How Bed and Breakfasts, Guest Houses and Inns Can Make More Money with Less Work

Hey, it's Yvonne here and in today’s video I’m going to talk about the four stages of a B&B Business, guest house or inn, so you can determine where you’re at, and I’m also going to give you the truth about each stage, so you can evaluate and move forwards with confidence.

So whether you’re new or been doing this for a while, this video will help you identify the steps you need to take next to protect yourself and your business.

Stage 1:

You’ve just opened and everything is new and exciting. Your dream of running your very own B&B, guest house or inn has finally come true. Guests are coming and they’re saying wonderful things about you. You love it and maybe wondering why you didn’t do it years go!

You decided that you wouldn’t get any help with the laundry or cleaning. You’d take care of that yourself, until you made enough money to hire someone, so you’re very busy doing everything, but you’re loving it, and everything’s great.

Here’s the truth about this first stage – it tends not to last very long, and you could find yourself exhausted from all the unrelenting, and endless laundry and cleaning. I can’t tell you how long it will take before you realise you’re worn out, but I can tell you this. It will happen at some stage, so here’s what to do to avoid it.

Whatever you think about hiring help, and the perceived expense of it, if you’re running a business, where you’re depending on the income to support you, as opposed to a hobby where you’re doing it for fun, I recommend you get some help right now. Don’t wait and see how it goes. Start as you mean to go on.

The second stage is the “still loving it, but it’s not so easy any more” stage, where you’ve got a steady stream of guests booking, but you didn’t hire any help, and now you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed with the daily workload.

You’re not exactly sure when or how the next booking is coming, and you’re looking at the financials and feeling a bit anxious about that.

So you decide to list with online travel agents, because that’s what everyone else seems to be doing, and there’s an uptake in bookings. Phew! You can relax now. The commissions are a bit of a nuisance, but it’s worth it because, the important thing right now is to just get bookings to keep the money coming in. The guests aren’t exactly the ones you’d most enjoy welcoming, and there could be a few more last minute cancellations, but hey, you just have to roll with it, right?

Here’s the truth about the second stage. You may have more bookings, but your profitability is down, because you’re having to pay commissions for them. If you’re overly reliant on online travel agents, meaning more than give or take 30% of your bookings, then make no mistake, they’ve got you and they’ve got all the power. And those guests could become more problematic for you over time, and resentment could creep in. And you’re still doing all the laundry and cleaning yourself.

Here’s how to avoid this very common scenario.

As in stage 1, you have to get some help. You can’t carry on working yourself into the ground. And when you’ve got help, you’ll find you have more time to rest and to start learning about your real job, which is getting what you offer in front of those who would love it, in a way that works for you.

Let’s move to the 3rd stage, and this is typically where you find can’t go on like this. You’re still doing most of the cleaning and laundry, because you’ve convinced yourself that good, reliable help is hard to find, and so it is. You’re relying on online travel agents for more than 50% of your guests, you’re paying commissions left right and centre, you cannot relate to your guests – who are these people who do X?), there’s more cancellations and the thought of a negative review keeps you awake at night.

This is what I call the wilderness. You’re doing everything you know how to do and it’s still not working. You’re at the end of your rope. Your dream business is a distant fantasy and you’ve no idea what happened. You’ve become cynical, resentful and fearful. You hardly recognise yourself in the mirror. Each season is a repeat of the last, with more of the same challenges and you’ve had enough

You decide you’ll sell or give up and put it down to an experience.

Hello?

There is a way out of this, if you’re willing to listen, learn and take action.

I promise you, there is.

You see, there are just 4 key areas that you need to focus on to turn your ship around and have it running like you want it to, welcoming guests you want, and making the money you want.

I’ve created a framework that worked for me and dozens of owners just like you, and I’d love to show it to you, free of charge. If you’re interested in taking a look, then click below to register for my next Masterclass and let me help you break free of the trap you’ve unwittingly fallen into, through no fault of your own. Click below now and I’ll see you there.

https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hello, It’s Yvonne here and in today’s video I’m going to talk about the 4 big mistakes I made in my B&B and how you can avoid them, so if you’re not making the kind of money you want to make, or attracting the guests you want to welcome, and you’re sick of paying online travel agents as well, then I have 4 important tips you’ll want to pay attention to, which will help you.

When I started my B&B in 2001, I had no clue about business or how to run one. I just thought that my love of meeting people, entertaining, and keeping a lovely clean home would be enough, and that people would flock to my door! Well, why wouldn’t they? Well they didn’t and here’s the biggest reasons why they don’t.

