YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Please send us your questions:

Email: tina@tinaboden.com

Twitter: @MicroBizGirl

Facebook: The B and B Keeper (@thebandbkeeper)

Tina Boden is certainly no stranger to The hospitality industry - it has been a part of her life since the age of 2.

As The Tiny Troubleshooter, Tina works one-on-one with business owners, providing virtual assistance and marketing support.

As one of the Bs in the B and B Keeper, Tina will step in to run your BnB, Guest House, small Hotel or Inn while the owner is on holiday.

And then as Co-founder of #MicroBizMatters Day Tina is one of the leading voices for micro business in the UK.

Please email your questions to tina@luxurybbmag.co.uk OR reach out via social media: facebook.com/luxurybbmag/ twitter.com/luxury_bnb

READ ONLINE & SHARE >> luxurybbmag.co.uk/tina20

Talk It Over With Tina The Tiny Troubleshooter

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY TINA BODEN FROM THEBANDBKEEPER.COM

Q. The ever-changing legislation Winter months they may have offers that would from the Government regularly leaves me confused. Guests from areas with local restrictions will call to see if it's still ok to come and stay. When I turn to www.gov.uk for advice I can find myself questioning my intelligence as often it doesn't seem to make sense. Are there alternatives that are more specific for B&Bs, Inns and Guest Houses?

A. I've found the B&B Association to be a great source of information and, in my opinion, they have been a fantastic support. Their lobbying and campaigning with other organisations representing the hospitality sector to obtain fair outcomes for those in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries has been second to none. I suggest becoming a member to benefit from the resources and support they offer. Also make sure you follow them on Twitter, @BandBassoc, along with @davidjweston the Chairman. Follow Kate Nicholls @UKHospKate Chief Exec of UK Hospitality as well. If you're not on Twitter, create an account to obtain up to date information and also to be able to request advice from the people and organisations I mentioned, they are very forthcoming.

Q. We seem to be getting a lot of potential guests who feel because they cannot go to Majorca, France, etc that we should be offering a discount. Since re-opening, our B&B has been really busy. We don' need to reduce our prices and find their demands quite insulting. Would appreciate advice on the response - what we want to say will most certainly result in a negative OTA review without them even crossing the threshold!

A. While I was B&B Keeping for a client recently, I had one of those calls. I explained that the B&B owner offered set discounts for booking direct also in quieter winter months they may have offers that would see a reduction in the room rates but other than that, nothing more was available. I went on to explain that many self-employed people had lost a considerable amount of income not just in the UK but worldwide but still had bills that needed to be paid. In addition, I added that they are now grateful to be busy and do not need to reduce rates to attract guests. Like you there was actually no availability for this potential guest that spoke to me and I took great delight in telling him so. Stand your ground, Billy Connolly has a great word to describe these people but as the Luxury BnB Magazine is a reputable publication I will not share it here.

Q. Since re-opening after lockdown we've found ourselves in the very fortunate position of being busy, in fact we've had maximum occupancy for most of the time and bookings keep coming in. There's obviously additional work to be done and there seems to be more admin than ever before. We've considered taking on an extra member of staff to help with breakfasts and housekeeping but are worried that we won't have enough work in the future as this could be a short-term surge. What are your thoughts?

A. Consider taking on a Virtual Assistant to help with the administration of bookings, accounts, general office work, and social media. There are a plethora of self-employed VA’s working across the world that can help. In this day and age of technology nearly everything can be done in the Cloud so both you and they have real time access to whatever is needed. They often take on short-term assignments and this would give you an opportunity to see if it helped reduce your work load while you carry on running things front of house. The other thing to bear in mind with a VA is they can get a lot of admin done in a short space of time as this is all they are focusing on.