DIY verses a professional

This is an area where it can go either way. You cannot be calling out a handyperson for every little thing but somethings benefit from the attention of a professional. I myself have a decorator, Im not a bad painter myself mind but Paul can repaper a room and do all the woodwork in 3 days which means I can have that room back in operation and earning money again. Every day a room isn't let it potentially costs you a booking and therefore money. It is all a balancing act. I am having to do a lot of decorating this year as the previous owners televisions are all old style and stick out of the walls on stands. This means that to put in new style flat screen televisions yo have to redecorate the room which means about 8 rooms need doing. However this means a lot of planning and scheduling as you need to book the decorator to do it when you (hope) you will not be blocking bookings and when I have 5 days together to free up the room. I would also say as basic common sense don't try and do anything to do with Gas or Electric unless you are a qalified technician.

Things to consider when designing a room.

Remember when designing a bedroom you or your chamber maid will have to clean it hundreds of times a year (hopefully!). For example that chair that looks lovely in the shop, will it be easy to move to vacume under it? and or round it? If you have zip and link beds you need small light bedside cabinets so they are easy to move as and when. Lamps should be small with a low center of gravity as otherwise they will be knocked over and broken.

Grumpy Old Men

Anyone reading this could be forgiven for thinking everyone in the Accommodation industry hates their customers but this is far from the case. For example this week I have had in lovely guests for 3 days and though they have been beset by various troubles from missing luggage keys, language barriers and in the case of one guest the sad passing of his father. They have been for the past 3 days lovely company and have restored my faith in people. This has been followed up buy several lovely reviews which were unsolicited by me but have appeared by magic and have also perked up my spirits. It shows when you are ready to believe the worst of humanity they will always surprise you. One of our guests has a broken foot and is currently hobbling round town with one of DH's (Dear Husband) croc's on her injured foot as it is just the right size to go over the bandages. I guarantee you would not get that kind of service in a hotel! The trouble is despite the overwhelming majority of guests who are lovely it seems those who we would most like to forget stay most prominently in our minds.

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.