Does anyone know anything about running a Guest House?

[patientlady]

Can you actually make a living? I am thinking that I want to join all the others that have wanted to get out of the rat race and run a Guest house. I actually want to make a living from it and not look at is as an easy option to retirement.
I do not think for one moment it is easy and understand a fair amount as we had two in the family about thirty years ago.
Times have moved on from there and I was wondering if anyone knew out there if there is an ideal size of guest house to run? 4 en-suites, 6 en-suites, 8 en-suites? I wish to have help for cleaning etc and use my own time ideally for marketing, promotion and the like.
Loads of other questions like hidden costs...

But can it really pay?

Thanks for any assistance

 

[Butterfly66]

Hi... I just joined this forum and have been looking at "guest house" posts. Was wondering what progress you made since your post from 2012. Would be interesting to talk to you about your experiences.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I watch Falty Towers and I think I would enjoy running a guest house

 

[paulears]

In Gt Yarmouth where I work each summer, one of the local fairly big guest houses has been bulldozed and replaced with tarmac and car parking at £7 a day in the peak season is the new business. He has two 16 year olds doing early and late shift from a small shed. He tells me he makes far more m one from car parking than the guest house, and once the season is over, his running costs drop to tiny amounts with no staff and no upkeep costs. That's very sad, but loads of guest houses in the town are now turning into flats with guaranteed all year income rather than a ten week season with 6 week peak.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Maybe talking to some guest house owners would be the best place to start.

 

[The Byre]

Hi... I just joined this forum and have been looking at "guest house" posts. Was wondering what progress you made since your post from 2012. Would be interesting to talk to you about your experiences.

If you look at her posts in the past few months, I think you'll find that running a guest house is very much the opposite of her original goal of 'getting out of the rat-race'.

Everyone who dreams of the guest-house, pub, bar, restaurant, whatever as the great retirement plan seems to forget one thing - it's all a rat-race!

Business is business. Whether you are running a radio station, a TV studio, a gust house or a widget factory, or a news agency, the gig is the same. Staff issues. VAT and other tax issues. Cash flow. Quality issues. Competition. Stock control. Pilfering. Customers complaining. Suppliers complaining. Suppliers not supplying. Equipment breaking down.

There just is no such thing as getting out of the rat-race - unless you retire and run a one-man-and-his-dog business to keep yourself busy, whittling obscene cuckoo whistles!

But then that kind of life would drive me nuts! If you don't like the rat-race, you shouldn't have been born as a rat!

 

[Chawton]

I would merely add, the UK has some of the most fantastically beautiful independent inns and b&b's in 2018. I actually think it leads the world. It's partly a function of the wealth of historic, characterful buildings we have in this country and the serious operators who have entered the market. This has set an incredibly high standard, and one which, if you're a one man band is extremely hard to (consistently) hit. The competition is absolutely fierce.

One I stay at whenever I possibly can (The Talbot Inn in Somerset) has won the Sunday Times hotel of the year previously and permanently features in Sawdays and the Good Hotel Guide. I can stay there for as little as £100. Why I'd stay in a bog standard guest house for around £15 less is unclear to me, save only if I couldn't get a reservation at my first choice.

Broadly speaking I'd say unless you can make yourself a destination for food (see The Pig hotel chain), a destination for decadence (see Cliveden-without going the full Profumo!) or can simply site yourself in a destination postcode (see London generally or within spitting distance of any major tourist attraction), then it's something you should avoid doing unless you in a position where you won't be absolutely reliant on it for an income. At the very least travel extensively and study the market. And finally, even if you won't be reliant on it for an income, all of the Byre's more generalist 'pain-in-the-arse' observations should still be very much ringing in your ears.

 

[tony84]

I stayed in a B&B last week.
5 rooms, £67.50 for the night.
At least 4 of the rooms had someone in on the night I stayed.

That is close to £240-300 per night income if fully booked.

Its probably easier said than done but:
Keep it clean,
Keep it painted/on top of everything,
Do a decent breakfast.
Advertise.

You probably cant go too far wrong if you are in the right area. I ended up staying about 5-6 miles away from where I was going because the hotels near to where I was going were all a bit s*** or stupidly expensive.

 

[paulears]

Check the cost of laundry - a small guest house either sends out at cost, or does in house at considerable time and equipment costs.

 

[cal900]

As someone who has worked in Hospitality, hotels and start up's.

Its more a lifestyle choice then anything else.

I have some friends who are opening a guest house in Rio, Brazil who asked me to assist and even with the low labour costs associtated with a 3rd world country they can not consider leaving the place open if they are not there. A holiday means closure, seeing family and friends means either inviting them over or closing.

Id feel trapped...

Thankfully I have convinced my wife that its not something I want to do.

I do however think they will make money, but at what cost I dont know.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

I stayed in a B&B last week.
5 rooms, £67.50 for the night.
At least 4 of the rooms had someone in on the night I stayed.

That is close to £240-300 per night income if fully booked.

...and 67.50 per night when only one room is booked, for which you still have to heat and light the premises, be around to greet the guests, purchase breakfast, get up early to cook it, be around when they check out, then clean the room, replenish toiletries and wash the sheets!

It works only when occupancy is good. The rest of the time its a pain in the neck.

A couple of other observations are:

• running a B&B works if at least one host is naturally jovial, pleased to meet strangers and make them feel welcome. Its not so good if the host is less of a 'people' person.
• particularly in more remote locations, it works better if at least one host is handy with DIY, and keen to instal en-suite bathrooms etc. Paying professionals to do maintenance, repairs etc can massively impact margins.

 

[chole_yt]

Running a Guest House is not an easy task, u need get a Licence
If you let to six people or more you need planning permission and must meet fire regulations. Guest house insurance policies are also more expensive than ordinary schemes.