Peytronz
New member
Good morning/afternoon/evening to any and all of you!
My name is Peyton, my partners name is Ella, and we both have decided that we would like to open a bed and breakfast in our future. Ella has been an innkeeper and working in hospitality for a couple of years now while I have been working on becoming a licensed electrician. We both have a desire to build towards our community with a B&B but are finding the beginning planning stages a bit daunting despite having seen our community support Inns and B&B's as the area is a lively tourist location almost year-round and the local community supportive. We found this amazing forum and decided to reach out to all of you here who all seem so knowledgeable and capable with questions of ours in hopes that we might find solace in starting this path.
Where to start:
I've been taking the time to read up on small business and specifically small motels, inns and B&B's and seem to have found a commonality in a starting position being *Have a business pan* which is a bit of a vague description and where it leaves us stuck is how do we plot a business out without having an idea of a location. What I mean by that is my business idea would almost certainly fluctuate depending on which part of my city the B&B is located due to who might find interest, walkability, affordability, and so on. Are there any tips you can give us on where to start with a solid foundational business plan?
Secondly and the most daunting for me personally is funding. I know this is completely based around my local economy, local government permits and zoning, as well as personal finances but my question at the beginning of thinking about all of this has been - how much money would we need saved to tangibly start looking for property to make this a reality? This ties into my first question as well - we would love to find somewhere with 3-4 rooms and manage the majority if not all of the work ourselves as a couple (the start of the business plan!) but it's all up to when what is being sold. I understand that question has no blanket answer but if you have suggestions on percentages for down payments on commercial property or when to approach banks to move forward it would be very much appreciated.
We have also been curious - is the idea of converting a "Single-family dwelling" into a B&B/Inn a reasonable achievement if the city permits the change of use? It seems many Inn owners purchase older inns and recreate them into what they want them to be. Would you recommend sticking to old Inn's being sold or possibly renovating property for the purpose?
We hope this post doesn't come off as too ignorant, but we truly are and have found this forum incredibly helpful already in just evaluating whether this is the dream we would want to pursue. After reading through countless posts of how much work goes into the craft it hasn't scared us off yet but only made the idea more resolute as the right goal to strive for. Regardless of whether you reply or just read this we appreciate the sentiment!
My name is Peyton, my partners name is Ella, and we both have decided that we would like to open a bed and breakfast in our future. Ella has been an innkeeper and working in hospitality for a couple of years now while I have been working on becoming a licensed electrician. We both have a desire to build towards our community with a B&B but are finding the beginning planning stages a bit daunting despite having seen our community support Inns and B&B's as the area is a lively tourist location almost year-round and the local community supportive. We found this amazing forum and decided to reach out to all of you here who all seem so knowledgeable and capable with questions of ours in hopes that we might find solace in starting this path.
Where to start:
I've been taking the time to read up on small business and specifically small motels, inns and B&B's and seem to have found a commonality in a starting position being *Have a business pan* which is a bit of a vague description and where it leaves us stuck is how do we plot a business out without having an idea of a location. What I mean by that is my business idea would almost certainly fluctuate depending on which part of my city the B&B is located due to who might find interest, walkability, affordability, and so on. Are there any tips you can give us on where to start with a solid foundational business plan?
Secondly and the most daunting for me personally is funding. I know this is completely based around my local economy, local government permits and zoning, as well as personal finances but my question at the beginning of thinking about all of this has been - how much money would we need saved to tangibly start looking for property to make this a reality? This ties into my first question as well - we would love to find somewhere with 3-4 rooms and manage the majority if not all of the work ourselves as a couple (the start of the business plan!) but it's all up to when what is being sold. I understand that question has no blanket answer but if you have suggestions on percentages for down payments on commercial property or when to approach banks to move forward it would be very much appreciated.
We have also been curious - is the idea of converting a "Single-family dwelling" into a B&B/Inn a reasonable achievement if the city permits the change of use? It seems many Inn owners purchase older inns and recreate them into what they want them to be. Would you recommend sticking to old Inn's being sold or possibly renovating property for the purpose?
We hope this post doesn't come off as too ignorant, but we truly are and have found this forum incredibly helpful already in just evaluating whether this is the dream we would want to pursue. After reading through countless posts of how much work goes into the craft it hasn't scared us off yet but only made the idea more resolute as the right goal to strive for. Regardless of whether you reply or just read this we appreciate the sentiment!
