Labor Costs

[Lareservations]

Hello, I am new on this site. I am really enjoying reading and learning from forum topics. I am a new innkeeper and am looking for sources on labor costs for a bed and breakfast. We have 12 rooms and run approx 75-80% yearly occupancy. I tried to use keywords on the internet and am coming up with nothing. Does anyone have advise?
Thank you

 

[Madeleine]

Firstly, you do realize that your username shows you've been a member here for 2 years, right?
What do you need to know abut labor costs? If you are trying to figure out how many employees you need, how have things been going so far with the number of employees you have? I have 7 rooms and have one housekeeper.
You need to break down where you need help:

• Cook
• Housekeeping
• Front desk
• Servers at breakfast
• Check-in/Check-out staff
• etc

Who does the marketing, shopping, accounting and all the other stuff?
THEN, once you know who you need, go to your state's website for jobs and check the salary ranges for the positions you'll be hiring. We pay a lot more than the state average, but we've never found anyone willing to work for $8/hr. It may be a LOT different where you are. There may be a lot of people looking for work or not. That's the next piece to the puzzle.
So, what staff do you need, what's the going rate in your area, is there a large pool of workers available or not?

 

[JBloggs]

I guess I am confused, you have 12 rooms and run occupancy that high, you TELL US the labor costs!

 

[Joey Camb]

here we have a glut of people looking for work so for a cleaner as long as you can give reasonable hours its mimimum wage which is $12.16 or £6.08 per hour. Trouble is most want about 7.50 or 8 as they only get about 16 hours a week

 

[Hillbilly]

I guess I am confused, you have 12 rooms and run occupancy that high, you TELL US the labor costs! .

I just fell out of my chair JB!!!! Seriously....do you do all that by yourself?

 

[Lareservations]

Firstly, you do realize that your username shows you've been a member here for 2 years, right?
What do you need to know abut labor costs? If you are trying to figure out how many employees you need, how have things been going so far with the number of employees you have? I have 7 rooms and have one housekeeper.
You need to break down where you need help:

• Cook
• Housekeeping
• Front desk
• Servers at breakfast
• Check-in/Check-out staff
• etc

Who does the marketing, shopping, accounting and all the other stuff?
THEN, once you know who you need, go to your state's website for jobs and check the salary ranges for the positions you'll be hiring. We pay a lot more than the state average, but we've never found anyone willing to work for $8/hr. It may be a LOT different where you are. There may be a lot of people looking for work or not. That's the next piece to the puzzle.
So, what staff do you need, what's the going rate in your area, is there a large pool of workers available or not?.

Sorry I am just checking in. I just got through my busy season.
~ Bob, goodness no I don't do everything myself. I have a staff of 8 part-timers, averaging approx. 150 per week, including myself. I'm trying to justify labor cost and set a new comfortable budget.
~ Camberleyhotel, minimum wage is $12.16? It's only $7.25 here in the states, but we pay our staff $10 - $12 per hour.
~ Joey, being in a city, we are not the typical destination B&B. We have tourists mostly from April - October, We have 17 universities in our city, so May is a huge month for graduations and are usually booked a year in advance. September, October, November, March, April are huge months for conventions. December we start slowing down a bit, January & February is our only downtown, averaging still 60% occupancy. The city is also full of college students, and young adults starting out after graduation. With mostly small apartments, it is very common for visiting family members to stay with us.
~ Madeleine, I'm well aware that my username shows up as being here 2 years. The former manager had set-up this account 2 years ago, and was kind enough to introduce me to this site and am using the same account.
There is a budget that I understand has been in place for at least 8 years. The B&B has grown from 7 rooms to 12 rooms a few years ago. These additional rooms are apartment sized rooms. I don't think the budget is realistic without putting myself in the loony bin. We do have an accountant, but is also new and just deciphering through years of numbers.
I've managed hospitality institutes before and followed a budget. B&B's are somewhat different with many being ran by owner/owners with a few staff members. I am not an owner but a salaried innkeeper. With my past experience, a understood a business is doing good if the take home profit averages 7 - 9% yearly. Is this true for B&B's? If I can find out this answer, I can then figure out a labor cost budget.
Hope everything is having a good holiday season.
Thank you ~ SH

 

[user 26]

i had to pay my chambermaids (housekeepers) $16 an hour to KEEP them. it was seasonal work (may through october) and i needed to be sure they would return to me each may. also, they were GOOD. i started new girls (no boys/men applied) at $14
if no one showed up to help fluff or flip rooms, it fell to me to do it. and i felt it was absolutely critical for the place to be clean clean clean. the charm quickly wears off if a place is grubby. that includes outside the doors, the porches, the windows, the parking lot, the common areas, the dining room. ... and of course the rooms had to be spotless.
i paid the going rate for lawn mowing service, paid for trash removal as there was no town service and i just could not get away to manage this
paid for laundry service
i was chief cook and bottle washer, baker, server, shopper, marketer, webperson, banker, accountant, desk person, scheduler, you name it, i did it. my adult son was my carpenter, handyman and relieved me in the middle of the night. exhausting for both of us.
we had a high overhead and had eight guest rooms

 

[stephhance001]

Direct labor cost is a part of wage-bill or payroll that can be specifically and consistently assigned to or associated with the manufacture of a product, a particular work order, or provision of a service also, we can say also it is the cost of the work done by those worker who actually make the product on the production line. -Ron D. Smith