Buying a Turnkey vs. Starting From Scratch

[wendydk]

Dude, I hate to break it to ya, but there is NO WAY you can handle 9 rooms alone, without a couple three full time staff, not and have a quality clean place that's well marketed and well maintained. Uh, uh, not even if you were Clark Kent and had a spouse helping, still no way. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with me..

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy
.

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy

Sorry, I guess I just asked the same question everyone else did. I'm just going to make a little joke and then I won't mention this again...I would pay money to watch you do this single handedly because I don't think it's 'high energy' so much as just plain 'high'.

Hopefully you're already working in the field so you know what you're talking about.
.

I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round. You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses.
.

What experience do you have in the field? Do you work at an Inn or hotel? Any aspiring Innkeeper classes or other hands-on training? Just trying to get a feel for your experience.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Our original plan was to buy an existing B&B and profit from the reputation, client base and revenue stream that an existing business provides. We looked at just a few operating Inns before we came to the realization that it was just not going to be a possibility for us.
Firstly, none of the existing Inns really coincided with my vision. Not one grabbed me by the heart and said “This is It, This is THE ONE“!. I really couldn’t see myself in any of them. Either the rooms were too small or the in-room bathrooms were poorly done or they had unsatisfactory Innkeepers Quarters. Far and away the biggest reason we didn’t consider any of them? MONEY of course! Most existing Inns are horrifically expensive and almost none show revenues enough to make their own mortgage payments.
All kinds of scenarios ran through my head, all with the same hideous conclusions…mortgage payments not getting made and good credit falling by the wayside. What’s even worse is the fact that B&B’s take forever to sell. What if we hated it and decided to sell, and the Inn sat on the market forever…draining us financially and emotionally? Start-up seemed the way to go. This way we could buy a regular house, make it the type of place we wanted. As an added bonus, if it didn’t work out for any reason, we could still afford to live there by just working one job each. Hubs still works and I quit my job after year three. What a circus that was, with both of us working!
We looked at several places in our home part of the state. Most didn’t have enough bathrooms or personal space, or room to add any. Some houses were perfect, but were in areas that would not have the visitor draw we’d need.
We kept coming back again and again to this place. The house was gorgeous, needed mostly cosmetic work and had been on the market at a reasonable price for almost two years. The location seemed great, but most importantly? The house fairly screamed at me “I’m the One, I’m Perfect - Buy Me”!
We looked at the house no less than four times…with my mom, with our contractor, with anyone who would voice an opinion. Finally, the Realtor stopped coming with us and would just let the patient homeowners know we were coming AGAIN.
My mother swears that the house was on the market so long because it was waiting for us. We bought it in the summer of 2002 and opened for our first guest on Memorial Weekend of 2003. Best decision I ever made and I would not hesitate to do another start-up if I had to do it over again....and you never know!.

Our research and explorations revealed many of the same factors LB mentioned, so I'll try to limit the redundancy. Don't worry there was enough dissimilar stuff that might also be helpful.
No one has mentioned their basic financial criteria and while fully acknowIedging the privacy aspect, I think some details without exposing ourselves too much are really important for the discussion to mean anything.
We confined our searches to mostly B&Bs with 4-6 guest rooms, at least five years of existence, maximum purchase price of $750k to allow for a minimum 20% down and enough capital in reserve to make foreseen improvements/repairs and one year's worth of cash flow in the event of getting zero guests the first year.
That requirement may have been too pessimistic with buying an existing business, but that was our comfort zone. We considered it a cushion to fall back on if the documented repeat guests didn't indeed come back, already booked reservations never materialized, new guests weren't added and repairs or improvements took longer or forced closure for any length of time.
We all get a certain number of cancellations per year. Without the knowledge of what those numbers are as an incoming owner because they might not show on the books, there is no protection for a new owner from word getting out about the sale and getting a massive wave of cancellations just from uncertainty or anxiety about he new ownership.
I provide this info only for context and please spare me the judgements on the dollar figures or relative value we should of expected for that kind of dough.
There were very existing properties that "spoke" to us as LB described. We just couldn't picture ourselves in many of them even just for financial motivations, which were never at the top of our list.
Of course we want to be profitable and thrive financially, but we saw very few instances where that was even remotely a possibility for a variety of reasons. The biggest were location, ease of accessibility and distance to cities capable of providing the core guests. Major upfront infrastructural costs in repairs and improvements and financial history of the business weighed heavily for many properties we looked at.
I'd would say in 95% or more of the B&Bs we inquired about and received sales packets about, asking price outpaced any established business model calculators we researched compared to income even when verified.
Most properties had deferred maintenance and repair issues. The basic furnishings, linens, towels, computer equipment, kitchen equipment, innkeeper living quarters, etc. left much to be desired.
Nearly all properties were listed as "turn-key" but we rarely stepped in a property that we felt in our heart of hearts that we could get tossed a set of keys, guest list, etc. and "run with it" as is.
Also, the lists of items leaving with the previous owners was usually huge and essentially was all the good art, furniture, tools, etc. This despite nearly all of the purchases of these items being written off on taxes as expenses or depreciations. This aspect was a major turn off!
Another was the "transition" period between owners and any included "training" or "support" being offered. In many cases, owners expected a limbo period before their new house was ready, relocation plans were finalized, divorces settled on, etc.
There was also the "separation" anxiety issue where a few owners wanted to stay on and work for us for some period of time in order to ease out of their "labor of love". It was usually couched in language about helping to introduce us to their repeat guests and make sure we were doing everything right.
The few times we encountered stuff like that, we ran from the property ASAP.
The last thing we considered was age, style of innkeeping approach and formality differences. Most of the properties we looked at were being sold by folks looking to retire and were quite elderly. When asked, the typical guest was in thesame age bracket.
Starting this process at the ages of 39, we had a lot of anxiety about how a couple of "young, energetic whipper snappers" would be received.
Many were just too formal for us to wrap our vision of the kind of place we wanted to offer around. It became apparent that it could become an exercise in spending all this time undoing, remolding and rebranding versuses from the ground up like we've done. and with great risks attached to a couple of hard working, blue collar type's life savings.

