Bed and Breakfast websites: Part 1

There are a multitude of reasons why you might decide to buy an existing Bed & Breakfast business or start your own from scratch. Assuming you do all the required due diligence regarding location, market segment, seasonality factors, prevailing and predicted economic landscape and 101 more things – you should be right, yeah?

Well one of the most overlooked aspects is whether you, as an individual or perhaps a couple as a team have the required attributes to give the business venture the best chance of success. More than likely you are:

• Adept at handling the pressure of self-employment and possibly staff,
• Content to complete mundane tasks regularly,
• Skilled at multitasking (stay with me men),
• Comfortable in interacting with a range of personalities,
• Are an enthusiastic advocate for your local area and love being in hospitality.

But is loving what you do enough?

Probably not unless you are independently wealthy and running the B&B is really just a lifestyle choice. But for everyone else, there needs to be fundamental viability based on the quality of your accommodation, an active visitor stream, good businesses processes including a focus on the customer experience and 3rd-party support for the things that you can’t do yourself.

The goal of any business is to be profitable. In hospitality, delivering an exceptional guest experience is the ‘product’ rather than just the rooms and breakfast. Getting this right will make you more popular, leading to return stays and referrals leading to profit with the right management and strategy. To make this a reality, and achieve a steady revenue income, you have to attract bookings.

Things you need to be doing regularly.

Understand who your ideal customers are.
Trying to appeal to all travellers will be costly and ineffective. If you’ve been running your B&B for a while you will have data on what type of people have stayed with you. Who are they? Where do they come from? How did they find you, Why did they choose you? What did they do while they were there? Some of the visitor markets include: honeymooners, families, eco-tourists, business people, special interest groups, budget conscious and luxury seekers. What market(s) does your location, your room standards, your food quality and your facilities best suit? Review, analyse the niche down and target those people in the places they hang out online.

Understand your market position.
Similar to understanding your target market, having a clear knowledge of your own property will assist in getting the right people to your place and avoid marketing to people who don’t suit what you have. Things to consider are:

• Unique aspects of your property – what does your place have that no other B&B in your area has. Being able to stand out is crucial, especially in a crowded market.
• Seasonality – is your geographic location favourable only in Summer or Winter? What can you do to overcome seasonality? i.e. appeal to warm-weather visitors if you run a alpine chalet?

Synergise with other local businesses.
Think about packaging stays with other local services. Talk to local restaurants about evening meal packages you can offer to your visitors in return for cross promotion. Or, tour companies who operate in your area as well as coffee shops, supermarkets and speciality stores who benefit from you bringing outside money into town. Ideally, all local businesses should be working together to grow their market.

Encourage and act on visitor feedback.
Always ask your visitors for reviews and use the good ones in your marketing. Even negative feedback can be extremely valuable when you seek to understand what the problem was. Often it’s a case of perception not meeting reality. The visitor was expecting something that was not delivered. Use this to analyse how your marketing assets such as brochures, advertising and your website are conveying realistic experiences.

Establish, display and review your policies.
Write, check and publish your policies and make them visible and easily accessible. This should be done during the booking process, during check-in and be available in-room. Policies, depending on your jurisdiction could include: safety, no-smoking, pets, minors, noise, refunds, check-in/outs and damages. Consider getting legal advice on these policies and the wider legislative requirements of running a hospitality business in your local area.

Get professional accountancy services.
Engaging the services of a qualified accountant is essential. They will keep an eye on your assets, liabilities, income, expenses, cash flow and balance sheet and taxation. Your chosen accountant will also advise on what system works best for your business to reduce the complexity of transaction tracking.