A slow start

[Morticia]

Glad to hear of your start...congratulations! Did you keep the name of the B&B the same? Had the Inn been closed for awhile when you bought it, or was it closed specifically to facilitate the sale?.

We changd the name. We had a really cool name we loved...but then we thought, what will people search for when they're trying to find that BnB that changed it's name? Hence, the new name (Inn at Blooming Grove).
I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, the sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town. For our financial purposes (and maybe our mental health!), we didn't expect to open for a couple more months. But this is good. It has forced us to see things that need to be done that we missed, and shown us that things we think we need are actually just very nice to have (at this point).
.

I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, they sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!
.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!

My sentiments exactly. The previous owners took every stick of furniture, linens, et al - and pressured the buyer to turn it back into a B&B? Boundaries!!!
BTW, it is a very, very lovely place. On that we all seem to agree!
.

I don't think it was *their* intention to pressure us. We went looking for a turnkey sale, but this house turned out to be the one for us. The pressure came in after I read one of the room journals, and commented on a guest comment from Christmas Eve. The wife half of the former owners kind of rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, yes, there are ALWAYS guests during the holidays." Well, yikes, DH and I didn't want to buy a property and turn away people who come here each year. On the other hand, we didn't want to move forward too much until after closing. I suppose I'm superstitious, but I don't like to put energy into something that may still fall through.
So, they didn't intend to pressure us, it was just our psychology kicking in in response to the situation. As it is, I don't know that we will have people over this set of holidays - what with getting out the word about new owners, the notion that we live there, changing the phone number, etc. But, when we look back, I think it will be nice to have a lot of early set up stuff out of the way.
The former owners were very pleased about our plans to re-open as a BnB, but set on selling off stuff piece meal. I think they would have made more if they just sold it to us lock stock and barrell, but they disagreed, and, well, it was their stuff after all. DH & I keep reminding ourselves that, in spite of the work, this is better because it will be "our" place more than theirs.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'
All of our previous guest info was on 3x5 cards which was just daunting to try to work thru. I'm hoping to present the next owners with a fully functioning db and emailing list.

 

[sgirouard]

Glad to hear of your start...congratulations! Did you keep the name of the B&B the same? Had the Inn been closed for awhile when you bought it, or was it closed specifically to facilitate the sale?.

We changd the name. We had a really cool name we loved...but then we thought, what will people search for when they're trying to find that BnB that changed it's name? Hence, the new name (Inn at Blooming Grove).
I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, the sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town. For our financial purposes (and maybe our mental health!), we didn't expect to open for a couple more months. But this is good. It has forced us to see things that need to be done that we missed, and shown us that things we think we need are actually just very nice to have (at this point).
.

I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, they sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!
.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!

My sentiments exactly. The previous owners took every stick of furniture, linens, et al - and pressured the buyer to turn it back into a B&B? Boundaries!!!
BTW, it is a very, very lovely place. On that we all seem to agree!
.

I don't think it was *their* intention to pressure us. We went looking for a turnkey sale, but this house turned out to be the one for us. The pressure came in after I read one of the room journals, and commented on a guest comment from Christmas Eve. The wife half of the former owners kind of rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, yes, there are ALWAYS guests during the holidays." Well, yikes, DH and I didn't want to buy a property and turn away people who come here each year. On the other hand, we didn't want to move forward too much until after closing. I suppose I'm superstitious, but I don't like to put energy into something that may still fall through.
So, they didn't intend to pressure us, it was just our psychology kicking in in response to the situation. As it is, I don't know that we will have people over this set of holidays - what with getting out the word about new owners, the notion that we live there, changing the phone number, etc. But, when we look back, I think it will be nice to have a lot of early set up stuff out of the way.
The former owners were very pleased about our plans to re-open as a BnB, but set on selling off stuff piece meal. I think they would have made more if they just sold it to us lock stock and barrell, but they disagreed, and, well, it was their stuff after all. DH & I keep reminding ourselves that, in spite of the work, this is better because it will be "our" place more than theirs.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'
All of our previous guest info was on 3x5 cards which was just daunting to try to work thru. I'm hoping to present the next owners with a fully functioning db and emailing list.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'

Mm. Yes. We were all ready to do this. WE were going to send out a chirpy "new ownership" psotcard with a phone number and web address. To make a long story short, the previous owners didn't do that sort of record keeping (perhaps a hint of why they didn't want to sell turnkey). They've offered a copy of the guest book, but they admit that not everyone signed it, and those who did generally did not give their addresses. I'm not throwing stones. This family did such a nice job resotring and taking care of an **old** house - much better than the previous owners of our previous, modern house.
I'm not too worried. The inn is ready "enough" if/when we have guests right now (ready enough - that must be like good enough, an expression I truly dislike). We'll keep doing things in our time, and I am already thinking of ways to back up guest notes.