Big mistake No. 1:

It’s not enough to be brilliant at all that, you’ve also got to learn about marketing, otherwise the best kept garden, kitchen, bedrooms etc. is going to be completely wasted unless people know about you. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that the marketing is even more important than the actual “product” you create, although of course, it’s important.

And here’s the thing, when you start learning about marketing and you figure out what 2 or 3 things actually work for you, you’ll be amazed at how excited you’ll feel about your business. It’s kind of addictive actually! When you see something working, you just want to do more of it.

My tip is to dedicate yourself to upskilling in marketing your business, and forget about improving your services for a little while.

Which leads me to my next Big Mistake No. 2:

I printed out a gazillion leaflets and distributed them locally when my market is international, but I hadn’t figured that one out at that stage! Knowing your market, and your ideal guest, is crucial. Once I’d figured out that I wasn’t much use to domestic travellers - an Englishwoman in France, telling the French about their country! I don’t think so! I concentrated on who I could best serve and add value to. I went online, and I found them, and built relationships with them. I still printed up a few leaflets for local businesses who serve international customers, but I no longer went and plonked them anywhere and everywhere. They’re expensive, and they didn’t bring me any business.  

My tip is to think about where your business comes from primarily, and then focus on those channels only and save yourself a fortune on printed leaflets, and wasted energy.

Big mistake #3:

 I spent too much money on my “product” that is, the rooms, the accessories, the little touches, when what guests really want is an experience. They will not remember the toiletries, the flowers, the chocolates as much as they will remember the feeling they had while they were with you. Focus instead on creating an atmosphere of love, kindness, laughter and lightness, exuding from yourself and your team. This is “inside” work that might need to be done on yourself. If there’s any trace of resentment or annoyance while you’re in the company of your guests, they will feel it. This is very over-looked in the hospitality world.  

So forget about your product for a minute, and start focusing on your own attitude and your own energy and how you show up on a daily basis, both for your guests and your team.

And finally, Big Mistake No. 4:

I was over-delivering. In my attempt to please my guests, I forgot about my accounting. Just an extra bottle of champagne here, and extra breakfast supplies there, and yes, I’ll be your taxi service because you don’t want to drink and drive, etc. etc. meant that my profit margin was becoming smaller and smaller. It’s lovely to be able to offer extra champagne or wine, bigger and better breakfasts, and be that occasional taxi-service, and so I put my prices up. And as my confidence grew with each little increase, and my sense of my own value grew, I just kept going until the balance between what I charge and what I deliver was clear. Then I could give a great service, but my books balanced too!  

There’s nothing worse than getting to the end of the year, and finding that you haven’t made any profit. If you’re running your B&B as a business, rather than a hobby, then it’s essential to make a profit. Otherwise, you’re working for nothing.  

I created a framework that teaches you how to do this, so if you’d like to know more, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress.

https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

And if you liked this video, then click the red subscribe button, so you’ll be the first to know when I post the next one.

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling and in today’s video I’m going to talk about the worst way to run your business and how you make 3 simple changes right now, to get you making more money, having more fun and working less.

One of the most important things I’ve learned about getting more guests and increasing revenue as a B&B or Innkeeper is that focusing on just getting heads in beds is the worst way to increase your income, especially if you’re paying third parties to bring those guests to you.

Let’s face it, this business is hard work. When guests come, there’s work to do in preparing rooms, laundry, cleaning etc. and the more guests that come, the more work there is to do.

It’s far easier to focus on increasing revenue by increasing the amount guests spend with you. If you’re in a tourist area, or there is some element of tourism to your business, then you’ll know that when people are on vacation, they have money to spend, so why not have them spend that money with you? They’re going to spend it with someone, so it might as well be you!

Knowing the numbers is key to any business, and when you have those key metrics to hand, you can configure your revenue any way you want, and especially in a way that works for you, because you’re the boss and you can decide.

So let’s do a little calculation, just for fun (math is not my strong point…..).

Say you wanted to make 100,000 (in any currency) in the next 12 months.

Let’s say also that your room rate is 100 just to keep the math simple (for me).

So if you were just focusing on selling rooms, then you’d need to sell 1000 nights. Now I don’t know how many rooms you have, but if you only have 3 – that means you’d have to be full every night on 333 days of the whole year, leaving you just one month to recuperate.

I’m feeling exhausted just thinking about that!

Let’s look at this another way. If you could generate 30,000 from other products and services, then you’d only have to sell 700 rooms. Staying with the assumption that you have just 3 rooms, then you would only need to be full on 233 days of the year, meaning you could take 4 months off!

