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

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling of www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about the three ways you can make more money and have more fun in your business, so if you’re thinking that you need to work harder, but you’re already working hard, then this video will help you.

One of the reasons people seek help is because they’re simply not making enough money for the hard work they do, and often feel defeated, worn out and sometimes even ready to give up. Even when what looks good on paper doesn’t transmute into a good personal income for yourself, it can be demoralising to say the least.

There’s basically three ways you can make more money.

You can find more guests, which means that you increase your occupancy rate.  

You may already feel you can’t cope with any more guests, because you’re already at maximum occupancy and you can’t face the extra work, in which case you need to find some help, so you can take time out for yourself.

You can encourage those guests to spend more with you, thereby increasing your revenue but not necessarily your occupancy rate

You can entice your past guests to come back and refer you to their friends and family, which means you are not spending any more money on commissions or marketing activities because you already have plenty of guests.

All businesses work on this basis, so what could go wrong?

Most people focus on getting more guests. And yet this is the hardest thing to do. Getting someone to buy from you for the first time, takes a lot of trust building first, which takes time and money.

Increasing your guests spend is far, fear easier, because like Amazon’s “customers who bought this, also bought that” strategy, trust has already been built and guests are far more likely to buy anything else you recommend, once they’ve booked a room. And it’s less work for you.

Enticing your past guests to come back is the easiest thing to do, and yet so few people even think of it. So let me outline this really simple process that you can put into practice right now to generate some business without paying any commissions or spending time on social media.

You already have a database of past guests, right? (Please say you have!)  

A database is a list of the names and email addresses of anyone who has ever stayed with you. It maybe stored in your online booking system software, or it may be just a bunch of emails in your inbox

Wherever it is, get it out and dust it off. This is your most precious asset in your business.  

Now you need to use your creative imagination to dream up something fun and exciting that your guests would love to know about.

Then when you’ve got something to run with, send out 3 emails to those past guests – once is never enough, send 3, with one simple “call to action” that allows them to find out more about your delightful offer.

Then see what happens!

If you know you need to do this, but feel you need more information, then go ahead and click on the link below to register for my upcoming Masterclass, where I’ll take you step by step through the process of setting up these three essential ways to make more money, while doing less work, paying less commissions and having more fun. Click below to register now and I’ll see you there!

Hello I’m Yvonne Halling of www.BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I'm going to talk about the merging of some of the online travel agents, and how they’re taking over more and more of the industry, and if this seems like a problem for you and you’re feeling like they’ve got control of you, then this video will help you.

The online travel agencies are joining forces and why not? They have the same customers and it makes sense from a business perspective. After all they’re doing a great job for us, and that’s my point….. they’re doing OUR job, and if we’re relying on them to bring us guests, then we’re in a dangerous and disadvantaged place. They hold all the cards. One glitch, or hiccup on their part sends us into a tailspin.

Because the truth is, they really don’t care about us. They care about their business and building it, and by allowing them to fill our beds for us, we become one of their “suppliers of beds” rather than a B&B business, and we inadvertently end up building their business instead of our own.

The cold hard truth is, when we operate like that, we don’t really have a business at all. No systems, no lead generation, no follow up, no database = no business.

How long do you think it will be before they begin buying hotels, guest houses and yes, even our bed and breakfast businesses? Then they’ll own the whole “food chain”.

But we do have a choice….. we can take control of our own businesses, learn how to do the essential marketing, build a profitable business and own it. When we do that, we are no longer at the mercy of the giants. We use them for the services they provide, but we don’t dance to their tunes any more.

So where do we start?

Step 1 - Decide who you want to serve, in other words, which group of people can you add the most value to with your knowledge, skills or expertise. Do some keyword research and find out what those people are searching for online.

Step 2– Armed with your keywords, set up your website to attract those people, using images and language that they can relate to.

Step 3 – Create products and services that those ideal guests would love to buy, adding value and increasing your profits .

Step 4 - Get help with the low value tasks, such as cleaning, laundry, gardening/yard work so that you can concentrate on attracting those guests with your targetted marketing, and start building your own database. Guard that database with your life, it’s your most precious business asset.

Step 5 – Encourage guests to refer you to their friends and write raving reviews on Trip Advisor, and then help them to come back by making appropriate and specific offers to them on a regular basis.

And rinse and repeat! Keep an eye on the financials as you go along, and you’ll soon have built a real business that works on systems, without the OTAs and that you can sell, even if you never want to. 

If you like the sound of this kind of business, then go ahead and register for my next Masterclass where I’ll take you step by step through these simple but powerful and timeless systems that will have your business humming like a well-oiled machine. Click on the link below to register and I’ll see you there! 

