New Year ahead

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

JBloggs

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
17,744
Reaction score
9
What will you do differently in 2013? In your business, for yourself, for others?
Will you cut back on amenities, increase amenities, cut back on services, increase services? Upgrade, update? Revitalize your own space, or yourself?
Will you enjoy your guests in 2013? Starting with the very first guest?
Will you stick to your policies no matter what, or will you bend more and go with the flow? Will you make your business the one you want to run and enjoy this year? No sweating the small stuff?
What about you? Please share. Let's encourage one another in 2013.
 
Food for thought from Think Daily
[h2]
Perspective[/h2]
How old will you live to?
Are you closer to birth or death?
How many more years do you have where you can just get out there and run around and do whatever you want without physical limitations?
Is there something you wanted to do?
 
Food for thought from Think Daily
[h2]
Perspective[/h2]
How old will you live to?
Are you closer to birth or death?
How many more years do you have where you can just get out there and run around and do whatever you want without physical limitations?
Is there something you wanted to do?.
I hate this. I am SO much closer to the end than I even want to think about. I'm ok until I realize that in less than 15 years I'll be in my 70's. Oy that makes me feel old! I'm at the point where thinking about getting a pet involves thinking about not being around when the pet is old. Or, having to put down a pet when I'M old.
 
What to do differently? Relax. Realize I cannot control people. They are who they are and spending a night here is not going to change them IF I attempt to change them. We are not the kind of people who set the world on fire so I should be happy that we're still chugging along this far into the inn game.
Be at peace with who I am and who I am not.
Renovation always. I am always renovating. Speaking of which...gotta go...
 
Food for thought from Think Daily
[h2]
Perspective[/h2]
How old will you live to?
Are you closer to birth or death?
How many more years do you have where you can just get out there and run around and do whatever you want without physical limitations?
Is there something you wanted to do?.
We are like a roll of toilet paper - we are near the end so everything moves faster. Maddie, you are a mere child! I do not even have 5 years to get there! and my knees tell me that daily.
I have been fortunate enough to do most of the the things I thought were important or that I wanted to do. I got my helicopter ride this month. Balloon ride and biplane are the only ones left - but that is OK. As long s I am useful to my City, I am OK with whatever.
I hope to continue providing the best lodging I possibly can in my city as long as DH is alive and then hope to find someone else who wants to take it over (crossing my fingers I am not lost in la-la-land before that happens). I think we are going to get a lawn service and I am trying to locate a tree service to take down my blue spruce. Considering a small gazebo that would be good for guests but also for elopements.
I have one more flat screen TV to get. I would like to get rid of one dresser in my best room and replace it with a comfy chair - but that would put the TV on the wall and be more like a hotel so the struggle continues.
 
Food for thought from Think Daily
[h2]
Perspective[/h2]
How old will you live to?
Are you closer to birth or death?
How many more years do you have where you can just get out there and run around and do whatever you want without physical limitations?
Is there something you wanted to do?.
I hate this. I am SO much closer to the end than I even want to think about. I'm ok until I realize that in less than 15 years I'll be in my 70's. Oy that makes me feel old! I'm at the point where thinking about getting a pet involves thinking about not being around when the pet is old. Or, having to put down a pet when I'M old.
.
I refuse to think about that, Maddie! You're only as old as you feel (and act). :) Not like I'm going to act like a cRaZy nut or anything, but I want to have fun and not take life so seriously.
Enjoy life, hug my loved ones as often as I can, and stay healthy...those are the things that I hope to do in the New Year!
 
I must not to undervalue my property! that is my resolution for 2013!
 
The first thing I'm doing in 2013 is treating myself to the installation of a new kitchen faucet!! The old one is driving me crazy.
tounge_smile.gif
 
The first thing I'm doing in 2013 is treating myself to the installation of a new kitchen faucet!! The old one is driving me crazy.
tounge_smile.gif
.
Several years ago our daughter gave DH a new kitchen faucet for Father's Day. It has the hose with spray option in the high-neck faucet - it pulls out of the neck instead of from the sink. We love it!! We can pot a pot or a bucket on the drain board of the sink (or the bucket on the floor) and pull it out to fill it. Saves a lot of lifting from the sink. I have a high goose-neck on all my faucets (and they all swivel) in the house.
With bathroom sinks it allows the denture person to get under to clean things. Short neck faucets are almost impossible for that.
 
Well, I'm on sort of a 5-year plan.
2012: Started work on the 1902 building, creating 2 vacation rental apartments in half the building (the other half of the building will be empty/unrestored until 2014).
2013: The vacation rental apartments that were supposed to open Nov. 15, then slid to Dec. 15, WILL open in 2013! I'm telling folks March 1 now. Also in a few months we start construction on the B&B. It's the 1860 brick building that held the local brothel in the roaring 20's. I expect that to open in 2014. We'll do the second floor first, saving the downstairs half of the building for 2015. The architect has some good logic for doing upstairs first.
2014: Back to the 1902 building to create 2 more vacation rental apartments in the empty half of the building. These will also open in 2014...I hope.
2015: Back to the 1860 building to develop the other half of the building into more B&B suites and commercial space downstairs.
2016: Have my heart attack from five years of construction projects. Still easier than trying to do all the above at once!
 
