So Now – Let’s Open Your Bed And Breakfast

So you're about to embark on the wonderful world of owning and running a vacation rental. If you are opening a Bed and Breakfast, or a vacation rental your concerns and time constraints will be very different.

Family Life & Being a Bed & Breakfast Owner

We will be examining some of the problems and concerns of running a Bed and Breakfast. Some people may consider becoming an innkeeper the ideal way of having the best of both worlds both family and work. Working from home sounds like a great idea. After all who doesn't want to stay at home and earn money from their own home!!

It sounds like a dream come true. If you're thinking about opening a bed and breakfast, some of the first people you'll want to discuss it with are the members of your immediate family. If your family members aren't willing to give up or share some of their space with potential guests, you have a problem.

The pressures of business could get the best of you and cause some conflicts in the family. You must put a lot of thought into how your family and the business can function together. Working in any home-based business becomes a delicate balancing act between work and family. Consider these points and discuss as a family before reaching your final decision.

Guest Schedules & Family Commitments

As a business, bed and breakfasts are dependent on their guests' schedules, and families must manage around them. How will this type of scheduling affect you and your family, if you have young children that need your care and attention do you and family members have commitments or obligations which will interfere or conflict with guests' needs?

Some businesses can pick and choose their hours of operation. Bed and breakfasts have some flexibility in this area, but if you want to build up your business, you have to be open and flexible to your guest's needs. Can you schedule some time off in order to be with the family? How much will it hurt the business to shut down for that time and will it coincide with the time your family is available?

Running a bed and breakfast is real work. Your guests expect clean rooms, delicious breakfasts, and service that goes above and beyond. You'll need to get up early, often go to bed late and at least in the beginning you'll have to do all of the housework, prepare the meals, and manage the business.

Will you be able to handle the tasks required by both your business and family and do you have the energy level needed and are others willing and able to help?

I have examined some of the concerns that you and your family will have to think about and discuss before you decide if you want to go ahead with operating and owning a Bed and Breakfast.

Most of the owners of Bed and Breakfast's are Baby Boomers whose dream is to run a business from home so they don't have the concerns we have examined in this article. They have other concerns which are health, spouse not being supportive, not enough income, and too much ongoing work. We will examine these concerns in another article.