Have a clear vision and know your customer

Be really clear about what you want to achieve. Do you have the right Bed and breakfast mortgage in place? Are you going to be running a 5 star boutique bed and breakfast in a market town? Do you need additional commercial funding for your Guest House for business tourists or a comfy but basic farm stay? It’s really important to have a clear vision and know what your customers want to avoid expensive mistakes later on.

Investing in your business

Even if you’re setting up a B&B in existing rooms and furniture in your home, you’ll still need to allocate money towards marketing and advertising.  You’ll need to have a high level financial plan, perhaps a B&B mortgage, to ensure you cover every cost and every area of the business. You don’t want to spend all your money on furnishings and then realise you’ve forgotten about a website! Seek B&B mortgage advice on how to get a B&B mortgage or business funding. Have a look at our Commercial Property Mortgage calculator.

Marketing your B&B/ Guest House

The current advice to new B&B owners is to allocate 20% of your turnover in your first year to marketing costs. It can be overwhelming, so set out a marketing plan and a budget.  Talk to Tourism Business advisors to find out what works. Arrange a proper bed and breakfast mortgage, decide where you’re going to spend your money and stick to it. Getting the correct bed and breakfast mortgage or Guest house mortgage arranged will help.

Get a website

To set up a truly profitable and successful  B&B or Guest House business,  it really is essential to have a website. Even if it’s just one page on a tourism website. – Though the better and more professional your website, the more people it will attract. Once you have an internet presence, there are many more ways to promote your business. Use ‘Pay per click’ on search engines, produce a regular newsletter, or contribute to online discussion forums such as Everywoman or Country Living.

Legal requirements

An essential area to address before you set up your business is what local and National legal requirements you need to abide by.  Talk to your local council to find out if there are any restrictions.  Then get a copy of the Pink booklet covering all the legal requirements for accommodation providers (should be available Visit Britain)

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