 

[Morticia]

Our original plan was to buy an existing B&B and profit from the reputation, client base and revenue stream that an existing business provides. We looked at just a few operating Inns before we came to the realization that it was just not going to be a possibility for us.
Firstly, none of the existing Inns really coincided with my vision. Not one grabbed me by the heart and said “This is It, This is THE ONE“!. I really couldn’t see myself in any of them. Either the rooms were too small or the in-room bathrooms were poorly done or they had unsatisfactory Innkeepers Quarters. Far and away the biggest reason we didn’t consider any of them? MONEY of course! Most existing Inns are horrifically expensive and almost none show revenues enough to make their own mortgage payments.
All kinds of scenarios ran through my head, all with the same hideous conclusions…mortgage payments not getting made and good credit falling by the wayside. What’s even worse is the fact that B&B’s take forever to sell. What if we hated it and decided to sell, and the Inn sat on the market forever…draining us financially and emotionally? Start-up seemed the way to go. This way we could buy a regular house, make it the type of place we wanted. As an added bonus, if it didn’t work out for any reason, we could still afford to live there by just working one job each. Hubs still works and I quit my job after year three. What a circus that was, with both of us working!
We looked at several places in our home part of the state. Most didn’t have enough bathrooms or personal space, or room to add any. Some houses were perfect, but were in areas that would not have the visitor draw we’d need.
We kept coming back again and again to this place. The house was gorgeous, needed mostly cosmetic work and had been on the market at a reasonable price for almost two years. The location seemed great, but most importantly? The house fairly screamed at me “I’m the One, I’m Perfect - Buy Me”!
We looked at the house no less than four times…with my mom, with our contractor, with anyone who would voice an opinion. Finally, the Realtor stopped coming with us and would just let the patient homeowners know we were coming AGAIN.
My mother swears that the house was on the market so long because it was waiting for us. We bought it in the summer of 2002 and opened for our first guest on Memorial Weekend of 2003. Best decision I ever made and I would not hesitate to do another start-up if I had to do it over again....and you never know!.

Our research and explorations revealed many of the same factors LB mentioned, so I'll try to limit the redundancy. Don't worry there was enough dissimilar stuff that might also be helpful.
No one has mentioned their basic financial criteria and while fully acknowIedging the privacy aspect, I think some details without exposing ourselves too much are really important for the discussion to mean anything.
We confined our searches to mostly B&Bs with 4-6 guest rooms, at least five years of existence, maximum purchase price of $750k to allow for a minimum 20% down and enough capital in reserve to make foreseen improvements/repairs and one year's worth of cash flow in the event of getting zero guests the first year.
That requirement may have been too pessimistic with buying an existing business, but that was our comfort zone. We considered it a cushion to fall back on if the documented repeat guests didn't indeed come back, already booked reservations never materialized, new guests weren't added and repairs or improvements took longer or forced closure for any length of time.
We all get a certain number of cancellations per year. Without the knowledge of what those numbers are as an incoming owner because they might not show on the books, there is no protection for a new owner from word getting out about the sale and getting a massive wave of cancellations just from uncertainty or anxiety about he new ownership.
I provide this info only for context and please spare me the judgements on the dollar figures or relative value we should of expected for that kind of dough.
There were very existing properties that "spoke" to us as LB described. We just couldn't picture ourselves in many of them even just for financial motivations, which were never at the top of our list.
Of course we want to be profitable and thrive financially, but we saw very few instances where that was even remotely a possibility for a variety of reasons. The biggest were location, ease of accessibility and distance to cities capable of providing the core guests. Major upfront infrastructural costs in repairs and improvements and financial history of the business weighed heavily for many properties we looked at.
I'd would say in 95% or more of the B&Bs we inquired about and received sales packets about, asking price outpaced any established business model calculators we researched compared to income even when verified.
Most properties had deferred maintenance and repair issues. The basic furnishings, linens, towels, computer equipment, kitchen equipment, innkeeper living quarters, etc. left much to be desired.
Nearly all properties were listed as "turn-key" but we rarely stepped in a property that we felt in our heart of hearts that we could get tossed a set of keys, guest list, etc. and "run with it" as is.
Also, the lists of items leaving with the previous owners was usually huge and essentially was all the good art, furniture, tools, etc. This despite nearly all of the purchases of these items being written off on taxes as expenses or depreciations. This aspect was a major turn off!
Another was the "transition" period between owners and any included "training" or "support" being offered. In many cases, owners expected a limbo period before their new house was ready, relocation plans were finalized, divorces settled on, etc.
There was also the "separation" anxiety issue where a few owners wanted to stay on and work for us for some period of time in order to ease out of their "labor of love". It was usually couched in language about helping to introduce us to their repeat guests and make sure we were doing everything right.
The few times we encountered stuff like that, we ran from the property ASAP.
The last thing we considered was age, style of innkeeping approach and formality differences. Most of the properties we looked at were being sold by folks looking to retire and were quite elderly. When asked, the typical guest was in thesame age bracket.
Starting this process at the ages of 39, we had a lot of anxiety about how a couple of "young, energetic whipper snappers" would be received.
Many were just too formal for us to wrap our vision of the kind of place we wanted to offer around. It became apparent that it could become an exercise in spending all this time undoing, remolding and rebranding versuses from the ground up like we've done. and with great risks attached to a couple of hard working, blue collar type's life savings.
.

