Welcome to the October 2008 edition of my Running a Bed and Breakfast Newsletter
In this month's newsletter:
How To Set Up a B&B - One Day Course 8th December
Exciting Opportunities with the BBC and Channel 4
Does Every B&B Have to Have a Website?
Doing Your Research
Some guests c
a
me to stay recently week who ran their own 5 star gold award B&B. It's always a bit nerve wracking having someone from the travel industry stay - I know how critical I can be when I go and stay anywhere. However we got on very well and ended up chatting for a couple of hours over breakfast each day. It can be an isolating business so it's lovely to be able to talk to someone who understands exactly what you do and also, in this case anyway, shares very similar values and goals for their business.
Susan, like myself, was very keen that people come to her B&B for the whole experience of staying with her rather than just being a bed for the night.
Whilst it was great to meet someone with such a similar outlook to myself, what was really fascinating were the differences in our businesses. When prospective B&B owners ask me questions I often have to say "it depends". I would much rather be able to give a black and white answer to questions like "What occupancy can I expect?", "Can I make a living from this?". But unfortunately, as I keep emphasising, it depends so much on many different variables such as location, size of your mortgage etc. What I can tell you is what those variables are and how to go about doing your research.
For example, Susan's busy time was in June, July and August whilst her business slowed down considerably in September - hence allowing her to come away to another B&B! My occupancy was 90% in September and 70% in October whilst June and July tend to be quite slow for us here. She also saw a different type of guest with many europeans staying. We have very few foreign visitors ( 4 bookings for all of this year ).
How To Set Up a B&B One Day Course - December 8th
I'm very pleased to say that I have a UK Travel Journalist from one of the broadsheets attending the course on the 8th to review it for her newspaper in January. I have 4 places left on the course with accommodation still available in 2 rooms. You could always add on an extra few days and spend some time doing some christmas shopping in Shrewsbury or Ludlow!
The one day course covers everything you need to know to set up a B&B, including what research you need to do and where to go for help. It's an intensive but highly enjoyable day and suitable both for people who have definitely decided to go ahead and run a B&B and also those of you that are still not sure.
I have changed the way I charge for courses
. For the one day course I ask for a £40 non refundable deposit which can be paid via the website, over the phone or by electronic banking. The remainder of the payment is payable on the day of the course by cash,cheque or credit/debit card. I'll give you an invoice so be sure to include it as a tax deductable expense when you set up your business. The course costs £117.50 in total, with accommodation extra.
Exciting Opportunites with the BBC and Channel 4
I've had two requests from the BBC and Channel 4 for programmes featuring potential B&B owners. I would encourage anyone who meets the criteria to get in touch with the producers and to find out more. When you're setting up a new business is not the time to be shy. Unless you are very lucky your B&B will not market itself so this is a great opportunity for some priceless free publicity and potentially some invaluable free advice! Please do mention B&B Academy when you get in touch.
The BBC are producing a programme for BBC1 following people who are transforming rooms in their home into a B&B. If you are just about to start this process we would love to hear from you asap. Please contact ; Karina Brennan on 0161 244 3539 or email
karina.brennan@bbc.co.uk
.
Channel 4
is looking for people who are starting up their own hotel or guesthouse business to take part in a new prime-time series. Each programme in this 6-programme series will follow the birth of a new hotel from the very early stages of purchase or building work, right through to Opening Night!
The prospective hoteliers will be advised and consulted through the start-up process by a leading figure and expert within the hospitality industry who has successfully owned and managed a number of hotels over the last 20 years.
Our aim is for this to be an aspirational programme about business and success. If you are looking to get your dream hotel up and running and want to find out more, please contact Emma Vulliamy, Assistant Producer Tel. 020 7907 0877 or email.
dreamhotel@betty.co.uk
Does Every B&B have to have a Website?
I think the answer to that question these days is a resounding YES! Maybe, if you're in the enviable position where you don't have to do any marketing and have as many guests as you want, then you may so no. However for the majority of tourism businesses it's an essential.
One mistake that many potential B&B owners make is to spend all their budget on creating a fantastic B&B then run out of money for their marketing. The general rule of thumb is that you should allocate 20% of your projected turnover in your first year to marketing. Hopefully this figure will go down as you get a reputation and more repeat business.
My own website won Tourism Website of the Year for 2007 in the West Midlands and guests quote it time and again as the reason they booked with us and several of my course attendees have gone on to have websites designed by Perfect Arc, my web design company.
Of course I would sing their praises but I'm not just doing that because they're nice people ( they are and they speak english not computer jargon ) but because they are very good at what they do. So a brief summary:
- they're experts at B&B sites. They've worked extensively with the tourism industry and, whilst they will listen and respect your ideas, they will also make recommendations based on their own experience
- you need to be able to update the website yourself and their system is easy to use
- they have an excellent availability checker which will help to increase your online booking
If you want to find out more then give them a ring or email
annawilde@perfectarc.com
for a free no-obligation chat. You can check out their own website here
www.perfectarc.com/bandb.aspx
.
Doing Your Research
As you've read earlier in the newsletter it's essential that you do your research before setting up your business. I always recommend that people create a B&B that reflects their own values. So if you're a vegetarian family you're unlikely to be serving a full carnvirous full english and, instead, targetting vegetarian guests. However you do need to be careful that you don't make assumptions about what people will or won't want from a B&B based on your likes and dislikes.
One way of testing your assumptions is by sending out a survey to friends, relatives or colleagues. I sent out a survey when I first set up the B&B and found it very useful. My survey was in word format sent out by email but these days it's really easy to set up an online survey. One company that will do an online survey is www.surveymonkey.com . You can get a free basic survey or pay $20 a month to subscribe and, apparently, you can cancel at any time. As well as initial research this could be a useful tool to collect feedback from guests. Maybe after they've stayed with you you could email them a customer feedback survey?
To show you what the survey is like and also to help me out with my own marketing I've created a survey for you to complete! A bottle of champagne to one respondent picked at random.
CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE SURVEY