Menu price built into room price

[CaliGirl]

Thank you all for your feedback. Will take your advice and build everything into the room price. Now to figure out how much it will cost per head to serve a hot breakfast and wine/cheese hour, plus utilities, expenses, etc. The good news is that the B&B is in wine country, and we have a winery on property but it still costs money to serve it. Yes, we have the appropriate County approvals. I still have to take the Food Safety Certification - fingers crossed since I heard it is 90 questions! BTW - I registered for the Aspiring Innkeepers Cabbi Conference in January so hope to learn a lot of tips & tricks..

I would also say if you are doing a wine and cheese hour I would (as you have the stuff in anyway) offer it as a room service add on ie set price for a cheese plate/bottle of wine - I am a grumpy sod don't want to share my quiet time with others but would pay for it in my room as a snack - costs nothing to have as an option.
.

Interesting idea Jcam. Will explore this as a room service snack offer.

 

[gillumhouse]

ps My first month or so I discovered I was serving too much food. A plated breakfast plus I had hardboiled eggs, and yogurts, cereals and muffins and things on a buffet table. I've said this so many times but I'll say it again. The buffet table was for those who didn't want the plated breakfast ... not for those who gleefully told me they were taking food with them and wouldn't even have to buy lunch. As though it were free for me to provide. Signage didn't help. So I had to eliminate the buffet table and offer those items to those who declined the plated breakfast..

We learned that lesson with the bananas. They rarely ended in their fruit cup where they were supposed to go. They went out the door as fast as we could refill them.
.

Our fruit basket in the room is a 50/50 as to whether it is eaten/taken with or not touched. I usually include 2 bananas, 3-5 apples (depending on size) and a couple packs of snack crackers. The baskets are not large enough for more than that so it looks "filled". I made the baskets - the basket on the mantle is the largest one.

 

[Morticia]

You need to figure what ALL of your costs are going to be and then determine how much you need to make to cover those and make a living. If you have a reasonable idea of what the occupancy rate is going to be, then you'll be able to figure out what your room costs should be. Here our rates started at $165-$295 10 years ago and I've been increasing them yearly as my costs of food, utilities, etc. went up and now they are $200-$325. (Those prices are higher for peak times, holidays and of course foliage). In my situation, we live in a state where the property taxes are very high - I pay over $24,000 a year. So in that case, I better be able to make enough on the rooms with our occupancy to cover that $24K or that would come out of my income which isn't that much to support a family of 4.
By the way, I tried wine and cheese for a little while this past year. Our guests are very active people and often come back in from long days, shower and then go out to dinner. I was throwing out lots of crackers and cheese after it had been a couple hours and many people are particular about their wine. I realized that my afternoon cookies are much more popular for my crowd so I ditched that idea.
As someone above said, you should figure it so that you make a nice living doing it or you won't want to do it for long..

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.
.

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.

So true. When we have guests ask if we'll make dinner for them, I understand they have zero idea of how long I've been 'at work' by 6 or 7 pm when they want a 3 course dinner with wine prepared for them.
No, sorry, my license doesn't allow dinner. Even if it did, no thanks.

 

[Morticia]

loved giving wine and cheese - then got a warning from the inspector that I didn't have a liquor license and couldn't. so it was back to the cookies. less expensive, too! but those who enjoyed the wine were bumming. There is some way around it ... if guest shares wine or something. Sometimes I'd try something until I found out it wasn't allowed. Other times I'd find rules and regs so confusing ... I'd decide it wasn't worth it..

I think when we first started we could have wine out as long as it was for everyone and we didn't pour. So, set out for guests to take if they wanted.
Then, either the rules changed or we had been misinformed. I also had to remove wine from all of our packages. We used to have a wine shop in town that would deliver. He took the bottle right to the room, I never touched it. That was OK, but the store closed.

