Advice for an aspiring Innkeeper

[Brent212]

Hello friends,
My name is Brent and I am considering getting into the b&b/inn keeping business. I have 3 questions for those of you that have experience running Inns and B&Bs. 1) What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started? 2)Do you love it? 3) If so/not, Why?
Thanks so much for taking the time to lend your wisdom.

 

[EmptyNest]

I think if you do a search most of us have answered these or very similar questions in the past. Too much to even begin to say if I knew that when.....but...one thing..you are not going to get rich and have plenty of money saved up before you start. No one is giving out loans for B & B's these days.
I did love it....and enjoyed every minute for 7 years...then burn out hit me and I got out...it was time and from what my friends fret about here these days....I am glad I did. I could not put up with all the crap they take these days from PITA guests expecting the world to special dietary needs. I would have no patience with this at all. So it was good I loved it while I did it and got out while the getting was still good.
Good luck to you. I am sure others will pitch in here as well.

 

[Morticia]

I think the answers to those questions vary as widely and as wildly as the people who respond.
How about these for you:

1. Why innkeeping?
2. Why now?
3. If not innkeeping, what then?

I think if I have an idea of what you think innkeeping is, then the answers will come from there.

 

[Anon Inn]

Welcome Brent!
There is a wealth of information and experience here. If you've not done so already, Click on the "Home" button and take a gander at the threads. Then keep going. Often if you put a search term in the box at top right under the featured inn, you'll find a thread concerning the topic in question, sometimes not.
After you've spent some time delving into the threads, you'll have a good idea of what to ask next
Hint: Question #1 would take tomes to answer. #2 yep, we love it. You meet a diverse group of people. You often make them happy, and you can't beat the commute to work.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

We have now entered our 15th year of innkeeping. I still enjoy what I do, but not always. When you have guests, you always have to be on your game. The expectations are great and with social media, the world will know any time you slip.
The one thing I wish I had known was how my spouse didn't enjoy the guest interaction. It works for us, but he's definitely back of the house and all guest/phone/internet/marketing is on my shoulders.

 

[Brent212]

Morticia,
A wide variety of answers was defiantly what I was hoping for. Trying to get a broad stroke on the experience as a whole.
Personal info and Thought process: I am a 30 year old, Southern California gym owner. Married for over 6 years, with our first baby on the way. The fitness industry has not shaped up to be as enjoyable as I had originally hoped. I have found myself overwhelmed by work and have been much more absent from home than is healthy. No one wants the husband/dad who works himself to death and is never around. So, I started to consider a "family" business where my wife and I ran an inn together, we're home for the kids together, etc. I recently took a surf trip to Costa Rica, and started considering the concept of pursuing a small surf inn in central america. I enjoy construction/handyman work. My wife loves to host and cook. I figured it was an idea worth exploring. Hopefully that gives a better picture of where my head is.
Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.
Why Not?: Questionable cash flow, my wife might choke me to death if we worked together all the time, sizable financial investment to start.
If not innkeeping, what then?: I don't know honestly. I am just exploring different work ideas. Trying to craft our ideal life situation.

 

[Brent212]

We have now entered our 15th year of innkeeping. I still enjoy what I do, but not always. When you have guests, you always have to be on your game. The expectations are great and with social media, the world will know any time you slip.
The one thing I wish I had known was how my spouse didn't enjoy the guest interaction. It works for us, but he's definitely back of the house and all guest/phone/internet/marketing is on my shoulders..

That's a great concept to consider. Thanks so much!

 

[Brent212]

I think if you do a search most of us have answered these or very similar questions in the past. Too much to even begin to say if I knew that when.....but...one thing..you are not going to get rich and have plenty of money saved up before you start. No one is giving out loans for B & B's these days.
I did love it....and enjoyed every minute for 7 years...then burn out hit me and I got out...it was time and from what my friends fret about here these days....I am glad I did. I could not put up with all the crap they take these days from PITA guests expecting the world to special dietary needs. I would have no patience with this at all. So it was good I loved it while I did it and got out while the getting was still good.
Good luck to you. I am sure others will pitch in here as well..