Our financial plan mimicked yours, pretty much dollar for dollar except in our case the bank required the year's cash flow on hand before they would agree to the loan.
We also did not want separation anxiety keeping the PO's hovering over us. We were ready for them to be gone after day 2 when all they did was insult us and tell us how we weren't going to make it if we didn't pick up the pace and get everything clean by noon. (This from a couple who left us with 4 years of grease stuck to the kitchen cabinets and a fridge that didn't work.) It's much better now.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Dude, I hate to break it to ya, but there is NO WAY you can handle 9 rooms alone, without a couple three full time staff, not and have a quality clean place that's well marketed and well maintained. Uh, uh, not even if you were Clark Kent and had a spouse helping, still no way. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with me..

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy
.

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy

Sorry, I guess I just asked the same question everyone else did. I'm just going to make a little joke and then I won't mention this again...I would pay money to watch you do this single handedly because I don't think it's 'high energy' so much as just plain 'high'.

Hopefully you're already working in the field so you know what you're talking about.
.

I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round. You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses.
.

Look, we essentially started this thread primarily for your benefit and everybody has taken great care and time to share their experiences.
Show some respect.
We've all been there and done it.
Being glib won't encourage more ideas or offerings of help.
"I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round."
This ain't the world, this is innkeeping and these are voices of great combined experience and real world, hands on doing it. Not hypothetically or wishful thinking wise.
"You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

"
Not crazy, just inexperienced and unrealistic. She isn't slow, nobody can do it. Even if you drop your standards and cut the cleaning time to half and hour that's four and a half hours, everyday, day in and day out, and in a place your research says is busier than most in the country.
In a normal year, meaning any year but this one for us, between July and mid-November, we will go on runs of 40-50 somtimes more days in a row with at least a couple of rooms occupied and at least a turn or two per day. I swear as someone trying to appreciate your energy and enthusiasm, it catches up with after a while.
Do the math yourself. Between the industry standard average of an 11am check out and the same 3pm check in, you have four hours.
Those four hours get cut into by all the stuff my first repsonse to you on time management include.
"Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses."
This is only true to a certain point when it comes to hands on experience with something.
I may think that a brake job on my 4x4 is easy and should only take my mechanic so many hours, but his many years of experience allows him the insight to know exactly how long it will take.

 

[gillumhouse]

I did a start-up. We bought a house we could afford that I thought would work as a B & B in the future. We had invited my aunt (shudder) to come live with us since she was alone and I thought it was my "family duty" ((double shudder)). THE PLAN was when she croaked, I could have my B & B. All extra money was spent making the upstairs nice for her. The house had told me "I am yours!"
4 months later, while we were out of town, she bought a house and by Fall had moved out. We redecorated a bit and planned to open in May of 1996. We found out about MABB 3 weeks BEFORE their annual Conference and went. I took it as a sign that this was meant to be. We learned so much about what we should have that we delayed opening until July.
We are in Podunk and I was 3 with a shared for 10 years (thanks to a short-sighted DH) so it was slow going. He got disability a few years later (after much urging from friends applied, went to an ortho as ordered and there was no question about it) and I worked Kelly Temp short term only to get cash flow. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. The next owner of my B & B will have a few things to fix or change but the electricals, plumbing, windows, owners bathroom, a private bath for one room have all been taken care of. We know the under the house is sound and dry. I did not have enough money to have purchased a turnkey.
When I sell, I am going to ask for turnkey, furnuture, linens, appliances, web site, everything - and we do have name recognition and a following, small but it is there - for less than most houses go for today because I want this to stay a B & B and I do not need a lot. I need enough to pay off my loans and make a down payment on a small house here. There is nothing wrong with my inn OR my business, I just want someone to be able to afford to be an innkeeper here. I plowed the field, planted the seed, and tended the field. The next innkeeper will reap the harvest. This is easy for me to say because I do not really have a future- next stop is roast & toast.

 

[Mr.Design]

Dude, I hate to break it to ya, but there is NO WAY you can handle 9 rooms alone, without a couple three full time staff, not and have a quality clean place that's well marketed and well maintained. Uh, uh, not even if you were Clark Kent and had a spouse helping, still no way. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with me..

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy
.

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy

Sorry, I guess I just asked the same question everyone else did. I'm just going to make a little joke and then I won't mention this again...I would pay money to watch you do this single handedly because I don't think it's 'high energy' so much as just plain 'high'.

Hopefully you're already working in the field so you know what you're talking about.
.

I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round. You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses.
.

Look, we essentially started this thread primarily for your benefit and everybody has taken great care and time to share their experiences.
Show some respect.
We've all been there and done it.
Being glib won't encourage more ideas or offerings of help.
"I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round."
This ain't the world, this is innkeeping and these are voices of great combined experience and real world, hands on doing it. Not hypothetically or wishful thinking wise.
"You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

"
Not crazy, just inexperienced and unrealistic. She isn't slow, nobody can do it. Even if you drop your standards and cut the cleaning time to half and hour that's four and a half hours, everyday, day in and day out, and in a place your research says is busier than most in the country.
In a normal year, meaning any year but this one for us, between July and mid-November, we will go on runs of 40-50 somtimes more days in a row with at least a couple of rooms occupied and at least a turn or two per day. I swear as someone trying to appreciate your energy and enthusiasm, it catches up with after a while.
Do the math yourself. Between the industry standard average of an 11am check out and the same 3pm check in, you have four hours.
Those four hours get cut into by all the stuff my first repsonse to you on time management include.
"Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses."
This is only true to a certain point when it comes to hands on experience with something.
I may think that a brake job on my 4x4 is easy and should only take my mechanic so many hours, but his many years of experience allows him the insight to know exactly how long it will take.
.