 

[Jcam]

You need to figure what ALL of your costs are going to be and then determine how much you need to make to cover those and make a living. If you have a reasonable idea of what the occupancy rate is going to be, then you'll be able to figure out what your room costs should be. Here our rates started at $165-$295 10 years ago and I've been increasing them yearly as my costs of food, utilities, etc. went up and now they are $200-$325. (Those prices are higher for peak times, holidays and of course foliage). In my situation, we live in a state where the property taxes are very high - I pay over $24,000 a year. So in that case, I better be able to make enough on the rooms with our occupancy to cover that $24K or that would come out of my income which isn't that much to support a family of 4.
By the way, I tried wine and cheese for a little while this past year. Our guests are very active people and often come back in from long days, shower and then go out to dinner. I was throwing out lots of crackers and cheese after it had been a couple hours and many people are particular about their wine. I realized that my afternoon cookies are much more popular for my crowd so I ditched that idea.
As someone above said, you should figure it so that you make a nice living doing it or you won't want to do it for long..

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.
.

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.

So true. When we have guests ask if we'll make dinner for them, I understand they have zero idea of how long I've been 'at work' by 6 or 7 pm when they want a 3 course dinner with wine prepared for them.
No, sorry, my license doesn't allow dinner. Even if it did, no thanks.
.

We could do it if we so desired but the margins are so small its not worth it - it you would make about $8 on 4 hours work - nope not for me.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail.

 

[anniesguesthouse]

Thank you all for your feedback. Will take your advice and build everything into the room price. Now to figure out how much it will cost per head to serve a hot breakfast and wine/cheese hour, plus utilities, expenses, etc. The good news is that the B&B is in wine country, and we have a winery on property but it still costs money to serve it. Yes, we have the appropriate County approvals. I still have to take the Food Safety Certification - fingers crossed since I heard it is 90 questions! BTW - I registered for the Aspiring Innkeepers Cabbi Conference in January so hope to learn a lot of tips & tricks..

Thank you all for your feedback. Will take your advice and build everything into the room price. Now to figure out how much it will cost per head to serve a hot breakfast and wine/cheese hour, plus utilities, expenses, etc. The good news is that the B&B is in wine country, and we have a winery on property but it still costs money to serve it. Yes, we have the appropriate County approvals. I still have to take the Food Safety Certification - fingers crossed since I heard it is 90 questions! BTW - I registered for the Aspiring Innkeepers Cabbi Conference in January so hope to learn a lot of tips & tricks.

Have you considered approaching other wineries in your area and asking them if they would like to "sponsor" your wine and cheese hour? Ie supply the wine in exchange for passing literature and maybe a discount coupon, a winery tour discount or something along those lines to your guests? If there are several wineries in your area you could allocate them a night each to market their product. On the guest side of things you could label it a tasting session supported by and supporting local wineries.

 

[happykeeper]

You need to figure what ALL of your costs are going to be and then determine how much you need to make to cover those and make a living. If you have a reasonable idea of what the occupancy rate is going to be, then you'll be able to figure out what your room costs should be. Here our rates started at $165-$295 10 years ago and I've been increasing them yearly as my costs of food, utilities, etc. went up and now they are $200-$325. (Those prices are higher for peak times, holidays and of course foliage). In my situation, we live in a state where the property taxes are very high - I pay over $24,000 a year. So in that case, I better be able to make enough on the rooms with our occupancy to cover that $24K or that would come out of my income which isn't that much to support a family of 4.
By the way, I tried wine and cheese for a little while this past year. Our guests are very active people and often come back in from long days, shower and then go out to dinner. I was throwing out lots of crackers and cheese after it had been a couple hours and many people are particular about their wine. I realized that my afternoon cookies are much more popular for my crowd so I ditched that idea.
As someone above said, you should figure it so that you make a nice living doing it or you won't want to do it for long..

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.
.

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.

So true. When we have guests ask if we'll make dinner for them, I understand they have zero idea of how long I've been 'at work' by 6 or 7 pm when they want a 3 course dinner with wine prepared for them.
No, sorry, my license doesn't allow dinner. Even if it did, no thanks.
.

