of providing shade on the roof terrace. A shade sail was purchased and some posts to hook to. 

Gareth spent the usual first few hours fighting with the building to get bolt holes in for the posts.

It is a thing here at Toadies. The building will always fight back. The concrete is harder, the walls are not straight, the floor is not level.

A normal building would see the job done with relative ease...not Toadies. We fight for every win!

Eventually the posts were up and the shade sail hooked up. Magnificent! We enjoyed a shared dinner that night with several guests. All enjoying the canopy of Gareth's hard work. 

We used to have lanterns and solar lights - but unfortunately these things get stolen over time - remember, I don't love them all. In true traveler style we made a couple of phone torch lanterns. This is done by placing a bottle over the torch light on a phone. A plastic bottle of water works the best.

Two things happened the next day. Gareth discovered one of the posts had crimped. Not good. We're at risk of the post failing and ripping the shade sail - not to mention - it could land on someone. So the posts came down. New, stronger posts will need to be sourced.

Solar lights were purchased. We now have a solar light embedded in each picnic table. 

The garden on the roof terrace is also looking lovely. Go take a look at the pics on our facebook site.

Reviews

Remember that list of skills and traits on your CV? If you're considering work in this industry, or any role where folk have a chance to Review your work....best to take a lesson in 'Harden Up'.

Many of our reviews are positive. In fact, Most of our reviews are positive. On a scale of 1 - 10, ten being best, we consider 7 and above to be acceptable. Six and below we look into the potential issue.

So, good reviews are lovely. It's nice to hear our customers thank us and point out for others what they loved about Toadies. Best not to get too big headed about this...cause a low score is coming...without a doubt. We can't please everyone.

Like this wee gem -  Couldn't stand the smell of the room reed scents downstairs

So, do we stop using reed scents? Nope.

Reviews are to be filtered. Used as information gathering tools. We look for common themes to be able to see what our customers are telling us. And then when a pattern emerges, we try to address it. This is equally so of positive comments. We keep doing more of what people have enjoyed.

This leads to the topic of Expectation. 

I could rant all day about expectation, from both sides. What the customer expects of Toadies and what Toadies expects from it's guests. I have been asked, Why is there not a kitchen in my room?

While the sarcastic tongue in me wants to say, 'We took it out yesterday'. that would clearly not be helpful.

Most of the time our guests are pleasantly surprised by the services at Toadies - particularly our breakfast. This feels like it exceeds expectation and that's a good thing.

Only 3rd party platform bookers don't know there is breakfast. Don't use 3rd party platforms - ring me!

Then you'll know exactly what to expect. No surprises about a communal kitchen.

Red, red wine...

A while back, when the house was full of young international travelers we had a fun gathering which was predominantly the folk who had stayed a while to pick apples. Two French music teachers provided entertainment and all was well with the world. 

And then, a young lady (from Australia, I think), arrived at the hostel. Yay, a party!

Expectation of Everyone in the room - Bring your own drinks.

Expectation of young lady - Everyone here will let me take their drinks

OK - I can feel all the Kiwi's out there gasping in horror. 

This is, without doubt, the rudest thing you can do to a Kiwi! 

or a Frenchman as it turns out.

From across the room, I watched, in a slow motion style of intrigue, as one of our lovely music teachers opened the tap of a cask of red wine, while holding it above the head of our newly arrived young lady. 

Red wine streamed from the tap, covering her bleach blonde hair (it really was, no joke intended there). It poured down her back and face. She didn't react till it hit her shoulders. Once she registered what was happening, she turned on our French musician and screamed! 

He turned off the tap.

This was the French mans response to having his drinks being taken without being asked. 

If you want to steal my wine, I'll give it to you! 

I was still watching from the other side of the room. She stomped up to me and demanded I throw out the rude French man.

I suggested she go upstairs and get herself cleaned up and if she chose to return, to come back as a better person. She left the next day. Our lovely French man stayed another 3 months picking apples.

When he left, he gifted his hand painted guitar to Jacob.

This weeks recipe is one thing which we call another. This delicious panettone loaf is packed with prunes and dark chocolate. However, on the breakfast table menu board I write Plum and chocolate.

Because there is an expectation about Prunes!