Now I know it doesn’t work out as neatly as that, and occupancy rates do vary from week to week and month to month, but you get my point.

There’s a limit to how many rooms you can sell, but there’s no limit to what you can create in terms of extra products and services that delight your guests and make your life easier.

But if you still want to get more guests, then let’s look at that.

What I came to realize in my own B&B, many years ago is that there are guests, and there are guests, and it’s important to choose which guests you want to attract.

When you’re taking everyone and anyone, you’re actually not serving anyone very well, and so very few come back and they don’t refer you.

If you want to attract more guests, then the place to start is to take an inventory of YOU – your preferences, your interests, your skills, your expertise, your knowledge, your hobbies, your favorite topics, YOU, YOU, and YOU!

Guests choose B&Bs, guest houses and small hotels because they want to interact with the owners, so be sure that your guests are aligned with YOU then everyone will have a wonderful time, including you.

When you’ve decided on who you want to see more of (and who you want to see less of) then let your website – your storefront reflect that. Set it up so that when guests land on it, they immediately know that you are right for them, and let the others go. Put yourself front and center on your website, don’t hide out – we want to see you.

Who do you want to attract?  

What could you create that could add another 30% to your revenue, delight your guests and make your life easier?

I created a framework that teaches you how to do this, so if you’d like to know more, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress.

And if you liked this video, then click the red subscribe button, so you’ll be the first to know when I post the next one. See you soon!

https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling of www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today’s video is about your website. I’m going to give you 5 tips on how to make it more engaging and relevant for your visitors so that you get more bookings, so if you’ve got a website that looks nice but doesn’t bring you as many bookings as you’d like it to, then stay tuned and I’ll explain why.

First, your website is not about you, IT’S ABOUT YOUR GUESTS and their experience. What that means is that if it’s all pretty, with flashy images but does not clearly convey who you are, where you are, who you welcome and what you offer, then you’ve lost them within the first 7 seconds.

We have very short attention spans these days, so you’ll only have a few seconds to grab their attention.

Tip #1 take a look at your home page from your guests perspective. Studies show that the top right hand corner is where the eye is naturally drawn so have your contact details and your book now button positioned there.

Tip #2

Is your geographical location clearly stated? You know there are some towns around the world with the same name, so if you’re in say Manchester in the UK and someone is looking for Manchester in the USA, it could get confusing. So make sure your actual location is clearly marked.

Tip #3 and this is the most important one. Take a look at the introductory text on your website. If you’re talking about yourself and not about your guests, then take a step back. Every sentence you’ve written there should be able to stand the “so what” test? What do I mean by that? The “so what” test is when you make a statement about your property, ask yourself, so what does this mean for my guests. Let me give you an example….

We have 5 beautiful rooms all with sea view. How does that statement make you feel? Nothing, right?

Now check in with yourself on this statement… We have 5 beautiful rooms all with sea view, which means that when you wake up in the morning, pull back the blinds, you’ll immediately see the sun twinkling on the water, the gulls flying around overhead, while you sip on your freshly made coffee.

How does that make you feel? I’m willing to bet that you began to picture yourself in that scene, right?

That’s how you make your property irresistible.

Tip #4 

Make sure you have your reviews sprinkled around your website, especially just before you ask your visitors to take the next step, like book a room. You want to be using your reviews as social proof that your hospitality is good, and that future guests can rely on you to deliver. What other people say about us is way more powerful that what we say about ourselves, so if you’re leaving your reviews on the review sites and not using them on your website, strategically positioned to have the biggest impact, then go change that now.

If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to get more direct bookings and attract guests they love, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress.

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and in this video I want to ask you a question:

Do you know what your guests really want?

Many B&B owners I speak to insist that having “stars” or ratings by organisations who grade them are the most important reason people choose them, and I’m here to tell you today, that it’s not!

Not at all!

But hey, I thought that too, and I fell into the same trap as everyone else and got a rating from my national organisation, Gites de France. Gites de France came to my B&B, focussed on all the things I didn’t have, like TV in the rooms, private parking, difficult access etc. etc. and gave me a 2 star rating. They then told me how much I could charge which was around €60 euros a night, which is about $50. Well €60 a night wasn’t going to cut it as far as my bills were concerned, so I dumped Gites de France, who didn’t bring me any of the guests I wanted to welcome anyway and put my prices up to €95 a night!  

And my business exploded!