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling and in this video today, I’m going to talk about the truth that no-one is coming to save you.

Does this sound familiar to you?

“I just received my "automatic renewal notice" from TripAdvisor; last year 475€ (for a 3 room B&B), this year 720€!

I called today to cancel and was offered a reduction, to 525€ but I am still going to cancel. I used Booking.com for a year & cancelled with them, changing to TripConnect, which actually ended up costing MORE than Booking's iniquitous 20% commission.

A week or so ago I got caught in a weak moment on the phone & paid 250€ to a company who promised me my very own marker on a map of B&Bs in my area. Help!”

If I had a dollar/euro/pound for every email like this that hits my inbox, I’d be a rich woman indeed!

The problem as I see is NOT that this person has paid too much of her hard-won cash on services that haven’t worked. The problem is that she believes that someone or something else is going to “save her”, and they’re not.

Companies like Trip Advisor, Booking.com etc. have their own agendas and while it is beneficial to list with them to gain online exposure, we cannot rely on them entirely to keep us booked.

The only way out of the stranglehold is to take back your power. Stop paying them unnecessarily and instead, find a way to attract guests yourself, using OTAs/TripAdvisor in the beginning, but then build relationships with guests yourself, invite them to return yourself, provide valuable products and services for them yourself, be their trusted advisor for your area yourself, and then learn how to find more of them yourself. Here’s some pointers to get you started:

It’s not difficult to do, but it does take a decision to do it. Once you’ve made that decision, the way will be shown to you.

I’m taking a stand for all B&B owners, guest house owners, innkeepers and small hotel owners everywhere.

You’ve got the POWER!

If you’d like to know more about how to implement all this in your business, then register now for my next Masterclass, where I’ll show you how easy and fun it is to run your business your way, using technology and systems. Click below to register now and I’ll see you there.

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

Hello I'm Yvonne Halling of BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I wanna talk about "Finding Your Niche". So If you've ever wondered on how to this, then this will definitely help you.

If you’ve ever been asked to define your ideal guests or “niche” and you didn’t know what it was or where to find them, then I have some good news for you. It’s easier than you may think.

Most people avoid this concept altogether, preferring instead to focus on just getting heads in beds, and while that can work, it’s unfortunately unsustainable in the long term. Why? Because that’s what everyone else is doing, and when you’re doing what everyone else is doing, the only point of differentiation is price. 

How low can you go?

The rise of the online travel agents has lead guests into believing that there are deals and discounts to be had everywhere, and you may have noticed this trend.

But not everyone buys on price.

The guests who don’t are looking for value instead, and so wouldn’t it make sense to lead with your value?

Leading with your value could mean doing something better than everyone else, or doing the same thing in a completely different way. 

Value is not in the warm welcome, the crispy linen, the view, or in the delicious breakfast although these are all important.

Value is in the way your guests perceive you. And value is perceived when you tap into basic human needs:

The need to belong.

The need to be loved.

The need to feel safe.

How is the way you’re doing things different to what others are doing in your area, and how are you leading with that?

Here’s a couple of suggestions for you:

Have you written anything down for your guests to read before they arrive?

Have you created any video of yourself to build trust and goodwill before they arrive?

Are you keeping in touch with your past guests on a regular basis, so they feel loved?

These things aren’t difficult to do but hardly anyone does, so when you do, you’ll naturally stand out from the crowd.

If you’d like to learn more about how to position yourself apart from everyone else in your neighbourhood, plus the essential systems you’ll need to make your business sustainable in the long term, then register for my next Masterclass by clicking on the link below .

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

If you’ve ever been in the situation where somehow you just have to make your little B&B or guest house transform itself into a proper business making enough income to support you, or you’re plain fed up with running a hobby because it’s taking over your life, then this post is for you.

It looks easy to just add a couple more rooms and see how it goes, right?

The reality is that while running a hobby as a side income is fun and rewarding, welcoming guests and making the rooms pretty, while doing all the housekeeping yourself and not having to pay attention to much marketing, running a proper business is totally different.

Here’s my experience of running first a hobby, and then transforming it into a proper business, then decide what you really want yours to be.

Definition of a hobby B&B

You probably have around 2 – 3 rooms in your house with or without en-suite bathrooms (which were probably your childrens’ rooms before they flew the nest)

You have another income source, either yourself or your partner/spouse.

You open when you want, and close when you want.

Guests are like friends – they’ve been coming for years and you just love entertaining them.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you make any money (although the extra is nice) because your basic needs are taken care of by other income sources.

