Author: Carol Jones

Careful planning is essential for any business, and you will need a detailed business plan in order to apply for loans, mortgages, remortgaging and other forms of funding. Making regular plans will also help you to ensure that the business is staying on track financially, and by regularly setting goals for yourself, you will have something clear to aim for and will be able to consistently improve and expand your operations, learning as you go. Continue reading “Get your staff involved in your business planning”

Before you open or take over a guest house, it is important to have a clear understanding of the workload involved. The number of rooms in the property will have a bearing on how much work you need to do. Naturally, there will be more cleaning if you have a large number of rooms, but there will also be additional associated tasks such as organising bookings, preparing breakfast and all of the administrative tasks. Continue reading “Planning the finances for your guest house”

2014 was an excellent year for the hospitality industry and the predictions for its continued success in 2015 are proving accurate. The UK hospitality sector is experiencing consistent growth, and both new and established businesses are finding it easier to acquire finance from lenders. Continue reading “Presenting lenders with the most attractive proposals”

The average price of purchasing a B&B is estimated at £572,000. When you factor in the price of the property and the cost of the contents, you may be looking at a large initial outlay before you get started. If you already have a property you’re planning to convert into a B&B, you’ll still need funding for new equipment, renovations and decorations. Continue reading “Investing in the bed and breakfast sector”

The 2015 Travellers Choice Awards recently revealed that UK hotels and bed and breakfasts are among the best in the world, according to ratings from guests. The results are calculated from the millions of reviews that are left on the travel website TripAdvisor every year. Continue reading “UK hotels and B&Bs top the TripAdvisor awards list”

The hospitality sector is thriving, and revenues and earnings are up throughout the UK. As a result of this, there are many lenders in the market. There has been an unprecedented amount of funding made available for all manner of hospitality projects, with bed and breakfasts accounting for a large proportion. Continue reading “Lenders are attracted to the B&B financing landscape”

Owning and running a guest house or bed and breakfast is a goal that many aspire to, particularly those who have been employed in the hospitality and accommodation sector. Whilst a background in the industry isn’t essential, it can greatly boost your potential for success. In our experience, those who started off with an entry level position at a guest house frequently go on to become successful owners and operators themselves, for they have gained first hand knowledge of what does and does not work in the business. We are always happy to assist such individuals with our services and help them take the correct steps towards owning and running their own successful business. Continue reading “Making the leap from employee to business owner”

As well as assisting you with obtaining your initial funding, we can also offer support and accountancy services as you progress in your business. When running a guest house, pub, B&B or any other kind of hospitality business, there are many important factors to consider, and one of the most important things to think about is tax, particularly VAT. Continue reading “Do you need to register your B&B or hotel for VAT?”

Everyone will no doubt be familiar with the expression “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”. There is a reason why this is such a famous saying: it happens to be true. If people over history had simply given up due to a lack of success on their first attempt, we’d have missed out on some of the world’s most important inventions and cultural milestones, from lightbulbs to the Beatles. Continue reading “Reaching for success in a fertile market”

Many different businesses from many different sectors have been adversely affected by being mis-sold fixed interest rate loans, including leisure and hospitality businesses. As we focus on all aspects of hotel, bed and breakfast and guest house finance, we are on hand to help these businesses resolve these issues and stabilise their finances, helping them to have the best chance of thriving even under challenging conditions. Continue reading “Were you mis-sold a fixed interest rate loan?”