 

[bbinnsitters]

Glad to hear of your start...congratulations! Did you keep the name of the B&B the same? Had the Inn been closed for awhile when you bought it, or was it closed specifically to facilitate the sale?.

We changd the name. We had a really cool name we loved...but then we thought, what will people search for when they're trying to find that BnB that changed it's name? Hence, the new name (Inn at Blooming Grove).
I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, the sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town. For our financial purposes (and maybe our mental health!), we didn't expect to open for a couple more months. But this is good. It has forced us to see things that need to be done that we missed, and shown us that things we think we need are actually just very nice to have (at this point).
.

I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, they sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!
.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!

My sentiments exactly. The previous owners took every stick of furniture, linens, et al - and pressured the buyer to turn it back into a B&B? Boundaries!!!
BTW, it is a very, very lovely place. On that we all seem to agree!
.

I don't think it was *their* intention to pressure us. We went looking for a turnkey sale, but this house turned out to be the one for us. The pressure came in after I read one of the room journals, and commented on a guest comment from Christmas Eve. The wife half of the former owners kind of rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, yes, there are ALWAYS guests during the holidays." Well, yikes, DH and I didn't want to buy a property and turn away people who come here each year. On the other hand, we didn't want to move forward too much until after closing. I suppose I'm superstitious, but I don't like to put energy into something that may still fall through.
So, they didn't intend to pressure us, it was just our psychology kicking in in response to the situation. As it is, I don't know that we will have people over this set of holidays - what with getting out the word about new owners, the notion that we live there, changing the phone number, etc. But, when we look back, I think it will be nice to have a lot of early set up stuff out of the way.
The former owners were very pleased about our plans to re-open as a BnB, but set on selling off stuff piece meal. I think they would have made more if they just sold it to us lock stock and barrell, but they disagreed, and, well, it was their stuff after all. DH & I keep reminding ourselves that, in spite of the work, this is better because it will be "our" place more than theirs.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'
All of our previous guest info was on 3x5 cards which was just daunting to try to work thru. I'm hoping to present the next owners with a fully functioning db and emailing list.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'

Mm. Yes. We were all ready to do this. WE were going to send out a chirpy "new ownership" psotcard with a phone number and web address. To make a long story short, the previous owners didn't do that sort of record keeping (perhaps a hint of why they didn't want to sell turnkey). They've offered a copy of the guest book, but they admit that not everyone signed it, and those who did generally did not give their addresses. I'm not throwing stones. This family did such a nice job resotring and taking care of an **old** house - much better than the previous owners of our previous, modern house.
I'm not too worried. The inn is ready "enough" if/when we have guests right now (ready enough - that must be like good enough, an expression I truly dislike). We'll keep doing things in our time, and I am already thinking of ways to back up guest notes.
.

See, you really don't need all of us - you have it figured out I'd say! I have a feeling you will do wonderfully in this new adventure!

 

[Morticia]

Glad to hear of your start...congratulations! Did you keep the name of the B&B the same? Had the Inn been closed for awhile when you bought it, or was it closed specifically to facilitate the sale?.

We changd the name. We had a really cool name we loved...but then we thought, what will people search for when they're trying to find that BnB that changed it's name? Hence, the new name (Inn at Blooming Grove).
I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, the sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town. For our financial purposes (and maybe our mental health!), we didn't expect to open for a couple more months. But this is good. It has forced us to see things that need to be done that we missed, and shown us that things we think we need are actually just very nice to have (at this point).
.

I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, they sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!
.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!

My sentiments exactly. The previous owners took every stick of furniture, linens, et al - and pressured the buyer to turn it back into a B&B? Boundaries!!!
BTW, it is a very, very lovely place. On that we all seem to agree!
.