We could do it if we so desired but the margins are so small its not worth it - it you would make about $8 on 4 hours work - nope not for me.
.

Now that's interesting. We find dinner to be a cash cow of sorts. We are often surprised at the end of a month how much this adds to the bottom line. Mind you, because we operate as a full service inn, we are either going to be sitting on the lanai with them or making dinner for them, so it's comparing $25-$45 a head to $0 a head for our time. I would rather be making dinner for 8 that I have down pat than sittin' around.

 

[Lee2014]

ps My first month or so I discovered I was serving too much food. A plated breakfast plus I had hardboiled eggs, and yogurts, cereals and muffins and things on a buffet table. I've said this so many times but I'll say it again. The buffet table was for those who didn't want the plated breakfast ... not for those who gleefully told me they were taking food with them and wouldn't even have to buy lunch. As though it were free for me to provide. Signage didn't help. So I had to eliminate the buffet table and offer those items to those who declined the plated breakfast..

We learned that lesson with the bananas. They rarely ended in their fruit cup where they were supposed to go. They went out the door as fast as we could refill them.
.

Our fruit basket in the room is a 50/50 as to whether it is eaten/taken with or not touched. I usually include 2 bananas, 3-5 apples (depending on size) and a couple packs of snack crackers. The baskets are not large enough for more than that so it looks "filled". I made the baskets - the basket on the mantle is the largest one.

.

Looks very nice! Our bananas were in the dining room set up next to our fruit dish.... We thought they wouldn't look nice in the fruit dish cut up.

 

[gillumhouse]

ps My first month or so I discovered I was serving too much food. A plated breakfast plus I had hardboiled eggs, and yogurts, cereals and muffins and things on a buffet table. I've said this so many times but I'll say it again. The buffet table was for those who didn't want the plated breakfast ... not for those who gleefully told me they were taking food with them and wouldn't even have to buy lunch. As though it were free for me to provide. Signage didn't help. So I had to eliminate the buffet table and offer those items to those who declined the plated breakfast..

We learned that lesson with the bananas. They rarely ended in their fruit cup where they were supposed to go. They went out the door as fast as we could refill them.
.

Our fruit basket in the room is a 50/50 as to whether it is eaten/taken with or not touched. I usually include 2 bananas, 3-5 apples (depending on size) and a couple packs of snack crackers. The baskets are not large enough for more than that so it looks "filled". I made the baskets - the basket on the mantle is the largest one.

.

Looks very nice! Our bananas were in the dining room set up next to our fruit dish.... We thought they wouldn't look nice in the fruit dish cut up.
.

Dip the cut up bananas in lemon or orange juice and they stay looking pretty.

 

[Jcam]

You need to figure what ALL of your costs are going to be and then determine how much you need to make to cover those and make a living. If you have a reasonable idea of what the occupancy rate is going to be, then you'll be able to figure out what your room costs should be. Here our rates started at $165-$295 10 years ago and I've been increasing them yearly as my costs of food, utilities, etc. went up and now they are $200-$325. (Those prices are higher for peak times, holidays and of course foliage). In my situation, we live in a state where the property taxes are very high - I pay over $24,000 a year. So in that case, I better be able to make enough on the rooms with our occupancy to cover that $24K or that would come out of my income which isn't that much to support a family of 4.
By the way, I tried wine and cheese for a little while this past year. Our guests are very active people and often come back in from long days, shower and then go out to dinner. I was throwing out lots of crackers and cheese after it had been a couple hours and many people are particular about their wine. I realized that my afternoon cookies are much more popular for my crowd so I ditched that idea.
As someone above said, you should figure it so that you make a nice living doing it or you won't want to do it for long..

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.
.

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.

So true. When we have guests ask if we'll make dinner for them, I understand they have zero idea of how long I've been 'at work' by 6 or 7 pm when they want a 3 course dinner with wine prepared for them.
No, sorry, my license doesn't allow dinner. Even if it did, no thanks.
.

