Open Your Own Bed and Breakfast

Gail Sforza Brewer, Barbara Notarius

Description

Experience the joy-and profits-that come from managing your own bed and breakfast!

Whether you already know the magic that comes with owning a B&B or you are at the planning stage, the fourth edition of Open Your Own Bed & Breakfast-now updated with everything you need to know about online marketing-guides you through this special world. Barbara Notarius, one of America's most widely recognized and respected B&B experts, shows you how to make your dream a reality. Some of the essential information provided in this book includes:
* Your responsibilities-and those of your guests
* Financial considerations
* Advertising, the Internet, and working with a reservation service
* Evaluating your home's assets and liabilities
* Conforming to the ADA
* Legal, tax, and insurance issues, including recent changes in the tax code
* Interviews with successful hosts
* Lists of B&B associations, guidebooks, and B&B reservation services


This new edition is an informative update of every aspect you need to know in order to run your B&B smoothly and successfully. Combining a meticulous business approach with a sincere appreciation for the pleasure that comes with running a B&B, Open Your Own Bed & Breakfast is an invaluable resource.
Acknowledgments.

Introduction: America Is Waking Up to Bed and Breakfast.

Bed and Breakfast Defined: Basic Principles.

Is Bed and Breakfast for You?

Evaluating Your Home's Assets and Liabilities.

Financial Considerations.

Starting Up.

Public Relations and Advertising.

The Internet.

Working with a Reservation Service.

Operating Smoothly: For Hosts Who Market Themselves.

Increasing Profitability.

Specialty Bed and Breakfasts.

Construction.

Best Breakfasts.

Interviews with Successful Hosts.

Appendix A: Bed and Breakfast Reservation Services.

Appendix B: Publications.

Appendix C: State Bed and Breakfast Associations.

Appendix D: Sources.

Appendix E: Online Directories.

Appendix F: Reservation Software.

Index.

Sujets

• Industries
• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• Hospitality
• Travel
• Tourism
• Economics
• B&B
• Business

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 02 mai 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470350027
• Langue: English

