What do B&B Innkeepers do for vacation?

[undersea]

Origonal post was an ad.

It's still a valid question - and there is no link to a proposed service so I don't mind answering.
I hired innsitters twice - both times the occupancy was deliberately light as my innsitters were not confident about having eight rooms booked. Both times they did a great job and it was totally worth it - rooms avg'd $150 per night, four rooms were booked both times, 3 nights each time. One surprised me by taking a walkin for two rooms on her last night. Financially it was a definite plus.
It was especially good having that live voice answering the phone throughout the day for 'lost' guests etc. The reservation system was automated and both sitters were a little shaky about taking future reservations, but would have been more comfortable if they'd returned to sit again or had more experience with it.
It's great to have a relationship with an innsitter that hopefully can be available in case of an emergency - I had an unexpected death in the family. This was the third time needing an innsitter. I blocked out all unreserved rooms and called the 'sitter' thank goodness one was available. If I couldn't have found someone I'd have been scrambling to find other accomodations for people, cancelling people, refunding deposits, etc, and I was in no state to be doing that.

Origonal post was an ad

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perhaps, but about every time someone joins the forum and posts the same time about whether people are interested in something, it almost always is this kind of thing. Note that wording "would you be interested in a trusted service."
Also, the original poster made no effort to participate in the followup comments. I have been on numerous forums, and this is the M.O...
Not hard to guess that the offer is forthcoming...

 

[user 26]

Close. I have no idea where an innsitter would sleep! Plus, we're off the beaten track and it's too far to get someone in here at a reasonable price. And how do you possibly hand over your business to a complete stranger?.

An innsitter would sleep in your bedroom. They're used to OQs being less than stellar.
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An innsitter would sleep in your bedroom. They're used to OQs being less than stellar.

I just find that too awkward.
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My innsitters used one of the guest rooms as their room -

An innsitter would sleep in your bedroom. They're used to OQs being less than stellar.

I just find that too awkward.

 

[user 26]

We have some innsitters on forum. They may want to chime in.

 

[Lee2014]

I'm trying to figure this out. I guess I should start by asking you a question. "What's a Vacation?".

I'm trying to figure this out. I guess I should start by asking you a question. "What's a Vacation?"

It's when you head north east and visit another Innkeeper! Would love to have you!
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Ditto to what Innkeep said and I have room for the family.....
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If you are asking "What is a vacation?", you need to close shop and travel the innspiring circuit to ask it in person!

 

[muirford]

We have started 11/2 years ago and until know did not think about vacations. Now we do and we are planning a week off. I was wondering about taking somebody who would run the B&B while we are away. There is a very good and trustworthy service for that here. But I wonder if the costs/Benefits would make sense?.

That would depend on what your predicted occupancy is for the dates you take off and how many rooms you have. What I'm used to is to basically pay an innsitter the equivalent of one of our suites per day. So if we expect to have 50% occupancy for those dates, it makes it worth it. We tend to use an innsitter in our shoulder seasons. I don't like to leave during our peak season because too many things & PITAS happen then. I need to be here to put out any fires.
Some innsitters will also do a sliding scale. $X for 1 room, $XX for two rooms, etc. They will start with a base pay for 0 rooms, then add on for each room booked.
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That would depend on what your predicted occupancy is for the dates you take off and how many rooms you have. What I'm used to is to basically pay an innsitter the equivalent of one of our suites per day.

That is what I advertise to my clients as my 'expected' rate, although I use the base rate plus x dollars per day for occupied room formula. For some people that's too much, and that's fine. I bring a lot of experience to my innsitting jobs, and there are two of us. If you don't trust someone else to run your business and would rather close, that's fine with me, too. That never worked for me as an innkeeper, but to each their own. If you have staff who can take over for you on a temporary basis, that's the best situation. They are more familiar with your day to day operations than anyone else will be. We prefer to stay in the owner's quarters - guest rooms are not usually designed for more than a few nights and we have almost always found the OQs to be more comfortable, even if they are strewn with the detritus of normal operations. We are used to that, being former innkeepers.
When I was an innkeeper, I preferred to use experienced innsitters, and I was tough on my innsitters. I expected them to do what I did every day, and I expected them to keep me up to date via email or text. That worked well for me with most of them - I did have one experience that was not satisfactory, when I used an inexperienced innsitter because my regulars were booked.
I think I mentioned before - one very good reason to use innsitters (besides a personal emergency - ours were invaluable then) is if your business is up for sale. Since the revenue is the driving force for the sale, keeping the revenue up is a smart idea. Plus then you don't have that problem with taking your closed days out of your occupancy numbers.