I'm still having a hard time cutting back so I figured that I would increase rates for the high season and see how the bookings go. If there are some holes in the calendar that will mean less work for me
wink_smile.gif
. Rates for the other 10 months will stay the same.
Also thinking of offering a continental buffet 8:00-9:30, one morning mid-week during July and August instead of the full served breakfast at 8:30 that we have always offered. I'm going to "sell" it to our guests under the guise of "You can serve yourselves from a wide choice of healthy foods and have more flexibility in your breakfast time." We'll see how it goes. I am hoping it will provide a bit of a break in our full breakfast routine which gets mighty tiresome after about 60 straight days of cooking.
 
I'm still having a hard time cutting back so I figured that I would increase rates for the high season and see how the bookings go. If there are some holes in the calendar that will mean less work for me
wink_smile.gif
. Rates for the other 10 months will stay the same.
Also thinking of offering a continental buffet 8:00-9:30, one morning mid-week during July and August instead of the full served breakfast at 8:30 that we have always offered. I'm going to "sell" it to our guests under the guise of "You can serve yourselves from a wide choice of healthy foods and have more flexibility in your breakfast time." We'll see how it goes. I am hoping it will provide a bit of a break in our full breakfast routine which gets mighty tiresome after about 60 straight days of cooking..
Last year I put together a 'breakfast binder' with a lot of recipes in it (several hundred). It was willy-nilly. This year I am going to take out 10 good recipes for starters and 10 good main courses and that's it. That's the setup. For 8 years we have sat in the office every stinkin' guest day and said, 'What's for breakfast?' I'm sick of it!
10 starters matched with 10 main courses. Good enough for the 7-day stay.
I will have 2 recipes for the 'can't haves' and they will all get the same thing. A vegan breakfast suits almost every can't have that walks thru the door.
We're going to regularly buy veggie sausage and have it every day for the folks who can't/don't eat pork. (That's about 50% of guests here.)
 
I'm still having a hard time cutting back so I figured that I would increase rates for the high season and see how the bookings go. If there are some holes in the calendar that will mean less work for me
wink_smile.gif
. Rates for the other 10 months will stay the same.
Also thinking of offering a continental buffet 8:00-9:30, one morning mid-week during July and August instead of the full served breakfast at 8:30 that we have always offered. I'm going to "sell" it to our guests under the guise of "You can serve yourselves from a wide choice of healthy foods and have more flexibility in your breakfast time." We'll see how it goes. I am hoping it will provide a bit of a break in our full breakfast routine which gets mighty tiresome after about 60 straight days of cooking..
Last year I put together a 'breakfast binder' with a lot of recipes in it (several hundred). It was willy-nilly. This year I am going to take out 10 good recipes for starters and 10 good main courses and that's it. That's the setup. For 8 years we have sat in the office every stinkin' guest day and said, 'What's for breakfast?' I'm sick of it!
10 starters matched with 10 main courses. Good enough for the 7-day stay.
I will have 2 recipes for the 'can't haves' and they will all get the same thing. A vegan breakfast suits almost every can't have that walks thru the door.
We're going to regularly buy veggie sausage and have it every day for the folks who can't/don't eat pork. (That's about 50% of guests here.)
.
Sounds like a plan Maddie! We just had a split, ductless AC system installed in our family room, hoping that it will sufficiently cool the kitchen so I can make breakfast without worrying about heating up our living space. I'm done suffering. Last summer just about did me in, although I did get pretty creative about making breakfasts without having to turn on the oven! LOL
I don't think I am disciplined enough to create a menu of 10/10 and stick to it. Perhaps I'll reconsider though because that sounds like a really good idea. Will you serve the regular guests the same as the "can't haves"?
 
2012 was the year of the pecan, and the year of bacon (I never did bacon until this year, yeah that's right, but I found a good thick bacon I like finally, and can cook in the Forman grill without hassle)
I wonder what I should do for 2013?
2012 was the year I DID NOT MAKE QUICHE but one time. I actually really missed it, but the haves and have nots made me convert to other eggy or non-eggy for the non-eggy "I don't eat eggs" people.
I still never got into waffles. I said I was going to do more waffles, but the few times I stayed in a hotel that declared a "FREE BREAKFAST!" that was the only edible thing on the continental line (due to making it myself).
I guess I can cruise Pinterest and see whatzhappenin' there lately...
I definitely cut back on using ingredients, and making breakfasts simpler. I never bake muffins. I have other breadie type items on occasion, but we are not an inn who does a bread course in the least. Isn't that strange. It just happened, people weren't into them here, enough people that I gave them up.
 
