Day for a B and B owner – the morning
Early in the morning I am headed over to the guest side to start preparing the morning breakfast prep. This is after and hour or so that I have been on the computer.
The routine day of the b and b owner may vary as to specifics but there is always the one thing in common. The essentials everyday tasks are doing maintenance, cleaning, cooking, processing reservations and greeting guests. Most guests don’t know about all the other hats that a b and b owner may wear. There is the bookkeeping, budgeting, planning meals, gardening, scheduling time for shopping, banking, paying bills and maintenance. Then there are some b and b owners that do their own websites and marketing. If you aren’t organized and if you don’t have a system that works for you, things can unravel quickly at inopportune times.
We are starting our 11th year at Down By The River B and B. We have developed systems that save us time and effort. We only have 4 rooms at our b and b but that is enough to make our business plan work. We are able to do everything ourselves without needing to hire help for the normal day to day operation. When it comes to special maintenance or repair work we do find someone that is qualified to work with us in that area. So just what exactly is our normal day like? Well I can tell you that it isn’t ever the same but this is probably a typical scenario.
4 AM rolls around I am up and getting ready for the day. Before long I am on the computer checking emails and my TO DO list to see what is going to happen today. I keep this list continuously updated to keep me from missing a task. I look on the list to know if I have new guests coming in that day and if any are leaving. I spend some time posting items on Facebook, Google places, our blog or website. All this is done to help our SEO. SEO is search engine optimization. The purpose of SEO is to get you website high on page 1 of the search engines for the term you are using. Better placement equates to more people seeing you when they are doing a search for your business; in our case a b and b experience.
By 6:30 AM, I open up the guest side getting the cream out for their coffee and heating water for tea. I also look thing over to see if there is any quick cleaning that needs to be done from the night before. Since we normally serve the guest family style at 8:30 AM, I may be prepping our premade breakfasts that were stored in the refrigerator overnight to put into the oven. Some times we will be getting the ingredients ready for the breakfast we will make that morning, such as soufflés. In between all this we fit in a breakfast for ourselves.
At 8 we will be making smoothies and placing them out for the guests to enjoy. Checking on coffee hot water and cream to make sure we don’t run out. Just before 8:30 we are taking things out of the oven and placing the breakfast on the plates and serving. After breakfast is served, we tell our guests what we have for them this morning. We check the coffee and tea and clean up some of the cooking items that we have used for serving or cooking. If we have some crusts that need to be baked we will put that in the oven. While the guest are enjoying their breakfast, we will sit down with them and answer questions or give suggestions on their tour plans for the day or about things that they have with the b and b. Many times the breakfast conversation will go on long after we have cleared items from the table.