I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement. As for respect, it's given back as it's received.
I have many friends in the hotel industry and have spoke with them about certain aspects, cleaning being one of them. According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes. I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day.
I suppose this is 'innkeeping' and not to knock any establishment, but that's probably why it's a slower pace compared to a hotel.

 

[gillumhouse]

Dude, I hate to break it to ya, but there is NO WAY you can handle 9 rooms alone, without a couple three full time staff, not and have a quality clean place that's well marketed and well maintained. Uh, uh, not even if you were Clark Kent and had a spouse helping, still no way. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with me..

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy
.

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy

Sorry, I guess I just asked the same question everyone else did. I'm just going to make a little joke and then I won't mention this again...I would pay money to watch you do this single handedly because I don't think it's 'high energy' so much as just plain 'high'.

Hopefully you're already working in the field so you know what you're talking about.
.

I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round. You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses.
.

Look, we essentially started this thread primarily for your benefit and everybody has taken great care and time to share their experiences.
Show some respect.
We've all been there and done it.
Being glib won't encourage more ideas or offerings of help.
"I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round."
This ain't the world, this is innkeeping and these are voices of great combined experience and real world, hands on doing it. Not hypothetically or wishful thinking wise.
"You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

"
Not crazy, just inexperienced and unrealistic. She isn't slow, nobody can do it. Even if you drop your standards and cut the cleaning time to half and hour that's four and a half hours, everyday, day in and day out, and in a place your research says is busier than most in the country.
In a normal year, meaning any year but this one for us, between July and mid-November, we will go on runs of 40-50 somtimes more days in a row with at least a couple of rooms occupied and at least a turn or two per day. I swear as someone trying to appreciate your energy and enthusiasm, it catches up with after a while.
Do the math yourself. Between the industry standard average of an 11am check out and the same 3pm check in, you have four hours.
Those four hours get cut into by all the stuff my first repsonse to you on time management include.
"Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses."
This is only true to a certain point when it comes to hands on experience with something.
I may think that a brake job on my 4x4 is easy and should only take my mechanic so many hours, but his many years of experience allows him the insight to know exactly how long it will take.
.

I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement. As for respect, it's given back as it's received.
I have many friends in the hotel industry and have spoke with them about certain aspects, cleaning being one of them. According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes. I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day.
I suppose this is 'innkeeping' and not to knock any establishment, but that's probably why it's a slower pace compared to a hotel.
.

I am not being disrespectful but the timelines for hotels probably explain the reason for all the horror videos about hotel "housekeeping?" It would explain my Funyums bag behind the nightstand at the Marriot for all 4 nights I was there - and telling them about it for 3 of those days! BTW my City Manager went back for another meeting last week and the first place she looked was behind the nightstand - no Funyums bag! they finally got it I guess.
I am not Madam Whiteglovetest (that is DH) but even I take a minimum of 30 to 40 minutes per room for a flip.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Dude, I hate to break it to ya, but there is NO WAY you can handle 9 rooms alone, without a couple three full time staff, not and have a quality clean place that's well marketed and well maintained. Uh, uh, not even if you were Clark Kent and had a spouse helping, still no way. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with me..

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy
.

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy

Sorry, I guess I just asked the same question everyone else did. I'm just going to make a little joke and then I won't mention this again...I would pay money to watch you do this single handedly because I don't think it's 'high energy' so much as just plain 'high'.

Hopefully you're already working in the field so you know what you're talking about.
.

I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round. You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses.
.

Look, we essentially started this thread primarily for your benefit and everybody has taken great care and time to share their experiences.
Show some respect.
We've all been there and done it.
Being glib won't encourage more ideas or offerings of help.
"I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round."
This ain't the world, this is innkeeping and these are voices of great combined experience and real world, hands on doing it. Not hypothetically or wishful thinking wise.
"You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

"
Not crazy, just inexperienced and unrealistic. She isn't slow, nobody can do it. Even if you drop your standards and cut the cleaning time to half and hour that's four and a half hours, everyday, day in and day out, and in a place your research says is busier than most in the country.
In a normal year, meaning any year but this one for us, between July and mid-November, we will go on runs of 40-50 somtimes more days in a row with at least a couple of rooms occupied and at least a turn or two per day. I swear as someone trying to appreciate your energy and enthusiasm, it catches up with after a while.
Do the math yourself. Between the industry standard average of an 11am check out and the same 3pm check in, you have four hours.
Those four hours get cut into by all the stuff my first repsonse to you on time management include.
"Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses."
This is only true to a certain point when it comes to hands on experience with something.
I may think that a brake job on my 4x4 is easy and should only take my mechanic so many hours, but his many years of experience allows him the insight to know exactly how long it will take.
.

I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement. As for respect, it's given back as it's received.
I have many friends in the hotel industry and have spoke with them about certain aspects, cleaning being one of them. According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes. I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day.
I suppose this is 'innkeeping' and not to knock any establishment, but that's probably why it's a slower pace compared to a hotel.
.

