AIBU to buy a hotel with no experience?

[Frockandahardplace]

As title, really. DH and I have a long held dream where we sell up and move back to the area from where we are originally from, buy a hotel and run a B&B. In reality neither of us have any experience running a B&B or any hotel experience.

A hotel has just come up for sale in our dream area. It has 5 bedrooms to be let out and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. DH wants to go and view it next week and hopefully move up there to fulfil our dream! In theory I am totally on board with this and really excited but in reality neither of us have a clue what we’re doing!! How crazy an idea is this? Prepared totally to be told I’m nuts.

I don’t think it’s a crazy idea but I do think it’s a crazy idea to attempt it without experienced staff. Can you afford to hire a breakfast chef? Someone to do lunches and dinners? They’re very different skill sets. People will be paying good money and will rightly expect a professional service.
Hospitality is a great deal harder to do well than most people imagine.

Most of the small hotels and guest houses near us are for sale, some of them have been on the market for years. I have a friend who work in one the owners have been trying to get out for over 5 years, can't sell and are stuck and this is one of the better ones.
Be very cautious and do your homework. Its really hard work for little reward.

I don't think you're nuts, very brave of you and your DH and I'm a little bit envious.

I have no experience in hospitality, but I imagine that it will be hardwork, constant cleaning, constant maintenance and you'll need to stay on top of your marketing. Plus the interesting customer service challenge of being at beck and call of guests with a wide range of expectations.

Good luck xxx

neither of us have any experience running a B&B or any hotel experience.

So neither have you have even worked in a hotel / B&B, yet now you want to run one?

Yes you're mad. And if you go ahead with it, you'll be mad and poor.

You’re crazy. It’s doable, but you need to get a business plan, make sure you check their books and be prepared for a lot of hard work. Do you have money set aside to tide you over in case you need to make repairs/redecorate/don’t get a lot of custom? Can you cook? Are you happy to make beds/scrub toilets? Five rooms may not be enough to justify a cleaner if you want to make a profit. My friend has a 15 room hotel and she does a lot of the cleaning herself and they do all the cooking. In summer they have temporary staff but that’s another headache - you have to deal with payroll, insurance etc etc. The off season is spent doing repairs. It’s a lot more involved than you think.

We did something similar, honestly do your research and by this I mean take a couple of weeks off work and go and work in a similar type of place if you can. Offer yourself for free as work experience, now I know this sounds like a real faff but honestly it could save your marriage and an absolute fortune. I sound a bit doom and gloom and I really don't mean to but it is a very hard when people are coming into your home and criticising it, being on call 24/7 and really understanding the hard work that goes in behind the scenes. Worst thing is that if you don't like it then you can't just leave like you can a job.
I don't think you are mad but you cannot research this enough by being hands on

I should think a b and b with just breakfast to cook might be doable but you'd never have any downtime ever, if you are doing all meals unless you pay expensive staff. 5 bedrooms won't generate enough income for that. How popular is it for locals having evening meals?

I think it would be pretty mad for several reasons.
You have no experience in catering/hospitality
You'll both be working really long hours unless you can afford staff but even then one of you will need to be around all the time. That fucks up holidays, family time and time as a couple.
It's really bloody risky and I'd imagine it's hard to make a profit.

You need to think about it really carefully, do lots of research, maybe talk to/spend some time with b&b owners.

I suggest you watch several/all episodes of the Hotel Inspector with Alex Polizzi first.

Most of the people on that show have bitten off far more than they can chew, are losing money hand over fist and are really struggling.

Yes, I think you are mad.

My DM grew up in a hotel that her parents owned and made a good living from. She dabbled with the idea of buying a B&B in adulthood but said that she knew how much work it was and she didn't want to be in for that for 10-15 years.

