When we tried to create a Bed & Breakfast in 2003 (mostly based upon our personal experiences in B&B's and especially one place I went as a youth: Farr Inn in Horton Plains, Sri Lanka)....we made a lot of mistakes.
Firstly, we assumed that most of our B&B guests would be like we ARE: adventurous, willing to participate in a host family's life (that's what we still enjoy most about B&B's) and to enjoy a new experience. We had been to many, many B&B's all over the world - taking a shower down the hall was NOT a problem for us (that's why bathrooms have locks!). We couldn't care less about the TV reception in a B&B - instead we enjoyed talking with the owners or other guests about books they enjoyed and had recently read or about life stories in general soaking in their wealth of knowledge about the region in general.
Our first few guests clearly let us know that Americans do not like to share bathrooms (we're Americans; we don't have a problem with that). In addition, we discovered even if a bathroom was PRIVATE but 2-4 feet away from their door....it was STILL a problem! They wanted "en suite" ONLY (even if privacy robes were offered). It's strange, because older Americans would speak with nostalgia about "tourist houses" that used to exist in America - where one paid to spend the night, bathroom was always down the hall and breakfast was whatever the host or hostess was serving.
We tried our level best, based on what we enjoyed (and still enjoy!) about B&B's - otherwise if one wants all those in-room luxuries - one is better of going to a hotel - they have it all and they also don't worry if you go on a tour and arrive late (we worried about one elderly couple who should've shown up after a touring day at 6:00 p.m. and didn't show up until 11:00 p.m.)....we even thought to go looking for them (indeed they'd gotten lost) as we cared about our guests. A hotel would never do that for its guests - don't show up?? Who cares!!!
We discovered that some Americans feel awkward sharing a breakfast table with strangers. Nando and I were just the opposite; we couldn't wait to meet new people at the breakfast table and hear new stories rather than our own "same old stories".
Later, we discovered (when a couple sent orange juice back to us, saying "I can't drink this!!").....that many Americans do not like orange juice with pulp. We finally had to ask what was wrong with it when it was sent back - we smelled it, tasted it and couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. She and her husband chimed in "It has PULP!!!!" Oh, sorry, God forbid....oranges have that, you know, but a whole generation has grown up in America believing that oranges come without pulp, that "chickens" come from the freezer section, not REALLY chickens on a FARM; eggs likewise.
We then discovered that there would be guests who could not eat flour, eggs, wheat, milk, soy, mango, orange or other products but when asked WHAT they'd like for breakfast we were told "Surprise me!!!" Many a time I felt like putting a napkin down on the table for such folk. How would we know what to serve that they could eat and why did they expect us to "surprise them" with something they could eat??
There were guests we loved to pieces and we're still friends with to this day - these are people who had been to B&B's before and were accustomed to what a real B&B was like - these people are still very, very close to us to this day....we love them almost as much as family and we're thankful for their friendship (Nancy & Ron, Rosemary & Lewis, Tim & Ellen, the Perkins, the sweet couple originally from Bihar, India who gave our daughter a heart necklace because "she'd stolen their heart", Daedra's Mum & Daedre's Mum and a ton of others!). I think that because of such people we tried to please even harder
B&B's grow more competitive and play on luxury rather than family atmosphere - some B&B's boast jacuzzi in the bathrooms (to me that's a spa, not a B&B), others boast a "microwave in the room", then it's a "fridge in the room" then it's a flat-screen TV in the room, and WiFi is now an absolute. But if they want that many amenities WITHIN their room, they'd probably be much happier at a hotel. In fact, Comfort Inns, La Quinta all have breakfast bars these days so why come to a B&B when they can go to a hotel and have everything in their room (TV, microwave, fridge)? They also don't have to interact with other people at hotels.
We had a lovely couple from California who did want to do a "sing-along" (he was originally from Pakistan,; she was American-born) - and that was a beautiful, beautiful night. They were basically the only ones who requested a "sing-along" (that was in our brochure)
We remember going to a B&B in Victoria, B.C. where the hostess not only met us at the ferry, but hauled our luggage into her station wagon, took us (after we settled in) on a tour of Victoria. We missed our dog at home, so she let her doggie sit with us as we all discussed a great book written by a Sri Lankan author. We'll never forget our stay with her....it was awesome! We felt that we were staying with a friend. She was a good cook, served real freshly squeezed orange juice (with pulp) and she was thoroughly charming and entertaining.
