Transform Your Home Into A Beautiful Bed And Breakfast

Have you ever considered that your home could make an excellent bed and breakfast? Perhaps it’s a beautiful, Victorian-style home with several bedrooms. Or maybe you’ve recently visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina and thought that, while your home might not be a mansion, it’s well worth the trip. Time to learn how to bring those dreams to life.

What is a Bed and Breakfast?

Although many people think “hotel” when they hear the words “bed and breakfast” that’s not necessarily the case. Often, a bed and breakfast is simply a home that welcomes individuals, providing them with all the amenities of a hotel at a lower price. This provides a unique charm and a personal touch that many travelers enjoy.

First Things First

Before you begin, decide how many occupants you can reasonably hold. In order to succeed, the ability to sleep at least five individuals is necessary. However, adding rooms to a basement or adding a loft can still make this a possibility. Next, you have to make the rooms welcoming. You could install a picture rail in the guestrooms displaying lovely photographs that make the room walls more interesting to look at. Snacks for guests, TVs and DVD players, CDs and toiletries go a long way towards making travelers feel at home. If you are serving food, which you should be, you may need to get permission from the health center, so be sure check in with your town and county for the requirements.

Start Marketing

This step is important. If people don’t know you exist, it’s going to be pretty tough to get them to stay at your bed and breakfast. Put up a sign out front. Contact newspapers and magazines. Tell friends. Sometimes, word of mouth can be the best kind of advertising. Perhaps you could invite some friends to stay free-of-charge for a night. Though this can be expensive initially, they’ll be more likely to tell people about you if they enjoyed the experience.

Taxes

You will need to pay taxes on this business, of course. Put aside an amount each month and pay off your taxes each quarter. Remember, though it’s a business, you’re still self-employed, so you will need to pay self-employment taxes, which usually comes to about 15 percent of the profits. The good news is you can deduct many of the expenses of running the business and additional expenses from the total profits. Check with a professional accountant or financial adviser to make sure you’re going about it correctly and have all the right information.

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