If you’re independent and have a bit of a whimsical or artistic streak, you might dream of someday opening up your own bed and breakfast. A great B&B can be a showcase for the amazing customer service and hospitality skills learned in a Hospitality Management Diploma program and is an environment in which every choice about decor, setup, and services reflects the philosophy and taste of the owner.
If you want to open your own B&B someday, there are a few things you can do to help make sure everything goes smoothly. Here are some key points to keep in mind.
Use Your Hospitality Management Training to Stay on Top of Finances
When opening a B&B, renovating a building to get it up to code—or just looking the way you like—requires an initial investment. Then there are food, housekeeping, and other ongoing expenses that need to be considered once the establishment is up and running. In other words, behind every charming B&B is a hidden world of budgeting and finance. Being able to stay on top of this yourself can be a big advantage, and help you make great, informed decisions that save you money and maximize profits.
Hospitality management school is the perfect place to go to learn about forecasting expenses, budgeting, and getting the most value for your money when purchasing things like food and drink. These are all concepts that can help you save money throughout the process of opening and running a B&B, and allow you to create the place of your dreams while maintaining healthy finances.
Create Fun & Appealing Marketing to Have Guests Flocking to Your Establishment
Part of what makes working at a B&B great is getting to interact with guests on a more personal level—and being nice and busy is good, too! To bring all kinds of interesting customers flocking to your establishment, it’s a great idea to do a little marketing to get your name out there.
There are many different ways you can market a B&B—with online or print ads, special promotions, your own website or Facebook page, and more—and all of them can be a lot of fun to make and run! Whatever you choose to do, hospitality management training can give you the skills you’ll need to do great marketing, and your personality and the atmosphere of your B&B are the perfect hooks. Put the time in to get the word out about what makes your place special and you could quickly find yourself with all the guests you could want.
Marketing skills learned at hospitality school can help you bring lots of guests to your B&B
During Your Career in Hospitality, Remember to Believe in Yourself!
Bed and breakfasts typically have small staffs—often, it’s just a couple working together to keep their establishment going, and maybe a laundry or cleaning service coming in sometimes to lighten the load. Dealing with guest concerns, handling upkeep, managing finances, and many other responsibilities will often fall to the owner of the B&B. This can make for a lot of work, but the rewards of being your own boss and running the place of your dreams are worth it!
When taking on this kind of project in your future career, it’s important to remember that your training and instincts will make you more than a match for the challenges of opening and run a B&B. Believe in yourself and you will go far!
