Price Per for room chocolates

This thread came up with another 2 dozen threads due to a spammer on here, fyi. No harm is using it tho! 

Have you ever gone shopping at a big sale and everything was a great deal and then at the end you thought "Sheesh, what did I buy for all that?"  Or those who shop Costco and the prices are great and it is never less than $150+ for a handful of items you purchased?

Well that is what we need to do with our inns, we need to keep an inventory and know our costs. We need to keep track of spoilage and waste.  If we use indiv soaps and shampoos and they are $1.75 per room, chocolates $2.00 per room, that is already $3.75 off the top.  Every "little" thing adds up.

Buying fruit not in season or not on sale, ie red grapes were $1.29 per lb, at the register they came up $3.89 a lb, that made the little bag of grapes I bought for one room over $10!  So the clerk fixed it and they were back to the correct price which was in my budget.

It is wise to know what your rooms are costing you per guest, what the bottom line is. Give yourself this as an assignment to do when it slows down.  Are you giving away more than you should? Maybe you would be surprised at the figure once you put it all down on paper or excel?

As sort of part of this though I may start a new thread. Do many people sit down and work out exactly what is costs to rent a room? (if you see what I mean?)

I keep meaning to do this but havn't got round to it. Back to the chocolate thread. I am thinking of putting chocs on the pillows but how do people do it? ie if you know that room is let today put them out then? I worry about hot days and that sort of thing. I currently have kit kat's on the hospitality tray but am thinking of changing to mini packs of cookies as they are more economical as we set up the rooms for 2 and if there is just one person they usually eat both. All the things to think about.

Yes Swirt I think that was it. Thanks.  Not that I want to look at it AGAIN  ha ha It is very helpful and some times we just float along doing what we do and think we can write stuff off and not worry about the bottom line (that comes back to bite us).

 I was just wondering if I got a good deal on the chocolates, so I calculated it out and brought the topic up.  I try to keep on top of all costs involved in room rentals, I think you brought that up a while back Steve? Or the old forum.  Do you have that on this forum? The daily operating cost per room, was that what you called it?  When I think half of us had to be hooked up to an EKG.

It all affects our bottom line and whether we make anything in this business. Yes we write them off, but I still try to get good deals.

I used to buy special local made chocolates.  Some people ate them and some didn't. I don't think anyone thought it was special. So I quit putting them in the rooms.  Instead, I now keep a couple candy bowls full in the dining area, common rooms that are individually wrapped mints.

I don't understand the problem with the term "lifestyle B&B". What's annoying about it? I also don't have a problem with "hobby B&B" if that's what it is. It doesn't mean there's no work or committment involved. Lots of "hobbies" involve work, committment, resources.

I think it's useful to differentiate between a B&B that is relied on for financial support vs one that is not. It has an enormous impact on business decisions.

There was a BnB that I considered a hobby for tax write off purposes as he travelled all the time and they basically only had one guest room - a second they could open up on ocassion (which was the family's room).   I was a bit annoyed with this as callers would call and ask ME about that waterfront BnB.  They didn't have a website but listed on a directory.  Still don't have a website.

Then I saw in the paper HE died in a car accident and she is on her own now and it is her bread and butter.  I feel for her.  They were married for 25 years or so.

What they started out doing was not what it ended up.

I've met innkeepers who clearly have their B&B only for the tax write-offs.  Many still run very nice B&B's, and some still do a lot of work, but everything about their mode of operation is different from my own.  (It must be wonderful to have the freedom to not care about overhead!) 

The word "lifestyle" is a bit annoying, but not nearly as bad as the word "hobby!"  But while the word may tend to be annoying, I think it is important that catlady clarify that her B&B was not her main source of income when commenting on what she did and why.  "Lifestyle" is as good a word as any to do that.  But then, she took herself quite seriously and acted professionally.  So "lifestyle" is not appropriate.  Hmmm....

I only wish there was an easy way to clarify that with the IRS...  As Kathleen says, B&B's whose innkeepers only practice innkeeping to maximize their tax writeoffs make it harder for the rest of us to deal with the IRS.  But that's the case in any profession.

=)
Kk.

I put 4 pieces of chocolates in the rooms with 2 small bottles of water. The chocolates vary, whatever I can find on sale, but good ones. I like adding those little touches.

I was thinking about getting specialty chocolates that are $.11 ea. But they would not be in the rooms, they'd be on the hallway table. 

I always bought the different Ghiardelli Chocolate Squares.Something like $3.50 a bag. Wal Mart I think it a bit lower. Can't remember how many in a bag..but not more than a dozen I think.

Hmmm that is cool that you can personalize the message.  So I guess the othe question that would come up is, how long does good chocolate stay good?  (if you bought a bunch personalized how much would be too much to keep fresh?).