Security and Damages

[TheBeachHouse]

risks I take into consideration: someone could steal my artwork, bang into my car, fall on the stairs, spill on my rug, puke in my bathroom, burn the house down with candles and cigarettes.
risks I have never considered: someone might make meth in my house.
I'm a compliance officer in my non-inn life and I just don't see it as a huge risk..

I have worked in multiple industries including compliance, insurance, financial, etc.
Someone puking on a rug is not a major issue. Bed bugs is an annoying issue. Someone making meth in the building can ruin the business - and potentially cause an explosion. And it is quite possible it is NOT covered by insurance.
Anyone from certain parts of the country (eg, TN and some others), especially police, will tell you it is a huge, monumental risk and issue. Whatever happens in one place, will eventually find its way to rural sleepy villages in New England, etc.
.

perhaps, but when I worry, it won't be about traveling meth labs in the Pebble Beach Room.
.

people find things humorous when they ignore risk. Few people thought a hurricane would cause such widespread devastation to the NJ/NY/CT region. Or people sitting in the WTC never thought about anyone flying into the building and ending their lives. I saw the smoking towers that morning from our NJ work location. People never expected the mortgage/financial crisis in 2007. Not to mention Black Friday, Pearl Harbor, or a thousand other things. People do not expect their business partner/spouse to die, until they do.
In investing/business, it is called Risk Adjusted Reward. Or in stock/futures trading, it is called Risk of Ruin. I am reminded of the Coyote, when Bugs pulled his shack onto the train tracks. When the Coyote saw the oncoming train, his reaction was to pull down the blinds.
Thinking this cannot happen to them is not a wise business practice.
.

Head in sand here. There's no way to be in this business if I expect the worst of everyone who comes thru the door.
Yes, ugliness may happen. People with evil agendas are around every corner. Happily, the good people are 99% of the population.
Like I said yesterday, you have to run your business how you see fit.
And, yes, humor is how people deal with stress.
.

Head in sand here. There's no way to be in this business if I expect the worst of everyone who comes thru the door.
Yes, ugliness may happen. People with evil agendas are around every corner. Happily, the good people are 99% of the population.
Like I said yesterday, you have to run your business how you see fit.
And, yes, humor is how people deal with stress.

The very first night we were in business, I said to my husband as we went to sleep, "There are strangers in our house." It was a very odd and somewhat scary feeling. That was the last time I worried about it. We lock the adjoining door and have smoke detectors. We have liability and replacement insurance. Not much more we can do after that.
.

If I think about it I still feel this is one of the oddest jobs in the world.
.

Couldn't agree more - it's been 10 years and now we're realizing that if we're going to have longevity we're building a little house next door and renting out our bedroom for more income. No longer will I lay my head down to sleep and have strangers in my HOME (I say HOME because to me I gave up my HOME 10 years ago and had space in the B&B but not our own FAMILY HOME). No longer will I have housekeeping staff in my personal space while I'm trying to eat my lunch or having a talk with my children. It will be so wonderful this summer to have a HOME again that the only people who are in it are family or close friends - no strangers or staff. To aspiring innkeepers, make sure you're fine with this or find a place with a separate space.
.

Couldn't agree more - it's been 10 years and now we're realizing that if we're going to have longevity we're building a little house next door and renting out our bedroom for more income. No longer will I lay my head down to sleep and have strangers in my HOME (I say HOME because to me I gave up my HOME 10 years ago and had space in the B&B but not our own FAMILY HOME). No longer will I have housekeeping staff in my personal space while I'm trying to eat my lunch or having a talk with my children. It will be so wonderful this summer to have a HOME again that the only people who are in it are family or close friends - no strangers or staff. To aspiring innkeepers, make sure you're fine with this or find a place with a separate space.

This is very important to me. We could not have done this without privacy. We have a separate apartment from the inn. Guests are not invited into the apartment. And there is a deadbolt lock on the adjoining door.

 

[Morticia]

risks I take into consideration: someone could steal my artwork, bang into my car, fall on the stairs, spill on my rug, puke in my bathroom, burn the house down with candles and cigarettes.
risks I have never considered: someone might make meth in my house.
I'm a compliance officer in my non-inn life and I just don't see it as a huge risk..

