Checkin/Checkout - two ideas to make more $ and give guests more flexibility?

[happykeeper]

A suggestion for you while you're still in the planning stages. This is from a business class I took years ago before I started my first business.
Make a list of every activity you need to do in a day, a week, a month, a year. (Some activities you only do once/month.)
Next to that put down how long you expect this task to take if you do only this task and no other task at the same time.
Next to that put down who will do this task.
Next to that put down if the task can be skipped for one day, week, month if the person who does the job can't. (Sickness, accident, they quit, etc)
Ex:

• Breakfast (break it down further as well into prep time, cooking, serving, table setting, cleanup)..... 4 hours..... Self and partner
• Clean rooms.....30 minutes per room..... Housekeeper
• Answer phones....
• Take reservations.....
• Give directions.....
• Check in..... 10 minutes/room
• Check out.....
• Marketing
• Laundry
• Breakfast, lunch, dinner for self and family
• Blogging
• Website updates
• Self improvement classes
• Tourism conferences
• Repairs and maintenance
• Vacation
• Etc

If you do this in advance you won't be stunned to find there are not enough hours in the day to do everything. I had enormous plans when we first started that quickly got scaled back when I realized 2 people cannot run a B&B of this size, grow and can their own food, source only organically grown meat, etc.
Out the door went sheets that required ironing everyday. Out went tchotchkes that had to be moved every time I dusted. Out went the rocking chairs that scraped and dented the walls. Out went the white pillow shams that turned gray after a couple of washes. Out went every bit of bedding that could not be washed in a machine..

Out with ironing anything. Out with anything except the Chef's Choice and your dietary restrictions. Out went anything unrelated that would take one minute of our time between 11 am and 3 pm, out went cleaning any rooms (we hired a room manager), out went haphazard vacation time.
A guest just asked us this morning and I said, "If you don't stay balanced, you cannot do what we do. If you do stay balanced, this is one of the most rewarding jobs you could have ever dreamed up."

 

[Tom]

Sounds like a complicated and not very friendly solution to a problem you may not have. Open your inn and see what needs to be done when you have some guests through.
The problem with early/late isn't the money, it is the inconvenience. I figure: if I am going to be here, and they are early, and let me know, I'll check them in. If I am not going to be here, 7 bucks isn't going to make me stay home.

 

[JBloggs]

Sounds like a complicated and not very friendly solution to a problem you may not have. Open your inn and see what needs to be done when you have some guests through.
The problem with early/late isn't the money, it is the inconvenience. I figure: if I am going to be here, and they are early, and let me know, I'll check them in. If I am not going to be here, 7 bucks isn't going to make me stay home..

Sounds like a complicated and not very friendly solution to a problem you may not have.

Wiser words were never spoken.

 

[JBloggs]

A suggestion for you while you're still in the planning stages. This is from a business class I took years ago before I started my first business.
Make a list of every activity you need to do in a day, a week, a month, a year. (Some activities you only do once/month.)
Next to that put down how long you expect this task to take if you do only this task and no other task at the same time.
Next to that put down who will do this task.
Next to that put down if the task can be skipped for one day, week, month if the person who does the job can't. (Sickness, accident, they quit, etc)
Ex:

• Breakfast (break it down further as well into prep time, cooking, serving, table setting, cleanup)..... 4 hours..... Self and partner
• Clean rooms.....30 minutes per room..... Housekeeper
• Answer phones....
• Take reservations.....
• Give directions.....
• Check in..... 10 minutes/room
• Check out.....
• Marketing
• Laundry
• Breakfast, lunch, dinner for self and family
• Blogging
• Website updates
• Self improvement classes
• Tourism conferences
• Repairs and maintenance
• Vacation
• Etc

If you do this in advance you won't be stunned to find there are not enough hours in the day to do everything. I had enormous plans when we first started that quickly got scaled back when I realized 2 people cannot run a B&B of this size, grow and can their own food, source only organically grown meat, etc.
Out the door went sheets that required ironing everyday. Out went tchotchkes that had to be moved every time I dusted. Out went the rocking chairs that scraped and dented the walls. Out went the white pillow shams that turned gray after a couple of washes. Out went every bit of bedding that could not be washed in a machine..

A suggestion for you while you're still in the planning stages. This is from a business class I took years ago before I started my first business.
Make a list of every activity you need to do in a day, a week, a month, a year. (Some activities you only do once/month.)
Next to that put down how long you expect this task to take if you do only this task and no other task at the same time.
Next to that put down who will do this task.
Next to that put down if the task can be skipped for one day, week, month if the person who does the job can't. (Sickness, accident, they quit, etc)
Ex:

• Breakfast (break it down further as well into prep time, cooking, serving, table setting, cleanup)..... 4 hours..... Self and partner
• Clean rooms.....30 minutes per room..... Housekeeper
• Answer phones....
• Take reservations.....
• Give directions.....
• Check in..... 10 minutes/room
• Check out.....
• Marketing
• Laundry
• Breakfast, lunch, dinner for self and family
• Blogging
• Website updates
• Self improvement classes
• Tourism conferences
• Repairs and maintenance
• Vacation
• Etc

This is a great list! You should sell this list.
We give so much away on this forum. People have no idea the value in what you have just shared. In what all these veteran innkeepers share here.
And then of course to the list, we all have a different breakdown to the % given to each item on the list, and then...each day is a different breakfast to the % given.
And for a person to understand - laundry is ongoing, it is a cycle that never stops. We just do it all day every day in season. From wake up til we drag ourselves to bed. if you want to stand in front of a press or iron that would take an entire extra body. Just for the laundry department. Do you make enough in room revenue to hire another body for laundry alone, or will you become a slave to the linen department? Will you guests ooh and ahh over 100% cotton pressed sheets or pillowcases? Maybe. Maybe they notice and don't say anything. Maybe they expect it. Maybe they could care less. The jury is out on that one (imo). What I appreciate as a guest you may not appreciate.
Back to my story of an innmate from this forum (many moons ago now...)
We arrived and after being on the road for multiple hours, we checked in and he said without hesitation "restrooms are right there" and waited for us, then we came back and he waltzed us on over to the mini fridge, bent down and proceeded to hand us liquids of our choosing.
My DH never got over that and thought that was the best thing at a B&B on earth. It was simple, inexpensive, it was hospitality. It reached DH. A bud vase in the room with a fresh posie or rose would not reach DH. A welcome and being handed a bottle of ginger-ale reached DH.