NBR - need help with wording

kmm2150 · December 2011

My place of business, among other things, gives tours of a small museum. Tours are given on the hour and start from a small visitor center next to the museum. Because we have very few staff/volunteers, with offices upstairs from the visitor center, and depending on the time of year are not that busy anyway, we cannot just leave the doors open all the time and risk people wandering in and out.

We have posted numerous signs with different wordings to try to convey to visitors that "we are open/here, just knock if you need to come in between tours (say to visit the gift shop), but tours are on the hour" - but it seems that no matter how we word the sign, people get upset - they try the door and find it locked and just walk away and then call, angrily, from their car, OR they don't even TRY the door at all, they just think it "looks closed" despite a SIGN saying "we're open"! Any suggestions from you all as to how to word a sign to convey that:

1. Guided Tours are available on the hour

2. We are open but the door is locked, please knock

Without being too wordy or sounding rude?

namara5532 · December 2011

I would do something like "We're open! Door is locked for security. Please knock for entrance. Guided tours every hour on the hour." I'd put "open" in big letters as well.