Whether you hanker after a grand mansion in Bath or a quaint cottage in Borrowdale, you will need to enjoy meeting people and be prepared to work long hours. An understanding of how to calculate your costs and how to market your rooms is essential if your bed and breakfast business isn’t to be a part-time hobby.
If you’re unsure about how you’ll manage the commitment, a modest B&B with a solid reputation is a good place to start, as it can be run with minimum staff and relatively low overheads.
Consider how many people you want to accommodate, how much of the year you want to trade and how hard you want to work! If you buy an established bed and breakfast that already does good trade and has forward bookings, you’ll be hitting the ground running.
There are plenty of rules and regulations to investigate. Some only apply to larger establishments but every business will need to register guests, display a fire certificate, make room tariffs clear and take responsibility for the safety of everyone under your roof.
In addition to the purchase price, you’ll need to set aside enough money to make improvements and to cover the cost of legal fees, stamp duty, stock and fixed overheads. You should have enough working capital to keep you afloat before you start earning revenue from your new business – six months is a good rule of thumb.