If you wouldn't mind, could you describe your burn out process and why you think it happened? Everything is always awesome when you first start, but I'm curious what factors changed for you over time and caused you not to enjoy what you did anymore.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Morticia,
A wide variety of answers was defiantly what I was hoping for. Trying to get a broad stroke on the experience as a whole.
Personal info and Thought process: I am a 30 year old, Southern California gym owner. Married for over 6 years, with our first baby on the way. The fitness industry has not shaped up to be as enjoyable as I had originally hoped. I have found myself overwhelmed by work and have been much more absent from home than is healthy. No one wants the husband/dad who works himself to death and is never around. So, I started to consider a "family" business where my wife and I ran an inn together, we're home for the kids together, etc. I recently took a surf trip to Costa Rica, and started considering the concept of pursuing a small surf inn in central america. I enjoy construction/handyman work. My wife loves to host and cook. I figured it was an idea worth exploring. Hopefully that gives a better picture of where my head is.
Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.
Why Not?: Questionable cash flow, my wife might choke me to death if we worked together all the time, sizable financial investment to start.
If not innkeeping, what then?: I don't know honestly. I am just exploring different work ideas. Trying to craft our ideal life situation..

Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.

Sorry, but all 3 of those things are totally inaccurate. I have never worked so hard, had less time for family or could ever think of pursuing outside hobbies such as surfing. And as far as raising a young family, I haven't done it myself, but you'll find many here who will enlighten you about that.
I think you really need to sit down for hours and go through all the old posts on this site. At this point, you have an unrealistic view of what being an innkeeper is. Innkeeping is real life nitty gritty, 12-16 hour days, missing family gatherings, school functions and celebrations.

 

[undersea]

I think if you do a search most of us have answered these or very similar questions in the past. Too much to even begin to say if I knew that when.....but...one thing..you are not going to get rich and have plenty of money saved up before you start. No one is giving out loans for B & B's these days.
I did love it....and enjoyed every minute for 7 years...then burn out hit me and I got out...it was time and from what my friends fret about here these days....I am glad I did. I could not put up with all the crap they take these days from PITA guests expecting the world to special dietary needs. I would have no patience with this at all. So it was good I loved it while I did it and got out while the getting was still good.
Good luck to you. I am sure others will pitch in here as well..

If you wouldn't mind, could you describe your burn out process and why you think it happened? Everything is always awesome when you first start, but I'm curious what factors changed for you over time and caused you not to enjoy what you did anymore.
.

Innkeepers also burn out. Avoid the grass is greener syndrome. Everything is hard, expensive, complex, etc these days. Some will thrive, and you cannot determine this upfront. You cannot budget up front, because there will be so many things you never imagined.
You have a gym and some experience. Vwith an inb, you start from scratch.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Hi, Brent. You do get to spend time together, but it is work time. Breakfast, clean up, check outs, laundry, more clean up, more laundry, grocery shopping, booking download, keeping the books, home repair, more laundry, check ins. Then dinner. Then back to breakfast etc.
None of it is difficult on it's own, but it makes for a very busy, very full day. I had to force my DH to leave the house Sunday for a one hour kayak paddle. If you love surfing, consider that your busy season will be the same as surfing season. Can you balance?
We love it. Wouldn't trade it. But are spending more time at home and less time at the beach or with friends. It's a busy life.

 

[Brent212]

Morticia,
A wide variety of answers was defiantly what I was hoping for. Trying to get a broad stroke on the experience as a whole.
Personal info and Thought process: I am a 30 year old, Southern California gym owner. Married for over 6 years, with our first baby on the way. The fitness industry has not shaped up to be as enjoyable as I had originally hoped. I have found myself overwhelmed by work and have been much more absent from home than is healthy. No one wants the husband/dad who works himself to death and is never around. So, I started to consider a "family" business where my wife and I ran an inn together, we're home for the kids together, etc. I recently took a surf trip to Costa Rica, and started considering the concept of pursuing a small surf inn in central america. I enjoy construction/handyman work. My wife loves to host and cook. I figured it was an idea worth exploring. Hopefully that gives a better picture of where my head is.
Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.
Why Not?: Questionable cash flow, my wife might choke me to death if we worked together all the time, sizable financial investment to start.
If not innkeeping, what then?: I don't know honestly. I am just exploring different work ideas. Trying to craft our ideal life situation..

Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.

