Room out of circulation

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JBloggs

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This is a question for those of you who have all of your rooms in-house (not cabins etc). If you had 6 rooms and took one out of circulation (at least for a year) would you:
a) block it off online for reservations, but still show it as if the room is still there and part of the rooms
b) take it out of all marketing, ie off the website, and off the reservation program entirely?
c) other/depends
**Background - the room we have taken out of circulation is the one that is rarely booked with the detached bath. The room is now occupied by our 18 year old daughter, who is working at the inn and completing her education. We foresee her living in it until the B&B sells, which is the other part of the equation, if I remove it from the web info then it appears we have one less guest room. There won't be any further revenue from that room (for this innkeeping family) but could be for the next innkeeper/owners. Thank you for your responses.
 
Leave it in the marketing as a 5 room B&B is worth more then a 4 room B&B and you can explain the situation.
 
Leave it in, mark it as occupied. a 6 room B&B is worth more than a 5 room B&B.
 
Since you're trying to sell the building, leave it on the web/in marketing, but just mark as occupied.
 
Since it can still be used in the future, I would just mark it as booked. You still have it in inventory for a future sale.
 
I would start off with it online but marked as booked. If you start getting numerous calls asking why that room is always taken you may want to take it offline and put it in your prospectus that up until x date this was a functioning B&B room and market it as additional potential for the inn to make more money.
If someone is looking to buy and they see that room is permanently reserved they will wonder if A) you have a tenant they need to lose; B) there is something wrong with the room; C) there really isn't any such room any longer and you didn't know how to remove it.
 
It also depends on how you want to show your occupancy and which res system you are using.
If you mark it as occupied it will reduce your ADR, this is important if you one day look at selling and your ADR is less than you would want it shown
If you have the option to take it "of market" or mark it out of order for the period that it cannot be used, this is much better for your statistics. Some systems also differentiate between out of order OOO and out of inventory OOI
In this case OOO generally affects ADR etc, OOI does not.
The above is based on standard hotel practice and accounting, however your system may count it differently.
I would also take it "off market" as it is one less thing my health inspector would have checked, not that there was ever an issue. It may also save you phone calls for people asking about it
 
The easiest is to leave it be and mark it as booked. You can explain to potential buyers when it gets to that point. Meanwhile, it gives your calendar steady booking for potential guests.
 
With ResKey you can mark it as unavailable in the system and it won't mess up the occupancy rate. It will show as booked on the calendar the guest sees.
 
I would mark it unavailable in RezKey. That is what I will do when my roof gets fixed and I repair the damaged ceiling. I know you are talking a different scenario, but would still do unavailable. Explanation is that repairs/upgrades are being made to the room.
 
I would just take it out of booking for now and think it through how it will affect your numbers, then decide if you want to keep it that way. One of our B&Bs has been doing long-term rentals forever and does this. Nobody needs to know exactly why the room is occupied all the time.
As far as Health Dept inspection goes, I would imagine that yours is like ours...they just told me to pick a couple of rooms for them to inspect. No biggie.
 
We have a sort of similar situation comming up in Feb as we are reorganising the top landing which will remove 1 single bedroom with private bathroom (bathroom is on a separate floor) this is a room I struggle to let and barely make a profit at the price i have to let it for - ie the profit I make will more than be covered by the increased price I will be able to charge for room 6- which will then be ensuite and room 4 which will be a larger double with large bathroom (at the moment it is a small double with tiny bathroom) I have therefore blocked it out on my calender from the date we start work until the end march 2013. however when the work is done and the room is completely disapeared - then I would delete it.
In your situation I would leave it on but put it on as fully booked for the forseable future so any prospective buyer can see it is part of inventory ie they could make money from it. Their own domestic arrangements are their own business.
 
We have a sort of similar situation comming up in Feb as we are reorganising the top landing which will remove 1 single bedroom with private bathroom (bathroom is on a separate floor) this is a room I struggle to let and barely make a profit at the price i have to let it for - ie the profit I make will more than be covered by the increased price I will be able to charge for room 6- which will then be ensuite and room 4 which will be a larger double with large bathroom (at the moment it is a small double with tiny bathroom) I have therefore blocked it out on my calender from the date we start work until the end march 2013. however when the work is done and the room is completely disapeared - then I would delete it.
In your situation I would leave it on but put it on as fully booked for the forseable future so any prospective buyer can see it is part of inventory ie they could make money from it. Their own domestic arrangements are their own business..
In your situation I would leave it on but put it on as fully booked for the forseable future so any prospective buyer can see it is part of inventory ie they could make money from it. Their own domestic arrangements are their own business.
Yes, agreed. In fact we are a family, so in our owner's quarters of two bedroom two bath we have mentioned that one could become a maid's quarters, or whatever if it is a couple only (in the future). The configuration could and would change, they might use this room here with fireplace as a guest room, vs our family room.
The room we have taken out of circ also has attic access and it is a large stand up attic, we had considered turning that room into a library with access upstairs as a room, there are plenty of things/changes a new owner could implement. Most that have been here to look thought they would tear down the wall dividing the parlor from the dining room to make it one large room for functions (there is a fireplace there, not as easily done as thought).
Thanks for the feedback everyone, I think I will leave it on, and show as booked as I have it. It is a guest room for a potential buyer.
 
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