How to Start & Run a B&B BandBED2eBook-1 | Page 82

(eg parking, drinks, etc.); and (very importantly) spell out a clear scale of cancellation
charges – these will typically be based on different flat rates or percentages of the
reservation value, depending on the number of days from arrival on which the
cancellation is made. Think these “rules” through very carefully – if they are clear and
reasonable, you should be able to enforce them in practice; if they are unstated or
vague, you will have no chance.
As an example, here are the cancellation terms we use at The Pheasants:
Reservations cannot be guaranteed without pre-payment or receipt of an agreed deposit.
Deposits are non-refundable. Cancellations will be charged as follows:
within 14 days of arrival: 25% of reservation value (or first night cost, whichever is the higher);
within 48 hours of arrival: 50% of reservation value (or first night cost, whichever is the higher);
within 24 hours of arrival: 100% of reservation value.
(The excess of the cancellation charge payable as above, over any deposit paid, is payable on
cancellation.)
If you have a travel insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these cancellation charges
should your reason for cancellation fall within your insurer's allowed criteria.
Arrivals and departures
A “diary discipline” which must become second nature to you is planning for arrivals,
breakfasts, departures and changeovers. Unless you are always at home 24 hours a
day, 365 days a year and have nothing else to do – which is highly unlikely! – you will,
like us and like most B&B owners, be juggling your B&B work with other work and
possibly also with family demands etc. An essential part of this “plate spinning” act is
managing your B&B diary so that it is workable and allows for the other things you do
in your life.
Apologies if this is too obvious, but at the beginning it is easy to forget that you have
more work the day after each booking entry than the day it appears in the bookings
book. If Mr Smith arrives on Wednesday, then you have a breakfast to serve on
Thursday – and, if it is a one-night booking, a check-out a bit later on Thursday
morning and then (and you can’t delay this if there is a Thursday arrival in that room) a
room changeover.
If Mr Smith is staying for two nights or more and you have no other arrivals or
departures on Thursday, then you know you only have breakfast duty on Thursday
and then you are more or less free (apart from any room servicing).
Bear in mind that arrivals, although they do not involve much if any work, can be a
huge time commitment. You (or someone else who knows what to do) must be
around, within earshot of the doorbell, during the whole time period it is allowed (or
reasonably expected) for your guests to arrive. This could be all afternoon and all
evening if you are not careful.
Our strong recommendations, from painful experience, are:

try to pin down every guest to an approximate arrival time; and

get their mobile phone numbers so that you can contact them on the day.
How to Start & Run a B&B
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