I have worked in multiple industries including compliance, insurance, financial, etc.
Someone puking on a rug is not a major issue. Bed bugs is an annoying issue. Someone making meth in the building can ruin the business - and potentially cause an explosion. And it is quite possible it is NOT covered by insurance.
Anyone from certain parts of the country (eg, TN and some others), especially police, will tell you it is a huge, monumental risk and issue. Whatever happens in one place, will eventually find its way to rural sleepy villages in New England, etc.
.

perhaps, but when I worry, it won't be about traveling meth labs in the Pebble Beach Room.
.

people find things humorous when they ignore risk. Few people thought a hurricane would cause such widespread devastation to the NJ/NY/CT region. Or people sitting in the WTC never thought about anyone flying into the building and ending their lives. I saw the smoking towers that morning from our NJ work location. People never expected the mortgage/financial crisis in 2007. Not to mention Black Friday, Pearl Harbor, or a thousand other things. People do not expect their business partner/spouse to die, until they do.
In investing/business, it is called Risk Adjusted Reward. Or in stock/futures trading, it is called Risk of Ruin. I am reminded of the Coyote, when Bugs pulled his shack onto the train tracks. When the Coyote saw the oncoming train, his reaction was to pull down the blinds.
Thinking this cannot happen to them is not a wise business practice.
.

Head in sand here. There's no way to be in this business if I expect the worst of everyone who comes thru the door.
Yes, ugliness may happen. People with evil agendas are around every corner. Happily, the good people are 99% of the population.
Like I said yesterday, you have to run your business how you see fit.
And, yes, humor is how people deal with stress.
.

Head in sand here. There's no way to be in this business if I expect the worst of everyone who comes thru the door.
Yes, ugliness may happen. People with evil agendas are around every corner. Happily, the good people are 99% of the population.
Like I said yesterday, you have to run your business how you see fit.
And, yes, humor is how people deal with stress.

The very first night we were in business, I said to my husband as we went to sleep, "There are strangers in our house." It was a very odd and somewhat scary feeling. That was the last time I worried about it. We lock the adjoining door and have smoke detectors. We have liability and replacement insurance. Not much more we can do after that.
.

If I think about it I still feel this is one of the oddest jobs in the world.
.

Couldn't agree more - it's been 10 years and now we're realizing that if we're going to have longevity we're building a little house next door and renting out our bedroom for more income. No longer will I lay my head down to sleep and have strangers in my HOME (I say HOME because to me I gave up my HOME 10 years ago and had space in the B&B but not our own FAMILY HOME). No longer will I have housekeeping staff in my personal space while I'm trying to eat my lunch or having a talk with my children. It will be so wonderful this summer to have a HOME again that the only people who are in it are family or close friends - no strangers or staff. To aspiring innkeepers, make sure you're fine with this or find a place with a separate space.
.

Couldn't agree more - it's been 10 years and now we're realizing that if we're going to have longevity we're building a little house next door and renting out our bedroom for more income. No longer will I lay my head down to sleep and have strangers in my HOME (I say HOME because to me I gave up my HOME 10 years ago and had space in the B&B but not our own FAMILY HOME). No longer will I have housekeeping staff in my personal space while I'm trying to eat my lunch or having a talk with my children. It will be so wonderful this summer to have a HOME again that the only people who are in it are family or close friends - no strangers or staff. To aspiring innkeepers, make sure you're fine with this or find a place with a separate space.

This is very important to me. We could not have done this without privacy. We have a separate apartment from the inn. Guests are not invited into the apartment. And there is a deadbolt lock on the adjoining door.
.

Couldn't agree more - it's been 10 years and now we're realizing that if we're going to have longevity we're building a little house next door and renting out our bedroom for more income. No longer will I lay my head down to sleep and have strangers in my HOME (I say HOME because to me I gave up my HOME 10 years ago and had space in the B&B but not our own FAMILY HOME). No longer will I have housekeeping staff in my personal space while I'm trying to eat my lunch or having a talk with my children. It will be so wonderful this summer to have a HOME again that the only people who are in it are family or close friends - no strangers or staff. To aspiring innkeepers, make sure you're fine with this or find a place with a separate space.

This is very important to me. We could not have done this without privacy. We have a separate apartment from the inn. Guests are not invited into the apartment. And there is a deadbolt lock on the adjoining door.

We looked at so many places where the innkeepers had a room. That's it. A room. Either in the basement (unfinished) or in the inn itself. We were told the innkeepers gave up the room in the inn during the busy season to make money. (If it had been only one place where we heard that we would have shrugged it off. We eventually stopped looking at properties in that area.)
How does anyone live like that?
In one place the innkeeper was living in the laundry room. A bank of washers and dryers and their bed on the other wall.
We've stayed at places where the innkeepers kept their clothes in the bottom drawers in every guest room and in the closets. They slept in whatever room was empty. No empty room? They slept on the floor on the porch.

