Wake up; wake up from that nightmare…. Yes, shake yourself; makesure you don’t eat real late at night again.  Owning a B&B soundsromantic and great.  It seems like a real money maker and it can be. It can also be a real nightmare. 

First of all you have to enjoysharing your space and time with people.  The concept of a real Bed and Breakfastis to be a friendly, homelike atmosphere, with comfortablesurroundings.  Unlike a hotel a B&B’s personality depends upon theowner.  If the owner is a very friendly and welcoming person, you willnotice that welcoming feature at first glance.  If the owner is adistant type and just wants the guest to remember that they are justpaying to visit, you will recognize that upon your first days’ visit aswell. 

When deciding to own a B&B your success definitely depends onwhere you are located, and the type of guest you want attract.  It maysound like I’m giving an expert opinion, but keep in mind it is myopinion based on my personal experience. 

My husband and I did not plan on owning or operating a B&B, wejust happened to purchase a house that has a separate building with acouple of rooms and an apartment.  At first we thought to fix up therooms and have a nice place our children could come to visit and maybesome of our other family members and friends. 

I came up with theB&B idea thinking it would be a good way to earn a little income. For me it seemed that all you had to do was put some furniture in therooms and put a sign up saying “vacancy”.  It takes so much more than that of course, but when you look at whatothers have done or are doing you think; "I can do that”.  

Of coursethat assumption is made without any real information on what itactually takes to be a Bed and Breakfast owner.   So, many things appear mucheasier than they are.  Running and operating a B&B seemed almosteffortless.  That was until one night while driving to Panama, westopped in a town by the name of Puerto Viejo in Limon and checked intoa small hotel.  That night at the hotel really opened my eyes.  If youput a sign up on the outside of you place of business it inviteseveryone in.  It is not that I don’t like everyone but there are somethings I refuse to expose myself to.  That night in the hotel opened myeyes to a reality that was unknown to me. 

These two old men had gotten a room next to our room. They came indrunk.  Evidently they had set up a plan for a prostitute to come visitthem in the room and she stood them up.  All night they talked aboutthings that cannot be repeated.  Finally the manager was called and hemade them quiet down.  After the incident I began to remember that alltourism is not the same and some people coming and rentingaccommodations have a variety of reasons for renting saidaccommodations.

What I realized after that night was that we had to decide how wewere going to build our client base and what kind of people we wantedto attract to our Bed and Breakfast.  There were so many things to learn! Thattakes time  and money.  In order to open a successful B&B, you need money tooperate and money to live on first.  It may take some time beforeanyone knows that you are really open.

The things we had to learn went far beyond just having a couple of beds and preparing breakfast. 

No matter how small your business is, you will have the sameexpenses and problems a large business has.  If you are thinking aboutopening a B&B so you can live off the income from it, do not quityour day job.  Your first five years are building block years towardssuccess.  If you are in an area that is very popular vacation spot thenyour competition is usually much more difficult.  It is impossible todiscount or to offer some things large businesses offer.  If yourB&B is in an area that is not a really popular tourist area thereare other difficulties to overcome.   You have to work harder to makeyourself known.

Many of my guests tell me that they dream of owning a Bed and Breakfast.  Theyhave no clue.  I often think that I’ve made owning and operating aB&B look too easy as well as a lot of fun.  They, of course, thinkabout money that goes into the till and not the money that is comingout of the till. 

At our B&B, which I call a guest house, we do not allow smokingon the grounds near the rooms.  I remember my first guest who smokedlike a chimney. When I told him we do not allow smoking, he pointed outthat my web page did not indicate that.  Being a business owner thefirst lesson you need to know is that you do not argue with yourcustomer.  I told him that he could stay but he would have to smoke inour garden area.  He agreed very cordially, but every time he and hiswife would come over to the house to talk to me I started coughing.  Itwas embarrassing for me but I’m allergic to smoke and he and his wifesmoked very heavily.  They would go out into the garden have acigarette and come back to talk to me on the terrace.  I did a lot ofself talking and worked very hard to make my guest feel welcomed andalso feel comfortable.  It worked because they had reservations for twodays and they stayed four nights.

You have to adjust; there are some things that are an absolute andsome things you have to just give in to.  The one thing that wasabsolute for me was the two guys who rented a room for two nights andon the first night they picked up some guest I didn’t know  and invitedtheir guest to spend the night.  The next morning one of them told methat they were having the guest over for breakfast.  I almost wentcrazy, but had to calm myself.  It was hard for me to muster up thatsweet disposition, but I managed.  The charge for their guest breakfastwas outrageous but I charged it.  After their guest left I nicely toldthem that the only people who could be in the rooms were registeredguests.  I think from the look on my face they got the picture.

Then recently I met the woman from hell. She had recently madereservations and I had told her the price of the accommodations.  Shegot here and decided she wanted to get a discount.  We had alreadysettled this by phone, but she had many more reasons why I shoulddiscount her stay.  Well, that argument just did it.   I allowed her tostay one night and escorted her off the premises and pointed out thelocation of cheaper accommodations. 

Sometimes you have to make decisions on the spot and you cannot beafraid to say “no” and face the consequences.  You can’t be afraid tosay “yes” and accept the results, either.  The grand majority of peopletraveling are wonderful people. There are just a few that seem to causeproblems.  In the seven years we have been open the three problems I’vementioned were my biggest challenges. 

Owning and operating a Bed and Breakfast can be a dream come true but DO makesure you like people. 

It is a people business and you cannot be afraidto share your life with others.  Making money is a small by-product ofthe business.  Getting to know people is the real bonus.

About the author:  Jeanetta Taylor Owens retired from the United States to Costa Rica and is the owner and inn keeper of La Terraza Bed and Breakfast in Grecia, Costa Rica.  Jeanetta also writes a very interesting, admirably honest first-person blog about life in Costa Rica at: http://blog.laterrazab-b.com