We invite them in.  We will try to show them all UN-occupied rooms and give the tour of the rest of the house, gardens and lounge areas.  I have gotten so many bookings by just being gracious and welcoming.  One such visitor rented all of the guest rooms for a 3 night stay later in the year and they just came by on bicycles.

I tend to go ahead and give tours to people even if it is not for the purpose of making a reservation.  We located Sunny's Roost B&B in a 100 year old building that was previously a rectory then a convent.  Many people who remember it from days gone by want to see the inside and I am willing to show all unoccupied and clean rooms.  I never know when one of these people will mention the tour to a visiting relative or friend who will then book.  It has happened!

Ever so politely.  We live in a historical center and have a huge garden with fab views.  We sometimes get people who invent a story just come to our grounds to take a picture or two of the view.  I do allow that, and explain anything they might be interested in in the view or on our grounds.  We show unoccupied rooms, and explain features and make possible event suggestions - you never know what people will remember and maybe later suggest us to someone else.  Above all, we want to be remembered as the nice place, not a place that was uninviting.

We personally design day tours from our place, The Irish Inn, leaving after breakfast that take them in circles from door ro door.  This way people who know nothing about the area catch all the highlights in one or two days!  If the visitors have a special interest we have not considered, the thinking caps go back on!

The previous comment pertained to registered guests.  For people coming up to the door wanting a tour, we accommodate them with the caveat that occupied rooms cannot be shown.  We also offer them a cup of Irish tea.  You never know when someone will be a full week's guest in our area!  We love to show people The Irish Inn, and have so much national publicity, it is normal for thme to be curious about our art collection, etc.

I have always showed anyone who wants to come in.  Just by being gracious you can get business from the most unexpected places.  I have also had a client come in not telling me about what business they had just to see how we truely treated guests.  The business that followed was amazing.

We have now lived in 3 historic homes and have always given tours if asked. Of course occupied rooms are not shown but most of the time people are just curious.
Most of the people we've met wanted to see the "Old Place" because they knew owners a long time ago and want to see changes or they may want to make sure it is what they want for a nights stay. In any of these cases we have always accommodated the tours. Frankly I have enjoyed the tours of folks who had been to the place before because I could ask just about as many questions about the past as they could ask me about the present.

I try to graciously invite them in to hand brochure, show common area, tell a little about and show a guest room without seeming inconvenienced. I do not have staff and these tours can take a lot of time, so I have learned to be welcoming, peak their interest, but let them know I caring for current guests of the house.  If they seem particularly Interested, I extend the tour if I have time or offer to arrange for a full, personal tour at a future time.

Hamilton House in Wisconsin

Not an inn owner but I was recently doing a freelance travel article that had to be done on a short deadline.  Stopped at a B&B I wanted to include, told my story and was turned away summarily.  I couldn't quite blame the lady but I had to leave them out of my article.  Thank you to those of you who allow tours--even the briefest.  I like being able to see a place in case I can stay there another time.  And thank you to all who are honest on their websites.  I recently had to walk out of a B&B for the first time ever because it was simply vile.  Would rather not have wasted my time or theirs.

Our place isn't historic or in town and our property is a little on the wild side.  The view is what brings folks here so when folks stop by, often they are happy to sit in the parking lot and check out the view from there.  There is a rack card holder by the front door, so if I'm not around they can still get information.  The "tour" is quite short the living room and dining room.  If there are rooms not occupied, I'll show them.  What would be helpful to me is if the non-guest would announce themselves as non-guests.  Most folks see me as a regular business (before I changed to an always-locked door, folks would just walk in) and they need to know that it's not, it's a house and we really only expect to have guests come to the door.

We have two historic homes on the Nat'l Register, and we are located on the main street in Coupeville, so we get a fair amount of "lookie-loos".  We usually try to give a tour of at least the common areas, if the rooms aren't ready for viewing yet.  If the rooms are occupied, or if we're pressed for time, we'll gently decline the tour and suggest another time that would be better.  The folks who ask for tours are split about 50/50 I'd say, between just wanting to see an old house from the inside and those wanting to see about staying here in the future.  We do keep the front doors locked though, as we've had people wander in, and even walk right into our private living areas!  Best to have a locked door to help them remember it is a private residence!

Similar to other comments, we have an historic building so lots of locals are interested in the interior especially since the building had been shut down by the city for code violations several years before we purchased it.

