How to Start & Run a B&B BandBED2eBook-1 | Page 69

Bathrooms
So our first point is: go for en-suite bathrooms every time. And if you are designing
your bathrooms, use good quality fittings, preferably in white rather than dark colours,
and put in a tiled floor rather than carpet (more hygienic, preferred by the official star
rating inspectors, and easier to keep clean). Ideally put in a bath and a shower – for
example, shower doors above the bath and a shower fitment as well as taps. Many
people prefer taking a shower, and it saves your energy bills! The perfect arrangement
is a bath and a separate shower cubicle, but of course this takes up much more space
and costs more to install.
Bathrooms need pedal bins with removable linings, and for extra hygiene and ease of
cleaning, line them in turn with disposable bin liners, and provide sanitary disposal
bags.
You will need to ensure that guests have plenty of hot water for baths or showers at all
reasonable times – so consider putting in a dedicated hot water tank for each guest
room, with timed immersion heaters. Standard home hot water systems with a single
tank for all the guest rooms and your own family use probably won’t be sufficient.
Toiletries
You must supply soap – a fresh soap for each guest – but, unless you are only going for
the budget end of the market and a low star rating, you should also supply shampoo
and bath foam, and perhaps conditioner, tissues, cotton wool, etc. At the top end of the
market, a wide range of high quality toiletries will be expected.
Bedrooms
Do think carefully when you are planning the layout, décor and fittings for your guest
bedrooms. You may be “stuck” with some things – room size and shape, ceiling height,
view etc. – which you cannot do much about, but almost everything else can be altered
or enhanced. There is a great deal of difference to your guests between a thoughtfully-
planned room and one that has not been thought about. It is not necessarily expensive
to get things right, and your guests will appreciate “room planning” more than the
niceties of décor which may cost far more.
As with getting into the shoes of your prospective customers to plan your marketing, so
here you need to be a customer – stay in each room for a night. Sit and watch TV, make
a drink, shave, have a bath, write a letter, do all the things that your guests will
typically do. You will certainly notice things that did not occur to you before. Is there
a shelf next to the mirror for toiletries or a shaving kit? Is the mirror at the right height
and angle? Is the lighting right for shaving or applying makeup? Can you reach the
bath towels from the bath? Where can you sit to write a letter? Can you control
enough of the room’s lighting without getting out of bed? Is there good bedside
lighting each side of the bed for reading? The list is endless – but think practically, in
these terms. We are not talking about décor here, but the “user-friendliness” of your
rooms.