Are we really trying to start a B&B or something else?

[Rolacoy]

I have posted several questions and got great answers. Some of you have read and responded. Our main objective is to use the space that we do not need to provide us with extra income, I am a retired commercial artist. We also want to have a business to write off business expenses. We still have one other rent house. It is next to us on the south. We may keep it as a rental just to be able to select our immediate neighbors. This will be true with who is in the north side of our house.
The house that we have was a duplex, maybe it still is a duplex.
http://www.waskomtexas.com/waskom_garden/room_layout.html
One of the first things that my wife decided was that she did not want to cook breakfasts for whoever stays in the north side. We would provide continental breakfasts as in a hotel, would that work? We could pay someone to come in and fix breakfast. Or provide food for them to fix. I don't think that we want to be personally involved with the people who stay with us. As I stated I am retired and not looking for another job. I could work a week as a commercial artist and make more than we will in a month as a B&B.
Maybe what we are trying to do is not a B&B. What ever we decide to do you all have been very helpful.

 

[swirt]

See you are worried about the cooking...the problem is that the cooking is the relatively easy part (at least in my opinion). It's the constant cleaning of bathrooms, laundry, cleaning of kitchen, cleaning of common areas, waiting for guests to check-in, waiting for guests to check-out, the marketing, the shopping, the promotion, the answering phone requests, answering email requests, endless yard maintenance ..... and a huge bunch of other little things that add up.
When you are running a B&B you are in a constant state of "expecting company" so your house and all the details related to it, have to be up to par at all times.

 

[swirt]

I forgot to add that in many locations (check with your own tax person for the specifics) A B&B, if it is being run as a home business is not allowed to declare a loss. It can hold at $0 but it can't lose money in terms of taxes. A rental house on the otherhand, can declare a loss (not sure how it applies if the rental house is attached to yours as in the case of a duplex). Some have creative ways around this like making the business own the house then rent yourself your living space. Discuss it with a tax person for the specifics that apply in your situation.

 

[Samster]

I think maybe it's not a good fit for you to open as a bed & breakfast, but that is just my opinion. You want to "weed out" some guests, you don't want to cook breakfast (the other B in B&B), and you don't want to be personally involved with the guests. Sounds like a long term rental is more what you want.

 

[EmptyNest]

Sorry, but from the sounds of things, you do not want to open a Bed & Breakfast.
You don't want to do breakfast, you don't want to interact with guests. A B & B is NOT for you. I think you just need to offer either short or long term rental or maybe what they used to call it " a tourist home" and be done with it. You can still use it as a business deduction. But to say you are offering a B & B experience...YOU ARE NOT!
I would not spend any more time thinking about it, given everything you have told us here already. It does not sound like you are really wanting a B & B, you just want to call it that..and that is not a good reflection on the rest of us who are doing it right.

 

[Sanctuary]

I agree with the comments here. The charm of a B&B is that personal interaction and attention to detail on an individual, personal level...going that extra mile that sets a B&B apart from just another hotel.

 

[Rolacoy]

There was a man here in our town who had studied the book of Revelation. He was not a member of any organized group. Just him and a few people who would listen to him. I told one of his friends, hey, get out in the mainstream and compare ideas. He never did, died a few years ago, so I guess he knows now. I am an artist and I may think that I am the best their is. But show in a few public art shows and the public will tell me how good/bad I am.
This is what you have done for me and I thank you for your honesty. I still think that I would like to provide a place for short time stays since there is nothing else for 20 miles of our town. However, I would like for it to bring in some money. If we lease the property then we will have no use of it. We are using some of the closet space presently that a short timer would not need.
We could deal with the cleaning by paying someone to do the cleaning when a guest left. The part about always waiting on company to arrive does not sound very interesting. We did that a lot in the rental business.
Again thanks you have made me look at many pros and cons of a B&B.

 

[user 26]

well, what about a short term rental or boarding house? guests being basically on their own. housekeeping goes in ... but breakfast is not prepared for anyone, etc. there are some places like that around here.
no 'host' interaction as most live away ....
just a thought.