We could do it if we so desired but the margins are so small its not worth it - it you would make about $8 on 4 hours work - nope not for me.
.

Now that's interesting. We find dinner to be a cash cow of sorts. We are often surprised at the end of a month how much this adds to the bottom line. Mind you, because we operate as a full service inn, we are either going to be sitting on the lanai with them or making dinner for them, so it's comparing $25-$45 a head to $0 a head for our time. I would rather be making dinner for 8 that I have down pat than sittin' around.
.

See we are in the town center - just off the restaurant district. I would realistically be serving dinner for about 4 people a week top end - just isn't worth having the stuff in.

 

[happykeeper]

You need to figure what ALL of your costs are going to be and then determine how much you need to make to cover those and make a living. If you have a reasonable idea of what the occupancy rate is going to be, then you'll be able to figure out what your room costs should be. Here our rates started at $165-$295 10 years ago and I've been increasing them yearly as my costs of food, utilities, etc. went up and now they are $200-$325. (Those prices are higher for peak times, holidays and of course foliage). In my situation, we live in a state where the property taxes are very high - I pay over $24,000 a year. So in that case, I better be able to make enough on the rooms with our occupancy to cover that $24K or that would come out of my income which isn't that much to support a family of 4.
By the way, I tried wine and cheese for a little while this past year. Our guests are very active people and often come back in from long days, shower and then go out to dinner. I was throwing out lots of crackers and cheese after it had been a couple hours and many people are particular about their wine. I realized that my afternoon cookies are much more popular for my crowd so I ditched that idea.
As someone above said, you should figure it so that you make a nice living doing it or you won't want to do it for long..

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.
.

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.

So true. When we have guests ask if we'll make dinner for them, I understand they have zero idea of how long I've been 'at work' by 6 or 7 pm when they want a 3 course dinner with wine prepared for them.
No, sorry, my license doesn't allow dinner. Even if it did, no thanks.
.

We could do it if we so desired but the margins are so small its not worth it - it you would make about $8 on 4 hours work - nope not for me.
.

Now that's interesting. We find dinner to be a cash cow of sorts. We are often surprised at the end of a month how much this adds to the bottom line. Mind you, because we operate as a full service inn, we are either going to be sitting on the lanai with them or making dinner for them, so it's comparing $25-$45 a head to $0 a head for our time. I would rather be making dinner for 8 that I have down pat than sittin' around.
.

See we are in the town center - just off the restaurant district. I would realistically be serving dinner for about 4 people a week top end - just isn't worth having the stuff in.
.

Totally get it. We are out in the country and it allows us to add an extra dimension to the experience. We stayed at a place in Auckland with 10 great restaurants within walking distance. It wouldn't make any sense for them to do dinner. For us, creating the country inn experience has had a major impact on getting people to reserve and their overall experience.

 

[Lee2014]

ps My first month or so I discovered I was serving too much food. A plated breakfast plus I had hardboiled eggs, and yogurts, cereals and muffins and things on a buffet table. I've said this so many times but I'll say it again. The buffet table was for those who didn't want the plated breakfast ... not for those who gleefully told me they were taking food with them and wouldn't even have to buy lunch. As though it were free for me to provide. Signage didn't help. So I had to eliminate the buffet table and offer those items to those who declined the plated breakfast..

We learned that lesson with the bananas. They rarely ended in their fruit cup where they were supposed to go. They went out the door as fast as we could refill them.
.

Our fruit basket in the room is a 50/50 as to whether it is eaten/taken with or not touched. I usually include 2 bananas, 3-5 apples (depending on size) and a couple packs of snack crackers. The baskets are not large enough for more than that so it looks "filled". I made the baskets - the basket on the mantle is the largest one.

.

Looks very nice! Our bananas were in the dining room set up next to our fruit dish.... We thought they wouldn't look nice in the fruit dish cut up.
.

