Why We Do What We Do

I thought I'd share a little about my day today with all of you aspiring innkeepers out there.

It started out as kind of a tough day. I'm in the kitchen preparing breakfast when the phone rings and it's the assisted living facility that my elderly mother is in. She has taken another fall. Nothing terrible, but skinned knees, etc. Yesterday's post I talked about does this lifestyle fit you and adding children into the equation. Well, it's also a huge challenge when you have elderly parents.

After the phone call, my mood had definitely changed (and not for the better).

Since we have a romantic niche here at Sandlake Country Inn, we deliver breakfast and hot beverages to our guest's door. We offer a lot of privacy that is not typical in a lot of b&bs. So anyway, I continue preparing breakfast for our full house which is quite a production. When doing breakfast delivery, one of the challenges is that all items need to be ready and hot at a precise time. All of our guests ordered their breakfast to be delivered at 9:00 sooooo, it's 8:58 and I hear from my kitchen that one of the rooms starts to run their double jacuzzi tub. Great! There is no way they're going to be in the tub and enjoy the hot breakfast I've busted my arse to get it to them on time! I deliver the breakfast outside their door and there it sat...10 minutes...15 minutes...25 minutes....35 minutes!!!! I was fuming at this point. I just couldn't believe they could be so rude. Yeah, I know I was definitely on my "high horse"!

At check-out, of course I had my smile back, gave gracious good-byes and breathed a sigh of relieve that everyone left on time. Now it was time to turn over all 4 rooms.

I went into the room of the breakfast offenders and read their diary book and here is what it said:

"We had one fairy-tale experience at this place. If ever there is heaven on earth, I would say that would be the deck of the Starlight Suite. The stars, the breeze and of course the sound of the waves. It was magical. "The Best Romantic Geetaway"! I loved the experience and we will be back! Love, S & P p.s. My husband chose the best gift for my B'day! Thank you!"

Sometimes you get all wrapped up with the everyday tasks and hassles and forget what a difference you can make in people's lives.

Yes, we have the best job in the world.

Does Innkeeping Fit Your Lifestyle? (Having a Family)

When seriously considering if owning/operating a bed and breakfast is for you, one of the first questions you need to ask yourself as an aspiring innkeeper is whether the lifestyle suits you. Since this is of major importance, I'll be doing a serious of posts to consider.

Do you have younger children? How will living in a B&B environment affect your family? Is it reasonable to expect your children to always be "on"? When guests are on the property, unless you are catering to families, your children will be expected to act a certain way. Their things will need to be picked up, no toys/bikes in the yard, etc. It's a lot to expect out of kids. Also a big factor when raising a family and being innkeepers is that you will have to miss some very important family activities. You'll need to think about what will happen when one of your children have an important social or sports event, but it's necessary for you and/or your spouse to be at the B&B to see to your guests needs, check-in new guests, etc.

Do not take this subject lightly. You must be fully aware of the impact a B&B can have on your family life.

Good and Bad News

This is a challenging and unique time we're in for aspiring innkeepers. There is good news and bad news.

There are some amazing opportunities to buy an existing property at drastically reduced prices. Sounds great, right? Well, here's the bad news...those b&bs that are a bargain are struggling or are in distress and if you don't have a huge chunk of money to purchase them, the banks are not willing to loan money.

Banks are looking for several things when considering loaning you money for a bed and breakfast:

Do you have experience? If not, get some! You need a substantial amount of hands on time working at a B&B. If you don't have the type of schedule where you can take a part time job at a B&B, then volunteer your time at one. Contact some innkeepers to see if they would be willing to have you intern at their place free. Let them know that you are a serious aspiring innkeeper and really want to see what life as an innkeeper is like. Contact your local/regional/state Bed and Breakfast association and let them help you find an innkeeper that would help you.

Do you have a business plan? This is very important. They need to see and understand that you are approaching this new life as a business. You need to do your research.

Do you have the resources? This is no longer an industry where with a little seed money you can buy a little place and hope it works. It takes a lot of money. Of course how much money you need depends on where and what state you plan on living. We can't stress this enough...save, save, save your money now for not only your down payment, but also you will need money for operating expenses.

Education Whether you choose to attend our seminar or one on one instruction, it is absolutely necessary to truly understand what the life of an innkeeper is like. In later posts, we'll describe our lives in more detail. Both good and bad!

Don't despair! There's a wonderful world of innkeeping out there!