To wonder about affluent people running B&Bs

[cateycloggs]

Watching Escape To The Country, I have noticed several of the (to me ) affluent couples looking to relocate saying they wish to run a B&B. Do well off people who have had or are continuing to have successful professional or business careers really want to do that? Do they want to get up early, make and serve breakfasts to strangers, wash up, strip their beds, collect their dirty towels, clean the floors, organise the laundry, vaccuum, dust and polish bedrooms and clean toilets, baths and showers used by strangers? Then have the hassle of planning, budgeting, ordering, shopping for or collecting the necessary food and drink for their guests. All in part of their own (expensive) homes. Or are they thinking of having assistants which would be more understandable to me. And they would then be providing local employment.

As an introverted person who started working life as a chambermaid in big hotels, it sounds hellish. Why would you do (run a B&B) that unless you were hard up with very limited opportunities for work in your area?

Genuinely curious as to whether its just a personality difference or one of those work ethic differences.

I think it may not be very safe for a single woman to do b+b in a country house alone. I think I would need a significant other.

On Air BnB you can vet guests if you choose to do so.

You can ask people to leave if they break 'house rules'.

You cannot discriminate of course.

I run a B&B, have done since the age of 24, can't think of anything worse, if I had money to retire and was of that age I would NOT be doing it!! Is it because they want to "bore" people to tears and show off their house! Thankfully my B&B is separate to my own house and I like to leave the guests to it but I don't stay in B&B's unless I have to as I can't be bothered with the owners!! I feel like the least B&B lady ever! I would say No to a guest, don't think I've ever had too but I don't think there is an obligation to put people up! I've come close to asking people to leave as they were doing something illegal and downright stupid! I actually have a back seat at present, not great for business but necessary for tasing family, it is a lot of organising even if staff do the main bulk of work and you never know when a guest might "need" you.....7am......11pm......wanting to book at midnight.....

I always think this! I feel sometimes they think it’s going to be completely different to what it is. As someone who lives in Cornwall it amuses me when they want to move to the country to run these types of business but still go to the gym, or meet up with pals for coffee etc we always play a game to guess how long they will last here lol.

Movinghouseatlast and birdglasspen, yours are the kind of situations are how I envisioned running a B&B which is why I'd find it hard to understand people who may regard it as a 'hobby' business. Although others have explained how limited the personal or work involvement may be. I suppose it is one of the attractions if you have a property that the size and type of the business can be very varied.

Also I do understand we as viewers are only seeing what the participants and the programme makers want us to see. As with all these 'reality' programmes. I don't even remember if the searchers made an offer on what was a beautiful property.

Tara66 safety would be a big consideration I suppose in any situation, town or country. I suppose most payments would be by card now but you can never predict what any stray psychopath may take it into their head to do. I am thinking now of my own locale which can be nerve wracking.

A bit off topic, on another type of programme involving valuation of property, I was surprised the woman revealed she was living as a single parent in an isolated place with several young children. Maybe I am paranoid but I would never go on television to discuss anything personal and did in fact turn down a few opportunities years ago.

I think it's one of those things that people don't really always think through properly and think it will be lovely without think about the fact you end up being on call 24/7 to your guests

I spent a summer working in a nice guest house in the Lake District when I was a student and the owners were the least well suited couple for the job (I'm not sure what jobs they had done previously), the wife was clearly on the edge of a nervous breakdown

I visited a few years later and noticed that it had been converted to high end holiday apartments which I imagine suited them much better (I checked the website and still same proprietors as when I'd worked there)

I remember one bloke on Escape to the Country who was looking at houses around Whitby (IIRC). Every one, he looked at the best bedroom and immediately thought it would be his, said how lovely the view was, then got reminded he'd, erm, presumably be letting that out to the guests, right?

He had clearly given no actual thought to the running of it at all!

OTOH, I know a couple who are extremely posh and independently wealthy, who used to run their very large house (it used to be a vicarage, back in the days when vicarages were huge) as a B&B. They do have a lot of help but it is also a personality thing. They don't seem to be bothered about personal space.

I think in a way it may be easier to take that attitude if you and everyone you know has 10+ bedrooms and you've always assumed guests will be easily welcomed in?

We did :-).

High-end B and B is very lucrative, tax free income , very flexible, and the better you do it the easier it is. Identify a precise target market of the kind of people you like and are happy to host.

As for "why would affluent people do that".... we got rich by spotting opportunities and developing excellence in skills that people want to buy.

Yes, of course BB owners can say no any potential clients.; no need to give a reason other than "Sorry, we're fully booked on that date".

YANBU Op. I started my working life as a weekend chambermaid. The experience was a brilliant push to get through school and university. I have stayed in a few different bnbs over the years and it takes a special type of person to really make it work and using industrial services/employing staff. Stayed in a boutique one in Brighton once where the couple running it looked absolutely broken as they were doing everything.

Having said that, I wouldn't say no to a self contained air BnB type arrangement in the future. I would employ a cleaner.

