Tag Archives: B&B owners

Awesome Yoga Retreats

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Does your bed and breakfast offer awesome yoga retreats?  The bed and breakfast owners who do, emphasize the peacefulness of their quiet location, the beauty of their scenic nature, and the transformation in body and mind that can come with yoga.

You can encourage guests of all experience levels to challenge themselves in your safe and comfortable setting. Highlight the benefits of their coming: a place for them to strengthen and relax their body, free themselves from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and grow in creativity.

You may designate specific times of the year for these retreats.  Some B&B owners offer weekend yoga retreats. You can put together a yoga retreat package for your guests.

If no one on staff is an expert yoga instructor, you could find a yoga professional in your local area who is willing to conduct these retreats and pay them a reasonable fee per participant.

Be sure to promote your yoga retreats on your website, in your blog, and through social media.  You may be attracting a whole new clientele of guests to your inn.

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Activities, Blog and Social Media, Events, Guests, Promotion

10 B&B Bedroom Names

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Bed and Breakfasts traditionally name each bedroom available to guests. This allows B&B owners, as well as their guests, to be able to distinguish between the rooms.  The B&B bedroom names can be based on any number of reasons.  Here are 10 ways B&B bedrooms names come about:

  • Activity (such as a hobby or a sport like photography or football)
  • Amenity (like a private hot tub or their own personal fireplace in the room)
  • Color in the room (like red or lavender walls or bedding)
  • Country or culture the room represents (such as China or Mexico)
  • Famous people (including famous writers and leaders like Hemingway and Lincoln)
  • History (named after the original residents or names associated with the time period in which it was built)
  • Location (such as on the beach or in a castle)
  • Occasion (such as the Honeymoon Suite or Anniversary Room)
  • Style the room is decorated in (such as Victorian or French Country)
  • Theme (including a particular animal or season)

As bed and breakfast owners, you can have fun with what you name your rooms. Be creative and come up with names of rooms that people would like to say they stayed in. Sometimes B&B owners have signs by the doors to let guests know they have come to the right room.

Naming the rooms in your house gives your bed and breakfast character and distinguishes it from other B&B’s. This also allows your guests to recommend the particular room they stayed in by name to other people.

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Decorating, Guests

B&B’s That Welcome Pets

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Petswelcome.com features accommodations that allow lodging for traveler’s pets.  This website has a specific section that allows guests to locate which bed and breakfasts welcome pets.

The advantages to allowing pets include: standing out to potential guests only willing to stay at a place that allows pets, looking hospitable to animals, and enabling the B&B owners to have their own pets.

The disadvantages include: not attracting people who are afraid of or allergic to pets, the wear and tear of housing pets, and the potential negative interactions between pets and unfamiliar people or pets with each other.

There is a happy compromise that some bed and breakfast owners are able to do. For the owners that have separate cottages or rooms with private entrances, they can be pet friendly while insuring to their other guests that the pets will remain in those areas only.

Whichever you decide, you can make it an important selling point.  To the B&B’s that allow pets, you will attract pet owners.  To the B&B’s that do not allow pets, you may attract more romantic couples.  Be sure to designate whether you allow pets or not on your website and marketing materials. You can check out our Pinterest page of bed and breakfast pets!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Guests

Frequently Asked Questions

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When potential guests arrive at your website, do they have all the pertinent information they need in order to know that they want to stay at your bed and breakfast?  Your website needs to be informative and friendly enough so that guests can be assured that your bed and breakfast is the one they want to stay at.

Consider having a “FAQ” (frequently asked questions) section on your website. This can list questions and answers about your inn and the surrounding area. The following are examples:

  • What amenities do you offer? This is your opportunity to list things like their own telephone, wi-fi access, jacuzzi or hot tub, air conditioning, cable television, library, a suite, private bathroom, etc.
  • What can I do in the area?  Answering this question gives you the chance to brag about the fun things to do in your area.  This is when you can talk about shopping, area attractions, favorite restaurants, arenas to see sports and concerts, and more!
  • Can you tell me what to expect for breakfast?  You can indicate the time breakfast is normally served, if they can make arrangements to adjust the time, what is normally served, if special dietary needs can be accommodated, and if breakfast can be delivered to their room.
  • Do you allow children to be guests?  You may allow children, but require a specific minimum age or you may decide to keep it only open to adults.
  • Do you allow pets?  Do you have pets living at your bed and breakfast? You may allow pets or have separate cottages for your guests to stay in with their pets. Some B&B owners have pets that live in the B&B, but their pets may be restricted to only specific areas of the place.
  • What about the details?  This is where you can bring up how you handle early arrivals and late departures, your credit card policies, if you have a minimum number of nights they must stay, and if you have any discounts or special packages.
  • How much privacy will we have?  You can answer their questions such as if there is a common area to meet other guests and if they have to interact with the other guests at breakfast and if they will hear the other guests behind the walls.
  • Do you allow smoking?  92% of all B&B’s do not allow smoking inside. There is a trend for healthier environments.  Most states do not allow smoking in public restaurants.
  • Where do the innkeepers sleep?  Many times you live on the premises or just a few minutes away. It gives guests peace of mind to know that they will be able to reach you if and when they need to do so.

Having an FAQ section, on your website, helps answer any questions they may be too timid to ask, but truly want to know.  I also recommend giving guests, who have paid for one of your rooms, a number where they can always reach you in case of emergency.  This helps everyone feel more comfortable!

Posted in Amenities, Guests

Send Out of Town Guests to Your Local B&B

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Bed and breakfast owners, you can put on your website the question, “Are you overwhelmed because all of your out-of-town relatives want to stay at your house this year?  Then have your family members stay at our B&B.”

  • Perhaps those entertaining guests cannot comfortably house all of their guests overnight or the task is too overwhelming
  • This easy solution puts less stress on the host family to cook and clean for visiting family
  • This gives the visiting guests a chance to stay somewhere new and visit their relatives at the same time without feeling like a burden
  • The relatives staying at your bed and breakfast can experience the beauty of B&B vacations

There is no reason for those entertaining family to pull their hair out this holiday season.  They can refer their family to stay at your bed and breakfast.  Everyone wins–those entertaining family, those visiting family, and the B&B owners who book more rooms!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Guests