I don't think it was *their* intention to pressure us. We went looking for a turnkey sale, but this house turned out to be the one for us. The pressure came in after I read one of the room journals, and commented on a guest comment from Christmas Eve. The wife half of the former owners kind of rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, yes, there are ALWAYS guests during the holidays." Well, yikes, DH and I didn't want to buy a property and turn away people who come here each year. On the other hand, we didn't want to move forward too much until after closing. I suppose I'm superstitious, but I don't like to put energy into something that may still fall through.
So, they didn't intend to pressure us, it was just our psychology kicking in in response to the situation. As it is, I don't know that we will have people over this set of holidays - what with getting out the word about new owners, the notion that we live there, changing the phone number, etc. But, when we look back, I think it will be nice to have a lot of early set up stuff out of the way.
The former owners were very pleased about our plans to re-open as a BnB, but set on selling off stuff piece meal. I think they would have made more if they just sold it to us lock stock and barrell, but they disagreed, and, well, it was their stuff after all. DH & I keep reminding ourselves that, in spite of the work, this is better because it will be "our" place more than theirs.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'
All of our previous guest info was on 3x5 cards which was just daunting to try to work thru. I'm hoping to present the next owners with a fully functioning db and emailing list.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'

Mm. Yes. We were all ready to do this. WE were going to send out a chirpy "new ownership" psotcard with a phone number and web address. To make a long story short, the previous owners didn't do that sort of record keeping (perhaps a hint of why they didn't want to sell turnkey). They've offered a copy of the guest book, but they admit that not everyone signed it, and those who did generally did not give their addresses. I'm not throwing stones. This family did such a nice job resotring and taking care of an **old** house - much better than the previous owners of our previous, modern house.
I'm not too worried. The inn is ready "enough" if/when we have guests right now (ready enough - that must be like good enough, an expression I truly dislike). We'll keep doing things in our time, and I am already thinking of ways to back up guest notes.
.

I'd hazard a guess that if they have no records, they didn't pay any taxes, either. Good thing you are starting out fresh or you might find the gov't coming after all those back lodging taxes.

 

[sgirouard]

Glad to hear of your start...congratulations! Did you keep the name of the B&B the same? Had the Inn been closed for awhile when you bought it, or was it closed specifically to facilitate the sale?.

We changd the name. We had a really cool name we loved...but then we thought, what will people search for when they're trying to find that BnB that changed it's name? Hence, the new name (Inn at Blooming Grove).
I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, the sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town. For our financial purposes (and maybe our mental health!), we didn't expect to open for a couple more months. But this is good. It has forced us to see things that need to be done that we missed, and shown us that things we think we need are actually just very nice to have (at this point).
.

I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, they sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!
.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!

My sentiments exactly. The previous owners took every stick of furniture, linens, et al - and pressured the buyer to turn it back into a B&B? Boundaries!!!
BTW, it is a very, very lovely place. On that we all seem to agree!
.

I don't think it was *their* intention to pressure us. We went looking for a turnkey sale, but this house turned out to be the one for us. The pressure came in after I read one of the room journals, and commented on a guest comment from Christmas Eve. The wife half of the former owners kind of rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, yes, there are ALWAYS guests during the holidays." Well, yikes, DH and I didn't want to buy a property and turn away people who come here each year. On the other hand, we didn't want to move forward too much until after closing. I suppose I'm superstitious, but I don't like to put energy into something that may still fall through.
So, they didn't intend to pressure us, it was just our psychology kicking in in response to the situation. As it is, I don't know that we will have people over this set of holidays - what with getting out the word about new owners, the notion that we live there, changing the phone number, etc. But, when we look back, I think it will be nice to have a lot of early set up stuff out of the way.
The former owners were very pleased about our plans to re-open as a BnB, but set on selling off stuff piece meal. I think they would have made more if they just sold it to us lock stock and barrell, but they disagreed, and, well, it was their stuff after all. DH & I keep reminding ourselves that, in spite of the work, this is better because it will be "our" place more than theirs.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'
All of our previous guest info was on 3x5 cards which was just daunting to try to work thru. I'm hoping to present the next owners with a fully functioning db and emailing list.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'

Mm. Yes. We were all ready to do this. WE were going to send out a chirpy "new ownership" psotcard with a phone number and web address. To make a long story short, the previous owners didn't do that sort of record keeping (perhaps a hint of why they didn't want to sell turnkey). They've offered a copy of the guest book, but they admit that not everyone signed it, and those who did generally did not give their addresses. I'm not throwing stones. This family did such a nice job resotring and taking care of an **old** house - much better than the previous owners of our previous, modern house.
I'm not too worried. The inn is ready "enough" if/when we have guests right now (ready enough - that must be like good enough, an expression I truly dislike). We'll keep doing things in our time, and I am already thinking of ways to back up guest notes.
.

