To ask how b&bs work?

[Bellavida99]

Ok - overactive brain in the night started thinking about bed and breakfasts. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in one as normally stay in hotels or rent cottages. So do owners literally rent out a bedroom and trust strangers in the house? Do they lock their bedroom door? How do they trust them to lock the front door properly and not to steal anything? How do they feel safe in their own house? I don’t think I’d be able to sleep!

Actually if you read all the posts there’s lots of examples of normal house set ups. Not sure “thick” is a very acceptable term.

When I was ten, my parents bought a large house by the sea that had previously been a bed & breakfast.

The shed was done out with beds - we presumed the owners had slept there during the summer when full with guests. Luxurious private quarters.

I was a bit shocked by her relaxed approach tbh. I had been with my boyfriend at the time who was playing in a band and we needed somewhere to stay urgently. So I just knock on the door of a house with b & b on a sign and she said yes and gave me a key! She hadn't even seen my boyfriend as he was setting up his gear in the pub. Next time I saw her was the morning and as I said she had a child. A bit odd!

I had a b&b. The house was a huge old farmhouse so our 4 rentable rooms had en-suite bathrooms. I had a separate bathroom but our bedroom and bathroom corridor was separated off from the rest by a lockable door.
We had a lock on the kitchen door and we could also lock our personal living room (house came with two living rooms and a dining room downstairs.)
We didn't keep personal items or expensive things (other than the TV, dvd player and other electronics for guests) out where guests could go.

In a smaller place where we would need to share a living room I'd just keep my personal belongings out of the living room or in a lockable dresser/sideboard.

One thing you discover about the general public when working in the industry is that despite it being rare, some people are absolute scum. Thankfully we only ever had god awful guests twice. It's always a risk but usually people are lovely and friendly providing that you give a good customer experience.

We've stayed in countless BB's ; being hosted in a real home is one of the pleasures of it. We also hosted many hundreds of BB guests from all over the world, in one of our own homes which was ideally located and laid out for that.
I fell into it by serendipity.

We let a spare groundfloor room +ensuite and the guests also had the use of one of the sitting rooms with TV etc. They had a tea tray in their room and I did
a very delicious afternoon tea on arrival. We used the other sitting room ; slept in en suite on another floor; they never came upstairs and had no access to the kitchen. We did not lock doors, small islands are virtually crime free.

I offered (and cooked to order) a wide breakfast menu of fresh and best local produce .The guests got their lunch and dinner out, at local restaurants. We didn't advertise, all our guests heard of us by "word of mouth" and needed to make a telephone booking... during which I picked and chose who to host and when, and which to decline with "I'm afraid we're fully booked".

How is having strangers in a different bedroom in your house anymore of a threat than staying in a hotel with hundreds of strangers, some of whom are sleeping right next to your room OP?

Some do actually.
I once stayed in a B&B that was the woman's daughter's room. Her DD's things were still in the cupboard.
I watched TV in the evening with my landlady and she came to pick me up at the station. It was like staying with an aunt except I paid her!

I've stayed with other friendly old ladies. It's great if you're sociable, but I'm a bit shy so I actually prefer guest houses now and somewhere where I can come and go as I pelase (in these small B&Bs the landlords stay up for you so you can end up with a curfew).

My friend has a b&b. The bedrooms all have en-suite and locks, as does her own, and I assume she locks her door on a night if she has guests. Front door has a lock that closes behind you.

She has a separate sitting room, and to be honest I don’t think the guests really use the main sitting room often anyway, but they are allowed in it. Her formal dining room is set up as the breakfast room and she eats her meals in the kitchen. No kids.

It looks like a lot of hard work and wouldn’t be for me! You do get specific b&b insurance, presumably to guard against random guests stealing all your stuff

God I bloody love Four in a Bed.

Thanks everyone- after the initial raised eyebrows emojis I’m now loving all these stories about the mysterious world of B&Bs 😊

Glad you asked this Op as I've often wondered too!

I love 4 in a bed but they usually just seem like small hotels to me

I had a school friend whose parents ran a B&B in a seaside town. In the Summer (well Easter - October) my friend and her 2 siblings shared a tiny bedroom with bunk beds in whilst her parents slept in a bed which folded down ftom the wall in the living room. Both these rooms(and a small shower room) were at the back of a large kitchen which had a lock on the door. The sitting room, dining room and 5 bedrooms were at the front of the house/upstairs where the guests were. In the winter the family moved back into the main house.