Hi My wife is being made redundant in a few months. employment prospects locally are not so good so we were thinking of doing bed and breakfast to try and keep up with the mortgage payments otherwise we will be in deep Poo. Anyone on here doing this that can offer advice likely earnings- quality of rooms needed- and were would be the best place to advertise.
I managed to find a good book on this subject some years ago...worth having a search for suitable ones. Although we haven't yet taken the plunge, we did attend a training course a *long* time ago which was excellent - basically staying in the guy's B&B, seeing how it ran as customers, with two two hour sessions each day for a couple of days. It did strike me that there wasn't a great deal to be made, but he did show us how to run it for your benefit (tricks of manipulating the punters to keep them happy and you happier). He was in New Quay, Wales...doubt he's still there but you never know.
I saw one of those 'house search' programs once and the couple buying were looking for a place run as a B&B.
They already had a B&B to sell so they knew what they were doing, but the 'profits' that they were talking about for the places that they considered were way below what I would have guessed, somewhere below 10K.
It seems that there isn't as much money in this as you might expect.
tim
There may not be a lot of money in it, and it's all taxable. It can also be very seasonal. You also now have to comply with Disability Discrimination Act, and soon with the Sexual Orientation Equality law. Even if you decide not to register with the tourist board, they should have some helpful information.
Your wife might also be classed as self-employed, which can seriously affect DSS benefits and cost a lot in NI contributions.
If however you take in a lodger, there is a tax-exemption scheme. If there's a large construction site in the area, you might do well offering digs for one of the expatriate workers who is looking for a home-from-home but not needing tourist class amenities.
Either way, your mortgage lender and insurer both need to be told, and any new source of income must be reported to the taxman.
Failing that, I hear that doing tarot readings on premium-rate numbers can be quite lucrative.
Owain
You have not said were you are Proximity to tourist hot spots, airports/ferries and can make a very big difference in price and occupancy rates. Facilities and rooms do not have to be 5* hotel standard but most be above all spotlessly clean that applies particularly to bed linen. The better the standard the easier it is to get bookings and will reflect the price obtainable, two pictures of one of my rooms with ensuite bathroom.
I saw a book in Makro about a week ago on setting up and running a B&B which looked very good.
I think it was this one:
I'm sure your local library will be able to get hold of it for you, if you don't want to buy a copy.
s
Ring local ones and make enquiries about how busy they are. If they're not then you won't be either. Probably.
Library for a source of information.
I looked after a b&b for a couple of days a long time ago. It meant getting up incredibly early to do someone elses breakfast. If she has no objection to this sort of thing then that's fine. The couple I sat for hadn't had a holiday for a very long time ... so maybe there's a market in doing B&B relief for the owners.
I'd look at how your houses is set up - whether its easy to separate off a section for guests so you don't have to worry about them mooching through your stuff.
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