I'd hazard a guess that if they have no records, they didn't pay any taxes, either. Good thing you are starting out fresh or you might find the gov't coming after all those back lodging taxes.
.

Actually, I am fairly certain they paid taxes - one of the two is an accountant. In fact, he shared with me a couple thoughts about taxes that made me smile (nothing strictly illegal), although I'm one of those "good girls" who will do what our account tells us to do. Anyway, they just seemed stumped when I asked for any addresses for guests they might have (I guess they didn't take address info when swiping a card). The processing service we're planning to use requires that, I believe, but I suppose not all do.
They worked *very* hard on the house, and did what they could while not living there. They were very upfront that they did not do anything proactive about marketing. (They did have a BnB.com listing, and that was about it.) There is *no where else* to stay for at least 15 miles, so I'm sure that helped quite a bit. And in a small town, word of mouth counts for a lot. I'm sure a few good stays by relatives/friends, and word will get around we offer a good night's sleep and a tasty breakfast.

 

[JBloggs]

Glad to hear of your start...congratulations! Did you keep the name of the B&B the same? Had the Inn been closed for awhile when you bought it, or was it closed specifically to facilitate the sale?.

We changd the name. We had a really cool name we loved...but then we thought, what will people search for when they're trying to find that BnB that changed it's name? Hence, the new name (Inn at Blooming Grove).
I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, the sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town. For our financial purposes (and maybe our mental health!), we didn't expect to open for a couple more months. But this is good. It has forced us to see things that need to be done that we missed, and shown us that things we think we need are actually just very nice to have (at this point).
.

I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, they sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!
.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!

My sentiments exactly. The previous owners took every stick of furniture, linens, et al - and pressured the buyer to turn it back into a B&B? Boundaries!!!
BTW, it is a very, very lovely place. On that we all seem to agree!
.

I don't think it was *their* intention to pressure us. We went looking for a turnkey sale, but this house turned out to be the one for us. The pressure came in after I read one of the room journals, and commented on a guest comment from Christmas Eve. The wife half of the former owners kind of rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, yes, there are ALWAYS guests during the holidays." Well, yikes, DH and I didn't want to buy a property and turn away people who come here each year. On the other hand, we didn't want to move forward too much until after closing. I suppose I'm superstitious, but I don't like to put energy into something that may still fall through.
So, they didn't intend to pressure us, it was just our psychology kicking in in response to the situation. As it is, I don't know that we will have people over this set of holidays - what with getting out the word about new owners, the notion that we live there, changing the phone number, etc. But, when we look back, I think it will be nice to have a lot of early set up stuff out of the way.
The former owners were very pleased about our plans to re-open as a BnB, but set on selling off stuff piece meal. I think they would have made more if they just sold it to us lock stock and barrell, but they disagreed, and, well, it was their stuff after all. DH & I keep reminding ourselves that, in spite of the work, this is better because it will be "our" place more than theirs.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'
All of our previous guest info was on 3x5 cards which was just daunting to try to work thru. I'm hoping to present the next owners with a fully functioning db and emailing list.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'

Mm. Yes. We were all ready to do this. WE were going to send out a chirpy "new ownership" psotcard with a phone number and web address. To make a long story short, the previous owners didn't do that sort of record keeping (perhaps a hint of why they didn't want to sell turnkey). They've offered a copy of the guest book, but they admit that not everyone signed it, and those who did generally did not give their addresses. I'm not throwing stones. This family did such a nice job resotring and taking care of an **old** house - much better than the previous owners of our previous, modern house.
I'm not too worried. The inn is ready "enough" if/when we have guests right now (ready enough - that must be like good enough, an expression I truly dislike). We'll keep doing things in our time, and I am already thinking of ways to back up guest notes.
.

I'd hazard a guess that if they have no records, they didn't pay any taxes, either. Good thing you are starting out fresh or you might find the gov't coming after all those back lodging taxes.
.

I'd hazard a guess that if they have no records, they didn't pay any taxes, either. Good thing you are starting out fresh or you might find the gov't coming after all those back lodging taxes.

Huh? That is not necessarily the case, our po's here had no records they passed on, difficult to do when they are all on index cards I suppose. I never got copies of all they did, or any that they did.

 

[Morticia]

Glad to hear of your start...congratulations! Did you keep the name of the B&B the same? Had the Inn been closed for awhile when you bought it, or was it closed specifically to facilitate the sale?.

