🏠 Country Inn Topics

Starting your own country inn or bed and breakfast is an exciting undertaking! There’s never a dull moment when opening and running a small inn. Taking some time to consider some practical concerns can help to ensure that your business runs smoothly and guests recommend you to their friends. 

Find the Right Location 

While many bed and breakfast owners seek out a quiet, remote spot to open their bed and breakfast, choosing a location for your business is more complicated than simply picking the most peaceful property. While guests do often choose to visit a bed and breakfast to escape the hustle and bustle of city life, it can still be a difficult decision whether to open up within the bounds of a small town or out in a more remote area in the country. When considering where to open your business, you’ll need to think both about the demand for a country inn in various locations as well as more practical considerations about the feasibility of opening a bed and breakfast there. 

Is This Property Right for a Country Inn?

There’s a lot to consider when you’re on the market for a property for your new bed and breakfast. While on the hunt, it can be easy to fall in love with a location without fully considering the practicality and cost. For instance, if a property is on a private road in a remote area, you might have to pay a considerable amount for high-speed internet to be installed and for routine road maintenance. Consider these factors when weighing any potential property:

• Cell Service: Do most major cell phone providers have service in the area? Is cell service spotty? Is there high-speed internet access in the area? Guests might come to escape the hustle and bustle, but most will still want to be able to use their phones and laptops.
• Road Maintenance: Are the roads near the property well-maintained? If the property is on a private road, who is responsible for plowing and maintaining the road in the winter? Consider whether you’d be able to perform routine upkeep on your road, driveway, and parking area.
• Water and Sewer: How is the water quality? What is the sewer system for the property? If you decide to open outside of a town, you may be responsible for your own septic system.

Marketing Your New Business

One of the most important aspects of a plan for a new bed and breakfast is how to market and advertise the business. Before you open, make sure you’ve thought through your branding and marketing to get the word out about your country inn. This is particularly important if you’re opening in a more remote area, because your property might not be visible to potential visitors driving by. Bed and breakfasts tend to be the most successful when they cater to a niche and focus on attracting those customers. Find your niche by thinking about the kinds of amenities that your country inn offers to potential customers.

There are many ways to profit from owning a Bed and Breakfast or Country Inn. There are regular vacationers, family reunions, and honeymooners. However, a rising trend which isn’t necessarily new is having your Inn rented out to a wedding party for the weekend. It is really the best of both worlds you can rent out all the rooms to a single party have the revenues and also make money on the side for event space. While dealing with multiple vendors might be a headache if you don’t have catering onsite, it is overall worth the work as the sky’s the limit with many weddings. Continue reading

Spring is in the air and people are coming out of hibernation and are ready to greet the sun. With the warm winds going, romance is in the mind of many and what better way than to plan a quick getaway to a lovely bed and breakfast nearby. There are over four hundred bed and breakfast/ country inn options scattered throughout the state of Virginia and each one holds something special to the owners and the visitors. Choosing a bed and breakfast to stay at is a fun endeavor and one that the visitor should enjoy the process of and one you can make easy on them. Continue reading

Bed and Breakfast Tools of the Trade

Far from Home, Close to Heart

Walking into a bed and breakfast at any time of year is supposed to be like walking into your own house. Warm, comforting, and most importantly relaxing is what all bed and breakfasts attempt to accomplish. Visitors go to a B&B to get a feeling of home and that they matter versus going to a hotel and being another number. Continue reading

Recently I was searching for a place to stay in Lovingston, VA and I noticed country inn popping up in my searches. Instantly, I thought that a country inn was just the same as a bed & breakfast. But did you know that the two are completely different establishments? Continue reading