Dusk, June 29, 2008

A kitchen, anywhere in the Northeast United States. Dinner is on the table, two adults are eating and conversing.

Adult #1: “Honey, don’t we both have Friday, July 4th, off?”

Adult #2: “Why yes, we do! Why don’t we go away for the long weekend?”

Adult #1: “What a great idea! We should probably make a reservation somewhere. Where would you like to go?”

Adult #2: “I’d like to go to the beach. What about Cape Cod?”

Adult #1: “Great idea. Why don’t you get online after dinner and find us someplace nice to stay?”

Adult #2: “I’ll do that.”

****** Two Hours Later ******

Adult #2: “I found this great little B&B in Wellfleet, I checked it out on Trip Advisor and it’s the #1 rated place there. It’s got great reviews! Would you call them in the morning and make us a reservation?”

Adult #1: “That sounds great, I’ll do it!”

****** Curtain ******

I swear, that little scenario must have played out in hundreds of kitchens in the past couple of weeks because I’ve gotten literally dozens of phone calls for the weekend of July 4th. A holiday virtually everyone in America gets off. What makes people think they can call a week or less in advance for a holiday weekend and get a room? Especially in a B&B, which has only a few rooms to start with!

I try really hard not to laugh when these folks call, but the closer it gets to the 4th, the more difficult that is. I do try to suggest they book for next year, but so far nobody has wanted to do so. Not that I’m surprised. Clearly, these are not plan-ahead people and they may still harbor the illusion that they’ll find a room somewhere so they want to get on to the next phone call as quickly as possible. They’ll probably play out the same scenario for Labor Day weekend.

If you can’t plan to go away on the big holiday weekends well in advance, you should probably learn to enjoy spending them quietly at home. There are plenty of weekends between late October and the middle of June where you absolutely can get a room with only a couple of days notice. Come see us then.

So to answer your questions in advance:

No, we don’t have a room for the 4th & 5th. In fact, that weekend typically books up before Memorial Day.

No, I don’t know anyone who has a room available. Since you’re about the 25th person to call me about it this week, my guess is that you’re going to be out of luck, but I’ll direct you to the Chamber of Commerce anyway. If anyone has a room, they’ll know about it.

No, I don’t think there’s much of a chance anyone will cancel. If someone does, it’ll be the day before they’re scheduled to arrive and you’ll already have made other plans, so I’m not going to put your name on a waiting list.

Yes, if someone DOES cancel, one of these last minute callers is going to get very, very lucky. But don’t count on it.

I guess it’s been a while since my last post. I have a couple brewing, I’ll try to be a bit more diligent this week.

It’s August. The weather is hot & sticky and so am I. I’m also tired. I’m having a difficult time getting into bed before midnight because the only quiet waking hours are after 10:30 or 11 at night and I need that time. Of course someone called at 2:30 a.m. last night to see if we had a room next week. When I asked him if he had any idea what time it was he said “Oh, don’t you have a 24 hour desk?” Sir, if you’re reading this, I do not apologize if I was a tad short with you last night.

Local traffic is heavy, beaches are crowded, it’s difficult to park on Main Street and there are long waits at restaurants. This is all normal. So are my fraying nerves. Thank goodness my guests are all really, really nice.

Although September is on track to be our busiest September ever, the lower humidity, cooler nights and lighter traffic will go a long way towards calming my soul. Meanwhile, I just keep exercising those smile muscles!

It’s full-on summer here in Wellfleet. People everywhere, restaurants mobbed, tons of kids at the beach and all the business owners hunkered down in summer mode. We have a number of friends who own restaurants, we see them only when we go eat at their establishments. Other friends we sometimes bump into when we go to the local theaters (movie or live), which is about once a month. We make noises about getting together for dinner or something, it doesn’t always happen. Everyone understands. Winter is for socializing with our friends.

The population difference in our town between winter, when only the year-round residents are here, and summer, when all the 2nd home-owners are here is approximately 3,000 vs. 17,000. Add to that the transient visitors – those who are staying at motels, B&B’s or renting cottages – and there are probably 20 – 24,000 people in Wellfleet on any given day in July and August. It’s kinda crazy and certainly it’s easy to loose sight of things and start grousing about all the extra people in town, but let’s face it, the summer tourists are the only reason this town still exists. Nearly every year-round resident who is not retired owes their ability to make a living in some way to tourism. We all know this, but sometimes the sheer number of people and the unrelenting sameness of the days (no such thing as a “weekend” for us in the summer) can make us a bit grumpy. It becomes an art to keep that to ourselves – part of the skill set one must develop as an innkeeper.

Thankfully all our guests since the “incident” have been lovely and interacting with them has been a pleasure, but August does tend to bring a certain type of vacationer to our town. There is an undercurrent of tension in this type, and they seem to be in a hurry – for what I’m not sure. It puzzles me when I see people who are on vacation leave a restaurant in a huff because their food isn’t coming fast enough. What’s the rush? And where do they think they’re going to go and not have to wait to be seated?

Occasionally we do get guests here who seem to try to pack a week’s worth of vacation activities into two or three days. Usually they’re mid-twenties and either live or work in large cities. If they seem open to it, I’ll suggest they pare down their to-do list somewhat and try to relax. After all, who wants to get home from a vacation needing a vacation?