Thursday, January 1, 2009

Top 5 Reasons to Open a Bed and Breakfast

At the the turn of the year, I like(besides Sydney's fireworks) all of the Top Ten Lists, the retrospective Best Of ... Lists, and the look ahead to What We Might See in the New Year.

If you have ever thought that it would be nice to open a bed and breakfast someday, these are five good reasons to pursue your dream:

  1. Self-employment is a challenge to yourself with the potential for great personal satisfaction.

  2. Innkeeping is a particularly flexible form of self-employment that allows you to define the day to day details of earning your livelihood.

  3. You can bring a wide variety of life experience and skills to the bed and breakfast table. A love of cooking might be equally as valuable as a love of home renovation.

  4. Owning and operating a B & B is a multitasking delight. Each day is not necessarily like the last. Done right, it should not quickly grow stale.

  5. In hospitality, your customers bring the world to your door. B & B guests are not only in vacation mode but they are often very seasoned travellers, who have purposefully chosen the personal touch of a guesthouse over the anonymity of a hotel. They are smart, considerate, genuinely interested in the the place they are visiting and as such, more likely to leave a positive impression of themselves behind them.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for your clear synopsis of why many of us do what we do as innkeepers. It's not for everyone and the burn out rate is high (for a variety of reasons). But, if you can find that perfect balance between work (at home), home (at home) and play (at home), then innkeeping definitely has its rewards.

    Happy New Year to the three of you. Hope to get back to Vancouver sometime and visit your B&B.

    --Heather at the Bronze Antler Bed & Breakfast in Joseph, Oregon, USA

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ahh...the burnout rate. How true. Thought I better leave that one to a little later in the year. You are right. Balance is the antidote. I might add play(at work) too. Like blogging.

    All the best to you & your LIABAB!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shopping for a living is also a great reason to own a Bed and Breakfast. After all, those little touches are what keep the guests coming back.

    I'm going on 20 years of innkeeping and I'm still loving it!!

    Carol Tiffany
    Lazy Cloud Bed and Breakfast
    Lake Geneva, Wisconsin USA
    www.LazyCloud.com

    ReplyDelete

We love comments!