We changd the name. We had a really cool name we loved...but then we thought, what will people search for when they're trying to find that BnB that changed it's name? Hence, the new name (Inn at Blooming Grove).
I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, the sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town. For our financial purposes (and maybe our mental health!), we didn't expect to open for a couple more months. But this is good. It has forced us to see things that need to be done that we missed, and shown us that things we think we need are actually just very nice to have (at this point).
.

I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, they sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!
.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!

My sentiments exactly. The previous owners took every stick of furniture, linens, et al - and pressured the buyer to turn it back into a B&B? Boundaries!!!
BTW, it is a very, very lovely place. On that we all seem to agree!
.

I don't think it was *their* intention to pressure us. We went looking for a turnkey sale, but this house turned out to be the one for us. The pressure came in after I read one of the room journals, and commented on a guest comment from Christmas Eve. The wife half of the former owners kind of rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, yes, there are ALWAYS guests during the holidays." Well, yikes, DH and I didn't want to buy a property and turn away people who come here each year. On the other hand, we didn't want to move forward too much until after closing. I suppose I'm superstitious, but I don't like to put energy into something that may still fall through.
So, they didn't intend to pressure us, it was just our psychology kicking in in response to the situation. As it is, I don't know that we will have people over this set of holidays - what with getting out the word about new owners, the notion that we live there, changing the phone number, etc. But, when we look back, I think it will be nice to have a lot of early set up stuff out of the way.
The former owners were very pleased about our plans to re-open as a BnB, but set on selling off stuff piece meal. I think they would have made more if they just sold it to us lock stock and barrell, but they disagreed, and, well, it was their stuff after all. DH & I keep reminding ourselves that, in spite of the work, this is better because it will be "our" place more than theirs.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'
All of our previous guest info was on 3x5 cards which was just daunting to try to work thru. I'm hoping to present the next owners with a fully functioning db and emailing list.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'

Mm. Yes. We were all ready to do this. WE were going to send out a chirpy "new ownership" psotcard with a phone number and web address. To make a long story short, the previous owners didn't do that sort of record keeping (perhaps a hint of why they didn't want to sell turnkey). They've offered a copy of the guest book, but they admit that not everyone signed it, and those who did generally did not give their addresses. I'm not throwing stones. This family did such a nice job resotring and taking care of an **old** house - much better than the previous owners of our previous, modern house.
I'm not too worried. The inn is ready "enough" if/when we have guests right now (ready enough - that must be like good enough, an expression I truly dislike). We'll keep doing things in our time, and I am already thinking of ways to back up guest notes.
.

I'd hazard a guess that if they have no records, they didn't pay any taxes, either. Good thing you are starting out fresh or you might find the gov't coming after all those back lodging taxes.
.

Actually, I am fairly certain they paid taxes - one of the two is an accountant. In fact, he shared with me a couple thoughts about taxes that made me smile (nothing strictly illegal), although I'm one of those "good girls" who will do what our account tells us to do. Anyway, they just seemed stumped when I asked for any addresses for guests they might have (I guess they didn't take address info when swiping a card). The processing service we're planning to use requires that, I believe, but I suppose not all do.
They worked *very* hard on the house, and did what they could while not living there. They were very upfront that they did not do anything proactive about marketing. (They did have a BnB.com listing, and that was about it.) There is *no where else* to stay for at least 15 miles, so I'm sure that helped quite a bit. And in a small town, word of mouth counts for a lot. I'm sure a few good stays by relatives/friends, and word will get around we offer a good night's sleep and a tasty breakfast.
.

It just seems like they were very haphazard in their approach to business. No info on who stayed there? Maybe if they were all locals, there was no need. If anything went wrong, they could track the guests down.
But, you raised an interesting point...it appears you will have a large local business. That NEVER happens here! In 5 years we've had 5 guests who I would consider 'locals' or friends of locals. Because there is nowhere else to stay close by that may be why. There are over 600 hotel rooms within 2 miles of me.

 

[Morticia]

Glad to hear of your start...congratulations! Did you keep the name of the B&B the same? Had the Inn been closed for awhile when you bought it, or was it closed specifically to facilitate the sale?.

We changd the name. We had a really cool name we loved...but then we thought, what will people search for when they're trying to find that BnB that changed it's name? Hence, the new name (Inn at Blooming Grove).
I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, the sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town. For our financial purposes (and maybe our mental health!), we didn't expect to open for a couple more months. But this is good. It has forced us to see things that need to be done that we missed, and shown us that things we think we need are actually just very nice to have (at this point).
.

