Corners you are willing to cut?

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JunieBJones (JBJ)

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Corners you are willing to cut with a lack of guests this year?
I don't want to put it out here for people to criticize, so please refrain if you hear condensed oj instead fo freshly squeezed and want to comment negatively. I would like to learn from y'all and see what I can do to cut back $.
Can you please share any area you are willing to cut back on to save $ with a lack of guests currently or on the horizon?
 
I'm not willing and that's the problem. So, I'll have to say, that we'll be doing more ourselves so we can continue the amenities we want. We are actually doing more this year than last.
I guess if I have to pick something, it's going to be fewer breakfasts that focus on fresh fruit. Like the waffles or the FT that are piled high with out of season berries.
 
Likewise, I'm not willing to cut corners, at least not any that the guests will see. In fact, I want to continue to upgrade our offerings to make sure the guests keep coming. In a tough economy, it's so important to deliver a solid product.
The corners that we cut will be on our side. Hubby and I will tighten our belts on personal expenses and personal consumption as necessary. We are already very frugal, so we don't have much wiggle room, but there are places we can cut back.
 
I'm not really willing to cut any corners either. I will say that with the current price of maple syrup I make Baked French Toast more than waffles - guests don't use as much maple syrup.
 
Likewise, I'm not willing to cut corners, at least not any that the guests will see. In fact, I want to continue to upgrade our offerings to make sure the guests keep coming. In a tough economy, it's so important to deliver a solid product.
The corners that we cut will be on our side. Hubby and I will tighten our belts on personal expenses and personal consumption as necessary. We are already very frugal, so we don't have much wiggle room, but there are places we can cut back..
happyjacks said:
Likewise, I'm not willing to cut corners, at least not any that the guests will see. In fact, I want to continue to upgrade our offerings to make sure the guests keep coming. In a tough economy, it's so important to deliver a solid product.
The corners that we cut will be on our side. Hubby and I will tighten our belts on personal expenses and personal consumption as necessary. We are already very frugal, so we don't have much wiggle room, but there are places we can cut back.
That's it exactly. We joke around that we're going to more 'Chamber after hours' meetings for the free food than for the networking.
 
We've not cut back on anything that would directly affect the B&B guests, but I am definitely more aware of buying fruits and vegetables in season. But jobs that we used to have contractors do we now do ourselves, like painting, landscaping, and household maintenance. I've also cancelled some magazine subscriptions. One thing we have always done is to put bottled water in the B&B rooms. With the effort to become more "green" (and to save money), we've been contemplating replacing those with a small carafe of filtered water and two glasses. I'm not sure we're quite there yet. Any thoughts?
 
I'm not willing to cut back on the guests side of things either. I think I would rather explore out how I can get more guests here, rather than take away anything that I already offer. We do offer a lot of amenities, but I don't want any repeat guests to ever get the feeling we're skimping on them.
One thing I did do was to send a newletter to our guests and I mentioned that we were trying to keep our pricing the same, but just in case, make their reservations now for the summer so they can lock into the current rate. It seems to have worked, because we've gotten several repeat guest reservations recently.
 
I run a frugal ship... if there were corners to cut I cut them last year before the economy tanked.
Guests still get the premium OJ, and sometimes creme brulee with berries. Other times they get french toast and apple crisp, so I think it all works out in the end.
=)
Kk.
 
We are not cutting corners but working hard at portion control so we have less food left over. We have no employees so are a pretty tight operation for costs as it is. We splurge on our amenities and will not stop that.
Riki
 
We've not cut back on anything that would directly affect the B&B guests, but I am definitely more aware of buying fruits and vegetables in season. But jobs that we used to have contractors do we now do ourselves, like painting, landscaping, and household maintenance. I've also cancelled some magazine subscriptions. One thing we have always done is to put bottled water in the B&B rooms. With the effort to become more "green" (and to save money), we've been contemplating replacing those with a small carafe of filtered water and two glasses. I'm not sure we're quite there yet. Any thoughts?.
We replaced our in-room plastic bottled water last year with a 3-gallon water dispenser in the common library and carafes in the rooms. It doesn't save money - in fact, it costs a little more - but it has cut down dramatically on our recyclables, which we like doing. Guests seem to appreciate the 'green'-ness of it.
I haven't cancelled any subscriptions yet - two of my favorites went out of business so no problem there!!
 
