Bed & Breakfast Owners Blog
Guests, travellers, visitors, bookings, tourism, DIY repairs, bookkeeping, suppliers, and other headaches encounterd in my B & B business. Insights, thoughts and commentary from an owner and operator of a Bed and Breakfast business, based in Helmsley in the North of England. Need to send me a comment? Try here
 The Political Scene
Posted By :Chris
Posted At : Friday, Sep 21, 2007
The Political Party Conference Season is in full swing with the Liberal Democrats having just finished theirs. Whilst it is nice to see Tourism get a mention in their policies I'm not really sure whether what they are suggesting is the right move. Judge for yourself here. But perhaps more importantly read the comments at the bottom of the news item some of them are quite thoughtful.
Have a good weekend.
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The Hotel Inspector
Posted By :Chris
Posted At : Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007
The Hotel Inspector Are you watching the current Channel 5 series The Hotel Inspector? Its broadcast on Thursday nights and last week' (13 Sept) programme raised the bar a little from being just another 'makeover' show to some thing quite interesting. Ruth Watson was obviously on the horns of a dilemma! So much so that we actually saw her without her makeup! More here and here.
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Drawing the Line!
Posted By :Chris
Posted At : Tuesday, Sep 18, 2007
Now I'm all for a bit of diversification in fact I do several different jobs myself but I think even I would draw the line here.
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Another Hotel Fire
Posted By :Chris
Posted At : Monday, Sep 17, 2007
Over the last few weeks there have been 2 disastrous fires in sleeping accommodation, in Newquay and now in Blackpool. Of course investigation will ultimately reveal the causes and hopefully suggest remedies for other establishments. What this does bring more into focus is the Fire Risk Assessment businesses have to undergo now that Fire Certificates have been withdrawn. It makes me think that the Fire Services up and down the Country will soon place more importance in visiting all types of businesses to check that they have a Fire Risk Assessment in place. Now would be very good time to do yours if you have not already done so. Read more here.
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Unsual B&B's
Posted By :Chris
Posted At : Saturday, Sep 15, 2007
If you have the odd, and I mean odd, bedroom in your business see how it stacks up here with the professional oddeties here. Everything from Alaska Railroad Pullman cars to an old jail in Oxford. Fancy staying in an ice bedroom where the temperature is guarenteed at -5° or a floating barge only reached by seaplane? Its all here.
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Web in a Box
Posted By :Chris
Posted At : Friday, Sep 14, 2007
Anybody using the Web in a Box solution to handling online sales?
Apparently it is being promoted through VisitScotland.com and offers the opportunity to have a bookable website using pre-provided templates.
I know there are issues with the booking facility and other matters with VisitScotland since it went 'private' and I wondered was this was an attempt to get more accommodation businesses on board. You can take a look at the product here.
http://www.visitscotland.org/partnership_working/visitscotland_partners/visitscotland.com/visitscotland.com-updates/visitscotland.com-updates-web_in_a_box
and view some examples of what it actually looks like further down that page.
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The Internet
Posted By :Chris
Posted At : Tuesday, Sep 11, 2007
The Internet
Some interesting stats on your potential customers were released recently:
A whopping 83% of the UK population are now researching online before booking an accommodation stay in the UK.
63% are doing the same with restaurants.
25% of those who 'look' online don't stay because of a negative review (have a look at Trip Advisor)
Eco-friendly accommodation businesses think that their 'eco-friendlyness' ranks about 11th in the list of guest priorities. Guests actually rank it 5th! Are you missing a trick?
Food for thought here. Anybody tried any of the new LED low energy lights yet? I'd be interested to hear what they are like.
Thanks
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Business Insurance.
Posted By :Chris
Posted At : Saturday, Sep 08, 2007
Business Insurance.
Truthfully I wondered if this would happen and now it has. The words Risk Assessment have reached the ears of various 'Risk Management' agencies who now want to try and sell us all sorts of kits and tools to keep us on the straight and narrow.
I had contact recently from my Broker who issued a joint letter with a Risk Manageent Agency saying 'would I fill in the enclosed form and return it in the re-paid envelope.' It was an impressive looking document.
The MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember with anything like this coming through from your agent or broker is to find out what status the document has. The crucial issue is DOES IT FORM PART OF YOUR POLICY? If it does, and insurance companies do write during the year to change policy wording sometimes, you MUST comply, if as in this case it is purely advisory the choice is yours as to whether to respond or not.
My thoughts? Respond, its a free health check, yes someone will try and sell you on the back of it but you decide whether to buy or not.
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