What it's all about

Jay Honeck wrote:
Excuse me, but by "bird-brain" I'm sure you mean "customer"...


Actually, we don't have "customers" -- we have "guests"...

A subtle -- but important -- difference. Guests are expected to behave
themselves!

:-)

I think customers is a much better description of the people who stay at
your Inn. I know that I would be highly insulted if it were assumed I
would pay for my accomidations if I was a "Guest" of the owners. A
customer is certainly expected to behave as are any other person. You
may call them by any term you choose, but that does not change the
underlying relationship.

John

I think customers is a much better description of the people who stay at
your Inn. I know that I would be highly insulted if it were assumed I
would pay for my accomidations if I was a "Guest" of the owners. A
customer is certainly expected to behave as are any other person. You may
call them by any term you choose, but that does not change the underlying
relationship.

It's all semantics, of course, but "guest" better implies the relationship
that we have with our "customers."

Remember, if we were trying to get rich, we sure as hell wouldn't be running
an aviation-themed, luxury suites hotel in Iowa City, IA. We do this
because we choose to, and our guests are here because we want them to be.

And because they want to be. See
http://alexisparkinn.com/what_others...g_about_us.htm regarding this
phenomenon.

Bottom line: We have had overwhelming success treating our customers like
guests and friends. If only the hotels we visit would regard us in the same
way, I wouldn't leave them feeling so routinely ripped off and angry.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

I think customers is a much better description of the people who stay at
your Inn. I know that I would be highly insulted if it were assumed I
would pay for my accomidations if I was a "Guest" of the owners. A
customer is certainly expected to behave as are any other person. You may
call them by any term you choose, but that does not change the underlying
relationship.


It's all semantics, of course, but "guest" better implies the relationship
that we have with our "customers."

That is true for a hotel/motel, however, I still think of guest as being
someone who is staying free of charge. I realize the official legal
definition of guest includes both paying and nonpaying.

Matt

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 20:42:59 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:

I think customers is a much better description of the people who stay at
your Inn. I know that I would be highly insulted if it were assumed I
would pay for my accomidations if I was a "Guest" of the owners. A
customer is certainly expected to behave as are any other person. You may
call them by any term you choose, but that does not change the underlying
relationship.


It's all semantics, of course, but "guest" better implies the relationship
that we have with our "customers."

That is true for a hotel/motel, however, I still think of guest as being
someone who is staying free of charge. I realize the official legal
definition of guest includes both paying and nonpaying.

What do you call someone who is a passenger in your plane that shares
expenses with you? A guest, I think, and from Jay's description of
how his enterprise is going, the share-expense model may be closer to
the truth than hotelier/customer. ;-)

Klein

Good Point John,
I have never charged a guest for a nights stay at my home. Wouldn't show
very much southern hospitality. You pay for a service, you are in deed a
customer. Hmmmm, maybe I could start charging the in-laws?

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

You pay for a service, you are in deed a customer.

Would you say the same for a doctor's patients, a teacher's students, an
agent's clients? The word "customer" implies a different kind of
pecuniary relationship than the other words, and that includes "guest"
when applied to a hotel.

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 15:12:58 GMT, Jose
wrote in ::

You pay for a service, you are in deed a customer.

Would you say the same for a doctor's patients, a teacher's students, an
agent's clients? The word "customer" implies a different kind of
pecuniary relationship than the other words, and that includes "guest"
when applied to a hotel.

While all customers may be guests, not all guests are customers:


Here's what Merriam-Webster has to say about it:

Main Entry:customer
Pronunciation:*k*s-t*-m*r
Function:noun
Etymology:Middle English custumer, from custume
Date:15th century

1 : one that purchases a commodity or service
2 : an individual usually having some specified distinctive trait
a real tough customer


Main Entry: guest
Pronunciation: *gest
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English gest, from Old Norse gestr; akin to Old
English giest guest, stranger, Latin hostis stranger, enemy
Date:13th century

1 a : a person entertained in one's house b : a person to whom
hospitality is extended c : a person who pays for the
services of an establishment (as a hotel or restaurant)
2 : an organism (as an insect) sharing the dwelling of another;
especially : INQUILINE
3 : a substance that is incorporated in a host substance
4 : a usually prominent person not a regular member of a cast or
organization who appears in a program or performance

HAHAHA,
Jose you are a doctors customer,..that's why they spend as little time
with you as they can to keep charging that money! A teacher , that is a
tough one...not many 7 year olds pay their teachers but I suppose that makes
the parents the customers as there taxes pay the teachers salaries.

Patrick
..

"W P Dixon" wrote in message ...
Good Point John,
I have never charged a guest for a nights stay at my home. Wouldn't show
very much southern hospitality. You pay for a service, you are in deed a
customer. Hmmmm, maybe I could start charging the in-laws?

Nawh, just make 'em sleep on sleeper sofas ... That'll cut their visit
short...