You or a family member built your website and you don’t know how to make any changes.

You do little marketing, if any and it ticks along all on its own

Definition of a professional B&B, guest house or inn.

You have at least 4 rooms all with ensuite bathrooms and your own sleeping accommodation is separate.

You have a small team to take care of the daily cleaning and housekeeping chores while you focus on the marketing to attract guests.

You have clear opening times which you decide in advance, scheduling in your own holidays in advance.

You have defined who you can best serve and you pro-actively seek them out utilising many of the free online tools at your disposal, which you have learned to use.

You are 100% focussed on the financials and know exactly where you are each week/month compared to last year and your goals.

You have total control of your website, because you know that this is your best marketing tool

You have systems in place to attract guests, increase their spend with you, and to generate repeat business. You leave nothing to chance.

You invest in professionals who know how to do and have done what you want to do because you know that this is fastest path to take.

Can you spot the big difference?

Both are OK by the way, you just have to know what you want.

And if you want to make that transition, there’s one big thing that has to change that no-one talks about.

Mindset and attitude.

Without a shift in the way you perceive yourself, your own value and what you can bring to the world that serves others, you risk everything, especially if you’ve invested in converting more rooms and now need to make that money back.

Your choice.

If you want to find out more about how to transition from a hobby to a professional business, then register below for my next Masterclass where I’ll share with you the 3 systems you’ll need to have in place so you can make more money, while doing less work and having more fun. Click below to register and I’ll see you there.

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling at BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about how to manage your time so you can take time off, avoid burnout and even going completely insane.

The burnout is real, so we want to plan ahead so we don’t descend into it.

So whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in this business for many years, here’s 5 helpful tips that both I and my clients have used to stay on top of your business.

There’s basically three different areas that will compete for your time.

Guest facing, where you’re with your guests and making them feel welcome and cared for.

Daily labour tasks which include the cleaning, laundry and general maintenance and running of your property.

And marketing your business so you’ve got a constant stream of guests booking with you, and you’re in communication with both prospective and past guests.

If you have a family as well, you’ll need to factor that in too.

Tip #1

First to stay relaxed and feeling good, I encourage you to think about outsourcing the daily labour tasks. This means getting help with cleaning and laundry specifically, getting deliveries to you for supplies, instead of going out shopping for them and if you can manage it, getting help with general maintenance work to keep your place looking nice.

You may think, well I can’t afford help, but if you factor in the costs for this into your pricing, coupled with the extra bookings you’ll create when you take yourself out of the daily stuff, you’ll be able to afford it.

Tip #2

Take a look at how much time you really do need to be spending with your guests. Typically, they arrive during the late afternoon or early evening and they leave in the mornings, either to leave you completely or to go out to see the attractions of your area.

See if you can narrow down the guest facing window so you’re free to do the real work of making sure you’ve got a constant stream of bookings and you’re in communication with your guests, past, present and future.

Tip #3

Have a timetable that you stick to throughout your day. This doesn’t mean you won’t get interrupted or that things won’t go swimmingly every day but a structure for your day gives you a place to come back to when things get off track. Without the structure, you’ll be constantly in a state of chaos, where nothing much gets done and you’ll start to feel anxious.

Structure provides clear boundaries for you and your staff and even your family.

When you “work from home” it’s too easy for family to just think, well mum’s here so I can get her attention any time I want. You’ll need to set clear boundaries for yourself around your work so you’re not constantly getting interrupted when you’re working.

Tip #4

Carve your day up into compartments. I learned this when I was struggling with coping with our first child. Luckily for me, I was given a book that showed me how to plan the day around everything that needed to be taken care of, so that I could have some time for me too.

Once I had the courage to implement the plan, everything became so much easier.

Find what works for you, and then stick to that. Everyone’s different. Everyone works at different paces and in different ways. Have the courage to say – this doesn’t work for me – and then make the changes needed that do work for you.

Tip #5

Put your holidays in the calendar now and if you don’t have cover, be brave and close regularly, if only for a day or two. If the majority of your business is on weekends, take two days off during the week and go away somewhere on a regular basis. When you stay at home, it’s just time away from guests, not time off work. You’ll be drawn into doing little jobs to catch up and that’s definitely not time off work, no matter how much you love it.

You need time to refresh and recharge so you can be the best you can be for yourself, and your guests, so you won’t burn out and you won’t go insane.