Guests are not interested in your grading, your stars, or your awards. Look how Airbnb has exploded with pretty much no-one having any ratings at all at the start. You want to know why – no-one cares

So before you spend another penny on upgrading your bed linen, installing TVs or splashing out on expensive toiletries, let me share with you the results of a study done recently by Hospitality.net which revealed some very interesting information about what guests really want.

#1 they want what’s called “enhanced perspective” which means a sense of expanding their horizons, learning about something new, the feeling that their time has been well spent. A kind of fulfilled experience.

#2 They want “liberation” which means getting out of their daily habits and thinking patterns, so they have the feeling that they really did get away from it all, at least for a little while, with you.

#3 Relationships, which means they want to interact with owners, find out stuff, learn the insider secrets to the area, interact with like-minded souls.

Isn’t that interesting?

You’ll notice that smart TVs, beautiful views and expensive toiletries didn’t feature on the list.

Now without getting too psycho here, more and more, people are travelling to improve their life experience, and right now in the 21st century, with all our lower human needs already met, such as shelter, warmth, security, we’re looking for more experiences of being alive, learning, understanding the world and these are all internal rather than external elements.

What guests really want is an emotional connection with you, and now, if you know what you’re doing, you can easily create this using the power of video, online technology and mankind’s greatest invention so far…. The internet.

I’ve created a framework for this that I’d love to share with you, so if you’re interested in paying less commission to the online travel agents, ending the cashflow worries of the low seasons, and giving guests what they truly want, so everyone can have a great experience, then join me on my next Masterclass, where I’ll show you how to make more more money while working less and having a heck of a lot more fun than you may be having right now. Click on the link below to register now and I’ll see you there!

Hi there, I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfast Coach.com and in this video I’m going to address the issue of how much time should you spend attracting direct bookings for your bed and breakfast, guest house or inn, so if like so many owners I talk to, you’re not spending much time at all on this vital element because you don’t know what to do, then my 3 top tips in this video will help you.

In a recent poll in my Facebook group, I asked the question – how much time do you spend on a daily basis attracting direct bookings and the answers were very surprising.

Almost everyone wants more direct bookings, without paying commissions to online travel agents, but hardly anyone is devoting themselves to the task.

Is it any wonder that over 70% of owners surveyed said this was their biggest challenge?

I believe the challenge is how do I find the time and what specifically should I be doing, so let me help you with a quick story of how this worked for me in my own B&B.

Back in 2010, when my own little B&B in France had suddenly become our only source of income, and in the past had only ever made me less than €10,000, the bailiffs were at the door and I had to come up with some kind of plan to keep my home. 

I decided I needed to make €40,000 that year, and I had no clue how to do that. But I invested in a coach and he said something to me that I’ve never forgotten, so let me tell you what that was.

He said, the only way you’re going to reach that goal is to get your head out of the toilet and start focussing on your real job of marketing to attract bookings. The time you’re spending cleaning bathrooms, making beds, doing laundry and other low value tasks is valuable time you should be spending learning how to market yourself. That is your real job.

So I’m telling you right now, that you simply have to stop doing the daily chores and hire some help, so you too can focus on your real job, which is attracting guests. No-one else can do this but you.

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, well I can’t afford any help right now. I’ll hire some help when I have more bookings but the truth is that it simply doesn’t work like that. You’ll never get any more bookings until you do hire help.

Put on your big girl/big boy pants and get some help, so you can free up at least 2 hours every day of your precious time to do the work you need to do, otherwise you’ll be on this treadmill forever.  

So now you’ve got some of your time back, what can you do to start attracting those guests you want to welcome?

Step #1

Make sure you’re really clear on who your ideal guests are. You know, the ones you love to welcome, because of your own preferences, interests and passions.

Step #2

Find groups on social media where they hang out, and make friends with as many of them as you can. Post often on the main platforms so you’re constantly top of mind for them.

Step #3

Make sure your website is set up specifically for those people, so that when they visit you online, they’ll know that your property is perfect for them.

Join up the dots for them, with what they’re looking for with what you offer and bingo, you’ll have a ball.

If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to get off the hamster wheel of cleaning, laundry and maintenance and become great marketers of their businesses, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress!

https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hi, I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to help you to find the right B&B, guest house or inn for you to buy, so if you’re in the planning stages of opening your dream business, then pay close attention, because I would hate for you to miss this crucial information and fall into the trap that I see too many rookie owners fall into.

So how do you find the right B&B to buy?

Well it’s all about location, location location isn’t it? Well yes and no.

Location is very important, but it’s not the only factor to consider. There are two other crucial elements that you need to think very carefully about before you start.

