Giving up a stressful life of working long hours at a blank, soulless office in a bustling city and becoming a B&B owner instead can seem like a very quaint notion. However, that’s before financial matters arise and, potentially, you notice that the monetary sums aren’t quite adding up to your liking. Still, with a small B&B, you can help produce more buoyant revenue if you follow these tips…
Make your own home a B&B
The upfront costs of setting up a B&B can be eye-watering; buying one costs £572,000 on average, according to The Telegraph. Now, consider the comparatively measly £127,000 in average turnover! Nonetheless, you might not have good reason to be too concerned by these figures…
David Weston, the Bed and Breakfast Association’s chief executive, has pointed out that most people starting a B&B do so at little or zero capital expanse; hence, they use their own home as the B&B.
Pay off your mortgage before you start
If you have decided to indeed go down the route of making your residence the B&B, it would still be wise for you to make sure that you have paid off the mortgage on that property first.
The website Start a Bed & Breakfast says that this would significantly ease your financial sums, as you would not even need to factor in any mortgage payments. This, in turn, would enable you to see your B&B’s financial picture in greater clarity and so help you discern how to boost revenue.
More rooms don’t always equal more money
Logic might indicate that the more rooms your B&B has, the more rooms it can fill and so the more revenue it can make. However, this doesn’t account for the costs of maintaining those rooms and an array of uncontrollable factors which could affect your occupancy rates.
Reassuringly, with just two guest rooms, you could still easily bring in £30,000 provided that you charge £70 per night and the occupancy rate does not fall below 60%, Weston has estimated.
Choose a location conducive to better revenue
The weather and seasons can both affect a B&B’s occupancy rates. For example, B&Bs can be very busy during summer but turn quieter in winter. However, the B&B’s location could affect that pattern. For that reason, you might want to think carefully about which location to settle for.
In helping yourself to decide, you should research and understand any area where you are interested in setting up a B&B, This is MONEY.co.uk advises.
Make it easier for people to place bookings
If there are people interested in staying at your B&B, it would obviously be a pity if they attempted to book only to abandon this attempt out of frustration over the booking process.
Fortunately, there are hotel reservation systems which can be used for B&Bs and ease the process of booking a room at one. However, carefully research different systems before selecting one; consider, for example, that eviivo would let you advertise your B&B on many major travel sites.
