Privacy and Lack of it.

Remember that if you are moving into the accommodation business you are opening your home and life to your guests. Be aware that if you don't lock it up then it will be touched and looked at. If a door is shut then to a guest this means there is something interesting behind this please take a look. If you put Private on it translates to there must be super interesting that is why we want to keep you out. Also be aware that a lot of your guests may not speak English as a first language so may not read the signs you put up and on the other hand the rest just wont bother.

In your first two weeks

This came to me as a thought as one of my neighbouring guest houses sold just before Christmas (it is now the end of April) and should be re-opening in the next week. So I was wondering about advice to give her about what to expect in those first days. One thing I will say is expect to be exhausted, don't think your exhausted now just because of all the renovation work it is the mental exhaustion that will kill you now. Even if when you open your doors for the first time from being closed or converting a property you will be on edge for the phone ringing the door ringing and when you get the first guests through the door for them ringing for things. Also brief your family & friends don't even think about ringing before 9.30am or after 10pm cos you will be in the middle of breakfast or dead to the world. (and believe me that sleep will be precious to you when you are putting those sausages in the oven at 6.30am. Also expect that the people who want to stay with you have no concept at all of what you are and will ring at all hours of the day and night (surprisingly international guests usually email which solves this problem or book online). I would also get in a whole stack of ready meals as if you are busy I guarantee you will no have the time nor the energy to mess about with cooking properly. Also guests seem to have some kind of radar which tells them to come and ask you long complicated questions the minute your tea is ready or you are just about to put it in your mouth this is a given.

The Definition of Lying

If you are new to the trade and in fact if you are not this will be astounding when it happens to you for the first time, by this I mean those who lie to your face that they have had a lovely time, food was beautiful etc and then what happens is a review pops up that from the descripition you know exactly who it was and they state they had a horrible time. When did this become acceptable? It is not the review I object to but the lie on the point of departure if they had simply stated they were checking out and left I would mind less but the ones that state how much they enjoyed their stay and then stab you in the back baffle me. I think as well that if members of the public had any realisation of how reviews personally hurt business owners as well as professionally hurt them they might think twice. I have neighbours in the industry moved to tears over hurtfull and untruthfull reviews and some have even taken people to court. I believe in customers reviews but not without any accountability. For example the good hotel guide if there is a bad review they send someone undercover to check. This sort of system or something similar would be something I would strongly support as I am sure would most of the industry. I have also had neighbours and friends held hostage to the threat of bad reviews ie do me a discount or else Surely this is something we should all stand against.

To be Rated or Not to be Rated?

This is the hot debate which is raging all over the UK at the moment. To the uninitiated it may seem something that had never occured to you but it is splitting the accommodation industry in half. Back in the olden days before the internet all there was to help you decide where to stay was 3 things 1. the AA handbook 2. the Visit Britain handbook (from now on refered to as VB) and the tourist information of whereever you were going. Usually people bought one of the books read through the description looked at one maybe two tiny pictures (if that) and made the best decision they could based on that information. That is where the Stars/crowns/diamonds came in you knew approximately what you were getting and that 4 was better than 1. However those days are long gone. With the Birth of the internet things have changed dramatically in a very short space of time. Your information is accessable all over the world 24 hours a day, you can have as many pictures as you like and you can read a multitude of reviews from people who have stayed before you and what they got for their money, their thoughts and pictures. The vast quantity of information avaliable to help the consumer make their decision is astonishing. So there used to be one incentive to stay rated it was backed by the government who insisted that you be rated to work with government agencies and tourist informations. With the advent of the new tourism statement published by the Department of culture, media and sport in March they have removed all official backing from rating schemes. Therefore accommodation businesses are looking again at their marketing budgets and deciding this is money they don't need to spend. For myself a 12 bed Guest Accommodation it works out about £600 a year and that is with VB and the AA is more expensive though they do hold to higher standards. For myself I rejoined VB in order to work with the Harrogate International Conference Center Booking Agency which has now closed its accommodation booking arm so there is no longer any one I work with requires me to be rated. However some areas are bringing in a minimum standards scheme which will have someone come and check you reach minimum standards and then you are fine to work with the TIC I am in favour of this if it is a reasonable price but we will see how it goes.

What is the meaning of Value?

This has been a big debate online over the last few days as one of our problems is the confusion between Value and Cheapness. Just because something is cheap doesn't mean it is good value and vice versa. Also I don't think the customer has a true basis for value due to all the insane discounting done by the hotel chains over the years they have been trained to always be looking for the "better" deal. Someone I spoke to this week had an amazing review from a customer and he had chosen her B&B over all other places to propose to his now fiance due to the ambiance and so on yet marked her down on Value despite her being comparable with other lodging establishments in the area. I pointed out they may be confusing value for cheapness or don't want you to be lumped in with motel $40 type places. In B&B's value is in all the little things we do that hotels don't - for example free range local eggs - in a hotel you scrambled will be from powder as that is the cheapest way. Other ways that a B&B has built in Value - fresh breakfast food, cooked to order not reheated on the buffet for 2 hours, Beds and mattresses changed regularly, instant management response to problems (ie can make an instant desicion) local knowledge, fresh milk on request, much higher standard and turn over of renovations, in 4 star or above premises free tea and coffee on arrival, free tea & coffee etc in your room and these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.