If you watch "Four in a Bed" there's a mixture of lone people who do everything and people who have a breakfast chef/cleaners/etc.

Two thoughts- it's probably not full occupancy all year round, and there must be a satisfaction from running your own business for many people.

2bazookas, may I ask how it is tax-free income? I understood that self-employed people do pay tax. Obviously I am not business minded so have always been a non-starter in seeing opportunities rather than just endless hard work.

I used to stay annually in a B&B for work. Large period home in a Hampshire village. The couple running it were early retired. It was the home in which they'd brought their children up, and the woman didn't want to downsize, so paying guests it was.

I do think you must be a certain personality type to make it work though - they were both lushes super sociable and keen to spend time with guests in the evening despite having a private sitting room.

BramStoker and Jads, Your experiences are similar to mine and proably why I took note of the searchers stating they wanted to have some B&B rooms in their home. It was a long time ago for me but I went to work in hotels (5* in London and Brighton) partly as a means of having accomodation with a job. When I started I was supposed to be a management trainee but quickly realised I did not want to be the one telling people what to do. Also that I personally need to limit my interactions with others for my own peace of mind. It just was not me and partly for that reason I went to evening classes and then on to University.

I did have a very brief time at a small family run place in Wales where they promised to train me as a cook. We did not get on so I left and that is one reason I see the personal aspect of small hotel or B&B work so strongly. I do appreciate it suits other , maybe more extrovert, people and that money attracts money. I mean that (some) people who have what to me is a large income or capital will use some of it to make more rather than do what I would do - restrict their life to their income .

I guess it depends where your B&B is and what your guests are like, I don't think I've ever felt threatened or overly worried by any of my guests, I'm not single but I have been alone a lot while running the B&B. The worse I felt was being harassed by 2 men in the kitchen trying to sell me some cooking pans after they had stayed. However, the greatest risk I faced was probably paying over the odds for some "crap' cookware! They were pretty full on but they did eventually get the message, I wouldn't be in a hurry to have them back again! Maybe I'll stop paying tax (?!)

I watched a programme recently (I was ironing and put on for something mundane to watch) on channel 5. It was a b and b expert checking out people that wanted to do B and b, a bit like a budget version of hotel inspector.

A man wanted to rent out a room in his house in East London. It was very dated, and the whole house was a little bit strange (lots of trinkets and ornaments, and decor of all different styles) He said he wouldnt do it for the money (he was proposing £20-25/night) but for company and he liked chatting with people but he didnt want to make breakfasts. I was a bit sceptical of how many people it would appeal to, but the presenter or expert thought it would great for foreign students.

Does anyone remember Steph and Dom, from the first Gogglebox series.?
They ran a BnB somewhere in Kent, obviously had a large house and were clearly posh, wealthy, very funny and a teeny bit bonkers.

So they fit the description. Presume they had staff though.

I don't necessarily watch a lot of these type of programmes, Escape is on when I am at home now in the afternoons and I mostly enjoy it for the pretty country photography. I have only seen bits of The Hotel Inspector which seemed quite depressing due to the desperate straits of the owners God knows how they have managed in the past year, and Four IN a Bed which I did not gel with. I understand that a couple on Gogglebox originally owned a small hotel but used the opportunity of being on TV to get out? Again only watched a few bits so maybe wrong.

Tartyflette, yes that's who I meant. I think they have been on other programmes and even have a newspaper column so an example of money attracting money.

Tax free???? You are supposed to pay tax like everyone else. The only exception is if you earn less than £7500 under the rent a room scheme, which wouldn't be much of a high end b and b.

@2bazookas

We did :-).

High-end B and B is very lucrative, tax free income , very flexible, and the better you do it the easier it is. Identify a precise target market of the kind of people you like and are happy to host.

As for "why would affluent people do that".... we got rich by spotting opportunities and developing excellence in skills that people want to buy.

Yes, of course BB owners can say no any potential clients.; no need to give a reason other than "Sorry, we're fully booked on that date".

How on Earth is it tax free income??

My friend has a five bedroom house and runs a air b&b. She has never worked since having kids and to her it's her job. Shes a bit qerky in her thinking so it's good for her. No set hours, no boss and as its been put in it's own self contained area, no human interaction. It's not my cup of tea but it's easy cash for her I guess

They do it to give them an income in a nice rural area with no jobs. It facilitates them living there, that’s all.

It's an escape to the country fantasy. So many couples want to run a b&b, have acres of land, get chickens etc with no experience or any idea how much work it will involve. Most of them don't even own a dog!

It makes me laugh when I see programmes where people have 'retired' and bought a B&B, as if it's not a 24/7 job!

Personally I'd love it, because I love the hotel industry, but I'd want a big enough place to justify a breakfast chef, a laundry service and a housekeeper.

I do know of a wealthy Man who had his sprawling house converted to a B&B (with staff) purely because he was lonely after his Wife passed away and his children were grown and left He had a guest lounge and his private lounge, but generally he'd leave the door between them open and just enjoy chatting or watching the TV of an evening with his guests.