If you’d like to know more about how to streamline your business so you can free up even more of your time, 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/

How to Find and Keep Great Staff for Your Bed and Breakfast, Guest Houses and Inns

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling at BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about finding and keeping great staff.  This thorny topic featured highly in our recent survey about the biggest challenges owners face, so if you’re having trouble with your staff, or you just can’t seem to find anyone to help you, then I’m going to give you 3 tips today on keeping good staff and one final tip of finding great staff that you might find surprising.

Tip #1

To find great staff, you’ve got to be a great employer.  That means taking responsibility for how you show up.  The culture and atmosphere you create for your guests must extend to every single member of staff and it’s up to you to help them carry that culture for you.

If you’re prone to complaining, or you’re a bit pessimistic, or you’re in the habit of micro-managing people, your staff will leave.

People like to be respected, so no matter what tasks they’re carrying out for you, they deserve your respect, even when they’ve made a mistake.

Tip #2

Set clear expectations, preferably written down, that your staff can understand.   

Have all your procedures carefully documented so they know how everything works at your property.  Don’t leave anything to chance.  

People like structure and boundaries, and when they’re fuzzy or missing, they tend to feel confused. Confusion leads to dissatisfaction which leads to staff leaving.

Tip #3

Show appreciation often.  

Involve your staff in everything that goes well at your property, as well as things that don’t go so well.  Every 5 star review needs to be celebrated with every member of the team, so everyone understands that they played their part in the success of the business and that you know they did too.

Communicating with staff when things go badly, and forgetting about when things go well will lead to discontent and apathy, and eventually resignations.

Create a culture of positivity, inspiration and appreciation and your staff will want to stay with you.

Tip #4

Finally, on finding great staff.  Your own energy of optimism, positivity and pride in what you offer will by itself attract good staff, who’ll want to do well for you, and who’ll want to stay. Your only job in this is to take good care of yourself and your energy.

When people are taken care of and loved, they won’t bother going anywhere else.

I know this sounds a bit “out there” but it really does work.  I won’t go into the scientifics of this stuff, but just know that we attract what we are, and if we complain, blame and make excuses, we’ll attract situations and people that allow us to continue to do that.

So make a decision to raise your energy to what you want to experience, and magic will happen, despite all the problems you may have had with staff in the past.

If you’d like to know more about how to streamline your business so you can find and keep good staff and free up even more of your time, 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/

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling at Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and today I’m going to talk to you about technology and give you my 3 top tips on what I believe are the essential elements to make your business work better, make you more money while you take more time off to do what you want to do.

Tip #1

Your online booking system with channel manager, linked to all the major online booking agents, if you’re using them, is your first essential piece. There are over 3 billion people online. Your potential guests are online. They may phone you or email you, but without the opportunity to book directly online on your own website, you could well be missing the people who want an instant response by booking online. Make sure you’ve got all bases covered. 

Tip #2

Your website is your primary sales tool, so make sure it’s up to date, that you’re using the blog to keep the content fresh and new for the search engines, and there’s a clear path for your visitors to take to the booking page. Good photos are essential, as are clear calls to action, and using your reviews as social proof. Rather than crowd out your home page talking about all the awards you’ve won, think about how you can use emotional language to tell a story and paint a picture in the minds of your website visitors to draw them in. Add an “about us” page so people can see who you are and who they’ll meet when they arrive.

Tip #3

Your customer relationship management system is essential if you want to build a business you can count on for your future. If you don’t control your own database of guests, past, present and future, you’re building your business on shaky ground, and it could all be blown away with a change on the other platforms you’re using. No matter where your bookings are coming from, or how successful you are at attracting bookings on social media, you’re going to need to build your own database that you can use for future marketing. Keep in mind that the large online travel agents have built huge databases at your expense, and they can cut you off in a heartbeat. 

Look after yourself and build your own.

If you’d like to know more about how to use technology to streamline your business so you can free up even more of your time, 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/

Hi I’m Yvonne Halling at BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about how to make sure that you meet your guests’ expectations, plus I’m going to give you 3 things you can do right now to reduce the risk of negative reviews or complaints due to unmet needs.

The main reason you may be falling short on meeting your guests’ expectations is because you’re unclear on what it is you offer and you don’t understand what your guests are looking for.

If you think you’re offering a bed for the night with a breakfast in the morning then I want you to think more deeply about the experience you offer, rather than the nuts and bolts. The nuts and bolts are the bed and the breakfast.

The experience is the kind of atmosphere or ambiance you create that has your guests feeling a certain way, which will probably include the bed and the breakfast, but it’s not the whole thing.

If you don’t pay attention to the experiential element, you’re missing the reasons why people choose bed and breakfasts, guest houses, inns or small hotels, over large chains. 

