Buying a B&B

[DontKnowAnymore123]

A local Bed and Breakfast hotel business has recently gone up for sale and I’m interested in buying it but just wondered if there is anyone on here that can help.

The current owners purchased the property back in 1994 and they haven’t done any major works to the property until slightly after they took over.
It has 11 letting bedrooms plus a large owners flat.
It is priced extremely cheap (£200k) neighbouring similar properties selling for nearly double that price.
Just wondered if anyone has experience of doing a full renovation then running it after…..

No idea, but I have watched a lot of Hotel inspector programs...
Have you been involved with hospitality before?

My advice to you as it appears you aren’t experienced in this. Don’t bother.
The property itself is cheap for a reason. It’s priced to sell because there’s at least £200k worth of work to be completed. It seems that the property will need to be completely gutted back to brick, a full rewire, a possible new roof, new plumbing, new heating system plus then the full fit out - bedrooms, ensuites, kitchen, toilets etc. The expense will add up and you will struggle to make a profit for at least the first few years.

Also - have you got experience in hospitality or working in a hotel? You most likely won’t be able to afford to employ anyone for the first few years so it’ll be down to you to do all the work and working long hours. Getting up at 4.30am to prep for breakfast, serving breakfast up till about 9ish, doing checkouts, changeovers, welcoming new guests in the afternoon and then any other tasks in the evening - maintenance or if you have a bar - serving on that as well as being on call for 24 hours a day whilst the hotel is open….
I’ve never done it myself but I know people who have and they ended up selling up within 5 years as too much pressure.

I know people who have converted B&B’s into self contained flats and rented them out. More cost in the beginning but you won’t have the daily hassle of running a business full on like a hotel would present challenges.

I assume you'd be living there too? My mum ran one when I was a kid and I didn't really like sharing my home with strangers

No experience in running a B&B, but she in buying properties for renovation.
If its that cheap is because they're is a massive amount of work to be done. 30 years without any modernisation is a big concern.
And even if you get quotes and think you know what your are taking on, you can add more £££ on to the estimates for all the issues you couldn't see and didn't anticipate.
Potentially you would be buying a bottomless money pit with no income (if people even want B&Bs these days) for many months.
Be very cautious OP.

Walk away, your b + b dream will soon turn into a nightmare..........

We would live in the owners flat once the property has been refurbished- we would rent for the interim whilst the work is being done as we would need to sell our house (currently valued at £600k) to fund this.

I worked in a hotel as a manager about twenty years ago before changing my career but loved my time in hospitality that we looked into our own venture.

I have done this very thing. The B&B we took over needed months of renovation, decoration, new bathrooms etc and it was extremely stressful. Then the running of a B&B was extremely hard work. We had 5 letting rooms and that was hard enough. You have to be up early in the morning to prep for breakfast, then serve breakfast, clear up from breakfast, check out those leaving, service the rooms of the ones staying. Then there is the room turnarounds and setting back up to do. Stripping them down ready to even start cleaning them takes time in itself. Then once the rooms are done and ready the communal areas need to be cleaned and hoovered. All this while answering phone calls from people with enquiries or wanting to book or accepting new bookings via an online system and doing other things like stocking up your visitors leaflets/honesty bar if you have one. And don't get me started on doing all your own laundry! If you are then once all the daily chores are done you spend the rest of your time washing and pressing bedding. If you live onsite you never have your own privacy. Sharing your home and your space is incredibly tough. We did it for 2 years then put it straight on the market and couldn't wait to get out of there. Whenever we see people on property shows now wanting to run a B&B we are screaming at the TV 'don't do it!' 😂This is an honest review of someone who has been there and done that and if what I have said hasn't put you off then maybe you are one of the people who will absolutely love the industry and relish the pressure.

People like to complain and find fault in anything these days. This would be my worst nightmare- you can never escape your job.

I can't remember the last time we stayed in a B&B.
For the past 10 years at least, we have rented the whole place, Airbnb type thing

As I said before, my mum ran a b&b. She loved it. I never once heard her complain about it. My nan helped with the breakfast cooking & she hired a couple of staff to help with cleaning rooms. I'd also serve the breakfast at the weekends, v tired & hungover 🤣

Many people love it and love the hard work that goes with it. We met people running B&B's close by that had been doing it happily for years (and some still are!) But its much harder work than most people think and it can take over your life. I do wish someone had told me what I have told the OP and be real with me and then I would have known what I was getting myself into. I, like many others, did go into it blind and I thought it was going to be a nice easy 'work from home' job but the reality for me was much different. Good for your Mum, I am glad she was one of those people who loved doing it. They do exist 😊xx