Dip the cut up bananas in lemon or orange juice and they stay looking pretty.
.

Yeah, we do that with the apples.... At a retreat center I work at we dipped them in pineapple juice since it was sweeter.

 

[Jcam]

You need to figure what ALL of your costs are going to be and then determine how much you need to make to cover those and make a living. If you have a reasonable idea of what the occupancy rate is going to be, then you'll be able to figure out what your room costs should be. Here our rates started at $165-$295 10 years ago and I've been increasing them yearly as my costs of food, utilities, etc. went up and now they are $200-$325. (Those prices are higher for peak times, holidays and of course foliage). In my situation, we live in a state where the property taxes are very high - I pay over $24,000 a year. So in that case, I better be able to make enough on the rooms with our occupancy to cover that $24K or that would come out of my income which isn't that much to support a family of 4.
By the way, I tried wine and cheese for a little while this past year. Our guests are very active people and often come back in from long days, shower and then go out to dinner. I was throwing out lots of crackers and cheese after it had been a couple hours and many people are particular about their wine. I realized that my afternoon cookies are much more popular for my crowd so I ditched that idea.
As someone above said, you should figure it so that you make a nice living doing it or you won't want to do it for long..

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.
.

thanks for the reminder. I wanted to address the wine and cheese idea. it sounds romantic and inviting, but for us, it would be: 1) more cost and more importantly, 2) more time.
At 4 or 5 PM, we are having wine alright, but we don't feel like sharing. That is our time. We've done breakfast, cleanup, checkouts, room cleaning, laundry, food shopping and incidentals. It is now time to take 10 minutes for ourselves.
I'm friendly, but I need my quiet time.

So true. When we have guests ask if we'll make dinner for them, I understand they have zero idea of how long I've been 'at work' by 6 or 7 pm when they want a 3 course dinner with wine prepared for them.
No, sorry, my license doesn't allow dinner. Even if it did, no thanks.
.

We could do it if we so desired but the margins are so small its not worth it - it you would make about $8 on 4 hours work - nope not for me.
.

Now that's interesting. We find dinner to be a cash cow of sorts. We are often surprised at the end of a month how much this adds to the bottom line. Mind you, because we operate as a full service inn, we are either going to be sitting on the lanai with them or making dinner for them, so it's comparing $25-$45 a head to $0 a head for our time. I would rather be making dinner for 8 that I have down pat than sittin' around.
.

See we are in the town center - just off the restaurant district. I would realistically be serving dinner for about 4 people a week top end - just isn't worth having the stuff in.
.

Totally get it. We are out in the country and it allows us to add an extra dimension to the experience. We stayed at a place in Auckland with 10 great restaurants within walking distance. It wouldn't make any sense for them to do dinner. For us, creating the country inn experience has had a major impact on getting people to reserve and their overall experience.
.

exactly - it all depends on location and package - ie we have friends who are on a very popular walking trail if they didn't do dinners they wouldn't get any of the walkers as they can't "walk" to the nearest place to eat and are knackered already. They also work with other B&B's on the trail to do a luggage service (ie the heavy bags are driven to the next stop and dropped off) and the walker then just carries their day bag. They also do packed lunches - all adds to the revenue but they do admit its very tying.

 

[JBloggs]

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail..

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail.

No need to retype it. Ditto.

 

[Morticia]

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail..

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail.

We don't do the extras you do like the weddings. But the guests are never around at any particular time. We're always here. But no sense requiring that we be 'on' everyday at a certain time by advertising a social hour.
I'd hate to have to stop doing laundry in order to set up snacks and wine. At that point in the day, you couldn't pry a bottle of wine out of my hand for anyone else to have some! ;-) Some days I can barely get a plate of cookies out by 4. So the whole social hour thing, where a great idea, would not be something I could graciously do everyday. But I am impressed by innkeepers who pull that off everyday. With a smile.
After 11 years we still do not leave the inn when guests are present unless it's an emergency or it's one room or guests we know.