 

[Rolacoy]

I have some understanding of business I owned and operated Studio A, a commercial art studio from 1972 till a couple of years ago when I started backing out of it. I guess I am retired now. It wass nearly a 24 hour service, lots of tight dead lines. Also my wife and I have owned and operated A&A Rentals since about 1976. We had 19 units, houses and mobile homes. We have a lot of stories about experence. It was also sometimes 24 hours a day. We only have one house left and of course the duplex that we are discussing.
We do enjoy people, but we are 68 years old and want to do what we want when we want. One problem we had a few times was getting renters out when they were evicted. What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I have some understanding of business I owned and operated Studio A, a commercial art studio from 1972 till a couple of years ago when I started backing out of it. I guess I am retired now. It wass nearly a 24 hour service, lots of tight dead lines. Also my wife and I have owned and operated A&A Rentals since about 1976. We had 19 units, houses and mobile homes. We have a lot of stories about experence. It was also sometimes 24 hours a day. We only have one house left and of course the duplex that we are discussing.
We do enjoy people, but we are 68 years old and want to do what we want when we want. One problem we had a few times was getting renters out when they were evicted. What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?.

We do enjoy people, but we are 68 years old and want to do what we want when we want. One problem we had a few times was getting renters out when they were evicted. What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?

We charge them! We have their credit card! They know it, we know it. Even a late departure can be charged a full night plus tax!

 

[YellowSocks]

I have some understanding of business I owned and operated Studio A, a commercial art studio from 1972 till a couple of years ago when I started backing out of it. I guess I am retired now. It wass nearly a 24 hour service, lots of tight dead lines. Also my wife and I have owned and operated A&A Rentals since about 1976. We had 19 units, houses and mobile homes. We have a lot of stories about experence. It was also sometimes 24 hours a day. We only have one house left and of course the duplex that we are discussing.
We do enjoy people, but we are 68 years old and want to do what we want when we want. One problem we had a few times was getting renters out when they were evicted. What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?.

What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?

With rentals you run into tenant law, esp. after 30 days. With B&B's the majority of your stays will be one or two nights. What happens if someone's at a hotel and won't leave? They call the cops and out they go! Same deal.
The seminary runs a short-term rental facility two doors up from me. It was apartments, now each apartment has two twin beds in each of the two bedrooms, so four each. You pay $20 a night to stay, get your key at the seminary office. You might have the whole apartment, or you may be sharing your room with a stranger. They have a housekeeper who comes through and cleans, but I think they're very sparse... not sure they even provide linens.
I'm not sure what you'd call it, or how you'd advertise, but you might be able to do something like that... short term lodging, like a rental cabin kind of deal.
=)
Kk.

 

[EmptyNest]

I have some understanding of business I owned and operated Studio A, a commercial art studio from 1972 till a couple of years ago when I started backing out of it. I guess I am retired now. It wass nearly a 24 hour service, lots of tight dead lines. Also my wife and I have owned and operated A&A Rentals since about 1976. We had 19 units, houses and mobile homes. We have a lot of stories about experence. It was also sometimes 24 hours a day. We only have one house left and of course the duplex that we are discussing.
We do enjoy people, but we are 68 years old and want to do what we want when we want. One problem we had a few times was getting renters out when they were evicted. What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?.

What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?

Again, this shows your lack of understanding about B & B's. People come and people go. There is never..at least I have never heard of anyone ...not leaving.
We had a specific check out time 11 AM. We confirmed this with all of our guests in advance. We also tell them when they check in. If they want to stay past that, they usually asked us and we said yes or no. If they didn't ask and it was say 11:15, we usually knocked on their door or started cleaning the other rooms and said, "we need to get in to clean the room for our next guests."
I really think you need to do some more reading or attend an aspiring innkeeper class so you know..if this IS or ISN'T for you. My inclination however is that you really aren't suited for this.

 

[Rolacoy]

I understand your feelings about someone who knows very little about the B&B business just popping up and saying I am in the B&B business. Quite a few years ago, must have been the mid 80's. The Mac computer came out and I went from doing commercial art the traditional way to doing it on the computer. I had a very good business the old way for a number of years.
It was not long until commercial printers who I worked for bought a Mac, hired someone that was untrained as an artist, and all of a sudden they were graphic artists. I lost a lot of good customers to these non-artists who produced a lot of bad layout and design. However, I was still able to do illustration that they could not do and still made a good living.
But there still must be a place for the type of business that we want to do. Maybe it is not a B&B, but could still turn a little cash, allow us partial use of the north side of the duplex and allow us to write off some expenses. If not then we will lease it out, I know we can make 4 or 5 hundred per month clear profit. Anyway you have been a lot of help in shaping our decision making process.

 

[Morticia]

Maybe what you want, if you want to rent out the other side of your duplex, is a 'self-catering' kind of place. Rent by the week. Guests provide their own food, you have everything they will need for cooking and serving stocked in the kitchen (plus some basic necessities). That way, the check-in is once/week and check-out and clean-up is also once/week.