I don't know how how long the BnB was closed, or how that worked. The previous owners, for their own reasons, did not want to sell it as a BnB. So, they sold off every bit of lace, china, furniture, etc, piecemeal, and we bought an empty house.
Part of us opening now was we felt pressure from the previous owners and others in town.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!
.

How on earth could the previous owners pressure you if they were the ones that sold off everything? If they really wanted someone to open quickly they should have sold it as a B&B. Or are you glad they did that? Was the place in need of a do over? Very peculiar! It is a gorgeous place!

My sentiments exactly. The previous owners took every stick of furniture, linens, et al - and pressured the buyer to turn it back into a B&B? Boundaries!!!
BTW, it is a very, very lovely place. On that we all seem to agree!
.

I don't think it was *their* intention to pressure us. We went looking for a turnkey sale, but this house turned out to be the one for us. The pressure came in after I read one of the room journals, and commented on a guest comment from Christmas Eve. The wife half of the former owners kind of rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, yes, there are ALWAYS guests during the holidays." Well, yikes, DH and I didn't want to buy a property and turn away people who come here each year. On the other hand, we didn't want to move forward too much until after closing. I suppose I'm superstitious, but I don't like to put energy into something that may still fall through.
So, they didn't intend to pressure us, it was just our psychology kicking in in response to the situation. As it is, I don't know that we will have people over this set of holidays - what with getting out the word about new owners, the notion that we live there, changing the phone number, etc. But, when we look back, I think it will be nice to have a lot of early set up stuff out of the way.
The former owners were very pleased about our plans to re-open as a BnB, but set on selling off stuff piece meal. I think they would have made more if they just sold it to us lock stock and barrell, but they disagreed, and, well, it was their stuff after all. DH & I keep reminding ourselves that, in spite of the work, this is better because it will be "our" place more than theirs.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'
All of our previous guest info was on 3x5 cards which was just daunting to try to work thru. I'm hoping to present the next owners with a fully functioning db and emailing list.
.

For marketing purposes do you have information on past guests? If you WANT guests for this holiday season you could always call the people that were guests every year and let them know you are up and running!
P.S. It is not a bad thing to be living in the house - I personally think all B&B's should be lived in by the owners. I always think it strange when they don't!

Excellent idea. It would also help to draft an email or snail mail to send to all the previous guests to let them know 'we are looking forward to meeting you!' and perhaps offer an incentive to 'see what we have to offer.'

Mm. Yes. We were all ready to do this. WE were going to send out a chirpy "new ownership" psotcard with a phone number and web address. To make a long story short, the previous owners didn't do that sort of record keeping (perhaps a hint of why they didn't want to sell turnkey). They've offered a copy of the guest book, but they admit that not everyone signed it, and those who did generally did not give their addresses. I'm not throwing stones. This family did such a nice job resotring and taking care of an **old** house - much better than the previous owners of our previous, modern house.
I'm not too worried. The inn is ready "enough" if/when we have guests right now (ready enough - that must be like good enough, an expression I truly dislike). We'll keep doing things in our time, and I am already thinking of ways to back up guest notes.
.

I'd hazard a guess that if they have no records, they didn't pay any taxes, either. Good thing you are starting out fresh or you might find the gov't coming after all those back lodging taxes.
.

I'd hazard a guess that if they have no records, they didn't pay any taxes, either. Good thing you are starting out fresh or you might find the gov't coming after all those back lodging taxes.

Huh? That is not necessarily the case, our po's here had no records they passed on, difficult to do when they are all on index cards I suppose. I never got copies of all they did, or any that they did.
.

I'd hazard a guess that if they have no records, they didn't pay any taxes, either. Good thing you are starting out fresh or you might find the gov't coming after all those back lodging taxes.

Huh? That is not necessarily the case, our po's here had no records they passed on, difficult to do when they are all on index cards I suppose. I never got copies of all they did, or any that they did.

The whole index card thing was a disaster, but we did at least get those. The POs took the db with them claiming there wasn't one online. Found that out when we had one of their GC's show up and they told us they had no record of it on their computer. What they told us was there were no computer records. And then we were being charged personal property tax on THEIR computer, don't get me started!
Again, with your situation, it seems like a very lax approach to doing business in an environment where knowing who is on your property is very important. (But we all know that which is why we all have such good records!)