I'm still having a hard time cutting back so I figured that I would increase rates for the high season and see how the bookings go. If there are some holes in the calendar that will mean less work for me
wink_smile.gif
. Rates for the other 10 months will stay the same.
Also thinking of offering a continental buffet 8:00-9:30, one morning mid-week during July and August instead of the full served breakfast at 8:30 that we have always offered. I'm going to "sell" it to our guests under the guise of "You can serve yourselves from a wide choice of healthy foods and have more flexibility in your breakfast time." We'll see how it goes. I am hoping it will provide a bit of a break in our full breakfast routine which gets mighty tiresome after about 60 straight days of cooking..
Last year I put together a 'breakfast binder' with a lot of recipes in it (several hundred). It was willy-nilly. This year I am going to take out 10 good recipes for starters and 10 good main courses and that's it. That's the setup. For 8 years we have sat in the office every stinkin' guest day and said, 'What's for breakfast?' I'm sick of it!
10 starters matched with 10 main courses. Good enough for the 7-day stay.
I will have 2 recipes for the 'can't haves' and they will all get the same thing. A vegan breakfast suits almost every can't have that walks thru the door.
We're going to regularly buy veggie sausage and have it every day for the folks who can't/don't eat pork. (That's about 50% of guests here.)
.
Sounds like a plan Maddie! We just had a split, ductless AC system installed in our family room, hoping that it will sufficiently cool the kitchen so I can make breakfast without worrying about heating up our living space. I'm done suffering. Last summer just about did me in, although I did get pretty creative about making breakfasts without having to turn on the oven! LOL
I don't think I am disciplined enough to create a menu of 10/10 and stick to it. Perhaps I'll reconsider though because that sounds like a really good idea. Will you serve the regular guests the same as the "can't haves"?
.
Silverspoon said:
I don't think I am disciplined enough to create a menu of 10/10 and stick to it. Perhaps I'll reconsider though because that sounds like a really good idea. Will you serve the regular guests the same as the "can't haves"?
Last week or so ago it was 3-4 vegans and a vegetarian and 'regular' folks. They all got the vegan breakfast with the exception of the meat portion which was either pork sausage or veggie sausage. It worked. When we make pancakes for vegans they get essentially the 'same' breakfast but without the animal products.
So, I try to make the same breakfast for everyone. Or as close as is possible.
This weekend no one mentioned anything at check in or when they made their rez. Because I ask about the meat sides I got informed that 'we don't eat eggs' on the day we had eggs. And 'I can't eat pancakes' on the day we had that planned. On both occasions, because they hit us with it AT the table, they all got toast and the offer of cereal.
We have walk-ins right now who skipped breakfast this morning, luckily not the only guests here last night, and informed us this morning they will go out for breakfast for the rest of their stay. They want to sleep in. OK by me.
For me, who is not the cook but is the person who is asked every day what the cook should make, I think I can build a 10 meal plan that HE can stick to and leave me out of it! (Ha. As if.)
I am indulging my creative side with the starters but I hate last minute thinking about what I should make. It's on my list of projects for Jan. Along with 5000 other things. Including redoing 3 guest rooms. I will be handing DH his list on the 1st. Even tho I started 2 weeks ago, I left him alone. (And, yes, he's the cook so HE should be making the menus right? Ha. As if.)
 
Does anyone make funnel cakes? This would be "fun" haha
I have an original Norwegian funnel cake maker (no not using it, too difficult) and a newer one, I have never even used. People love them at fairs.
http://www.marthastewart.com/865753/funnel-cake
In other news, I personally would love this and already know it would go uneaten at our guest table.
These are a wow too.
and this!
I forgot about the banana splits with yoghurt, here is a breakfast sundae..
Nothing that requires 'deep frying' here. Bread pud we do, tho. Everyone loves it. I did pumpkin for the fall. Chocolate is a good one. Even folks who look sideways at it (something soggy and full of raisins they used to have to eat) love it.
The breakfast sundaes went over well, too.
Panna cotta is an unbelievably easy starter that everyone loves! (And I have been told by numerous Italians that it rivals their mamma's!)
 
Does anyone make funnel cakes? This would be "fun" haha
I have an original Norwegian funnel cake maker (no not using it, too difficult) and a newer one, I have never even used. People love them at fairs.
http://www.marthastewart.com/865753/funnel-cake
In other news, I personally would love this and already know it would go uneaten at our guest table.
These are a wow too.
and this!
I forgot about the banana splits with yoghurt, here is a breakfast sundae..
Here is my banana split - I use Granny's banana split dishes.
BlogSplit.JPG

 
I'm taking more time to be with family. Had a scary health scare this year and realized that family was more important then the B&B. Is so thankful to be able to see this and do something about it!!!
 
I'm taking more time to be with family. Had a scary health scare this year and realized that family was more important then the B&B. Is so thankful to be able to see this and do something about it!!!.
Ice said:
I'm taking more time to be with family. Had a scary health scare this year and realized that family was more important then the B&B. Is so thankful to be able to see this and do something about it!!!
Amen to that. I am glad you are doing well Ice!
Here is something I posted on FB. I shared the who and why of it in the comments. This little guy captured my heart, wouldn't we all give everything we had to spend the day fishin' with Grandpa again? I SURE WOULD.
 
Back
Top