 

[OnTheShore]

risks I take into consideration: someone could steal my artwork, bang into my car, fall on the stairs, spill on my rug, puke in my bathroom, burn the house down with candles and cigarettes.
risks I have never considered: someone might make meth in my house.
I'm a compliance officer in my non-inn life and I just don't see it as a huge risk..

I have worked in multiple industries including compliance, insurance, financial, etc.
Someone puking on a rug is not a major issue. Bed bugs is an annoying issue. Someone making meth in the building can ruin the business - and potentially cause an explosion. And it is quite possible it is NOT covered by insurance.
Anyone from certain parts of the country (eg, TN and some others), especially police, will tell you it is a huge, monumental risk and issue. Whatever happens in one place, will eventually find its way to rural sleepy villages in New England, etc.
.

perhaps, but when I worry, it won't be about traveling meth labs in the Pebble Beach Room.
.

people find things humorous when they ignore risk. Few people thought a hurricane would cause such widespread devastation to the NJ/NY/CT region. Or people sitting in the WTC never thought about anyone flying into the building and ending their lives. I saw the smoking towers that morning from our NJ work location. People never expected the mortgage/financial crisis in 2007. Not to mention Black Friday, Pearl Harbor, or a thousand other things. People do not expect their business partner/spouse to die, until they do.
In investing/business, it is called Risk Adjusted Reward. Or in stock/futures trading, it is called Risk of Ruin. I am reminded of the Coyote, when Bugs pulled his shack onto the train tracks. When the Coyote saw the oncoming train, his reaction was to pull down the blinds.
Thinking this cannot happen to them is not a wise business practice.
.

Risk Assessment involves determining the likelihood of an event happening as well as evaluating the consequences of the event happening. Some of your examples are not easily predictable (i.e., WTC), so people can't be faulted for not anticipating them. Others are predictable, but on a basis that most people don't understand (i.e., Sandy) -- society chooses to prepare for the 100-year storm, but not the 500-year storm.
Wise business practice requires allocating limited resources efficiently, preparing for the future in ways that take into account actually probabilities. We know with 100% certainty that our partner will die (we just don't know when) -- so it makes sense to have a plan in place for that eventuality. The likelihood that someone might set up a meth lab in one of my cottages seems extremely remote, so remote that developing any plan of action to deal with that specifically would be a waste of time, energy and money (unless you can cite specific statistics that show otherwise). I am not an actuary, but I don't think that this is putting my head in the sand; rather it is using my business judgement to develop a response appropriate to the risk.

 

[Morticia]

risks I take into consideration: someone could steal my artwork, bang into my car, fall on the stairs, spill on my rug, puke in my bathroom, burn the house down with candles and cigarettes.
risks I have never considered: someone might make meth in my house.
I'm a compliance officer in my non-inn life and I just don't see it as a huge risk..

I have worked in multiple industries including compliance, insurance, financial, etc.
Someone puking on a rug is not a major issue. Bed bugs is an annoying issue. Someone making meth in the building can ruin the business - and potentially cause an explosion. And it is quite possible it is NOT covered by insurance.
Anyone from certain parts of the country (eg, TN and some others), especially police, will tell you it is a huge, monumental risk and issue. Whatever happens in one place, will eventually find its way to rural sleepy villages in New England, etc.
.

perhaps, but when I worry, it won't be about traveling meth labs in the Pebble Beach Room.
.

people find things humorous when they ignore risk. Few people thought a hurricane would cause such widespread devastation to the NJ/NY/CT region. Or people sitting in the WTC never thought about anyone flying into the building and ending their lives. I saw the smoking towers that morning from our NJ work location. People never expected the mortgage/financial crisis in 2007. Not to mention Black Friday, Pearl Harbor, or a thousand other things. People do not expect their business partner/spouse to die, until they do.
In investing/business, it is called Risk Adjusted Reward. Or in stock/futures trading, it is called Risk of Ruin. I am reminded of the Coyote, when Bugs pulled his shack onto the train tracks. When the Coyote saw the oncoming train, his reaction was to pull down the blinds.
Thinking this cannot happen to them is not a wise business practice.
.