Sorry, but all 3 of those things are totally inaccurate. I have never worked so hard, had less time for family or could ever think of pursuing outside hobbies such as surfing. And as far as raising a young family, I haven't done it myself, but you'll find many here who will enlighten you about that.
I think you really need to sit down for hours and go through all the old posts on this site. At this point, you have an unrealistic view of what being an innkeeper is. Innkeeping is real life nitty gritty, 12-16 hour days, missing family gatherings, school functions and celebrations.
.

Fair enough. That's what I was hoping to get here; a better understanding of the real life version of the picture that I have in my head. Thanks so much for your input.

 

[MtnKeeper]

This is the most important part to consider if you have a family - how will you feel when there's something going on for your children and you can't go? One of you has to stay behind because guests haven't arrived and they need to be checked in? We've raised two kids from the ages of 2 and 4 here at our B&B. Yes, you spend time together but you'll be working during that time and our kids hated that we couldn't do stuff with them. They hated having to be quiet in their own home because they couldn't be kids as that might disturb guests. You will live your life around the schedules of others -- no weekends off again as that's when you'll be making money. We take midweek winter nights off to go to their ballgames and lose money - it hurts, but we do well and can afford to.
Just this past weekend we had plans with friends to go swimming at the local natural waterslide. Housekeeper found a shower door broken off the hinges and someone was checking into that room. We had to stop and fix it and hours later the kids gave up and said forget we don't even want to go now. We lost out on family fun because someone broke the shower door off. I'm not trying to make it sound horrible but Breakfast Diva is right -- people often have this unrealistic view that it gives you freedom to do more family stuff and that's not necessarily the case. You also won't make a ton of money doing this and consider if you and your wife want to be together 24/7 365 raising a family in the business. We'd both gladly go back to corporate jobs at this point after 10 years. Oh, and don't forget the health insurance cost - it's staggering. Good luck, I would definitely do one of those innkeeper weekends where you work at the B&B and get a feel for it.

 

[Brent212]

Hi, Brent. You do get to spend time together, but it is work time. Breakfast, clean up, check outs, laundry, more clean up, more laundry, grocery shopping, booking download, keeping the books, home repair, more laundry, check ins. Then dinner. Then back to breakfast etc.
None of it is difficult on it's own, but it makes for a very busy, very full day. I had to force my DH to leave the house Sunday for a one hour kayak paddle. If you love surfing, consider that your busy season will be the same as surfing season. Can you balance?
We love it. Wouldn't trade it. But are spending more time at home and less time at the beach or with friends. It's a busy life..

Thank you for sharing. Very helpful. Much appreciated.

 

[EmptyNest]

I think if you do a search most of us have answered these or very similar questions in the past. Too much to even begin to say if I knew that when.....but...one thing..you are not going to get rich and have plenty of money saved up before you start. No one is giving out loans for B & B's these days.
I did love it....and enjoyed every minute for 7 years...then burn out hit me and I got out...it was time and from what my friends fret about here these days....I am glad I did. I could not put up with all the crap they take these days from PITA guests expecting the world to special dietary needs. I would have no patience with this at all. So it was good I loved it while I did it and got out while the getting was still good.
Good luck to you. I am sure others will pitch in here as well..

If you wouldn't mind, could you describe your burn out process and why you think it happened? Everything is always awesome when you first start, but I'm curious what factors changed for you over time and caused you not to enjoy what you did anymore.
.

Honest Brent....I just got plain tired of cooking, cleaning and answering the same questions every day. We only had a 3 room place but that was what we wanted and was enough for us. But bending, stooping etc etc...I just was worn out and wanted my house back just for us. We had wonderful guests and none of the issues so many here talk about these days "entitled guest"...Which would really wear on me and maybe if that had happened, we would have left sooner.
We have lots of wonderful memories...but enough was enough for us. We were retired and working way too hard for retirement. Fortunately for us, we did not need the income to survive, I have great retirement benefits so the B & B really just paid for itself and allowed us to live in a home we really love in a location we really love. We are still in it and won't be moving.
Good luck

 

[EmptyNest]

