Stimulates thought but tells you nothing
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I bought this book on the basis of the contents page, which was featured on Amazon. It looked very comprehensive, covering all aspects of the business from "Are you the right person to enter this market" to housekeeping, food, tax, the law and business skills.
I appreciate that this is a lot to cover in detail, but I feel that the book omitted essential elements and missed the key point at almost every turn. Frequently, it does not inform but instructs you to look elsewhere for that essential nub of information, (including 2 of the author's other books!!!) Comments such as "contact your local authority", "your accountant" and most annoyingly "ask other B&B owners" for more detail appears with monotonous regularity. Thank you, but the kind of advice that I would get from other B&B owners is exactly the reason that I bought the book!
The list of useful addresses is anything but. It comprises mainly of the address of every single tourist information centre in the UK and NI, information which is freely and easily available to even brain-dead aspiring B&B owners via the internet or yellow pages. It omits completely to mention the excellent government websites that give crucial and much more up to date detail on tourism trends around the UK.
More useful addresses would be contact details or at least an indication of how to track down things such as the mystical B&B Associations that are mentioned so frequently, or suppliers of the commercial bed linen and crockery that is recommended, or trade press for B&B owners. If running B&Bs is so popular, I can't believe that a "Small Hotel and Guesthouse Owner" magazine has never appeared on Have I Got News for You, but none of these details are given.
While constantly urging research, the book recommends that you only ever buy one brand of bed. They may be good, but what is the alternative? The feature on the one and only recommended brand of booking software is quite blatantly lifted straight out of the company in question's marketing literature. Again, the author's experience may have dictated that this is a good system that meets certain needs, but no alternatives are mentioned. I am immediately suspicious of the reasons behind these specific brand recommendations and did not feel that this was in any way a balanced approach.
If you have no business experience whatsoever and all that you require is a simple, top level overview of things to consider in the B&B business, this is the book for you. If you want detail, follow the author's instructions and look elsewhere!
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Sound advice, but not your starting point
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There seems to be quite a lot of evidence emerging that more and more people are interested in designing their own holidays - putting together schedules and itineraries which meet their needs, rather than becoming enmeshed in the rigours of a package holiday. At the same time, more and more people are finding themselves happy to work from home or to use their home as a workplace and source of income. Hence the popularity of B&B - a format which seems to satisfy both supplier and user. Getting started in running a B&B is not something you should do lightly. This is, first and foremost, a business, so you need to know how to run a business, need to understand the principles of cash flow, of marketing, of planning and organising your workplace and the product you supply: once you make your home into a B&B establishment, it ceases to become just a home, it is now a product, to be consumed by strangers. You had better appreciate not just the economic and business demands and skills required, you must also recognise the emotional consequences of alienating part of your house. There are many books available on the subject of running a B&B. I would urge you to read as many as possible - each will bring a different perspective and provide different forms of advice. Assimilate as much as you can, talk to your local tourist board and council, absorb as much information as possible. Whyte and Jess provide an interesting take on the B&B business. Stewart Whyte works in the tourism industry; he is not an authority on what it feels like to run a B&B, but he knows a lot about how they are run and how they fit into the bigger picture. Your own home, your own B&B may be your world, but to a visitor, it is only a paragraph in a brochure. You will find yourself competing with and collaborating with other local B&B's. You will find guests you love and invaders (sorry, guests) you'd gleefully strangle! Whyte and Jess offer very sound advice on the financial and business side of running a B&B, and a perspective on how to market it through your local Tourist Board. It is invaluable information, and it is essential information ... but it is probably not the best place to start researching or investigating the possibilities of converting your home into a B&B, or investing in a property to run as a B&B. If you've not run a B&B before, I suggest you start by looking at other books - do a search in Amazon for other titles. I'd personally recommend Barbara Notarius & Gail Sforza Brewer's "Open Your Own Bed and Breakfast". It's an American book, and contains reference to US legislation - ignore that: Notarius & Brewer provide an excellent introduction to the trials and tribulations of running a B&B, with a wealth of practical and inspirational advice. Once you've absorbed something like this, come back and read the Whyte & Jess book for its specific business advice. But think about how running a B&B will affect you first before you try to evaluate whether or not you can successfully run it as a business.
