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@BEDANDBREAKFASTACADEMY @BEDANDBREAKFASTACADEMY @BANDBACADEMY Karen Thorne has ran Hopton House B&B in Shropshire for over 16 years and the Bed and Breakfast Academy for over 14 years. Through the B&B Academy, Karen trains aspiring B&B owners in how to set up, buy, run and market their own B&Bs. Karen runs monthly online courses and has recently launched a B&B Marketing membership for existing B&B owners, so she can help them to organically and authentically market their own B&Bs.
28 || Luxury BnB || June 2021
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Karen's Column
A COUNTRY B&B
THE HOTEL INSPECTOR
Living in the beautiful english countryside was my main reason for setting up a B&B. But running a rural business does come with some problems.There’s the sat nav issue. No matter how many emails you send with directions, explaining that guests shouldn’t rely on sat nav, there’s that phone call at 6.45 - “We can’t find you” I express regret that they are lost and give directions, whilst trying really hard not to say “Didn’t you receive the email with directions that I sent you?” Then there’s the animals. Waiting for guests to arrive, I heard a car horn being sounded from outside. Our guest was parked, surrounded by our chickens, refusing to get out of the car. She didn’t like birds. She also didn’t like cows. When she pulled open the curtains the next morning, she found herself face to face with the local cows checking their reflections in the window of her room. We agreed that it wasn’t the best B&B for her, refunded her stay and waved goodbye. And the cows come with some side effects... Guests left a review saying they’d had a lovely time, but there were more flies in the bedroom than they’d expect for a 5 star B&B. I did wonder, if we’d been 4 star instead, if the number of flies - flying through an open window on a summer’s day - would have been more acceptable. Luckily it’s a small price to pay for living here - apart from the spiders of course...and that’s another story.
When I get a call from a single person, wanting to stay one night “on business”. I’ve always known it’s the Hotel Inspector. I get no business guests - someone turning up wearing a suit, carrying a briefcase has always been a giveaway. But I played along anyway… His last visit didn’t get off to a great start. I don’t take one night stays and there was a bit of a tussle over that before I gave in. With a full B&B, the morning was a bit frantic. He ordered breakfast for 8.30, the next guests at 8.45 and the others hadn’t done their breakfast menu - something that’s going to raise my cortisol levels on a normal day, even when my every move isn’t being scrutinised and documented. Having finished breakfast, he produced his business card with a flourish and announced he wanted to talk through my report, just as the last guests arrived. With no other choice, I left him leaning against the only clean spot on my kitchen island, to take the guests’ order - eggs benedict and blueberry pancakes. My day wasn’t getting any better. As I rushed round making hollandaise, praying for perfect poached eggs, we got into a ridiculous argument about the room needing a full length mirror. There is one - it’s behind the robes on the bathroom door. And me needing to put glass tops on the furniture - not going to happen. That year, I “scraped” through with a low 5 star gold.
Read Karen's blog to discover more about country B&Bs, inspections and more about life as a B&B owner: bandbacademy.co.uk/blog
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01/06/2021 11:49