"I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement."
Kind of but not exclusively for you. That being said you and any other aspiring innkeepers are getting a whole lot of good, free info, so throwing us a tiny bone on the respect end would be nice, but not required.
We started in the Monster Mullein thread based on your impetus and moved it over here.
"As for respect, it's given back as it's received."
Gotta earn it by paying your dues in the kitchen, bathroom, office, bedrooms, grounds, laundry room, ironing board, conferences, etc.
"According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes."
Your average hotel room is a vastly less decorated and individual looking room, furnishings, laundry, bathroom, etc.. wise. I'd hazard to guess the corporate standards are equally less stringent than your average better quality B&b also.
"I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day."
Then wouldn't it behoove you to compare apples to apples and arm yourself with the most relevant information before possibly making a very large investment in a venture that doesn't match the perceptions you've built about it based on info from some buddies?

 

[Morticia]

Dude, I hate to break it to ya, but there is NO WAY you can handle 9 rooms alone, without a couple three full time staff, not and have a quality clean place that's well marketed and well maintained. Uh, uh, not even if you were Clark Kent and had a spouse helping, still no way. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with me..

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy
.

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy

Sorry, I guess I just asked the same question everyone else did. I'm just going to make a little joke and then I won't mention this again...I would pay money to watch you do this single handedly because I don't think it's 'high energy' so much as just plain 'high'.

Hopefully you're already working in the field so you know what you're talking about.
.

I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round. You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses.
.

Look, we essentially started this thread primarily for your benefit and everybody has taken great care and time to share their experiences.
Show some respect.
We've all been there and done it.
Being glib won't encourage more ideas or offerings of help.
"I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round."
This ain't the world, this is innkeeping and these are voices of great combined experience and real world, hands on doing it. Not hypothetically or wishful thinking wise.
"You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

"
Not crazy, just inexperienced and unrealistic. She isn't slow, nobody can do it. Even if you drop your standards and cut the cleaning time to half and hour that's four and a half hours, everyday, day in and day out, and in a place your research says is busier than most in the country.
In a normal year, meaning any year but this one for us, between July and mid-November, we will go on runs of 40-50 somtimes more days in a row with at least a couple of rooms occupied and at least a turn or two per day. I swear as someone trying to appreciate your energy and enthusiasm, it catches up with after a while.
Do the math yourself. Between the industry standard average of an 11am check out and the same 3pm check in, you have four hours.
Those four hours get cut into by all the stuff my first repsonse to you on time management include.
"Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses."
This is only true to a certain point when it comes to hands on experience with something.
I may think that a brake job on my 4x4 is easy and should only take my mechanic so many hours, but his many years of experience allows him the insight to know exactly how long it will take.
.

I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement. As for respect, it's given back as it's received.
I have many friends in the hotel industry and have spoke with them about certain aspects, cleaning being one of them. According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes. I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day.
I suppose this is 'innkeeping' and not to knock any establishment, but that's probably why it's a slower pace compared to a hotel.
.

"I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement."
Kind of but not exclusively for you. That being said you and any other aspiring innkeepers are getting a whole lot of good, free info, so throwing us a tiny bone on the respect end would be nice, but not required.
We started in the Monster Mullein thread based on your impetus and moved it over here.
"As for respect, it's given back as it's received."
Gotta earn it by paying your dues in the kitchen, bathroom, office, bedrooms, grounds, laundry room, ironing board, conferences, etc.
"According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes."
Your average hotel room is a vastly less decorated and individual looking room, furnishings, laundry, bathroom, etc.. wise. I'd hazard to guess the corporate standards are equally less stringent than your average better quality B&b also.
"I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day."
Then wouldn't it behoove you to compare apples to apples and arm yourself with the most relevant information before possibly making a very large investment in a venture that doesn't match the perceptions you've built about it based on info from some buddies?
.

Then wouldn't it behoove you to compare apples to apples and arm yourself with the most relevant information before possibly making a very large investment in a venture that doesn't match the perceptions you've built about it based on info from some buddies?

Thank you for saying succintly what I tried 5 times to say (and deleted).

 

[JBloggs]

first glimpse I read "buying a turkey" or

 

[JBloggs]

Interesting to hear both sides so far... I'll add my own short, little thoughts in here:
-Purchasing an existing- I like the idea of this because the licensing is in place as is the business. I could walk in, make the changes I want, yet not have a tremendous amount of remodeling, etc. to do.
-Creating from scratch- I like this because as Little Blue said, many inns I've seen cannot afford the mortgage payments based on the current revenue. They're overpriced.
In some areas I've looked there are no more licenses for new inns so you pretty much have to buy an existing. The good news is based off of chamber numbers, occupancy is around 80% weekends and 60% weekdays... the best part of it being, these are off season numbers. In season is steadily around 95-100% occupancy, even still in this recession. The bad news is insurance is up the kazoo as are taxes. One inn I looked in to has been on the market since 2004. The price isn't too bad; however, the current zoning now inhibits any future possibilities of growth.
As I've said, due diligence on different areas, and current inns is very time consuming..

Interesting to hear both sides so far... I'll add my own short, little thoughts in here:
-Purchasing an existing- I like the idea of this because the licensing is in place as is the business. I could walk in, make the changes I want, yet not have a tremendous amount of remodeling, etc. to do.
-Creating from scratch- I like this because as Little Blue said, many inns I've seen cannot afford the mortgage payments based on the current revenue. They're overpriced.
In some areas I've looked there are no more licenses for new inns so you pretty much have to buy an existing. The good news is based off of chamber numbers, occupancy is around 80% weekends and 60% weekdays... the best part of it being, these are off season numbers. In season is steadily around 95-100% occupancy, even still in this recession. The bad news is insurance is up the kazoo as are taxes. One inn I looked in to has been on the market since 2004. The price isn't too bad; however, the current zoning now inhibits any future possibilities of growth.
As I've said, due diligence on different areas, and current inns is very time consuming.