We are not cutting corners but working hard at portion control so we have less food left over. We have no employees so are a pretty tight operation for costs as it is. We splurge on our amenities and will not stop that.
Riki.
I like that attitude. It isn't so much cutting corners, because that will eventually show up somewhere, but about managing costs. We have to work on portion control and food management all the time. This is especially true since we buy as much local stuff as we can get our hands on and we are on the 5-year plan to wean ourselves of Costco. Hawaii needs a boutique dairy- anyone want to give it a try?
teeth_smile.gif

 
I love the title of the thread then everyone answered they are not cutting corners. I didn't imply the guests would suffer - or even notice. You are all very smart which is why I asked what the little things are that you can do to save $.
But wait then ya'll share that you will:
  • buying fruit in season
  • regulating portions better for less waste
  • tighten belts on personal expenses
  • serve less of the items that require drenching in real maple syrup
  • cancel magazine subscriptions
  • take on more jobs we used to pay for
  • being more green by not providing plastic bottles to every guest
  • buy more local and wean off costco
 
I love the title of the thread then everyone answered they are not cutting corners. I didn't imply the guests would suffer - or even notice. You are all very smart which is why I asked what the little things are that you can do to save $.
But wait then ya'll share that you will:
  • buying fruit in season
  • regulating portions better for less waste
  • tighten belts on personal expenses
  • serve less of the items that require drenching in real maple syrup
  • cancel magazine subscriptions
  • take on more jobs we used to pay for
  • being more green by not providing plastic bottles to every guest
  • buy more local and wean off costco
.
When your in this business- cutting corners is like having the Bubonic plague!
 
We don't want to cut back either, but our first year we did not do the portion control like I have learned to do now. There was a big strawberry sale at Walmart and another grocery store, I bought about 10 pints and have frozen them, I know they are good for smoothies-which I found out guests love and are inexpensive, I can use the frozen straberries for all other things. We buy bacon when on sale as well as sausage and things like that so we have them when we open.
We run a pretty tight ship and have always done most of the work around here ourselves. I love the landscaping and have learned so much about flowers and dirt and stuff like that. I started my seedlings a couple weeks ago and will have them ready to go by May.
I find that portion control is key and also not buying expensive cleaners or gadgets to clean the rooms. Yup you are so right knkbn--its tough.
 
I hope the aspirings are reading these comments. Amongst all the hats we wear as innkeepers we also add frugality. We have to carefully weigh what we spend or it will eat up any or all of our profit.
 
First off, I do not believe my business is going to be down. I had more reservations on the books by mid-January than ever before. We are right now 1 room night ahead of 2008. I will tell you in December if I was correct in my assessment.
We have so little waste that I cannot imagine what I could cut back - even on our side unless of course it was no more pudding. We already recycle, compost, and if those kids show up this Spring - I WILL spend the money to get them to pull up all the poison ivy they can find so neither guests not i will end up scratching. We have a bumper crop of the stuff. We keep the thermostat turned down, the A/C off, line dry when possible, DH drinks powdered milk (same as skim milk, we just add the water), our veggies mostly come from the "let's get rid of" rack at the produce store, I save money for a freezer by renting freezer locker for $50 per year (that is less than the electric bill and cost of freezer) in the town were I am going to the veggie store all the time anyway. When blueberries are on sale and when cranberries are available (holidays) I stock up and fill the freezer locker.
When the kids were home, the grocery chain near us would put the half gallon cartons of milk on half price the day before it went out of date. I used to buy everything they had and put it in the freezer. THAT helped a lot. They don;t do that here - darn it!
 
We are trying to cook more for ourselves. It's easy when I'm totally pooped to take my dh up on picking something up on his way home from his "other job". Not anything expensive either. I can't quite get my dh to bring his lunch to work every day but I'm working on it
wink_smile.gif
All that adds up.
We do most of the work ourselves but I do have a young man who helps me with the yard work. He needs the money more than we do & I just can't do it all. I'm also having a housekeeper come in this week for half a day to help me through this full house run. I am not Wonder Woman. haha!
I have cut back on some of the fruit portions so that it doesn't get tossed. I won't cut corners on the guests or sacrifice quality.
 