We keep our doors locked so when we greet visitors, we always ask how we can help.  Then we can determine if they have a stay in mind, for themselves or others.  Unless we are serving breakfast or checking in guests, we will generally show visitors the common areas and maybe a room.  We have 17 rooms so it is not practical to show them all!  If they mention reserving a block of rooms, we may reschedule to a time we know we can give them a full tour and rate discussion.  We have a stack of rack cards by the front door so we can always resort to handing them out if we are too busy. Plus it has our website on it, which has photos of all the rooms.

Last fall our town had a Sunday open house for all the hotels and inns.  We had over 300 people come through so that was a great way to maximize exposure and confine it to 1 day.  Plus we think we have an extra special property and welcome comparison with others!

We are also in a historic home on a widely travelled street.  We always give tours unless we are closed (which generally means the place looks like hell for some remodeling, renovation or major cleaning reason) and then we politely ask them to call for an appointment.  I don't worry if they are looking for 'some other reason', just like I don't worry if guests are going to steal something.  My worrying won't keep something bad from happening but my not worrying and giving tours has a huge upside for our business.

We are thrilled to give tours of our old little cottage and welcome all who enter. We have met some lovely lovely people and made fast friends and repeat guests! Folks remember us for our warm and gracious welcomes and love our cottage and gardens. We live across from the Utah Shakespeare Festival so have tons of people walking by and being curious...if we are in the garden we invite them in for a tour. It is a great way to meet potential guests, many book for next year right away! We love giving tours....we have a sign (made from an old headboard) that says drop by for a tour and stroll through our gardens....that we put on the corner...draws people in!!!

The B Street House in historic Virginia City, Nevada thanks you for running this question. We have always provided tours to people who come to the door. with one exception. One morning at 6:30 a.m. a jogger, who had probably spent the night with a competing lodging property, asked for a tour. As we didn't have any guests, we were still in pajamas reading the paper. We declined to provide a tour. However, we do keep the doors locked, we do particpate in open houses, and try to be gracious with all people, hoping that they will return as guests at sometime in the future.

Once/year a group of us have an open house. That seems to be when the local folks who want a peek inside come over to take a look. If someone just knocks on the door we'll show them around if it's not inconvenient, ie- they don't show up during breakfast!

A lot of people not only want to see what other kinds of accommodations are available in the area, they also want to see how they are treated.

White Cedar Inn is also the former home of a local boy made good, so we have heard a lot of interesting stories about the former occupant of the house by entertaining folks who just want a peek inside.

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Like the majority of B & B owners we too invite the curious in to tour our inn.  We love to share the history of our inn and the town.  It's particularly gratifying to give tours to locals.  All too often they have no idea of the local history and become fascinated that a couple of transplanted Brits have researched so much.We tend to wow them with real Englsih scones and a proper cup of tea!

Most locals think they never have a need for a local bed and breakfast but once they see our place they start thinking about friends and relatives that might be visiting and we have got business out of it.  We also have a great room ideal for functions, parties and weddings and we have booked several parties that way.

Even though we are only a two man team, my husband and I think its really important to be friendly and accessible and it's well worth the time invested in face to face marketing ... and its FREE!

Looking forward to see more.Thanks for sharing.

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We love touring people around. It's very interesting and you meet a lot of cool people like that. [URL]http://tanden-bleken-thuis.nl[/URL]

We love touring people around. It's very interesting and you meet a lot of cool people like that. http://tanden-bleken-thuis.nl

Similar to other owners and posts we too invite the curious directly into our resort.  We like to share a brief history and also the town. www.preferreddoorservice.com

In this big city we cannot let everybody in, for security reasons. Though when tourists or the media rings our bell, we are always happy to give them the tour at Los Patios de Montserrat. Having a camera at the door helps us a lot to distinguish between real tourists and thieves.

For us it is difficult to offer a tour for every one that the ranch is very large. But occasionally we do it. See our <a href="http://montedecutamilla.com">bodas in http://montedecutamilla.com/</a>;

The Turret House B&B in Dryden, NY is almost always available for tours.  The house is unusual and the locals are very interested in a B&B in what was a private home. I even invite people in who stop by when I am out working on the lawn.  Any opportunity to show off this wonderful house and to let people know I am gratious.  People want to feel welcome and when they have guests in town, they will call me.  P.S. As a new innkeeper, I stopped by the other B&B in town to introduce myself.  Knocked on door several time, no answer.  Then when I was getting into my car, I saw someone in a window and went back and the owner answered the door in the filthiest slippers I have ever seen.  I was shocked because I could have been a potential guest (she had not met me).  Don't answer the door looking like a scrub lady!!