 

[CaliGirl]

Thank you all for your feedback. Will take your advice and build everything into the room price. Now to figure out how much it will cost per head to serve a hot breakfast and wine/cheese hour, plus utilities, expenses, etc. The good news is that the B&B is in wine country, and we have a winery on property but it still costs money to serve it. Yes, we have the appropriate County approvals. I still have to take the Food Safety Certification - fingers crossed since I heard it is 90 questions! BTW - I registered for the Aspiring Innkeepers Cabbi Conference in January so hope to learn a lot of tips & tricks..

Thank you all for your feedback. Will take your advice and build everything into the room price. Now to figure out how much it will cost per head to serve a hot breakfast and wine/cheese hour, plus utilities, expenses, etc. The good news is that the B&B is in wine country, and we have a winery on property but it still costs money to serve it. Yes, we have the appropriate County approvals. I still have to take the Food Safety Certification - fingers crossed since I heard it is 90 questions! BTW - I registered for the Aspiring Innkeepers Cabbi Conference in January so hope to learn a lot of tips & tricks.

Have you considered approaching other wineries in your area and asking them if they would like to "sponsor" your wine and cheese hour? Ie supply the wine in exchange for passing literature and maybe a discount coupon, a winery tour discount or something along those lines to your guests? If there are several wineries in your area you could allocate them a night each to market their product. On the guest side of things you could label it a tasting session supported by and supporting local wineries.
.

That is a good suggestion Anniesguesthouse, but it would not work in our situation. Our Inn is owned by a winery so we are only going to promote their wines on site.

 

[Silverspoon]

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail..

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail.

No need to retype it. Ditto.
.

A social hour is a good way for beginning innkeepers, who want to stay in the business only 5 years, to run up their TA reviews and then bail out on their reputation for being an "event" ...not just a place to relax and rest your head. After 5 years of non-stop hosting they will be burnt out unless they have staff who can take care of the details of the social hour. I have seen it happen several times in our area.

 

[JBloggs]

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail..

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail.

No need to retype it. Ditto.
.

A social hour is a good way for beginning innkeepers, who want to stay in the business only 5 years, to run up their TA reviews and then bail out on their reputation for being an "event" ...not just a place to relax and rest your head. After 5 years of non-stop hosting they will be burnt out unless they have staff who can take care of the details of the social hour. I have seen it happen several times in our area.
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A social hour is a good way for beginning innkeepers, who want to stay in the business only 5 years, to run up their TA reviews and then bail out on their reputation for being an "event" ...not just a place to relax and rest your head. After 5 years of non-stop hosting they will be burnt out unless they have staff who can take care of the details of the social hour. I have seen it happen several times in our area.

You always nail it Silvers. Well put.

 

[happykeeper]

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail..

I would never do a 'social hour' here because of the time commitment. No way am I going to tie myself to being here every day during those hours. I would feel like I was in jail.

No need to retype it. Ditto.
.

A social hour is a good way for beginning innkeepers, who want to stay in the business only 5 years, to run up their TA reviews and then bail out on their reputation for being an "event" ...not just a place to relax and rest your head. After 5 years of non-stop hosting they will be burnt out unless they have staff who can take care of the details of the social hour. I have seen it happen several times in our area.
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I often wonder what we do different that avoids this burnout. I know it is real- we have seen it in person and on this forum- and we have worked hard for 10 years to not have it happen to us- yet we are a full service operation working a split shift that has us interacting with our guests in the evenings.

• Not taking enough time off?
• Poor planning?
• Poorly established boundaries?
• Not having at least some help?
• Going into it with unrealistic expectations?

Not sure what happened, but a b&b near us changed owners recently. The PO's were burnt to a crisp by the time they got out from under it. The NO's lasted all of 6 months and it's back on the market. Apparently, they have already turned over the operation to someone else to run. Innkeeping must be the most over-romanticized job in the world or at least right behind being an author.