Starting a Bed and Breakfast business - the basics

by Startacus Admin

Finance

If you want to be able to turn your idea into something real, you have to think about finance...Some of the first questions you will need to ask yourself are:

• How much everything is going to cost to set up?
• How much renovation would you need to do if you are setting up a B&B property from scratch?
• How much would your monthly overheads be and how many visitors / guests would you need staying in order to break even?
• If you are employing staff on a full time or part time basis - how much would this cost and how would you recruit the staff?
• How much capital would you need to start the business and how do you intend to raise the finance to do this? Have you considered a startup loan or other financing options?
• If you need any certificates / qualifications how do you get them and how much do they cost to do?
• Lots of Insurance costs to consider - building and content cover, liability cover, accident etc - and so on - it might be best to get professional advice on this...

Design and Marketing

• Have you created a Market strategy?
• Do you have any existing contacts in the tourism industry you can speak to - get some free press from?
• How will you use Social Media to promote your business? Facebook Page, Twitter account?
• How will you market your new B&B? Press releases, launch day, local newspaper?
• Can you have a mailing system / e-marketing system to email special offers to existing customers? Have you considered how you will be able to build repeat business?
• Are there any large employers based locally that may need somewhere for any visiting guests / employees to stay? Could you offer preferential rates for repeat business / corporate clients?

Business Practicals

Red Tape to some - protecting yourself to others! You might want to consider:

• The legalities of working as a B&B
• The legalities involved with employing any staff
• Company policies - equal opps, health and safety, data protection etc
• Do you have a bespoke database to records your customer details
• How will you charge customers - can they book online?
• Will you register as a business on tripadvisor and other holiday review sites?

In fairness the checklist above could go on and on....however, if you are still keen to start a B&B business, we hope that it helps you out along the way! You may want to also check out our previous post on starting a food business.

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• #starting a business
• #
• #b&b
• #finance

Published on: 27th June 2013