How To Start A Bed And Breakfast 

From Family Home To Cash Cow

Do you wish that you could make some money from your family home? Well, you will be very happy to hear that you can do just that! You just need to turn it into a bed and breakfast or a guesthouse. You can then rent out your spare bedrooms to visitors and tourists who are visiting your local area. Lots of people have successfully converted their homes into profitable bed and breakfast hotels or guesthouse and have found that it provides them with a sizeable and steady income. Are you thinking of joining all of them? Here are the steps you need to take.

How To Start A Bed And Breakfast

Do Up Your Bedrooms

First of all, you need to figure out how many rooms you can rent out. If you children have moved out, you should be able to rent out their bedrooms alongside any other spare rooms you have. Just remember not to take any bookings at times when your kids want to come home to visit! Lots of guesthouse owners also consider converting their attics and basements into bedrooms so that they can maximize their profit margins. Once you know which rooms you want to rent out, you will need to decorate them up to a high standard.

If there are any repairs or small building maintenance jobs that need to be done, ensure you do these as you do up the rooms. If the bedrooms aren’t up to scratch, you will find that your guests do not rate you highly on online consumer reviews. Not only that, though, but excellent quality bedrooms could persuade guests to book again with you whenever they return to the area.

 

Add Plenty Of Comforts

Your guests will want their rooms to feel like a home away from home, so it is very important you add plenty of comforts to each bedroom.

Things like luxurious duvets, duck feather pillows, and thick blankets will go a long way to ensuring your guests can enjoy a comfortable night’s sleep. There should also be some tea and coffee making facilities so that guests can make themselves at home as soon as they arrive. Remember to include modern comforts as well, such as free WiFi and a TV.

Calculate Price Earnings Ratio

If you are completely new to the guesthouse business, you may not have a clue at the kinds of prices you should be charging your guests. Calculate Price Earnings Ratio >> It is important that you don’t price your rooms too highly. Otherwise, you just won’t get any bookings. But you also shouldn’t price them too cheaply. After all, you still want to try and make a profit out of all this! You might want to price your rooms slightly under the average for your area at first so that you attract some initial customers.

Just make sure you are still charging enough to make a profit. But after the first year or so, you should look at increasing prices to meet the average price of a room in your local town or city. Take a look at your competitors to see what they charge for an idea of price. Remember that if you offer extras such as breakfast, you will be able to offer your rooms for a higher price.

Strategic Marketing Process Steps To Take

In order to attract as many bookings as possible, you will need to learn about strategic marketing process steps to take. One great way to do this is to sign up with your local tourist board. They will then advertise your guesthouse on their website and will include you in any of the accommodation information that they hand out to tourists. It is also a good idea to set up a Facebook and Twitter account for your guesthouse. This will get your name out there and will make you visible to a lot of people on the Internet.

You could also think about running social media competitions to increase awareness of your accommodation business even more. It is also important to keep an eye on reviews of your guesthouse on websites like TripAdvisor. If any guests ever leave a negative review, you can always respond to it in a very professional and sensible manner. If other guests see your replies and see that there were reasons behind the negative view, they won’t be put off from booking.

Running a bed and breakfast or a guesthouse isn’t for everyone, as it can take up a lot of your time. However, if you are committed and ready to take on this responsibility, you will find that it can be a very lucrative venture indeed!




If you feel that that could be the right thing for you check out your local regulations on licenses and rules, and if you get green lights from there, go for it! Nothing is more inspiring and satisfying than working with people, not all customers or guests are nice, but most are! 

Thanks a lot for your time!

Klaudia