Message service for guests, pigeon holes?

[StevieM79]

Im yet to come accross a smart and easy way for guests to be able to leave each other messages, especially when you know your friend has been in/out and you just keep missing them.

Ive travelled in countries where you need to add digits to mobile phones depending on what region you find yourself, sometimes technology just doesnt work the best.

I had considered a pigeon hole system for each room possibly situated where the common room is. We use a pigeon hole for the teachers at work for documents and it seems to work well.


What are your suggestions?


Thanks


Steve

[gordo]

I've always just used noticeboards and notes at reception. Though in Banff we set up voice mail boxes for guests if they paid for 2 weeks accomm; basically we gave them our spare phone number and their own extension and people could leave messages. we then had a phone near reception for people to call in and listen to their messages.

it was mostly for people looking for work so employers could contact them, but it seemed to work pretty well.

[Kapake]

This board is a good idea...It´s a good way of interacting...
THe holes are complicated in the sense that if a guy like a girl or the other way around then everybody starts leaving stuff to everybody and it can get out of control, well that´s what I know would happend here in Argentina...

Big board!

[StevieM79]

Hey all,


Thanks for the reply. I can understand the interaction of a message board, its seems quite straight forward.


Sooo how have you guys set it up,?
is it just a table with room names or room numbers?
Or is it just random scribbled messages from one person to another?

A notice board is good if there is a simple system people can follow, hence why a pigeon hole for each bed outside a room is simple, however people still need to know what room they are in...


Thanks

Steve

[PatrickO`D]

Originally Posted by StevieM79

Im yet to come accross a smart and easy way for guests to be able to leave each other messages, especially when you know your friend has been in/out and you just keep missing them.

Ive travelled in countries where you need to add digits to mobile phones depending on what region you find yourself, sometimes technology just doesnt work the best.

I had considered a pigeon hole system for each room possibly situated where the common room is. We use a pigeon hole for the teachers at work for documents and it seems to work well.


What are your suggestions?


Thanks


Steve

We had pigeon holes at our hostel and it worked well for the guest. It was also a good communicator between staff as well. Not all staff work on all days, so for example the Housekeeper needs to pass on a message to the Maintenance man about a leaky faucet in a certain bathroom. The message is simply placed in the maintenance pigeon hole. I think it is good to have a backup system in case technology falls short. Some hotels still practice the registration card system alongside modern Internet reservation sytems as a backup.

All the best

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by StevieM79

Sooo how have you guys set it up,?

We had a message board, but usually took notes for guest in the front desk software (roomMaster 2000). As soon as a guest came to the front desk to pay or check out, their messages would show to the front desk staff.

[StevieM79]

Originally Posted by PatrickO`D

We had pigeon holes at our hostel and it worked well for the guest. It was also a good communicator between staff as well. Not all staff work on all days, so for example the Housekeeper needs to pass on a message to the Maintenance man about a leaky faucet in a certain bathroom. The message is simply placed in the maintenance pigeon hole. I think it is good to have a backup system in case technology falls short. Some hotels still practice the registration card system alongside modern Internet reservation sytems as a backup.

All the best

Hi Pat,


Where were the pigeon holes for the guest located? Im under the impression to keep them near the entrance of the hostel as guests would see it when they walked past to their rooms... Also having a log or pigeon hole for staff is great, not all staff check their emails before commencing their shift as their work may not involve sitting behind a desk all day.


Thanks


Steve

[StevieM79]

Originally Posted by Hostels

We had a message board, but usually took notes for guest in the front desk software (roomMaster 2000). As soon as a guest came to the front desk to pay or check out, their messages would show to the front desk staff.

Hi Hostels,

Well ive been looking into the idea of possibly providing an electronic message board via the Hostels website. Guests would have to log in the site before the could surf the web, this could provide some usefull information on the activities, and force them to have a read before checking their email/facebook etc. Im not too sure if this would be succesfull though. You mention taking notes, what if the guest didnt come by the front desk? would the message ever get lost in transition??


Thanks

Steve

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by StevieM79

You mention taking notes, what if the guest didnt come by the front desk? would the message ever get lost in transition?

The procedure was to check a guest's account any time they came to the front desk. Also, they had to come to the front desk before checking out to get their deposit.

People generally didn't check the regular bulletin board, so the computer method was more effective in this particular hostel.

[PatrickO`D]

Hi Stevie, The Pigeon holes were behind the FD and were the responsibility of the FD staff. During the check in process the guest is encouraged to check periodically if they think there is a message for them. The pigeon hole also would be checked for messages during check out. If the message was urgent (family emergency) we would make the effort to find the guest "inhouse" or inform them they had a message when they returned to the hostel.

Good luck

Patrick