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Nice book, a bit out of date. My real problem is the letter size, not easy to read.
I purchased the book as a gift for my husband, but I found the book to be very informative and easy to follow.
As an owner of a Boutique Hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, Casa El Carretero www.CasaElCarretero.com I can say that this book was a great guide. However, the passion for the business is fundamental. Pay attention to the staff and level of service you plan to have in the hotel. That can make or break the business.
I thought Lora did a great job with this book. It is well-thought-out and presented in a manner that the reader can easily grasp. I'd buy this book and "I'm Living Your Dream Life" by Michele Cozzens before going into the business.
While you may not need all the information included when you first open your business, this book will provide you with lots of options for a time when you're able to expand. With a little creativity (and there are lots of suggestions contained in this chapter), your B&B can become part of the very identity of the neighborhood or city you live in, as in, "If you want to capture the flavor of X, go to this B&B." The only change I would make to the book would be to make the section on writing business plans a more user friendly for those B&B owners who have never opened a business before.
This book covers almost all potential areas that you'll need to know to run a professional B&B, and the level of detail will quickly dissuade anyone who isn't serious. That having been said, anyone who does want to run a professional bed and breakfast will find the information invaluable.
If you're planning to open a bed and breakfast as a hobby or with the notion that "you're not really running a business, you're just making profits in your free time," this is not the book for you. Particularly useful is the section on marketing, something that most B&Bs that I've known tend to ignore.
The forms included on the enclosed CD pay for the book themselves--everything from employment applications to inventory forms, invoices, standard recipe cards, and kitchen safety inspection forms. The book covers all stages of the planning and setup process, including business plans, marketing and promotion, safety, and employees.
Nevertheless, the book contains lots of hardheaded business sense, presented plainly and clearly, with many good examples of existing B&Bs to illustrate the point. I recommend this book to anyone seriously considering going into the B&B business as a business, rather than just a way of pouring money down the drain.
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