Risk Assessment involves determining the likelihood of an event happening as well as evaluating the consequences of the event happening. Some of your examples are not easily predictable (i.e., WTC), so people can't be faulted for not anticipating them. Others are predictable, but on a basis that most people don't understand (i.e., Sandy) -- society chooses to prepare for the 100-year storm, but not the 500-year storm.
Wise business practice requires allocating limited resources efficiently, preparing for the future in ways that take into account actually probabilities. We know with 100% certainty that our partner will die (we just don't know when) -- so it makes sense to have a plan in place for that eventuality. The likelihood that someone might set up a meth lab in one of my cottages seems extremely remote, so remote that developing any plan of action to deal with that specifically would be a waste of time, energy and money (unless you can cite specific statistics that show otherwise). I am not an actuary, but I don't think that this is putting my head in the sand; rather it is using my business judgement to develop a response appropriate to the risk.
.

I am not an actuary, but I don't think that this is putting my head in the sand; rather it is using my business judgement to develop a response appropriate to the risk.

That's a good way to put it.
We lock the doors because there's an excellent chance someone is going to wander in off the street and perhaps get into mischief.
It was easier when we had the dog because she had an understanding that the inn was for strangers but 'her' side of the door was not. She'd happily hang out on the inn side with strangers but she'd guard the door from her side.
She chased a few misguided souls back out the door. Now I make do with locks.
We get the maximum insurance that makes sense because there's a chance someone will fall somewhere, sometime.
We take safety classes because it makes sense to understand food prep.

 

[gillumhouse]

I know you are just pulling our leg now Unders.
Where are you opening this B&B, on Rikers Island?

.

I know you are just pulling our leg now Unders.
Where are you opening this B&B, on Rikers Island?

I live in such a high crime area that we ONLY lock our doors to our rooms if we have to go to the next town for something. Front door is usually unlocked until I go to bed - on Saturdays, that means around 12:30 AM when I get home from Chapel and Himself is already in bed. Long drive home today. Time to go back to my sandbox.

 

[OnTheShore]

In light of recent posts in another thread, I think it better to continue the relevant discussion in this thread.
So what are the goals?
(1) prevent/inhibit/deter undesirable events (theft, assault, damage, fires, earthquakes, floods, etc...)
(2) mitigate the impact of undesirable events should they occur (despite efforts to prevent them)
(3) facilitate the discovery/arrest/punishment of perpetrators, or the recovery of damages, should undesirable events occur.
(4) insure against financial losses should undesirable events occur.
For each of these goals, and for each hazard one might be worried about, as business-people we would have to consider all viable options, both technological and policy/procedural, in a cost/benefit analysis. What is the risk associated with any one particular hazard, and how much money/time would each particular prevention/mitigation/follow-up strategy take? Is it worthwhile, from a business perspective?
Of course this is difficult because intangibles like "peace of mind" or "guest comfort" are sometimes hard to put a value on. We also each have our own unique situations and backgrounds, so we are each going to evaluate things differently.

 

[gaelstorm]

risks I take into consideration: someone could steal my artwork, bang into my car, fall on the stairs, spill on my rug, puke in my bathroom, burn the house down with candles and cigarettes.
risks I have never considered: someone might make meth in my house.
I'm a compliance officer in my non-inn life and I just don't see it as a huge risk..

I have worked in multiple industries including compliance, insurance, financial, etc.
Someone puking on a rug is not a major issue. Bed bugs is an annoying issue. Someone making meth in the building can ruin the business - and potentially cause an explosion. And it is quite possible it is NOT covered by insurance.
Anyone from certain parts of the country (eg, TN and some others), especially police, will tell you it is a huge, monumental risk and issue. Whatever happens in one place, will eventually find its way to rural sleepy villages in New England, etc.
.

perhaps, but when I worry, it won't be about traveling meth labs in the Pebble Beach Room.
.

people find things humorous when they ignore risk. Few people thought a hurricane would cause such widespread devastation to the NJ/NY/CT region. Or people sitting in the WTC never thought about anyone flying into the building and ending their lives. I saw the smoking towers that morning from our NJ work location. People never expected the mortgage/financial crisis in 2007. Not to mention Black Friday, Pearl Harbor, or a thousand other things. People do not expect their business partner/spouse to die, until they do.
In investing/business, it is called Risk Adjusted Reward. Or in stock/futures trading, it is called Risk of Ruin. I am reminded of the Coyote, when Bugs pulled his shack onto the train tracks. When the Coyote saw the oncoming train, his reaction was to pull down the blinds.
Thinking this cannot happen to them is not a wise business practice.
.

Head in sand here. There's no way to be in this business if I expect the worst of everyone who comes thru the door.
Yes, ugliness may happen. People with evil agendas are around every corner. Happily, the good people are 99% of the population.
Like I said yesterday, you have to run your business how you see fit.
And, yes, humor is how people deal with stress.
.