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Not the book for absolute beginners
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There seems to be quite a lot of evidence emerging that more and more people are interested in designing their own holidays - putting together schedules and itineraries which meet their needs, rather than becoming enmeshed in the rigours of a package holiday. At the same time, more and more people are finding themselves happy to work from home or to use their home as a workplace and source of income. Hence the popularity of B&B - a format which seems to satisfy both supplier and user. Getting started in running a B&B is not something you should do lightly. This is, first and foremost, a business, so you need to know how to run a business, need to understand the principles of cash flow, of marketing, of planning and organising your workplace and the product you supply: once you make your home into a B&B establishment, it ceases to become just a home, it is now a product, to be consumed by strangers. You had better appreciate not just the economic and business demands and skills required, you must also recognise the emotional consequences of alienating part of your house. There are many books available on the subject of running a B&B. I would urge you to read as many as possible - each will bring a different perspective and provide different forms of advice. Assimilate as much as you can, talk to your local tourist board and council, absorb as much information as possible. Whyte and Jess provide an interesting take on the B&B business. Stewart Whyte works in the tourism industry; he is not an authority on what it feels like to run a B&B, but he knows a lot about how they are run and how they fit into the bigger picture. Your own home, your own B&B may be your world, but to a visitor, it is only a paragraph in a brochure. You will find yourself competing with and collaborating with other local B&B's. You will find guests you love and invaders (sorry, guests) you'd gleefully strangle! Whyte and Jess offer very sound advice on the financial and business side of running a B&B, and a perspective on how to market it through your local Tourist Board. It is invaluable information, and it is essential information ... but it is probably not the best place to start researching or investigating the possibilities of converting your home into a B&B, or investing in a property to run as a B&B. If you've not run a B&B before, I suggest you start by looking at other books - do a search in Amazon for other titles. I'd personally recommend Barbara Notarius & Gail Sforza Brewer's "Open Your Own Bed and Breakfast". It's an American book, and contains reference to US legislation - ignore that: Notarius & Brewer provide an excellent introduction to the trials and tribulations of running a B&B, with a wealth of practical and inspirational advice. Once you've absorbed something like this, come back and read the Whyte & Jess book for its specific business advice. But think about how running a B&B will affect you first before you try to evaluate whether or not you can successfully run it as a business.
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Appalling
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If you are thinking of starting your own B&B then this isn't the place to start your research.
It just seems wrong from start to finish, having the feeling of being written by a researcher into the field and not an actual player.
It is also unforgivable that a book called "Starting & Running" has to refer you to TWO separate books to find details on:
1. The analysis process to see if your B&B idea is viable
2. How to write a business plan
These are core to the whole process of setting up and running your own B&B and should be covered fully in this book. A lot of the book seems to be filler so there should be room for this. The other books are (coincidence?) by the same author.
The book also gives over a section on e-commerce to the provider of an e-commerce package, who gives a very biased view of the market.
This also raised my suspicions since this is an American company, and I have a general feeling (although no proof) that this is a 'localised' version from an American book: this is fine, but I kept coming across things that seemed to have been skimped on, possibly because the author wasn't local.
Finally, there is a section about the web which (my being a head of operations in a web development company) is in my opinion out of date and incorrect in the UK: it even refers to software that is over FIVE years old.
In summary, spend your money elsewhere: although not targeted at B&Bs get a good overview of starting your own business from something like "The Daily Telegraph - Starting your own business" by Michael Becket, and get help from the excellent government Business Link service.
Good Luck!
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Great Buy
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At last a book full of advice and help written by people who seem to know the market very well. The wife loved the bit were it says "its like spring cleaning your house every day". Great down to earth advice and also full of legal advice etc. Great buy for anybody thinking or even running a B&B. Its true Nigel and Stewart it you can't put a smile on somebodys face don't even thing of this business. Great book!!!!
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