Simple Changes to Make More Money, Have More Fun and Work Less in Your Bed and Breakfast Business
Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling and in today’s video I’m going to talk about the worst way to run your business and how you make 3 simple changes right now, to get you making more money, having more fun and working less.
One of the most important things I’ve learned about getting more guests and increasing revenue as a B&B or Innkeeper is that focusing on just getting heads in beds is the worst way to increase your income, especially if you’re paying third parties to bring those guests to you.
Let’s face it, this business is hard work. When guests come, there’s work to do in preparing rooms, laundry, cleaning etc. and the more guests that come, the more work there is to do.
It’s far easier to focus on increasing revenue by increasing the amount guests spend with you. If you’re in a tourist area, or there is some element of tourism to your business, then you’ll know that when people are on vacation, they have money to spend, so why not have them spend that money with you? They’re going to spend it with someone, so it might as well be you!
Knowing the numbers is key to any business, and when you have those key metrics to hand, you can configure your revenue any way you want, and especially in a way that works for you, because you’re the boss and you can decide.
So let’s do a little calculation, just for fun (math is not my strong point…..).
Say you wanted to make 100,000 (in any currency) in the next 12 months.
Let’s say also that your room rate is 100 just to keep the math simple (for me).
So if you were just focusing on selling rooms, then you’d need to sell 1000 nights. Now I don’t know how many rooms you have, but if you only have 3 – that means you’d have to be full every night on 333 days of the whole year, leaving you just one month to recuperate.
I’m feeling exhausted just thinking about that!
Let’s look at this another way. If you could generate 30,000 from other products and services, then you’d only have to sell 700 rooms. Staying with the assumption that you have just 3 rooms, then you would only need to be full on 233 days of the year, meaning you could take 4 months off!
Now I know it doesn’t work out as neatly as that, and occupancy rates do vary from week to week and month to month, but you get my point.
There’s a limit to how many rooms you can sell, but there’s no limit to what you can create in terms of extra products and services that delight your guests and make your life easier.
But if you still want to get more guests, then let’s look at that.
What I came to realize in my own B&B, many years ago is that there are guests, and there are guests, and it’s important to choose which guests you want to attract.
When you’re taking everyone and anyone, you’re actually not serving anyone very well, and so very few come back and they don’t refer you.
If you want to attract more guests, then the place to start is to take an inventory of YOU – your preferences, your interests, your skills, your expertise, your knowledge, your hobbies, your favorite topics, YOU, YOU, and YOU!
Guests choose B&Bs, guest houses and small hotels because they want to interact with the owners, so be sure that your guests are aligned with YOU then everyone will have a wonderful time, including you.
When you’ve decided on who you want to see more of (and who you want to see less of) then let your website – your storefront reflect that. Set it up so that when guests land on it, they immediately know that you are right for them, and let the others go. Put yourself front and center on your website, don’t hide out – we want to see you.
Who do you want to attract?
What could you create that could add another 30% to your revenue, delight your guests and make your life easier?
I created a framework that teaches you how to do this, so if you’d like to know more, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress.
And if you liked this video, then click the red subscribe button, so you’ll be the first to know when I post the next one. See you soon!