Bed & Breakfast Owners

Many true words are found in traditional nursery rhymes.  And nothing is more frustrating as a bed and breakfast owner than running out of essentials on a busy Bank holiday weekend.

May, with its two bank holidays is almost here.  So take note all bed and breakfast owners get your cupboards filled. Old Mother Hubbard will be proud of you.

I’m not going to get caught out this year so I’m planning a trip to cash and carry to stock up with essentials.

I can write out my usual list and feel confident that I can cover most eventualities. However I thought I’d turn the task on its head and look at the situation from the guest perspective.
 
If I was staying at a bed and breakfast what would make my stay comfortable and stress free.

Yes, a good breakfast, friendly staff, a comfortable bed and a clean bathroom with lots of fluffy white towels, are taken as read.

But if it’s the wow factor you want to create for your bed and breakfast accommodation put yourself in the guest’s shoes.
 
In order to do this with some conviction I have carried out some market research with last season’s guests.
 
I put a short questionnaire in the bedrooms asking for specific suggestions to make staying at my bed and breakfast establishment a more pleasurable experience.

Hey presto the guests have provided their own shopping list for my trip to the cash and carry and suppliers online.

Here’s the list:
 
¨      Irons and ironing boards on request

¨      Extra pillows of different firmness and styles

¨      Spare face cloths (darker colour for make-up removal etc.)

¨      Wine openers – if one room takes it, there are spares if needed

¨      Torches in the room- in case of power failure

¨      Pens and paper in the rooms

Mostly common sense but so reassuring to have your ideas verified by the guests.

Just for good measure I have added to the list a few more desired extras just in case.

I buy all my plain white china from a large china factory in the area.  I will be buying extra cups and saucers etc. you never know when the dish washer is going to go slow or even worse knock the handles off the cups and chip the saucers. 

I also keep an extra ink cartridge for my printer they always seem to run out when trying to print a receipt for a guest at the weekend.

Stocking up on white table napkins when they are at a good price helps with the laundry. White goes with everything, so you don’t have the expense of buying matching tablecloths and napkins.

 Finally, it’s a great idea is to have a stock of disposable cups with lids, plenty of inexpensive ones on offer at most cash and carry outlets.  I’m going to go that extra mile this season and label them with my logo and web address.

Offering your guests a cup for the road is usually met with great appreciation, a simple and cost effective marketing exercise.

They might even come again or at very least recommend your B&B to their friends or business colleagues if they are travelling on business.

 
 This article was written by Jackie Miller owner of Colliers Hill Conference Centre and Guest House http://www.colliershill.co.uk and
http://www.bedandbreakfastowners.com - the membership site for owners of B&Bs.   April 2007.
 
 
 
 
 

As mentioned in part one of the articles for Bed and Breakfast owners, using skills you have learnt with other hats on helps you to appear cool calm and collected when dealing with even the most difficult of guests at your B&B establishment.

I sure you would never have dreamt of going to an interview or a meeting without doing some research and preparing a few questions so:

Have some introductory questions ready.

• Build up a few introductory questions you feel confident about asking your guests when they come through the door of your bed and breakfast for the first time.

And hey ho, you may have asked the same question more times than you care to remember with your bed and breakfast owner’s hat on, but the guests you are greeting for the first time don’t know you have.

• Did you have a good journey?

• You must be weary would you like a cup of tea?

• Can I help you with the luggage from your car?

• Breakfast starts at ….until….does that suit your itinary?

• Are you visiting the area for a special reason?

• Can I help you with ordering a taxi, booking a meal, best route to your next destination?

If you put your guests at their ease in the first few minutes by demonstrating that you are really interested in making their stay a your B&B as comfortable as possible you have set the scene as a good host/bed and breakfast owner.

Remember you are on home ground and no matter how comfortable your guests appear it’s never easy to walk into someone else’s home for the first time.

You don’t have to be a B&B owner in Australia to believe in Boomerangs

Do not do the hard sell straight away. After all your guests have made a choice to single you out from the crowd by using your B&B rather than the one down the road.

Let your weary travellers draw breath and have a cup of tea before asking them about tomorrow’s breakfast choices, or whether they want an evening meal or not.

So what’s this got to do with Boomerangs in Australia you may well sigh?

Think about the saying “Give and you will receive”

And the best gift you can give a guest you have just met as a bed and breakfast owner is to make them feel welcome by being as helpful and friendly as possible, or give them some information that will make their stay with you more enjoyable.
They in turn will spread the word that your B&B is a good place to stay and the boomerang effect will bring its own rewards.

Not always immediate, but oh so beautiful when it does happen.

And the final transferable skill for Bed and Breakfast owners

Adopt a Winning Attitude.

I trained as a journalist and learnt the hard way that people don’t reveal their innermost thoughts, headline stories, to somebody they don’t think has the right attitude.

Attitude creates your mood and that sets the tone of your voice along with your facial expressions and your body language.

• Feel relaxed and comfortable with yourself. You will then come across as a very confident person, and this is one of the most crucial elements for success. Guests need to feel that the owner of their chosen B&B is in control of their kingdom.

• Sometimes guests don’t respond as you expect them to. If you remain calm and confident even with the most demanding guests you will have an inner strength to get away with all sorts of things. And best of all guests will recommend your Bed and Breakfast to other people.