Morticia,
A wide variety of answers was defiantly what I was hoping for. Trying to get a broad stroke on the experience as a whole.
Personal info and Thought process: I am a 30 year old, Southern California gym owner. Married for over 6 years, with our first baby on the way. The fitness industry has not shaped up to be as enjoyable as I had originally hoped. I have found myself overwhelmed by work and have been much more absent from home than is healthy. No one wants the husband/dad who works himself to death and is never around. So, I started to consider a "family" business where my wife and I ran an inn together, we're home for the kids together, etc. I recently took a surf trip to Costa Rica, and started considering the concept of pursuing a small surf inn in central america. I enjoy construction/handyman work. My wife loves to host and cook. I figured it was an idea worth exploring. Hopefully that gives a better picture of where my head is.
Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.
Why Not?: Questionable cash flow, my wife might choke me to death if we worked together all the time, sizable financial investment to start.
If not innkeeping, what then?: I don't know honestly. I am just exploring different work ideas. Trying to craft our ideal life situation..

Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.

Sorry, but all 3 of those things are totally inaccurate. I have never worked so hard, had less time for family or could ever think of pursuing outside hobbies such as surfing. And as far as raising a young family, I haven't done it myself, but you'll find many here who will enlighten you about that.
I think you really need to sit down for hours and go through all the old posts on this site. At this point, you have an unrealistic view of what being an innkeeper is. Innkeeping is real life nitty gritty, 12-16 hour days, missing family gatherings, school functions and celebrations.
.

You are right BD..which is exactly why one of our innmates place is up for grabs right now :-(

 

[Morticia]

Morticia,
A wide variety of answers was defiantly what I was hoping for. Trying to get a broad stroke on the experience as a whole.
Personal info and Thought process: I am a 30 year old, Southern California gym owner. Married for over 6 years, with our first baby on the way. The fitness industry has not shaped up to be as enjoyable as I had originally hoped. I have found myself overwhelmed by work and have been much more absent from home than is healthy. No one wants the husband/dad who works himself to death and is never around. So, I started to consider a "family" business where my wife and I ran an inn together, we're home for the kids together, etc. I recently took a surf trip to Costa Rica, and started considering the concept of pursuing a small surf inn in central america. I enjoy construction/handyman work. My wife loves to host and cook. I figured it was an idea worth exploring. Hopefully that gives a better picture of where my head is.
Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.
Why Not?: Questionable cash flow, my wife might choke me to death if we worked together all the time, sizable financial investment to start.
If not innkeeping, what then?: I don't know honestly. I am just exploring different work ideas. Trying to craft our ideal life situation..

Ok. So know this - we have a small innkeeping group we work with IRL (as compared to here) . One of those places (generally very busy) has 2 owners and 2 staff members. The owner is putting in 16 hour days.
We, OTOH, are not as busy and I'm sitting here waiting for the laundry buzzer and chatting online. Ooh sure, from 7am to noon was flat out busy and we'll still be checking in guests until 9pm but I'm not working 16 hour days.
Working with a spouse full-time while raising a family in the place where you work is not a simple task. Make sure your family unit has space enough to get away from each other. And that the kids have their own, dedicated space that guests are not allowed into.
We have good friends who own a resort. Their son grew up with the guests and made friends with the repeat guests (who had been coming for years and their parents hung out with our friends) But this family closes the resort completely in the off season and they have a whole other home in town. They get away from the job for 5 months other than brief trips out to check the property.
What I wish I knew then? That the economy was going to tank and we were going to lose so much in the value of the property.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Morticia,
A wide variety of answers was defiantly what I was hoping for. Trying to get a broad stroke on the experience as a whole.
Personal info and Thought process: I am a 30 year old, Southern California gym owner. Married for over 6 years, with our first baby on the way. The fitness industry has not shaped up to be as enjoyable as I had originally hoped. I have found myself overwhelmed by work and have been much more absent from home than is healthy. No one wants the husband/dad who works himself to death and is never around. So, I started to consider a "family" business where my wife and I ran an inn together, we're home for the kids together, etc. I recently took a surf trip to Costa Rica, and started considering the concept of pursuing a small surf inn in central america. I enjoy construction/handyman work. My wife loves to host and cook. I figured it was an idea worth exploring. Hopefully that gives a better picture of where my head is.
Why Innkeeping?: Slower and simpler pace of Life. More time with the family. More surf.
Why Not?: Questionable cash flow, my wife might choke me to death if we worked together all the time, sizable financial investment to start.
If not innkeeping, what then?: I don't know honestly. I am just exploring different work ideas. Trying to craft our ideal life situation..