Extrait

Open Your Own Bed Breakfast
Open Your Own Bed Breakfast

Fourth Edition



Barbara Notarius Gail Sforza Brewer




John Wiley Sons, Inc.
New York Chichester Weinheim Brisbane Singapore Toronto
Copyright 1987, 1992, 1996, 2001 by Barbara Notarius. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, [phone], fax [phone], e-mail: [e-mail].
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
This title is also available in print as ISBN 0-471-37399-0 (pbk.)
For more information about Wiley products, visit our Web site at www.Wiley.com
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: America Is Waking Up to Bed and Breakfast
Chapter One: Bed and Breakfast Defined: Basic Principles
Chapter Two: Is Bed and Breakfast for You?
Chapter Three: Evaluating Your Home s Assets and Liabilities
Chapter Four: Financial Considerations
Chapter Five: Starting Up
Chapter Six: Public Relations and Advertising
Chapter Seven: The Internet
Chapter Eight: Working with a Reservation Service
Chapter Nine: Operating Smoothly: For Hosts Who Market Themselves
Chapter Ten: Increasing Profitability
Chapter Eleven: Specialty Bed and Breakfasts
Chapter Twelve: Construction
Chapter Thirteen: Best Breakfasts
Chapter Fourteen: Interviews with Successful Hosts
Appendix A: Bed and Breakfast Reservation Services
Appendix B: Publications
Appendix C: State Bed and Breakfast Associations
Appendix D: Sources
Appendix E: Online Directories
Appendix F Reservation Software
Index
Acknowledgments
Thanks for assistance and support for this book project go to: Cydney Notarius-Klein, my daughter, who has shouldered many of my responsibilities at the B B while I devoted my attention to this book. Jonathan Wright, who helps me man the Alexander Hamilton House and without whom I would not have had time to write this book. The late Betty Rundback, author of one of the first B B guides, who testified at my zoning trial and helped make it possible to establish a legal precedent for a Bed and Breakfast in residential neighborhoods. Arthur D. Levy, CPA, for information about the tax consequences of operating a Bed and Breakfast in your home. Cheryl Woods and Joseph Schilling of the New York State Department of Commerce. Janice Archbold of Guesthouses, Inc., Susan and Richard Kreibech of American Family Inn Bed Breakfast, Susan Morris and Helen Heath of Southern Comfort Bed Breakfast, Aster Mould of Bed Breakfast Adventures, Ruth Young of Mi Casa Su Casa, and all the other members of Bed Breakfast Reservation Services Worldwide, without whom our trade association would not be possible. Gary Craig, who introduced me to John Wiley Sons Publishers. Tom Miller, our editor. Brenda Barta, my first partner at the inn, who contributed a myriad of her own ideas, facts, and information gleaned from telephone canvassing across the country. Yvonne, Edward, and Jefferson Plowright, who pitch in whenever needed, allow me to see myself through their eyes, and laugh at the truly funny things that go on at the inn, and my role in them. All the small innkeepers who have been so generous with their time and experience.
Open Your Own Bed Breakfast
INTRODUCTION
America Is Waking Up to Bed and Breakfast
Nineteen years ago in the United States, one could find private-home Bed and Breakfast accommodations in only fifteen locations, primarily in California, with each host functioning as a sole entrepreneur. Today, over 25,000 families open their homes to paying guests, and most are linked coast to coast through state and national associations. Newsletters describing advances in the industry abound. Directories of establishments are published regularly. Major corporations include B B travel as executive perks and sales incentives. You can search for and tour B Bs on the Internet. Indeed, the term Bed and Breakfast has become so popular that even national hotel chains claim to offer the service.
There has never been a better time to become part of the Bed and Breakfast movement. This book is dedicated to helping you open a B B in your home-be it a single room in your apartment, a room that is available when your child is away at college, or a multibedroom country mansion you can t wait to restore and fill constantly with guests. This book will assist you in finding out what is unique about your area, your home, and yourself, for it is the personal approach to gracious hospitality that distinguishes B B hosting from all other types of travel services.
This book is an outgrowth of seminars for prospective hosts that I gave when I was president of Bed Breakfast U.S.A., Ltd. The seminars presented the basics of starting a B B. Questions from audience members were encouraged. Some of the most common questions and their answers are included at the end of most chapters.
In this book, I go beyond the introductory seminars and provide very detailed business management information culled from hundreds of owners, reservation services, and professional associations that I work with regularly. All this is offered in the hope that it will increase the joy and ease with which you manage your Bed and Breakfast. For most hosts, it is the pleasure that comes from adding new people to their lives that keeps them involved, not the intricacies of the latest Internal Revenue Service ruling on the tax consequences of home-based businesses. However, I cover that as well.
There have long been country inns, and many of the people attending my seminars think that they will learn how to run a country inn. But as you will see, a private-home B B is not a country inn on a smaller scale; it is first and foremost a private home. It is a type of accommodation that is new to America, and its development has been very different from that of its precursors in Europe.
What makes me an expert on private-home Bed and Breakfast? Perhaps a brief description of how I became involved nineteen years ago will provide an answer.
OUR DREAM HOUSE
In 1981, when my ex-husband and I bought our house, we were not looking for a five-thousand-square-foot abode, but that s exactly what we fell in love with. My mother, and most of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, looked at the house and saw a white elephant that had been on the market for a year and a half. All they could see was that the house needed massive cosmetic repair, and they were scared off by it. What my ex-husband, George, and I saw was its potential to be the home of our dreams. I never thought we would be able to afford a house with a river view, an in-ground pool, and space for our family to grow and enjoy our many hobbies.
What we failed to understand was that although we could definitely afford the mortgage, the maintenance costs of such a large house would become our undoing. We had lived in a normal four-bedroom colonial home in lower Westchester, New York, before coming to Croton. The movers laughed as they delivered our furniture. The contents of the entire first floor of our old house barely filled up the thirty-five-foot sun porch of our new one. And our new living room, dining room, and downstairs office and study were pitifully empty.
The first year, I took a part-time job as a psychologist a few hours a week and spent my entire salary on wallpaper, paint, and filling up the many empty rooms with treasures acquired at garage sales, estate sales, and auctions. All my free time (when my little daughter was napping) was spent atop a ladder, scraping off years of accumulated wallpaper, sealing cracks, painting ceilings, and putting up new wallpaper. The house began to look better.
After the first winter, George sat down with me to talk about the cost of making our dream house a reality. Our heating bill the first winter was over $5,000 for 4,300 gallons of fuel oil; and even with oil heat, our electric bill was more than $200 a month. Our property taxes had gone from $4,800 to $6,200 just because the house had changed hands and taxes were based on the new selling price. Every new project seemed to cost twice as much as we expected and took three times as long to complete. For example, when we uncovered the pool, we found ten broken copingstones (the concrete blocks that rim the pool). Each one had to be cut separately to a paper pattern by hand by a professional stonecutter, a major project-with a price to match.
Although our grand plan had been for me to be an at-home mom until our daughter, Cydney, reached school age, it became quite apparent that this scenario was only a dream. It began to look as though I would have to go back to a full-time job or that we would have to move into a smaller, more affordable home. After all the work I had done on the house, selling it was unthinkable. When I explored the idea of resuming my job in New York City, I realized that although on paper I earned $25,000, after paying taxes ($12,500), a baby-sitter ($7,000), transportation ($2,000), and maintaining a professional wardrobe ($2,000), what I would