I went to a networking meeting last week and the speaker was giving tips on how to be a good net-worker and stand out from the crowd.

I thought to myself afterwards that almost everything he mentioned could apply to being a good Bed and Breakfast owner/host.

It’s easy to forget because you are in the safety of your own home that you are networking with groups of new people all the time. You probably believe that you have good interpersonal skills or you wouldn’t have gone into a service industry in the first place.

It does no harm to remind ourselves of key skills which help when we spend time mixing with guests in our bed and breakfast establishments.

Remember you only have one chance to make a lasting impression, leading to repeat business and that glorious chance of free word of mouth advertising.

Success for everybody in business including B&B owners comes down to Six key skills:

• Confidence – the ability to feel good, appear relaxed and stand out from the crowd.

• Approach - the ability and confidence to put your guests at ease and start a conversation.

• Eye Contact – the ability to make your eyes smile when you meet your guests and to maintain appropriate eye contact when you’re in conversation.

• Shut Up & Listen – the ability to focus on what your guest is saying and to show them that you are interested in who and what they are.

• Engage – the ability to stimulate the conversation with questions and word pictures. In other words how to make small talk big.

• Body Language – the ability to use your voice and posture to put your guests at ease and build a rapport with them.

Be enthusiastic and passionate about your Bed and Breakfast. Genuine passion will always be clearly communicated, and more importantly remembered. So much more cost effective than a business card.

And lastly dress appropriately, easy when you are going out of your B&B to a meeting or event, but much more difficult when rolling out of bed to cook the breakfast.

I usually wear an apron when serving breakfast, but tend to take it off when introducing myself to guests for the first time.

Visions of being a carbon copy of a traditional seaside landlady are all too horrifying to contemplate.

Sitting having breakfast cheered by the view of Spring Daffodills and newborn lambs gambolling in the fields, has inspired me to think.  Whilst reflecting on the highs and lows of last season and anticipating maximum occupancy for this year, I remembered a useful article from Stephanie Ward, which, like myself, may give you food for thought. Enjoy.

What Your Business Needs to Grow

As a business owner, you’ve got a lot going on.  Sometimes it’s hard to know what your top priorities are and where to put your focus.  And since there are only so many minutes in a day, you need to find the best way to utilize your time so you can grow your business.
Figuring out what your priorities are, and then focusing on them, will require an investment of time.  I know, you don’t
have any extra time and that’s the whole problem.  The fact is nothing will change until you decide to do things differently.

If you keep going the way you have been, you’ll stay lost about what is most important to your business and therefore won’t be able to focus your efforts.
  

You see, you do have a choice about how you spend your time. You can make the decision to use your time to think about what is most important for your business (prioritizing) and then choose to devote your time (focus) on those things.
Stephen Covey made a good point when he said, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” 
 
There’s no time like the present, ready to get started?  Why not stop what you are doing right now and identify your
business goals.  Focus on goals that are connected to the profitability of your business, goals that are close to the
money.
Talking through your thoughts is a great way to get begin.  You can do this by writing down your thought process, talking out loud to yourself, or better yet talking it through with someone you trust.  Once you’ve written down all of your business goals, prioritize your list with the intention of selecting the top three goals.
Next to each of your top three goals, write down the things you are doing to reach every goal and how much time you are spending actually focused on those things.  Sounds simple, I know, and sometimes we make things more complicated than they need to be.
Keep this list somewhere you can see it.  Better yet, memorize it.  Start a new habit of stopping to think before you begin doing something and ask yourself this question: “Will this action move me closer to my business goals?”
Here’s another way to think about priorities and focus from Tony Robbins, “It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.”
The point is this, the more time you invest in analyzing what the most important activities are for your business and then
planning how you will focus on them - the more profitable your business will be!
2006 Stephanie Ward
Life & Business Coach Stephanie Ward helps business owners set their profits on fire!  Grab your copy of the special report ‘The 7 Biggest Myths about Creating a Profitable Business’ plus free monthly profit tips at: http://www.fireflycoaching.com/.

This article is presented by Bed & Breakfast Owners - the private members site for owners of B&Bs.

WARNING Millions of UK Internet users are putting themselves at risk of attack from Internet criminals because they don’t understand threats to their computer or the ways to protect against them - These are the findings of a new campaign called Get Safe Online launched in London to tackle this serious problem.

The campaign is a joint initiative between HM Government, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, part of the National Crime Squad and private sector sponsors from the worlds of technology, retail and finance.

TV presenter Richard Hammond explained the simple steps everyone should learn: “We wouldn’t leave our front door open or our cars unlocked, but we regularly use the net without taking basic precautions.

It’s not difficult to use the Internet safely; it comes down to some basic rules we should all remember.” For more details on the campaign including tips on how to protect your site and Richard’s rules go to www.oursource.co.uk/askcaroline Spread the word and raise awareness, feel free to forward this message to others.

Caroline Source Ltd, Unit 44, Teignbridge Business Centre, Cavalier Road, Heathfield, Newton Abbot, Devon. TQ12 6TZ.

This article was submitted by Bed & Breakfast Owners, the membership site developed specifically for owners of B&Bs.