Ok. So know this - we have a small innkeeping group we work with IRL (as compared to here) . One of those places (generally very busy) has 2 owners and 2 staff members. The owner is putting in 16 hour days.
We, OTOH, are not as busy and I'm sitting here waiting for the laundry buzzer and chatting online. Ooh sure, from 7am to noon was flat out busy and we'll still be checking in guests until 9pm but I'm not working 16 hour days.
Working with a spouse full-time while raising a family in the place where you work is not a simple task. Make sure your family unit has space enough to get away from each other. And that the kids have their own, dedicated space that guests are not allowed into.
We have good friends who own a resort. Their son grew up with the guests and made friends with the repeat guests (who had been coming for years and their parents hung out with our friends) But this family closes the resort completely in the off season and they have a whole other home in town. They get away from the job for 5 months other than brief trips out to check the property.
What I wish I knew then? That the economy was going to tank and we were going to lose so much in the value of the property.
.

Morticia makes many excellent points, but one I want to emphasize is having your own space. Many of the inns we looked at over the years had very small innkeeper apartments. Some had one room efficiencies. We could never live like that. I love 'tiny houses' as much as the next guy, but I need my space.
I have heard of one innkeeper who sleeps in the basement during the season. Nope, not us.
We annexed a rental apartment to make our living quarters twice as big. We could be renting this space, but instead use it for a TV/media room and second kitchen. And we fill up that second refrigerator with inn food!!! (and beer, but that's another post....)
Imagine how you will live and make sure you have space for it.

 

[gillumhouse]

1) What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
I was a start-up in 1996 when Internet was just getting started to the masses. I had worked in a second job for over 10 years as relief night auditor in a hotel so had some experience about what records to keep, dealing with entitled jerks (so far only a couple have found us), and before I opened I was able to work housekeeping at a motel for a week or so to understand what was different between cleaning house and housekeeping. Most of what is needed to know now was not around then - social media, cell phones, texting....... This old bat has had to learn a lot in the last 20 years - and still learning (and my Mother is in her grave on rotate with laughter because I am now in a business where I MUST keep house)
2)Do you love it?
Yes, I DO love it - have met so many wonderful people over the years either because of the B & B guests or because of the tourism industry meetings, conferences, workshops, and not incidentally, this Forum .
3) If so/not, Why?
Although I do not consider myself burned out, I am 20 years older than when I started and so are my knees. And when my husband dies, I will put the B & B on the market. For now, it is set up (owners quarters and the rest of the downstairs) as he needs it to be to navigate and the house pays for itself so I will continue for as long as I can get up and down the stairs. IF that happens while he is still cranking along, I will desperately look for a high school kid to do the cleaning and hope the revenues will cover that.

 

[Brent212]

This is the most important part to consider if you have a family - how will you feel when there's something going on for your children and you can't go? One of you has to stay behind because guests haven't arrived and they need to be checked in? We've raised two kids from the ages of 2 and 4 here at our B&B. Yes, you spend time together but you'll be working during that time and our kids hated that we couldn't do stuff with them. They hated having to be quiet in their own home because they couldn't be kids as that might disturb guests. You will live your life around the schedules of others -- no weekends off again as that's when you'll be making money. We take midweek winter nights off to go to their ballgames and lose money - it hurts, but we do well and can afford to.
Just this past weekend we had plans with friends to go swimming at the local natural waterslide. Housekeeper found a shower door broken off the hinges and someone was checking into that room. We had to stop and fix it and hours later the kids gave up and said forget we don't even want to go now. We lost out on family fun because someone broke the shower door off. I'm not trying to make it sound horrible but Breakfast Diva is right -- people often have this unrealistic view that it gives you freedom to do more family stuff and that's not necessarily the case. You also won't make a ton of money doing this and consider if you and your wife want to be together 24/7 365 raising a family in the business. We'd both gladly go back to corporate jobs at this point after 10 years. Oh, and don't forget the health insurance cost - it's staggering. Good luck, I would definitely do one of those innkeeper weekends where you work at the B&B and get a feel for it..

Yours is exactly the perspective I was hoping to get; someone who had raised a young family in this type of business. Very helpful. Thank you so much.