Studies have consistently shown that your guests are looking for an emotional connection with you, your property and your area, where they can create memories with their loved ones.

They’re looking for a deeper connection to themselves and to life itself, and they can’t get that at an anonymous chain hotel.

They very often choose something small and intimate to relax, pamper themselves and just getaway from their everyday routines, and to have someone knowledgeable on the area who can help them is also very important.

It doesn’t matter where you’re located, or how you run things, if you focus on creating that more intimate, better-than-home-from-home experience for your guests, coupled with insider knowledge, they won’t be disappointed.

So here’s what you can do right now to make sure that your guests’ expectations are being met:

Step #1 Get clear on who your guests really are, and why they’re coming to your property. You could even do a survey to find out.   

The more we know about our customers the more we understand them, and the more we understand them, the more they will love us.

Step #2 Make sure that your website is conveying precisely what you offer. Examine your home page and read the text on it – does it inspire you? Or are you talking mostly about you and your awards? Take an hour to write something more emotional on your home page that reflects the experience you offer.

Step #3 Communicate clearly to all booked in guests prior to arrival, exactly how you roll, so that there’s no grey areas. If you don’t take children, but guests keep showing up with unbooked in infants, then make sure they know that they’ve made a mistake before they arrive, so you can put them straight. Don’t be afraid to cancel bookings where a child has been entered into your system and then recommend somewhere else for them. They’ll be happy that you did, because they don’t want to feel out of place any more than you do.

Clear communication, emotional connections and clarity on who you welcome and who you don’t will eliminate the stress of not matching your guests’ expectations very quickly.

If you’d like to know more about how to not only meet but exceed your guests’ expectations, streamline your business so you can free up even more of your time, 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/

Hello I'm Yvonne Halling from BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I'm going to talk about finding the time to market your business and how to make it a priority and why it matters for your future security and peace of mind. Plus I'm giving you my Three Top Tips on how to make it fun and easy for you.

When you're running a bed and breakfast, guesthouse, inn or small hotel there are three areas that will compete for your attention. First, the daily tasks of cleaning, cooking, laundry, maintenance. Second interacting with your guests checking them in, checking them out and helping them to have a great time with you. Number three is marketing to make sure that you've got a constant stream of guests you'll want to book with you, finding out about you, coming back to stay again and again and just keeping in touch.

First the daily tasks of cleaning, cooking, laundry and maintenance can be done by someone else with a little bit of training from you. Does this mean that you'll never ever have to do any cleaning or laundry again? No, of course it doesn't. But in the main those tasks must be taken care of by someone else, not you.

Second, think about how long you really need to be with your guests. Most owners overate this thinking that they have to be around and on-call day all day and all evening and this makes for loose boundaries and guests won't respect you because you're not respecting yourself. See if you can tighten up the guest interaction part of your day to free yourself up for your main priority, which is marketing. This is the part that only you can do and you need to get skilled up on it and yet you're probably not used to doing this or maybe you've never even thought about marketing when you got into this business. But unless you want to hand over your business to the huge online travel agents and pay their commissions forever, you're going to have to get a little bit good marketing yourself and your business. If you're proud of who you are and what you offer you won't have any problem but for most of us especially just starting out self-promotion brings up all kinds of self-doubt. Just know that it's perfectly normal but you'll need to tackle the issues at some point if you're serious about your business.

Here's my Three Top Tips for Making It Easy and Fun To Do the Marketing.

Tip number one: If you can't get promote or brag about yourself promote your area instead. This way, you'll become known as the expert in the eyes of your guests for your area and your guests will look to you for the best information around.

Tip number two: Find your own voice. Whether you like writing, whether you like speaking or being on camera like this try to find the right medium for you, so that you feel comfortable sharing your knowledge. Don't try to copy what everyone else is doing. Just do your thing in your way and you'll come across as much more authentic and real. Don't worry about getting it all perfect, just make sure that you're out there online and offline if appropriate in front of your potential guests interacting with them and encouraging them to check you out.

Tip number three: Have a plan for your content, so that you're creating it in batches. That way, you will always have a supply of content that you can repurpose and reuse on different platforms and different media. Use the free and cheap tools available to help you. Sites like Fiverr.com for freelancers who do little jobs for you for five bucks and canva.com to create images for free will help you to build up a library of pieces of content that you can use. You can plan and create during your quieter times so you're not under even more pressure during your busy times.

If you'd like to know more about how to make time to market your business in a fun and enjoyable way for you so that you can free up even more of your time then register below for my upcoming masterclass or I'll show you how to make more work less pay less commissions with less stress. So click on the link below and register now and I'll see you there.

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