How to Start & Run a B&B BandBED2eBook-1 | Page 12

a business plan. It does not need to be half an inch thick and full of management speak
and multi-coloured graphs, but it does need to be well thought through, using realistic
assumptions, and to show exactly how you will achieve your financial expectations,
and when, and with what commitment of money and other resources.
The basic process of writing a Business Plan is sheer common sense. Don’t be worried
or intimidated by management books into thinking that it is beyond you or requires
huge expertise or experience. It doesn’t. Concentrate on the simple basics, not the
form or language:
• What kind of business am I trying to create?
• How will I create it?
• How will I run it and how much will it cost?
• How much revenue will this bring in?
If you focus on these, and think everything through thoroughly, you should not go
wrong.
These four questions are deceptively simple. The answers are crucial, and require a lot
of careful thought and planning. The sections below take these one by one.
What is your market?
Your location (country, town, seaside), the quality of décor and rooms, the character of
your building and the facilities you can offer will determine what section of the
market you should be pitching for. The seasonality of your market is a crucial factor,
as is the competition you will be up against.
What kind of business am I trying to create?
As you are reading this book, the short answer would be “a B&B”. But this is not
specific enough to be any use for a business plan. Your answer needs to define what
the business books would no doubt call your product offering, positioning and target
market. You could just as easily call it the character of your intended B&B, and the
clientele you believe will be attracted to it.
This needs thought, and a good dose of realism: be honest with yourself rather than
letting wishful thinking influence you. If you own a 1930’s semi two streets back from
the seafront of a traditional coastal resort in Ayrshire, for instance, it would not be
sensible to expect to command high prices or a long season, or to expect high levels of
corporate midweek business out of season.
This is where hard-headed logic, and as much research as you can do (or experience
you already have) will be needed. The nature and character of your B&B will be
mainly dictated by character of the property itself and those famous three priorities
recited by property investors: location, location, and location.
If you have not yet bought the property you are thinking of running as a B&B, we
strongly advise you to pause, think and do some homework at this stage. It’s not too
late!
Think about the location, and look at the existing competition and try to find out as
much as you can about it. What do the other comparable B&Bs charge? When to they
How to Start & Run a B&B
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