Welcome to the December 2007 Issue of our Running a B&B Newsletter

In this Edition:

  • New Recipe Blog
  • Course Dates
  • Guest Registration
  • Marketing Tip of the Month

Apart from the very occasional  annual holiday or weekend break I’ve been running the B&B non stop since July 2004. I have just waved off the last guest ( nearly – I have one course next week ) for 3 months as we’re shutting the B&B whilst we have some major building works done. We’re extending the guest dining room to create more dining and living space and converting our barn into a downstairs accessible bedroom and upstairs studio to run courses.

Many of my colleagues who run B&B locally shut over the winter months. Because we are in such a rural area and all of our guests are leisure tourists rather than business travelers our business is very seasonal, and for many of them it’s just not worth opening over the winter. I’ve just had 50% occupancy for November which is my best November occupancy rate to date – but that doesn’t happen by itself. I do put a lot of effort into my marketing and attracting repeat guests back.

If you’ve yet to set up your B&B it’s really important to do your research up front and find out what the average occupancy rates are for your area and the types of guest you are likely to attract. Your local Visitor Information Centre or Tourism Business Advisor will be able to provide you with this sort of information. You can then plan your marketing activity accordingly.

My Blogs

I’ve been writing a regular blog for Women In Rural Enterprise since June and will be continuing to do so till January when a new team of bloggers takes over. I’ve enjoyed sharing my experiences of running a B&B and life in general so I’ve decided to continue blogging with a new Shropshire Recipes blog. This blog will eventually contain recipes for breakfasts, packed lunches, cakes and guest dinners – all useful stuff for B&B owners as well as my ongoing experiences of running a B&B. Please take a look and let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see on there.

I’ve had a particularly stressful weekend in the kitchen with exploding sausages -  I do like my breakfasts to look appealing and a flattened exploded sausage is not appealing – always a good idea to make sure you have enough spare of everything just in case you do have any many kitchen disasters.

Course Dates

I have a couple of spaces left on my Setting Up a B&B Course next week on Saturday 8th December. I also have one room available if you would like to stay on Friday and / or Saturday night. The cost for one night for one person is £50 or £75 for double occupancy. I’ve added extra value to the course by speaking to the relevant organizations and getting copies of the Safer Food, Better Business book, National Accessibility Scheme Guidelines, Guest Accommodation Guidelines ( criteria for the star rating ) and the Green Tourism Business Scheme guidelines for participants to take away.

I’ve added additional dates for January on both the one and two day courses. Please check the website for details.

Guest Registration

It is a legal requirement to keep a register of all guests. For guests who are British, Irish or from the Commonwealth you will need to collect full name and nationality. For those who are not British, Irish or from the Commonwealth you will also need to collect passport number and place of issue and the details of their next destination. You need to keep this information for at least 12 months.

You don’t have to collect the address. I always do collect the address when people book as I need their address to authorize credit card payments that I have taken over the phone. It also makes good sense to record their car registration number in case of any future difficulties.

There is no set format for recording this information. Some establishments have a guest registration book in reception. I leave a Guest Registration Form in the room for guests to complete on arrival. I pre fill as much information as I can beforehand and include a box for guests to complete to tell me why they chose Hopton House, where they found us and also a checkbox for them to complete if they want to receive our email newsletter.

This information is invaluable when it comes to reviewing your marketing plan to see where guests are finding you and why they choose to stay with you.

Marketing Tip Of the Month

I would say that about 90% of my guests will say “We’ve loved it here so much and we’re definitely coming back”. Then I never see them again! And I do believe that they are being genuine when they make the comment because Rob and I have said exactly the same thing over and over again. We’ll go and have a fantastic holiday and agree that we’re definitely coming back and then never do. There is so much choice out there and we’ve been to so many lovely places that quite often we just forget.

One exception though is a hotel in Switzerland that we have been to 5 or 6 times. Each Christmas – actually always between Christmas and New Year – we receive a Christmas card from them – the only  hotel who ever sends us one and each year we say “Look the card from the Victoria Ritter. We must go back there” and we normally do.

So the first step to getting guests to come back is to create an experience they’ll love. And the next thing to do is remind them that you’re there! Christmas or New Year Cards are a great reminder to past guests. The great thing about the card from the Victoria Ritter is that it arrives after all of our other Christmas cards and at a time when most people are traditionally thinking about holidays for the year.

To make cards even more special you can have your own photographs turned into cards at www.vistaprint.co.uk.