How to Start a Bed and Breakfast

Hire a reputable contractor. If you need to make any conversions, repairs, or renovations to your home, you'll want to hire a reputable contractor. There are four primary types of contractors: a general contractor (manages every part of a project), a specialty contractor (works within a specific niche, like installing cabinets or bathroom fixtures), an architect (who draws up the designs for additions, renovations, and structural changes), and a designer or design/build contractor (who does both designs and installations/repairs).^[9]

• Ask people you know and trust to recommend a reliable and reputable contractor. If you cannot get a recommendation from someone you know, you can look online for past customer reviews.
• Only choose a contractor who has an established company and comes highly recommended, either by someone you know or by others online.
• Get a written estimate from multiple contractors before you choose which one you'll hire. Keep that contractor's written estimate in case any major deviations take place during the project.
• Get a written contract with estimated start and completion dates.
• Do not pay cash. Use a check or credit/debit card so you can have a record of your payments and the dates they were made.
• Keep all your paperwork in one place, as well as a record of all correspondences with the contractor you hire.

Update your kitchen. Cooking breakfast is a vital part of a B&B, and as such your existing kitchen may not be enough. Remember that you are not just cooking for yourself, and will have to meet safety and sanitation requirements pursuant to your community. You can find out about the specific requirements for your town or county by searching online for business requirements near you. At the very least, you will most likely need:

• a functional ventilation system
• a preparation table
• a heat lamp
• a utensil rack
• a fryer
• a stove and oven
• a refrigerator and freezer
• dry storage space, kept off the floor and away from any hazardous chemicals
• a microwave oven
• a coffee maker
• a toaster or toaster oven
• a dishwasher
• a sink with a sprayer unit
• a garbage disposal (optional)

Invest in quality beds and fabrics. You'll need to furnish each of your guest rooms with beds and may want to include dressers. You'll also need new bedding, pillows, and towels for each room.^[10] Investing in higher-quality bedding and towels may cost more up front, but it could save you money over time, as you'll need to replace them less frequently.

• Don't forget to take allergies into account when choosing bedding. Some people are allergic to feathers/down, wool, and other materials.

Furnish your B&B. In addition to beds in each room, your B&B should offer comfortable furniture in bedrooms as well as common areas. How you furnish the lodge will depend on your budget and your aesthetic tastes, but at a bare minimum you should provide a closet, night stand, reading lamp, dresser, arm chair, and blinds/curtains in each guest room. If you have any common areas in your B&B, you may want to include the following basics:

• sofa
• love seat
• comfortable chairs
• a writing table/desk and chair
• lamps
• end tables
• books, magazines, and board games
• a coat rack (placed near entrances)
• a place for dirty shoes (placed near the front door)

Buy guest amenities. Amenities should cover both lodging necessities and finishing touches that give the B&B a sense of comfort. Try putting out a decorative vase full of fresh local flowers, hang plants in the windows, and decorate the rooms with a variety of books and general interest magazines. You should also put an alarm clock in each room (just be sure the last guest didn't accidentally set the alarm to go off on a day that a new guest will be there), and consider offering a complementary wakeup service.

• Depending on your target demographic, you may want to offer a computer or wifi access to guests, and a printer or fax machine (especially if you will be hosting a lot of traveling business men and women).

Decorate your rooms. Once the rooms are renovated and furnished, you'll want to add a personal touch. A room with bare walls will not look very welcoming. However, a room loaded with photographs of your family will also make it difficult for guests to feel like the room is their own. Err on the side of caution and choose tasteful, non-personalized decorations that would feel warm and welcoming in any home.

• If you live in a rural area and you're appealing to autumn foliage viewers, try decorating your lodging with local wilderness photography. You may also want to adapt your location into your B&B's motif - like hanging birch bark-patterned wallpaper, for example, or mounting deer antlers over the fireplace.

Secure the necessary licenses/permits. Where you live will determine the licenses and permits you'll need, as this will vary greatly by city, county, and state. In some places, hotel operators (which may include B&B owners) have to apply, pay fees, and may even have to submit to fingerprinting or a background check with city, county, or state police.

• In some places, you may need both state and county or city licenses. In other regions, there may not be any state license required, in which case you would simply need to secure a county and/or city license.^[11]
• Contact your city and/or county government to ask about business licensing in your community and how bed and breakfasts are regulated in your area.^[12]

Decide whether to hire staff. If you and your family believe you can operate your B&B on your own, then you may be able to cut down on costs by not having to hire staff. However, depending on the size of the B&B, the number of customers, or the health condition of you or your family, you may need to hire additional workers. At the very least you'll want to hire an attorney and an accountant to help with your finances. You should also think about the tasks that need to be performed on a daily basis: laundry, cleaning, meal preparation, checking people in/out of their rooms, and restocking guest rooms after they're vacated. If you cannot perform all of those duties on your own, it may be worth hiring some help.

Plan your meals. Breakfast is not only a part of the name - it's also factored into the cost of lodging. What kind of breakfast you serve will depend on your culinary abilities, your kitchen space, your budget, and the laws governing food preparation in your region.

• A simple continental breakfast should include (at minimum): coffee, juice, milk, bagels or muffins, fruit, and yogurt or cereal.
• A more gourmet meal, like omelets, tofu scrambles, or a quiche, is always a highly-marketable option. However, keep in mind as you plan your meals that some guests have food allergies and other dietary restrictions.
• Depending on where you live, you may be required by local laws to install new kitchen equipment and cooking fixtures.^[13] There may also be additional laws and regulations governing how you store and prepare food, including cleaning and sanitation.

Determine what to charge. Setting your room rates is a delicate balance. You want to charge enough that you will make money (or at least break even), but not so much that you will drive away potential guests with a high price tag. When setting your rates, consider the following factors:^[14]

• what kinds of amenities you offer (like private balconies, private fireplaces, or a private hot tub) from one room to the next
• where you're located, and what local destinations draw tourists to your area
• what the going rate is for B&Bs in your area
• what kind of food you serve for breakfast, and any other service-related offerings
• whether guests will pay upon arrival or departure
• what forms of payment you will accept

Decide on guest rules. One of the biggest things to balance in running a B&B is the separate spheres of your private home and the needs and comforts of guests. You'll have to decide what is permissible and what will be forbidden in your lodging, and you'll need to determine ways of enforcing those rules (like adding on additional fees or bills, for example). Some common guest rules to decide on include, but are not limited to, whether or not guests can:

• bring pets
• bring children
• consume alcohol on premises
• smoke on premises
• bring non-guests back to their room
• play music or watch TV
• have access to the full house and grounds
• be restricted to an evening curfew or quiet hours
• eat breakfast whenever they awake or observe a specific breakfast hour

Market your B&B. Before you open, you'll need to start marketing your bed and breakfast. This is an important part of running a business, and you'll need to maintain marketing and advertisements for as long as you maintain your B&B. You'll need an up-to-date website, of course, but that won't be enough in most lodging markets. Marketing your business takes a lot of time and effort, but ultimately is necessary for the success of your bed and breakfast.

• Know your target audience and market your B&B to those guests.
• Understand the needs and wants of your guests. Tailor your advertisements to show how you meet those demands.
• Put up flyers, a press release, and an ad in the phonebook.
• Send out an e-newsletter and send direct mail to previous guests.
• Be sure to advertise your business online, though you should still advertise in print as well.
• Create a social media page for your B&B so that visitors can leave reviews or share your business's information with their friends.
• Make a rustic-looking sign with your B&B's name and address. Put the sign up at the end of your driveway or near your house to let guests know they've found the B&B they were looking for.