It’s too easy to find what’s sometimes called a “turnkey” business, an existing one running well and busy and to imagine you can just drop into it and it will roll on it’s own. The truth is that the energy of the existing owners is what got the thing rolling in the first place. Their passion, their expertise and their own intrinsic value, and if you want to take over a business like this, you’ll have to find your own intrinsic value too.

Here’s what to do:

Step #1

Take an inventory of your own passions, skills, expertise knowledge and get really clear on what you love to talk about and learn about. This might take a bit of introspection, but I promise you it will be worth it in the long run.

Step #2 

Now find busy locations where the people visiting are interested in the same things that you’re interested in. For example, if you like mountaineering and the great outdoors, don’t buy a property near the beach. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, don’t buy a property where meat is a staple. If you don’t take this into account, you’ll find yourself welcoming guests to whom you can’t really relate and that will make for an empty experience for everyone.

Step #3

Be prepared to put your passions, knowledge and expertise to work for you. That means differentiating yourself from everyone else in the area, so you stand out from the crowd, offer a unique experience based on what you love and yes, even charge more.

This is the recipe for the right B&B, guest house or inn for you.

Can you see now how so many people get this wrong and end up listing with the gazillion online travel agents just to fill their rooms and at any price, slowly becoming disillusioned and very often broke.

Don’t let that happen to you.

If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to find and develop the right property and business, and make more money while working less, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress!

https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and in today’s video, I’m going to talk about a question that comes up frequently in my Facebook group – What’s the best online travel agent to list with?

So if you’re someone who’s constantly jumping from one online travel agent to the next, and wondering where the next guest is coming from, then this video will help you.

Listing with online travel agents is NOT a long-term strategy. They can be great in the short term or for just one of your rooms for exposure, but if you’re tripping from one to the other, trying to beat the competition, discounting just to get guests, and metaphorically prostituting yourself on those platforms then let’s be clear.

You’re missing the whole point of owning and running a small hospitality business.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

First, guests choose bed and breakfasts, guest houses, inns and small hotels because they want to interact with the owners, have experiences rather than just have somewhere to sleep. Don’t underestimate your ability to provide this for them.

Second when you ignore the first point I made, you’re placing yourself in amongst other accommodation providers who have no way to meet the needs of their guests.  

And third, when you do overlook this crucial distinction, you’ll be attracting and competing for the guests who don’t want the intimate experience, and therefore everyone will be disappointed.

Your job is to decide who you want to welcome and why, based on who you are and the experience you offer, and then find the platform where those guests are hanging out, and it probably won’t be on the big names you and I are both familiar with.

If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to find the guests they love to welcome and ADD AT LEAST 25% MORE INCOME to their businesses, while working less, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress!

Hi, I’m Yvonne Halling from www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today’s video is about creating educational content for your ideal guests, so they look to you as the source of the best information.

So if you’re not yet in the habit of creating content in the form of blogs, videos and social media posts for the benefit of your guests, then my 3 top tips in this video will help you.

Let me ask you a question…. When you read something online or even in good old-fashioned print, and you’re enjoying it, how do you feel about the author? Do you go looking for other publications by the same author?

We as a society tend to regard people who write stuff as somehow different, don’t we? We tend to put them on a level above us. We’re even a little bit in awe of them. People like J K Rowling or Stephen King.

Well, when you create content about your area, your topic of expertise and about your property, people will start to look at you differently, and even put you on a level slightly above. You don’t have to create great best sellers, you just have to get into the habit of finding your voice and sharing what you know on a regular basis.

So here’s 3 top tips for creating and sharing content using that great platform that’s available to us all – the internet.

Tip #1 

Make a list of topics to write about or shoot video on. You’ll be able to find lots of things to talk about using your local tourist office. If you have flyers or brochures at your property and most of us do, then pick 3 or 4 and investigate yourself, so you can speak confidently about what other attractions are offering.

Tip #2

Find YOUR preferred way of sharing what you know. If you like talking, then make some short videos with you in them, talking directly to the camera so we can see you and feel your energy. If you like writing as I do, then write just 300 – 500 words about an aspect of your area and share it on your blog and on social media. If you’re camera shy right now, then let us hear your voice as commentary as you share something interesting about your area.  

Tip #3

Do this consistently. Once is never enough, so resolve to invest time in your week to actually implement this strategy, and keep in mind that once you’ve posted something on the internet, it’s there forever, especially on You Tube and your blog.

If you’d like to know more about how these strategies and many more have helped my clients to add at least 25% extra income to their businesses, while working less, then click on the link below to register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress!

Register to my next Masterclass: https://www.bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/