Is the chamber the one who can accurately give out occupancy? and is it specific to one place you looked at or overall?
If those are off season then that is called "the jackpot" for revenue, I can't imagine any place having those numbers off season. If $ is a determining factor then that is the 'location location location' right there.

 

[JBloggs]

Just don't go into "analysis paralysis", I had a case of that for about 10 years before we jumped in. What size Inns are you looking at? You said you'll be on your own....are you ok with an outside staff or looking for something you can handle alone?.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.
.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.

With 60% occup with 9 rooms on your own would be humanly impossible. An hour to clean each room, plus all the rest of the work managing the business, food service, guest time, laundry. (Sorry I got back onto the forum after no internet access and am on the tail end of this, sorry to be annoying everyone).

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Dude, I hate to break it to ya, but there is NO WAY you can handle 9 rooms alone, without a couple three full time staff, not and have a quality clean place that's well marketed and well maintained. Uh, uh, not even if you were Clark Kent and had a spouse helping, still no way. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with me..

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy
.

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy

Sorry, I guess I just asked the same question everyone else did. I'm just going to make a little joke and then I won't mention this again...I would pay money to watch you do this single handedly because I don't think it's 'high energy' so much as just plain 'high'.

Hopefully you're already working in the field so you know what you're talking about.
.

I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round. You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses.
.

Look, we essentially started this thread primarily for your benefit and everybody has taken great care and time to share their experiences.
Show some respect.
We've all been there and done it.
Being glib won't encourage more ideas or offerings of help.
"I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round."
This ain't the world, this is innkeeping and these are voices of great combined experience and real world, hands on doing it. Not hypothetically or wishful thinking wise.
"You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

"
Not crazy, just inexperienced and unrealistic. She isn't slow, nobody can do it. Even if you drop your standards and cut the cleaning time to half and hour that's four and a half hours, everyday, day in and day out, and in a place your research says is busier than most in the country.
In a normal year, meaning any year but this one for us, between July and mid-November, we will go on runs of 40-50 somtimes more days in a row with at least a couple of rooms occupied and at least a turn or two per day. I swear as someone trying to appreciate your energy and enthusiasm, it catches up with after a while.
Do the math yourself. Between the industry standard average of an 11am check out and the same 3pm check in, you have four hours.
Those four hours get cut into by all the stuff my first repsonse to you on time management include.
"Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses."
This is only true to a certain point when it comes to hands on experience with something.
I may think that a brake job on my 4x4 is easy and should only take my mechanic so many hours, but his many years of experience allows him the insight to know exactly how long it will take.
.

I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement. As for respect, it's given back as it's received.
I have many friends in the hotel industry and have spoke with them about certain aspects, cleaning being one of them. According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes. I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day.
I suppose this is 'innkeeping' and not to knock any establishment, but that's probably why it's a slower pace compared to a hotel.
.

"I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement."
Kind of but not exclusively for you. That being said you and any other aspiring innkeepers are getting a whole lot of good, free info, so throwing us a tiny bone on the respect end would be nice, but not required.
We started in the Monster Mullein thread based on your impetus and moved it over here.
"As for respect, it's given back as it's received."
Gotta earn it by paying your dues in the kitchen, bathroom, office, bedrooms, grounds, laundry room, ironing board, conferences, etc.
"According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes."
Your average hotel room is a vastly less decorated and individual looking room, furnishings, laundry, bathroom, etc.. wise. I'd hazard to guess the corporate standards are equally less stringent than your average better quality B&b also.
"I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day."
Then wouldn't it behoove you to compare apples to apples and arm yourself with the most relevant information before possibly making a very large investment in a venture that doesn't match the perceptions you've built about it based on info from some buddies?
.

Then wouldn't it behoove you to compare apples to apples and arm yourself with the most relevant information before possibly making a very large investment in a venture that doesn't match the perceptions you've built about it based on info from some buddies?

Thank you for saying succintly what I tried 5 times to say (and deleted).
.

what are you nuts?

The two words "TimToad" and "succinctly" are mutually exclusive terms. LOL

Its officially the weekend.

 

[Morticia]

Just don't go into "analysis paralysis", I had a case of that for about 10 years before we jumped in. What size Inns are you looking at? You said you'll be on your own....are you ok with an outside staff or looking for something you can handle alone?.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.
.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.

With 60% occup with 9 rooms on your own would be humanly impossible. An hour to clean each room, plus all the rest of the work managing the business, food service, guest time, laundry. (Sorry I got back onto the forum after no internet access and am on the tail end of this, sorry to be annoying everyone).
.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.

With 60% occup with 9 rooms on your own would be humanly impossible. An hour to clean each room, plus all the rest of the work managing the business, food service, guest time, laundry. (Sorry I got back onto the forum after no internet access and am on the tail end of this, sorry to be annoying everyone).

Then you missed the part where a fluff takes 7 minutes and a flip takes less than 20 minutes. Which basically means all the rooms done in under 3 hours if they are all flips. If they are all fluffs, you're done in just over an hour, but that could probably be shaved back so it's one hour only. I can fluff a room in 5 minutes if all I do is make the bed, empty the trash and vacuum. Really, it's more like 3 minutes but maybe my rooms are smaller than a hotel room.
Hey, glad you got your internet connection back. Our internet/phone provider just filed for bankruptcy after less than a year of ownership (more like 5 months), so I'm just holding my breath here waiting for everything to go dead.