But on the whole, what we learned from out 5-1/2 year experience as B&B owners was that "one can't please all the people". We had complaints about one shower (that we eventually were forced to weld in a certain direction) messing up ladies' hair-dos....but when we had let it LOOSE previously (for 3 years), we had more than a few couples who were doing
whatever in the shower and directed the shower head to the FLOOR (which came down and leaked on our heads in the bedroom below!).
Definitely, we don't miss the guests who threw tantrums because (in spite of everything being spelled out as per cancellations) they wanted things THEIR WAY and were so upset they TRASHED the room (wiped their shoes with our towels and unthinkable other things). Fortunately, they were few.
We tried to keep prices down for guests, again based on the kind of B&B's we had visited....not necessarily luxurious, but comfy, homey and affordable. Proportionately, I know our income was less than our expenses. We might've made more money if we had 3 "en suite" bathrooms, but we didn't have the capital to tackle such construction efforts. We'd just put a brand new roof on the inn, painted the exterior and did a great deal of remodeling.
Also - we made MISTAKES based on bad advice from "experts". A financial planner (semi-related) told us "Oh God, don't EVER, EVER pay cash for a house" (although we - at the time, not now - had more than enough to cover the house, a new roof, remodelling, etc. - we had just "bubble-sold" a house in Florida) "you POSITIVELY need to mortgage it!!!" - we listened to her rotten advice, figuring she is a financial planner and must know. So for the first 3-4 years because of running a MORTGAGE (instead of having pd. cash in the beginning) - we were paying over $1,500 a month in INTEREST. Alas, it took too long to figure out this was STUPID! SECOND biggest mistakes: putting the phone in the Inn's name rather than as a "residential phone". We were told by a 30-plus year B&B owner (friends) in Wash. State that no-one would EVER call us unless we had a toll-free number, moreover, we should get a CENTREX number so that people wouldn't use our phones to call Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the like. So - instead of paying $90.99 a month for a residential number - including Internet - we were not only charged DOUBLE but additional for a toll-free line - our monthly phone bills were about $700. AND - how stupid we were to put the trash and recycling under the INN's name (we tried to do everything LEGALLY) rather than as a residence - we were charged double for that, double for electricity/gas (being a business). EVERY bill was doubled as a "business". We know now that the best (perhaps not the most honest!) way to get charged the lowest rate for phone, Internet, garbage, electricity & gas is to just list oneself as a P. Smith or whatever one's surname is.
Because our bills overwhelmed us (due to the rotten advice we were given) - we had to sell and believe me it was a BARGAIN for the new owners! When we bought the HOUSE in 2003 - every wall had smoke-filled wallpaper....after removing wallpaper and 3 layers of "KILZ" we finally could PRIME it for painting. There were 2 toilets in the house (both leaked), and a bathtub that could not be used (upstairs) because of leaking, and ONE leaking sink. We went to the bathroom up at the grocery store - that's how bad it was. 80% of the rooms had wall-to-wall SMOKE-FILLED carpeting - the kitchen cabinets were so loaded with GREASE (from hands) that even industrial grease removers couldn't remove it all (we had to use Brillo slowly, carefully). Oddly enough - the basement shower (that the buyers' realtor tried to tell us was "illegal" for its water flow) HAD been installed by previous owner and had passed City inspection many times. It was just a "ploy" to reduce by $20,000. more. When I said "Oh, if it's so illegal, I'll be glad to take it out personally with a hatchet and then it won't be there to OFFEND" - suddenly she said "oh, there's no need to be nasty (oh, and she HADN'T been???)
We put up with a lady in a CITY-owned house on a corner street - we had no problems with her. She just happened to hold crack and prostitution parties several nights a week and her "clients" all urinated on our guests' tyres and shouted obscenities. We tried everything we know: local Police Dept., Sheriff's Office, District Attorney's Office, City, and City Housing Authority - they just stalled and said "it was difficult to make inroads".
Then the city decided to put in all new sewer systems on the street where we lived. Many times our street was blocked and guests had to put up elsewhere as they couldn't enter the street - just as well, because the water coming out from the spigots was a horrible brownish-yellow. We ABIDED; we endured!!
We got all the THORNS and the new buyers got all the bouquets of roses. That's how life goes, right?
Anyway - we at least TRIED our dream and I know a lot more people who WISH they would have had the courage to try a dream than those who followed their dreams, failed and regretted. So we have no regrets, and made many new lasting friends. If our life's savings hadn't dwindled down....we'd probably still be running a B&B.
On our 25th wedding anniversary we hope to go to Ireland and stay at country B&B's along the way, the homier the better.