My DB and SIL bought a B&B about 3 years ago. It has 6 bedrooms. They spent a lot of time researching and preparing - did a course on running a B&Bs and also some courses on running small businesses. They also joined some sort of association for B&B owners BEFORE they purchased. They had a lot of choice of places as a PP said and could be fussy. ( DB knew he was going to be made redundant and had help from his company to prepare for life after leaving- and were downsizing anyway)
They manage with just help on Saturdays, the rest of the time it is just them. They "only" do B&B. SIL is a brilliant breakfast cook and she takes great care catering for dietary requirements vegetarian, gluten free, and soya/rice/almond milks etc.
Evening meals and lunch as well is a lot of work and would mean you need a lot of help and you will never have any time to yourselves. In the winter they tend to have week end bookings , the summer it is pretty full on. Christmas can be busy as they have people who are visiting family locally but don't want the fuss of sleeping on the floor in the lounge.
The other thing is they moved from a large family house to a two bedroom flat.
It is quite an undertakingand you need to look very carefully. Don't rush in to it. And get someone to go through the books with a fine toothcomb- brother backed out of one after the accounts were given the once over

I would be careful, op. If both or one of you decide you don't like running a hotel then your marriage and finances are in trouble. Also, banks are likely to ask what experience you have before they lend.

I'd definitely get some experience before you commit.

crazy - and I say this after spending a few years in the industry. DM had her own place for a few years. DH has been a chef for 30 years and I did hotel reception/breakfast service/waitressing/consumables ordering for a 16 room B&B and a 22 room & 30 room hotel and it was always “don’t over order....buy the cheapest.....don’t waste anything” or they wouldn’t be making any money. The b&b owners couldn’t pay themselves a wage- he had to go out and work at another job 4 days a week-and she was tied to the property because you can’t just pop out to the hairdresser you might miss a booking. No meals out, rare they had holidays and told me how much their mortgage was hotels did a little better as they also did functions but it is a hard slog.

Contact a local owner near you and ask if you can shadow them/help them for a few days a week and see how you like it maybe?

This will be an incredible amount of work. Can you cook yourself? If you have to hire chefs (you'll need more than one for cover/days off) then you will struggle to make a profit off five rooms unless you're in a very desirable location? Make a realistic business plan and see.

How much do you enjoy washing, cleaning and cooking and dealing with customer service?

Oh god.

I’ve worked in loads of hotels when I was travelling. When looking for a job I would always give the ‘inexperienced owner‘ a massive swerve.

Pp is right. Go work in a hotel, for free. Go chambermaid, cook, waitress. Go see what needs to be done. Then decide.

Madness.

Neither of you have any experience, and I assume you also have no qualifications or knowledge about the hospitality industry.

It's long hours - you're tied to your business and you can't just be off sick or take a long weekend away. You'll need to be up early every single day to prepare breakfast - no more lie ins. Then, unless you make enough money to pay staff, you'll spend all day cleaning rooms, cleaning up from meals, doing laundry, sourcing food/deliveries, doing the books, answering the phones, dealing with queries. In between, you'll need to sort the dining room for lunch and be on-hand to greet customers and serve lunch, and you'll need to do the same for dinner. Every single day, 7 days a week.

You have no experience or knowledge in the industry - in the kindest possible way, why the bloody hell would you even consider it?

I think you’re mad. You will never have a day off and will work every waking hour.

It will difficult to make good money and you have zero experience in any of the fields required (catering, marketing, business management).

Before you go any further down this route you need to spend some time working in the industry so you know what you’re getting yourself into. At the moment you are walking blindly into this.

I’ve never really understood the “sell up and open a B&B” dream. You’re basically signing up to get up at dawn, cook breakfast for other people, then do a fuck load of cleaning. You can never go on holiday at a nice time of year because that’s when you make your money. And if you are adding more meals that’s going to be even more cooking, cleaning and skivvying. It just sounds the opposite of fun.

I’ve run a b&b. It’s incredibly dull, hard work and unreliable money. I was offered the opportunity to buy it and said absolutely no way

Would this be your only income?

I can’t begin to think how a hotel serving 3 meals a day makes money on 5 rooms.

I totally agree it’s madness.

I spent 13 years in hospitality and it’s SHIT. It’s thankless and incredibly hard work. There’s no chance I’d do it now.

We used to own a B&B, we were looking to get out when DH got ill so that speeded up the process, don't do evening meals.

Do you have DC?

OK you’ve put me off! I still have the BnB dream, I just think this particular option is too much for us. In answer to some questions, yes we have DC and no it would not be our only income.