 

[Mr.Design]

Interesting to hear both sides so far... I'll add my own short, little thoughts in here:
-Purchasing an existing- I like the idea of this because the licensing is in place as is the business. I could walk in, make the changes I want, yet not have a tremendous amount of remodeling, etc. to do.
-Creating from scratch- I like this because as Little Blue said, many inns I've seen cannot afford the mortgage payments based on the current revenue. They're overpriced.
In some areas I've looked there are no more licenses for new inns so you pretty much have to buy an existing. The good news is based off of chamber numbers, occupancy is around 80% weekends and 60% weekdays... the best part of it being, these are off season numbers. In season is steadily around 95-100% occupancy, even still in this recession. The bad news is insurance is up the kazoo as are taxes. One inn I looked in to has been on the market since 2004. The price isn't too bad; however, the current zoning now inhibits any future possibilities of growth.
As I've said, due diligence on different areas, and current inns is very time consuming..

Interesting to hear both sides so far... I'll add my own short, little thoughts in here:
-Purchasing an existing- I like the idea of this because the licensing is in place as is the business. I could walk in, make the changes I want, yet not have a tremendous amount of remodeling, etc. to do.
-Creating from scratch- I like this because as Little Blue said, many inns I've seen cannot afford the mortgage payments based on the current revenue. They're overpriced.
In some areas I've looked there are no more licenses for new inns so you pretty much have to buy an existing. The good news is based off of chamber numbers, occupancy is around 80% weekends and 60% weekdays... the best part of it being, these are off season numbers. In season is steadily around 95-100% occupancy, even still in this recession. The bad news is insurance is up the kazoo as are taxes. One inn I looked in to has been on the market since 2004. The price isn't too bad; however, the current zoning now inhibits any future possibilities of growth.
As I've said, due diligence on different areas, and current inns is very time consuming.

Is the chamber the one who can accurately give out occupancy? and is it specific to one place you looked at or overall?
If those are off season then that is called "the jackpot" for revenue, I can't imagine any place having those numbers off season. If $ is a determining factor then that is the 'location location location' right there.

.

It would seem like a jackpot... until you get your tax bill... just some of the listings:
$37,000
$22,000
$33,000
$16,000
$18,000
Per year. I rounded all the numbers, mostly down. Jackpot, meet Mr. Taxman LOL Adding insurance, utilities, etc. on there, it gets substantial.

 

[wendydk]

Just don't go into "analysis paralysis", I had a case of that for about 10 years before we jumped in. What size Inns are you looking at? You said you'll be on your own....are you ok with an outside staff or looking for something you can handle alone?.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.
.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.

With 60% occup with 9 rooms on your own would be humanly impossible. An hour to clean each room, plus all the rest of the work managing the business, food service, guest time, laundry. (Sorry I got back onto the forum after no internet access and am on the tail end of this, sorry to be annoying everyone).
.

I missed you Joe, wondered what had happened to you!

 

[JBloggs]

Just don't go into "analysis paralysis", I had a case of that for about 10 years before we jumped in. What size Inns are you looking at? You said you'll be on your own....are you ok with an outside staff or looking for something you can handle alone?.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.
.

Love that term LOL
If I'm going in to the expensive area, "Area A" I would be looking at 20-25 rooms.
The inexpensive area, "Area B" is limited by the city to 9 rooms, so I would be 9 rooms.
I'm not 'over the hill' yet so I could handle 9 on my own. If I went higher I would need some housekeeping help.
I will be doing a continental breakfast buffet, regardless of where I end up though.

With 60% occup with 9 rooms on your own would be humanly impossible. An hour to clean each room, plus all the rest of the work managing the business, food service, guest time, laundry. (Sorry I got back onto the forum after no internet access and am on the tail end of this, sorry to be annoying everyone).
.

I missed you Joe, wondered what had happened to you!
.

I missed you Joe, wondered what had happened to you!

Why thank you. You have all been busy here I might require a power nap and hit the other threads after. ha Happy Independence Day to all ye Yanks!

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

I'll start. We bought an existing B&B. Although we had investigated both options over many years, we were far enough away from retirement that we knew we were not buying our final property, and our main source of income was going to be the inn. So we wanted a place with an income stream already in place. We really had no trouble getting financing - our own financial situation was strong, and the bank was very familiar with the property and we were approved in less than 24 hours.
It was not all roses. The previous owner misled us about her revenue from the inn, and the broker we worked with didn't really lead us to the appropriate places to verify the revenue. There was more maintenance work required to bring the inn up to our standards than we thought. We didn't suffer too much financially the first two years but we worked very hard to fix the problems of the business.
We do love the town we're in and the house itself is very much what I pictured for myself in running a B&B. The business has grown dramatically since we bought and our revenue is increased by 50%; we are holding our own in a soft economy due to the proximity to some major metropolitan areas less affected by the recession.
I'd be curious for those who did a startup if one partner worked full-time while the other got the business going..

"I'd be curious for those who did a startup if one partner worked full-time while the other got the business going."
Oh you mean, she'll get to quit the other full time job at some point? LOL

 

[muirford]

I'll start. We bought an existing B&B. Although we had investigated both options over many years, we were far enough away from retirement that we knew we were not buying our final property, and our main source of income was going to be the inn. So we wanted a place with an income stream already in place. We really had no trouble getting financing - our own financial situation was strong, and the bank was very familiar with the property and we were approved in less than 24 hours.
It was not all roses. The previous owner misled us about her revenue from the inn, and the broker we worked with didn't really lead us to the appropriate places to verify the revenue. There was more maintenance work required to bring the inn up to our standards than we thought. We didn't suffer too much financially the first two years but we worked very hard to fix the problems of the business.
We do love the town we're in and the house itself is very much what I pictured for myself in running a B&B. The business has grown dramatically since we bought and our revenue is increased by 50%; we are holding our own in a soft economy due to the proximity to some major metropolitan areas less affected by the recession.
I'd be curious for those who did a startup if one partner worked full-time while the other got the business going..

