A Room for Friday

Marta reached the guesthouse on Friday afternoon, looking forward to a concert that evening. She had booked a room for one night and expected to leave her bag before exploring the town. At reception, she gave her name and opened the confirmation email on her phone, ready to show that everything had already been arranged.

The receptionist checked his screen and explained that her booking was for Saturday. Marta looked more carefully at the email. She had selected the wrong date and had not noticed before paying. The guesthouse was full that night. However, the receptionist offered to call his sister, who ran another guesthouse near the station, to see whether she could help.

There was one room available. It cost ten pounds more than Marta’s original room, but breakfast was included and the concert was only a fifteen-minute walk away. Marta accepted the offer. The receptionist wrote the address on a card so that she could find it without using her phone again.

Before leaving, Marta asked what would happen to the Saturday reservation. He cancelled it without charging her, which meant that she would not have to pay for two rooms. She thanked him and checked the new confirmation slowly: Friday, one night, breakfast included. This time, she read the details rather than simply recognising her own name.

Once she had arrived at the second guesthouse, Marta put the address card beside her concert ticket. She still had an hour before the performance, enough time to relax. She sent her brother a message asking him to check her dates before she paid next time. His reply came quickly: “Only if you check mine.” Apparently, she was not the only one who needed a second pair of eyes.