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

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

By Yvonne Halling - Bed and Breakfast CoachSociety & CultureBusinessEducationPlaces & Travel
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How Bed and Breakfasts, Guest Houses and Inns Can Make More Money with Less Work episodes

  • S1 Ep4: How Bed and Breakfasts can Beat the Competition from Airbnb

    Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling of Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and today I’m going to talk about how to “beat the increasing competition from Airbnb” so if you’re finding that bookings have dropped off because there’s so many airbnb’s in your neighbourhood, then my 3 top tips I’m sharing in this video will help you

    First, keep in mind that there are customers for every conceivable product or service, at any and all price points, and we choose what we’ll buy according to certain circumstances at the time, which change on a day by day basis.
    Your job is to know who you are, so that the people who correspond to you, will book with you.  This doesn’t mean that sometimes they’ll choose an anonymous hotel or an Airbnb, but when they want that special thing you offer, they’ll book with you.
    So how do you do that
    Step #1
    Get really clear on what you’re about, and position yourself as the specialist or expert in the eyes of your guests, so you stand out like a beacon of hope in stormy seas.
    When you do this, there is no competition, and you won’t have to discount your prices or prostitute yourself on the online travel agents just to get guests
    You can be more selective, more exclusive and in many cases, more expensive when you get good at being YOU, and you communicate your value clearly
    There are generalists everywhere all “competing” for guests.
    Don’t play that game.
    Step #2
    Use your existing reviews as social proof that what you have is good and others have loved it. Reviews are yours to use wherever you want, as they’re already in the public domain, so copy them and use them in all your communications, on your website and on social media.  When you’ve got a great review, share it with the world, to encourage people to take a look at your property.  And then when they get to your website, they’ll find a clear message on who you are and what you offer

    Step #3

    Don’t engage in negative thought patterns about what’s happening in your area.  Remember what I said at the beginning, there are customers for every price point, and there are customers for you too.  Sometimes we drag ourselves down with our negative feedback loops in our heads that the world is a certain kind of way, and there’s nothing we can do about it.  Well there is, and it starts in our heads and our ability to change the stories we tell ourselves
    Think of it like this, Airbnb is doing you a favour because now that things have changed for you, you’ll have to make changes yourself, so you can become another version of yourself.
    It’s pointless to expect the world to stop changing, so that we don’t have to
    Embrace it instead and you’ll continue to thrive

    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

    CLICK HERE to register for the Masterclass

    4 min
  • S1 Ep3: How Bed and Breakfasts, Guest Houses, Inns and Small Hotels Can Attract the Right Guests

    Hi I’m Yvonne Halling from Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and today I’m going to address the biggest challenge I hear from bed and breakfasts, guest houses, inns and small hotel owners, which is how do I attract the right guests, and I’m going to give you my 3 step process to attract those guests quickly, and it’s probably not what you think

    With more people than ever travelling now, why does it seem so hard to attract guests, without resorting to using the online booking sites and paying their commissions?
    Well, you’re probably looking in the wrong place.  To attract the guests that are the right ones for you, you’ll need to first of all decide on who those guests are, and why. 
    It’s even more important for you to know why you want those guests, and it’s about who you are, and then matching yourself to those people. 
    Not all guests are created equal, so be really clear on who you want, and equally who you don’t want.  And when you say NO to who you don’t want, you leave space for those you do want.
    So how do you do that.
    Step #1
    Take a good look at yourself, your passions, interests, preferences, what you love to talk about, TV programs you like to watch and books you typically buy.

    Step #2

    Take a look at the reasons people come to your area, and see if there’s a match for what you love and why people come and position yourself as the “expert in the eyes of your guests” for the topics about which you love to talk about, matched with those who come to your area for those topics

    Step #3

    Now go and find some groups on social media and join them, so you can interact with the people you want to attract.  Create some content in terms of blog posts and video and share that content consistently and forever, or as long as you want to attract guests
    Of course, you could just list with the online travel sites and hope for the best, but speaking from my own personal experience, and that of my clients, this is a much better way, because then you get to have more fun, talking about what you love and interacting with like-minded people every day.
    When you integrate YOU into your business, you’ll stand out from the crowd and take yourself out of the competition game, plus you’ll make more money too, because hardly anyone in hospitality does this.
    If you’d like to know more about how to attract guests you love and streamline your business so you can have fun every day, 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 attract guests you love
    https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/

    4 min
  • S1 Ep2: How Bed and Breakfasts, Guest Houses, Inns and Small Hotels Juggle Business with Family

    Hi, I’m Yvonne Halling at Bed and Breakfast Coach.com and today I’m going to talk about juggling your business with your family, and why compartmentalizing your time is key to doing this well to stay out of unnecessary stress

    Many of my clients have young families to take care of as well as running a bed and breakfast, guest house or inn, so let me share with you some of the time-saving tricks they’ve learned, and ones I learned too when my children were young.
    Tip #1
    Plan ahead on everything.  This means planning meals, cooking in bulk and using a freezer.  Decide which days of the week you’ll get things done, and which days you’ll take a break.  Plan ahead for school holidays, weekends, family holidays, and other important events in your personal life
    Be ruthless with your time.  That means having a daily, weekly and monthly schedule that you stick to, which includes everything that needs to get done.  Daily means what time you’ll get up, what time you’ll eat, what time you’ll play with the kids, when you’ll spend time with your spouse, and what time you’ll go to bed.
    The reason we resist planning is because we become addicted to the stress of living chaotically.  There’s a chemical reaction that goes on in our bodies whenever we feel stress.  It’s called cortisol and we become addicted to the high of it and it’s difficult to get off.  But not impossible.  It’s simply a decision to do things differently, and then follow through
    Discipline is freedom, although it will feel really restricting at first, as our bodies resist the new behaviour until we settle down to order and peace, and that becomes our new normal.

    Tip #2

    Get help with as much as you possibly can.  If you don’t have cleaning help, get some.  If you’re spending time doing laundry, can you find a way to send it out to a professional laundry, or get someone else to come and do it for you.
    If you’ve got a cleaner for your guest rooms, could you extend their work to include your private areas?  Don’t get bogged down with your own personal housekeeping tasks when you have able bodied people who can do it for you.  They’d probably be glad of the extra money anyway
    Could you outsource your own laundry too?  Or at least the ironing if that’s taking up too much of your time.
    Make a list of things that take up your time and look carefully at how you could get someone else, either or unpaid to take on some of them
    Sometimes, especially as women, we feel guilty about not doing it all ourselves.  But this is not necessary.  Ask for help and expect to get it.  You simply can’t do it all.

    Tip #3

    Incentivize your children to take responsibility for themselves and their own spaces.  Encourage them to take part in the general running of your family.  This makes children feel grown-up and builds self confidence and self esteem. I learned first hand how disempowering it is to do everything for our children, out of what we think is love, but it’s really about us and the need to feel needed.
    Your children already need you and love you.  You don’t need to provide them with endless opportunities to prove to yourself that you’re needed.  A parent is always needed.

    Tip #4

    Remember to take care of yourself.  Even though you have a family, a full-time business and perhaps a relationship to take care of, the most important person in this equation is you. 

    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/

    5 min

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

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How Bed and Breakfasts, Guest Houses, Inns and Small Hotels can learn the skills for the digital age, so they can make more money, with less work, attracting guests they love directly, and when they…