My travels around the Internet doing research for the B&BInnterchange concept have turned up some operations that seem unscathed by the economic downturn that has been almost gratefully accepted by some owners as the reason their rooms stay empty night after night.
Today, I added a couple more B&Bs to the California occupancy comparison spreadsheet and did the rounds to enter data for the two-week period from Feb 16 through March 1.
The big stand-out (or stand-up, since this is a bar chart!) is the East Brother Light Station in Richmond, which makes almost everyone else look they have shut down for the winter. I was beginning to feel a little suspicious about their numbers -- could they be padded? Are there close-outs for maintenance? -- until I came across the Inn at Manchester in Vermont.
The Manchester B&B has 18 rooms, which to a would-be innkeeper might seem like a nightmare but is in fact only a few more than what Jenny and I learned was the perfect number to be profitable without seeming like just another hotel.
We figured that 10-12 rooms was the minimum, because you can then offer a range of rates that will appeal to a wider spectrum of potential guests. You don't want to compete with a Motel 6 or a TravelLodge, but it is a good idea to have at least a couple of rooms with rates low enough not to intimidate young couples who are perhaps exploring B&Bs for the first time.
I confess we also got a huge kick out of having the flexibility to upgrade guests who had a special occasion to celebrate but genuinely could not afford the top of the line prices in our range. Our thinking was that a free upgrade might just convince them that the extra luxury was worth a few bucks more, so that next time (and we always hoped there would be a next time) the intimidation factor would be less of a problem.
The calendar for the Inn at Manchester very impressively matches the 65% occupancy that became the norm for us at the Artists Inn!
Green with envy? Hell yes!
I showed Jen the Manchester website, and we agreed the tone and content was pretty much perfect, which is also the way the Inn itself seems to be. The rates are high but there's wiggle room, with $155 being about as close as they get to an entry-level option.
One thing I would bet on is that no one ever arrives without being greeted and shown to their room and that breakfast is the real deal, not microwaved bacon or some lard-laden, overcooked muck from a package that has festered in the freezer for months!
Jen's policy at the Artists Inn was to offer three breakfast times a half hour apart, and gently tell guests that because their food was prepared fresh, it would be much appreciated if they would stick to their chosen time or let us know early if they wanted to make a change.
Excessive rules and regimentation are a horrible idea, so it's important when describing any house policy to make it clear that it is in place for the guests' benefit, not ours.
Breakfast has to be as memorable as you can make it, and I cringed when I heard or read complaints about the coffee at the Artists Inn (after we left, naturally!) being either "undrinkable" or "mediocre."
At the AI, I'd sometimes have a guest ask me where the nearest Starbucks was, and I would happily provide directions along with the promise, "You won't need it!"
Very few guests bothered to make the trip after tasting our "house special" and there was no magic recipe for that: Just fresh-ground, top quality beans and plenty of coffee in the pot!
And of course, if I did see a Starbucks cup in someone's hand, I never took it personally. The guest is always right, after all...
Jenny was often embarrassed at the effusive compliments she would get as guests were leaving, but we came to understand that fresh-cooked food and service with a smile was not the norm at every B&B. That takes me back to a small hotel in Cork, Ireland, where I ordered oatmeal for breakfast and was told after a 10-minute wait, "I'm sorry, but we've lost the porage, Sir, would cornflakes be all right?"
I have to add that everything else about that little hotel, including the cooked breakfast, was perfect. It was actually in a tiny little fishing village called Kinsale where the biggest surprise was an outdoor stand offering "Michael's All-American Hamburgers" (the surprise being that the burgers were excellent!).
An Irish response to a breakfast guest requesting "coffee, no cream": "Sorry, it will have to be no milk, for all the cream has gone, sad to say."
Making a success of a bed and breakfast isn't easy and a welcoming smile, beautiful rooms and surroundings and food "to die for" won't cut it if you fail to bring guests in at a rate that will pay the bills plus a well-deserved profit.
It's great to hear visitors saying they'll be back, but the most important moment is when it's decision time and you are talking on the phone to someone who's not yet certain that your B&B is what they are looking for.
Begging and whining is not an option, but a friendly, enthusiastic and interested attitude makes all the difference. Sue in Genoa said she hated "people who make up their minds on the telephone -- they should decide before they call so you don't have to wait on hold while they're thinking."
In my experience, an undecided guest is far preferable to the in-a-hurry speed dialer who won't make a reservation no matter how helpful you try to be.
Jen laughs at me when I jump up and do a little dance after making a sale to a guest who needed a little friendly persuasion, but I say in this business you have to take your fun wherever you can find it!
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