Coaching and Mentoring for established Bed and Breakfast owners
New Year, new start? It usually is the best time to make changes to our businesses, to bring in more revenue, serve more people and extend our reach. But with so many possible options on social media, blogging, video marketing, advertising, SEO etc.etc. it can be hard to know where to start can’t it? In the Bed and Breakfast world, many of my fellow B&B owners have had a really good year in 2012, but there are many more who have not, and want to change that in 2013 in [...]
Yesterday, Peter from French Entrée, a British magazine specialising in everything French for British Francophiles, phoned me to tell me about a great deal he could give me on some advertising space. He went on to explain that French Entrée would be at the France Show in January, happening in London and that they would be distributing the magazine to over 180,000 people. He was delighted to be able to offer me, a past customer, a special deal of just £130 for a quarter page ad. What a bargain, he [...]
First Name * Last Name * Email * Submit Hello and welcome, I’m Yvonne Halling and this is just a quick video to let you know about the free webinar I’m presenting on Monday 12th November where I’ll be sharing the 6 key Principles to creating a sustainable and profitable B&B business even while allowing you to have more fun and relaxation These are the exact 6 principles that I used to transform my own B&B business from a struggling and demanding hobby to a professional 6 figure business [...]
Hello again and welcome. It’s Yvonne here, with a couple more reasons why Bed and Breakfast businesses don’t make enough money. So let’s get started with number one for today: Lack of personal and business boundaries. I see this a lot with B&B owners, and because it’s really like having house guests, we sometimes feel we need to be on duty 24/7 to make sure that everyone is happy. This is the fastest way to burn out and exhaustion, for sure. Having that personal touch, contact with the owner of [...]
Hello and welcome. I’m Yvonne Halling, and I run a B&B just like you. And until a few short years ago, I was struggling to attract the right guests and make enough money, and maybe that’s you too. In my time as a B&B owner myself over the last 12 years, and more recently as a mentor to other B&B owners, I’ve identified at least 11 reasons why B&B businesses don’t make enough money and today in this video, I’d like to share some of them with you. Not defining [...]
Why choose a B&B over a hotel ? An interesting question and sometimes the difference between the two is not fully understood. Here’s my take on it. A B&B is someone’s home. The owner/manager usually lives there and sometimes has separate accommodation, but often doesn’t. Hotels are hotels, and it’s unlikely you’ll ever meet the owner. As a B&B guest, you get to chat with the owner, who usually has insider information about the local area and the people and places to meet and see. They will often make appointments for [...]
Third party booking engines – are they right for B&Bs ? If you don’t yet know how to identify and market to your target guest, then I suppose those large booking engines such as booking.com are useful. Many of my mentoring clients tell me that they bring lots of business to their B&Bs, but at what cost? First, there’s the huge commissions they take for the privilege of having them do your job, ie: marketing. My advice is to learn how to do it yourself, and be in control of your [...]
Key financials for busy B&B owners A common theme amongst B&B owners that I’ve noticed recently is that they are not sure if they’re making any money or not. Many people who open a B&B are not business people and are running a kind of hobby business, but still I believe it’s necessary to know where you are financially, if only for your own peace of mind. After all, this business is demanding and sometimes stressful, so you wouldn’t want to be doing it for nothing, would you? Here’s what [...]
Extreme Self care for the stressed out B&B owner Taking care of myself has become my mild obsession of late, and what I’ve noticed is that the more I take of myself, the more relaxed I am, and the happier the guests who write glowing reviews for me on Trip Advisor. Strange, and perhaps contrarian, but here’s how it works: I block off the online booking calendar and take a day off at least once a fortnight in the busy season, and once a week in the low season. [...]
Running my Bed and Breakfast business without the internet, as I did when I first started 11 years ago, seems like another lifetime now, and one I would not wish to re-visit. Here’s why… Random people showed up on the doorstep late on Friday and Saturday evenings when I was either busy with my other guests or with my family. If I was fully booked, I would ring around a number of fellow B&B owners to find a room for them, or more often than not, NOT find a room [...]
