The Guest Book What gets written when nobody's watching
I used to walk for miles to get out of the room. Fifteen years working the railroad meant a lot of nights in places that were technically fine — bed, shower, parking lot view — but felt like nobody had thought about you when they put them together. No art. No personality. Questionable housekeeping. I'd get in, drop my bag, and leave. Sometimes I'd find a food truck worth the walk. Sometimes a bookstore. Once in a while I'd end up in a Menards just to wander the aisles and think about what a space could look like. This was all before I owned anything. I just couldn't stay in the room.
Kayla and I started noticing the good ones eventually. The places that felt like someone had actually considered you.
We'd read the guest books the same way you flip through a used paperback someone left notes in — where people came from, what they found, what they were hoping for when they booked. The entries that stopped us were the ones where a guest was talking directly to the next person. A trail they'd found. A place to eat nobody else knew about. Small things passed forward to strangers.
So we put one in the Troubadour. We're on our second now.
Stephanie & David, Vail CO — April 4, 2026
Most entries are what you'd expect. Kind words, area recommendations, notes about the space. Occasionally someone writes something that makes you set the book down.
"Restored my faith in the market."
We'd heard versions of that before. Guests burned by listings that looked nothing like the photos. Hosts who disappeared after check-in. The bar in this industry has gotten low enough that showing up reads as exceptional. We don't think it should be.
Some of our properties are just homes. The ones we've stayed in that meant something weren't extraordinary buildings — they were places where someone went the extra mile to make you feel like the stay mattered. That's the thing we're trying to do. Not always perfectly. But every time.
Another entry. Different property, same book.
Where the Book Lives
The Troubadour is one of the older short term rental homes in downtown Sheridan — the kind of place that feels like it has layers of stories ingrained in the cherry wood pannled walls. The guest book sits on a antique industrial oak table from Holly Seed beside modern Retoration Hardware chairs in the main room. We didn't put the guesstbook there for aesthetics. It just felt like the right place for it.
The Troubadour — downtown Sheridan, Wyoming
The Troubadour Suite — Sheridan, Wyoming
Reserve Your Stay
The Troubadour Suite
"Every Late Checkout property has one now. Write something if you want. Or don't. But read what came before you."
The Troubadour is one of fifteen properties we manage in and around Sheridan, Wyoming. Each one has a journal. Each one has a desk. Each one is owned and operated by people who actually stay in places like this and know the difference.