Head in sand here. There's no way to be in this business if I expect the worst of everyone who comes thru the door.
Yes, ugliness may happen. People with evil agendas are around every corner. Happily, the good people are 99% of the population.
Like I said yesterday, you have to run your business how you see fit.
And, yes, humor is how people deal with stress.

The very first night we were in business, I said to my husband as we went to sleep, "There are strangers in our house." It was a very odd and somewhat scary feeling. That was the last time I worried about it. We lock the adjoining door and have smoke detectors. We have liability and replacement insurance. Not much more we can do after that.
.

If I think about it I still feel this is one of the oddest jobs in the world.
.

Couldn't agree more - it's been 10 years and now we're realizing that if we're going to have longevity we're building a little house next door and renting out our bedroom for more income. No longer will I lay my head down to sleep and have strangers in my HOME (I say HOME because to me I gave up my HOME 10 years ago and had space in the B&B but not our own FAMILY HOME). No longer will I have housekeeping staff in my personal space while I'm trying to eat my lunch or having a talk with my children. It will be so wonderful this summer to have a HOME again that the only people who are in it are family or close friends - no strangers or staff. To aspiring innkeepers, make sure you're fine with this or find a place with a separate space.
.

Couldn't agree more - it's been 10 years and now we're realizing that if we're going to have longevity we're building a little house next door and renting out our bedroom for more income. No longer will I lay my head down to sleep and have strangers in my HOME (I say HOME because to me I gave up my HOME 10 years ago and had space in the B&B but not our own FAMILY HOME). No longer will I have housekeeping staff in my personal space while I'm trying to eat my lunch or having a talk with my children. It will be so wonderful this summer to have a HOME again that the only people who are in it are family or close friends - no strangers or staff. To aspiring innkeepers, make sure you're fine with this or find a place with a separate space.

This is very important to me. We could not have done this without privacy. We have a separate apartment from the inn. Guests are not invited into the apartment. And there is a deadbolt lock on the adjoining door.
.

Couldn't agree more - it's been 10 years and now we're realizing that if we're going to have longevity we're building a little house next door and renting out our bedroom for more income. No longer will I lay my head down to sleep and have strangers in my HOME (I say HOME because to me I gave up my HOME 10 years ago and had space in the B&B but not our own FAMILY HOME). No longer will I have housekeeping staff in my personal space while I'm trying to eat my lunch or having a talk with my children. It will be so wonderful this summer to have a HOME again that the only people who are in it are family or close friends - no strangers or staff. To aspiring innkeepers, make sure you're fine with this or find a place with a separate space.

This is very important to me. We could not have done this without privacy. We have a separate apartment from the inn. Guests are not invited into the apartment. And there is a deadbolt lock on the adjoining door.

We looked at so many places where the innkeepers had a room. That's it. A room. Either in the basement (unfinished) or in the inn itself. We were told the innkeepers gave up the room in the inn during the busy season to make money. (If it had been only one place where we heard that we would have shrugged it off. We eventually stopped looking at properties in that area.)
How does anyone live like that?
In one place the innkeeper was living in the laundry room. A bank of washers and dryers and their bed on the other wall.
We've stayed at places where the innkeepers kept their clothes in the bottom drawers in every guest room and in the closets. They slept in whatever room was empty. No empty room? They slept on the floor on the porch.
.

[q
We looked at so many places where the innkeepers had a room. That's it. A room. Either in the basement (unfinished) or in the inn itself. We were told the innkeepers gave up the room in the inn during the busy season to make money. (If it had been only one place where we heard that we would have shrugged it off. We eventually stopped looking at properties in that area.)
How does anyone live like that?
In one place the innkeeper was living in the laundry room. A bank of washers and dryers and their bed on the other wall.
We've stayed at places where the innkeepers kept their clothes in the bottom drawers in every guest room and in the closets. They slept in whatever room was empty. No empty room? They slept on the floor on the porch.
[/quote]
This is no joke. I wish I had room for a bed in my laundry room. Thought of finishing a loft above it for sleeping. May still. I've done the whatever room was empty thing. With dog. Tried living in a 5th wheel at the end of the carport with no water/sewer. I showered in dirty rooms before beginning work everyday and lived on microwave food and food guests left. UMMM cold pizza for breakfast, again.
Lived or tried to in 4 various houses in the neighborhood. Within blocks of the business. Boy did I burn myself out running back and forth. Up to 18 times a day. Bought two houses, couldn't afford either. Couldn't afford not to. I still feel the pressure to live in the smallest possible room on property. I often feel like a refugee. Living in two houses now basically, stuff in one, spend all my time in the too big one right next to but feel homeless nonetheless.