"I'd be curious for those who did a startup if one partner worked full-time while the other got the business going."
Oh you mean, she'll get to quit the other full time job at some point? LOL
.

So does your wife work another job besides innkeeping? Holy cow, how does she do those breakfasts?
We investigated and 'seminar'ed for about 15 years before making the leap and one reason that we bought a turnkey was that we couldn't find the right combo of having a job (one of us) and a good B&B business, in a place that we wanted to live. So knowing that the B&B would need to support us after I worked through about six months of part-time contract consulting work, we decided a turnkey was the right choice. It helped that we found a town and an inn that we loved. In the last year, my husband has started to do some contract software work (his 'other' trade besides handyman and bathroom cleaner) to ease the transition when we sell the inn.

 

[wendydk]

Dude, I hate to break it to ya, but there is NO WAY you can handle 9 rooms alone, without a couple three full time staff, not and have a quality clean place that's well marketed and well maintained. Uh, uh, not even if you were Clark Kent and had a spouse helping, still no way. I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with me..

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy
.

I'll just leave this part with, I have high energy

Sorry, I guess I just asked the same question everyone else did. I'm just going to make a little joke and then I won't mention this again...I would pay money to watch you do this single handedly because I don't think it's 'high energy' so much as just plain 'high'.

Hopefully you're already working in the field so you know what you're talking about.
.

I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round. You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses.
.

Look, we essentially started this thread primarily for your benefit and everybody has taken great care and time to share their experiences.
Show some respect.
We've all been there and done it.
Being glib won't encourage more ideas or offerings of help.
"I guess all people are different and that's what makes the world go round."
This ain't the world, this is innkeeping and these are voices of great combined experience and real world, hands on doing it. Not hypothetically or wishful thinking wise.
"You think I'm crazy for thinking I can do 9 rooms, I think you're slow because you can't

"
Not crazy, just inexperienced and unrealistic. She isn't slow, nobody can do it. Even if you drop your standards and cut the cleaning time to half and hour that's four and a half hours, everyday, day in and day out, and in a place your research says is busier than most in the country.
In a normal year, meaning any year but this one for us, between July and mid-November, we will go on runs of 40-50 somtimes more days in a row with at least a couple of rooms occupied and at least a turn or two per day. I swear as someone trying to appreciate your energy and enthusiasm, it catches up with after a while.
Do the math yourself. Between the industry standard average of an 11am check out and the same 3pm check in, you have four hours.
Those four hours get cut into by all the stuff my first repsonse to you on time management include.
"Everyone is different and my thoughts are neither better or worse than anyone elses."
This is only true to a certain point when it comes to hands on experience with something.
I may think that a brake job on my 4x4 is easy and should only take my mechanic so many hours, but his many years of experience allows him the insight to know exactly how long it will take.
.

I wasn't aware that this thread was started just for me. I must have missed the announcement. As for respect, it's given back as it's received.
I have many friends in the hotel industry and have spoke with them about certain aspects, cleaning being one of them. According to them standard cleaning time is between 15-20 minutes per room for a "flip." A "fluff" as you all say, is 7 minutes. I might add that these are not mom and pop type operations but mega resorts. On average there are 40 rooms per floor with two to three housekeepers per floor, per day.
I suppose this is 'innkeeping' and not to knock any establishment, but that's probably why it's a slower pace compared to a hotel.
.

So, you have friends in the industry but have never worked at a hotel or an Inn?
Well, here's some free advice, for whatever that's worth. I managed four large hotels over the course of 18 years before opening my own little Inn 6 years ago...from a little highway Econolodge to an historic downtown hotel and conference center to an expensive beachfront resort. In NONE of those hotels did we allow anything less than half an hour per room per housekeeper for a full flip. That half hour allows for trips to storage closets and the laundry when needed as well as actual cleaning time.
I might also add that the housekeeper did not have to answer phones, take reservations, check people in or out, cook or serve or clean up after brekkie, do laundry (much less for nine rooms), go shopping, do the marketing, mow the lawn, weed the gardens, fix broken A/c units or hot water heaters, sit and chat with guests, give dinner recommendations or directions or help guests figure out "what to do today", or clean porches or balconies and their furniture,...etc...etc. Can you fix everything that breaks? Can you cook? Can you deal with some PO'd guest who is in your face about all of the above not getting done?? Can you get a whole weeks shopping done somewhere in there?
Let's say you have four hours between checkout and checkin, and each of your nine rooms takes 20 minutes for a flip. That's three hours...how on earth are you going to get any of the other above mentioned stuff done? Laundry alone for nine rooms would take the ENTIRE day, if you could even get it all done in one day.
Even with all my experience, and my spouse doing brekkie, and only three rooms, I sometimes have a hard time getting all of the things listed above done in one day. Unless you have been in the industry, or at the very least, taken an aspiring innkeeper class or done some type of internship, you have absolutely no idea what you're getting into, and therefore, I'm sorry to say, no leg to stand on when it comes to disputing any advice given you on this forum. The $1.99 ebook that tells you that you can get rich by renting out your spare bedrooms is full of

.
You sound like a great number-cruncher, and no doubt you'll have the whole financial thing analyzed down to the last fraction, but that's the least of your worries. Don't lay down a penny for option A or option B until you get some experience under your belt. Pop for some classes, hire on at a busy Inn, do an internship.
Honest to God....this advice comes from the heart....