We are trying to cook more for ourselves. It's easy when I'm totally pooped to take my dh up on picking something up on his way home from his "other job". Not anything expensive either. I can't quite get my dh to bring his lunch to work every day but I'm working on it
wink_smile.gif
All that adds up.
We do most of the work ourselves but I do have a young man who helps me with the yard work. He needs the money more than we do & I just can't do it all. I'm also having a housekeeper come in this week for half a day to help me through this full house run. I am not Wonder Woman. haha!
I have cut back on some of the fruit portions so that it doesn't get tossed. I won't cut corners on the guests or sacrifice quality..
Samster said:
We are trying to cook more for ourselves. It's easy when I'm totally pooped to take my dh up on picking something up on his way home from his "other job". Not anything expensive either. I can't quite get my dh to bring his lunch to work every day but I'm working on it
wink_smile.gif
All that adds up.
We do most of the work ourselves but I do have a young man who helps me with the yard work. He needs the money more than we do & I just can't do it all. I'm also having a housekeeper come in this week for half a day to help me through this full house run. I am not Wonder Woman. haha!
I have cut back on some of the fruit portions so that it doesn't get tossed. I won't cut corners on the guests or sacrifice quality.
Eating out adds up for sure. Not to mention eating poorly as it is typically a quick meal so it is a lose lose situation. We are trying to eat better this year. When we get busy we need to make sure we eat! That is my pitfall in this business.
 
We are trying to cook more for ourselves. It's easy when I'm totally pooped to take my dh up on picking something up on his way home from his "other job". Not anything expensive either. I can't quite get my dh to bring his lunch to work every day but I'm working on it
wink_smile.gif
All that adds up.
We do most of the work ourselves but I do have a young man who helps me with the yard work. He needs the money more than we do & I just can't do it all. I'm also having a housekeeper come in this week for half a day to help me through this full house run. I am not Wonder Woman. haha!
I have cut back on some of the fruit portions so that it doesn't get tossed. I won't cut corners on the guests or sacrifice quality..
Samster said:
We are trying to cook more for ourselves. It's easy when I'm totally pooped to take my dh up on picking something up on his way home from his "other job". Not anything expensive either. I can't quite get my dh to bring his lunch to work every day but I'm working on it
wink_smile.gif
All that adds up.
We do most of the work ourselves but I do have a young man who helps me with the yard work. He needs the money more than we do & I just can't do it all. I'm also having a housekeeper come in this week for half a day to help me through this full house run. I am not Wonder Woman. haha!
I have cut back on some of the fruit portions so that it doesn't get tossed. I won't cut corners on the guests or sacrifice quality.
Eating out adds up for sure. Not to mention eating poorly as it is typically a quick meal so it is a lose lose situation. We are trying to eat better this year. When we get busy we need to make sure we eat! That is my pitfall in this business.
.
Hear, hear...we need to remember not to cut corners on how we take care of ourselves. :)
 
We are not cutting back in guest areas. I frequently have one room, so have breakfast for 2 most of the time. I have found over the last few years that 3 egg omlettes are too big for most people with the rest of the food I provide, so I have cut omlettes to 2 eggs now.
I use what fruit is in season if possible, but not good in the midwest, so I usually end up using apples, bananna's and oranges. Sometimes raw and sometimes cooked for variety.
The breads I use are all homemade, either as bread, muffins or coffee cake.
I use juice from the hispanic section. It is very good and I don't have leftovers because it comes in small servings without being expensive. It is also something most people have never had.
I used to use frozen hashbrowns, but now have gone to using fresh potatoes if I am going to serve a potato dish.
I am already green, except that I do change towels every day. Like Sue, we can be humid and I like fresh and think it is nice. I already use multi use rather than individual soaps and the like. I have a few available and have only had a couple of people use them instead of the multi dispensers.
My basket of extras will continue. I have it in the beverage bar area for everyone to pick from. The guests I have had the last 4 days came without lugagge. It was lost for 2 days, so toothbrushes, etc. came in handy for them.
 
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