city dwellers looking for a means to diversify or for help with a hefty mortgage . Often without any previous experience in the hospitality industry , many are , in my experience , pulling off the whole show incredibly well .
The most disappointing breakfasts I eat these days are in hotels , while B & Bs repeatedly bring outstanding stuff to my table . There might not be a newspaper outside my door first thing , but it ' s a small price to pay for freshly squeezed juice and a plate of food cooked to order instead of something that ' s been kept hot under a grill for half an hour .
The expectation level is notching up so fast that there ' s no knowing what B & Bs will throw in next . For now though , according to Nikki Tinto , it ' s acceptable to expect some of these : " Probably free wireless internet , usually an honesty bar or even a butler ' s pantry and , when you arrive , you might get afternoon tea with a slice of homemade cake ."
© Sally Shalam , The Guardian
Chapter Two
Before you start
Who should start a B & B ? Are you the right person to run a B & B ? Are you doing this for the right reasons ? What are your objectives , and will a B & B enable you to achieve them ?
This may seem an odd question . If you have bought this book , you are clearly interested – at least in finding out whether you want to run a B & B . We don ’ t want to put you off – but we don ’ t want to encourage you to do something that you would not enjoy , either .
Look at it this way : if reading this book only helps you decide that a B & B is not for you , then it ’ s money very well spent ( a few of the notes of thanks we received from readers of the first edition were from those who thanked us for helping them decide that running a B & B was not , after all , for them ). You don ’ t want to find that out after moving , and / or investing a lot of money in adapting a property . So it makes sense to think very carefully about this at the outset .
Are you the right person to run a B & B ? If you never have friends or relations to stay because you can ’ t stand other people in your home , then don ’ t run a B & B ! If you don ’ t like meeting people and can ’ t make small talk , then don ’ t run a B & B . You do need to be able to relate to people to do the job – although you don ’ t have to be a “ life and soul of the party ” type – in fact if you are , you may irritate as many people as you attract .
Being a people person is a vital , and of course fairly obvious , requirement for running a hospitality business . But there are less obvious character traits you need too . If you hate housework with a passion , and feel comfortable amid clutter , chaos and congealed crockery from yesterday ’ s dinner , you probably feel that you are admirably liberated from other people ’ s obsessive hang-ups about tidiness or cleanliness . You may be right , but although your tolerance threshold of your own debris may be high , other people ’ s tolerance threshold of your debris will almost certainly be much , much lower – close to zero , in all probability .