 

[EmptyNest]

Maybe what you want, if you want to rent out the other side of your duplex, is a 'self-catering' kind of place. Rent by the week. Guests provide their own food, you have everything they will need for cooking and serving stocked in the kitchen (plus some basic necessities). That way, the check-in is once/week and check-out and clean-up is also once/week..

Yes, that is what I was trying to convey. Self catering..but with a minimum stay requirement...Not a B & B.
Because they definitely don't want to have to go in and clean every day and that is what could happen if they don't set a minimum stay requirement. ANd..it seems like they want to hire someone to clean and not do that themselves either...another cut into the profits to consider

 

[muirford]

I understand your feelings about someone who knows very little about the B&B business just popping up and saying I am in the B&B business. Quite a few years ago, must have been the mid 80's. The Mac computer came out and I went from doing commercial art the traditional way to doing it on the computer. I had a very good business the old way for a number of years.
It was not long until commercial printers who I worked for bought a Mac, hired someone that was untrained as an artist, and all of a sudden they were graphic artists. I lost a lot of good customers to these non-artists who produced a lot of bad layout and design. However, I was still able to do illustration that they could not do and still made a good living.
But there still must be a place for the type of business that we want to do. Maybe it is not a B&B, but could still turn a little cash, allow us partial use of the north side of the duplex and allow us to write off some expenses. If not then we will lease it out, I know we can make 4 or 5 hundred per month clear profit. Anyway you have been a lot of help in shaping our decision making process..

What we are opining here is that a B&B is not a good fit for you, due to your need to control the guests you take, you don't want to serve breakfast, and you don't want to clean. That is the business that most of us on this board run. If you want to do some other type of business - perhaps we are not the best to give advice.

 

[Morticia]

I have some understanding of business I owned and operated Studio A, a commercial art studio from 1972 till a couple of years ago when I started backing out of it. I guess I am retired now. It wass nearly a 24 hour service, lots of tight dead lines. Also my wife and I have owned and operated A&A Rentals since about 1976. We had 19 units, houses and mobile homes. We have a lot of stories about experence. It was also sometimes 24 hours a day. We only have one house left and of course the duplex that we are discussing.
We do enjoy people, but we are 68 years old and want to do what we want when we want. One problem we had a few times was getting renters out when they were evicted. What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?.

We do enjoy people, but we are 68 years old and want to do what we want when we want. One problem we had a few times was getting renters out when they were evicted. What happens if someone comes to your B&B and will not leave?

Renting to someone where it is the tenant's home and renting to someone on vacation are 2 different things. Evicting a person from their home no matter how deadbeat and destructive they are is something altogether different from asking someone to leave after 11 AM on the day of check-out.
You MUST, however, have it in writing, that the guest has signed, what day they are checking out. Otherwise you could end up with someone staying past their deadline and you have no recourse. All of our registrations forms state the exact length of stay and the check-out date. If we get a walk-in we put the arrival and departure dates on the form and the guest signs it.

 

[Rolacoy]

Good comments. We could clean once a week without a problem or pay someone. We are not to good to clean, we have cleaned up after renters for over 25 years, but don't we get a break sometime. lol
A short term rental for business people would work well for us. We have remodeled and everything will be very nice when we are finished, a month or so form now. We have a lot of oil related workers in this area. The "hands" get real dirty, we have rented to some of them. Most think nothing of tromping across the carpet with the same shoes that they walked across the rig floor and out to the truck. Don't get me wrong, many of our friends work in the oilfield, one of my grandsons for one. But business people. would be great. We don't have to stay full so we can be selective.
OK, so you have about talked me into taking B&B off the advertising, now what do we call the place. I know it's not your problem, but you have been so helpful with many good ideas, don't give up on me now.

 

[Morticia]

Good comments. We could clean once a week without a problem or pay someone. We are not to good to clean, we have cleaned up after renters for over 25 years, but don't we get a break sometime. lol
A short term rental for business people would work well for us. We have remodeled and everything will be very nice when we are finished, a month or so form now. We have a lot of oil related workers in this area. The "hands" get real dirty, we have rented to some of them. Most think nothing of tromping across the carpet with the same shoes that they walked across the rig floor and out to the truck. Don't get me wrong, many of our friends work in the oilfield, one of my grandsons for one. But business people. would be great. We don't have to stay full so we can be selective.
OK, so you have about talked me into taking B&B off the advertising, now what do we call the place. I know it's not your problem, but you have been so helpful with many good ideas, don't give up on me now..

Call it a 'self-catering short term rental'.

 

[Rolacoy]

I never heard of such a thing, but it sounds good. Are there other places that use that term? When I was a little boy I knew if you slung enough mud on the wall some of it would stick. Something will work out if we just keep trying.