A Life in the Day of Bed and Breakfast Owners
Our official opening date for our Bed and Breakfast business was 1st April 2020. Little did we know that that would be the worst April Fool’s Day we could have imagined.
In March 2020, as you will all know, we were locked down and the delights of running a B and B in rural Spain disappeared along with our liberty.
Oh well, life is nothing without its challenges, and trying to get any business off the ground in normal circumstances is difficult enough, but in the middle of a pandemic…?
However, 2020 did not deserve to linger in our memories, and as 2021 dawned, we hoped for a deluge of reservations to make up for all the lost time in the previous year. Clearly, this didn’t materialise either, but as the year progressed we did manage to gather some momentum.
What has it been like, trying to get our little boutique alojamiento up and running? Our first observation would be that it is very hard work! I have never washed and ironed so much bedding in my entire life. After cleaning loos and showers to boot, I finally delegated this task to Andrew who could tell that I was reaching capacity as a cleaner. Over the course of the past year, there was very little consistency in the booking cycle, so it would have been financially imprudent to employ a cleaner and ironer, as work might has been too sporadic to make this an exciting proposition for any of our neighbours. When the ironing pile got too high, we did pass it off to someone, along with our profits, but we tried to keep such expenses to a minimum.
On the whole, the experience has been lovely. Our guests definitely make it worth while, and we have really enjoyed getting to know everyone who has crossed the threshold of Casa Higueras. We had one, slightly unnecessary experience which resulted in our removing our home from Airbnb, as the support we received was less than helpful. Having now had a year of guests, we thought it might be helpful to catalogue some of our tips and pitfalls, for anyone who may be considering a life in hospitality.
Before I go into the highs and lows, I’ll tell the quick tale of a couple who are building a beautiful house elsewhere in Andalucia. Initially, they thought about opening a bed and breakfast, and thought it might be an idea to spend a week with friends who have their own small hotel, just to see what running such an establishment might entail. After a week of early rises, hours in the kitchen and all the other behind-the-scenes activities, they changed the plans for their own property to create two self-catering apartments!
We offer various extras to make our guests’ experiences as pleasurable as possible. Reading that, it sounds a bit naughty, but I mean that we try to provide as many opportunities for our guests to get the very best out of their stay in Moclín. We are a Bed and Breakfast property, so clearly we offer a bed for a night’s sleep, followed by breakfast; simple. We also offer lunches and dinners, if guests would like to eat here, but these are optional. We suggest hiking routes, guided trips to caves, tapas tours in Granada and anything else that our guests might like.
The work that goes into preparing a room for a guest’s stay is not easy. It is an entire spring-clean every time there is a changeover. We live in a rural village, and in the summer there is dust everywhere; and we mean everywhere. The bathrooms have to be spotless, and the chrome shining to within an inch of its life. It’s quite satisfying to see everything gleaming, but when you have a rapid succession of guests, the sight of the bucket and cleaning materials gradually loses its appeal. I reiterate that, once we get into a rhythm, then it will make much more sense to get help in to assist with preparing rooms. Try as I may, I cannot iron fitted sheets in the same way as our lovely friend Andrea can. I have no idea how she can get everything so flat and crisp. Mind you, Andrea did give us very strict instructions on the temperature of the wash, the dryness of the sheets prior to ironing and the correct ironing water to use. Suffice to say, we have invested in a new iron, ironing water and new cover for the ironing board. Andrea is busy this week with driving lessons, so another neighbour is tackling the pile of sheets, but she’s (sensibly) taken them home, so the new iron was a good investment!
A Life in the Day of Bed and Breakfast Owners
The alarm goes off at 07:15 every day, but when we have guests we can’t afford a little lie in with a cup of tea. Andrew and I have found a routine in the kitchen. I prepare the fruit, cut bread, make smoothies, and Andrew grates tomatoes, squeezes oranges for juice, decants homemade jams and marmalades into small bowls and sets the table. Normally, guests request breakfast at 08:30 - 09:00 and it takes us around 30 minutes to get everything looking the way we want, leaving us to make tea and coffee, and toast, when the guests are ready. However, even before all this, we make homemade granola, shortbread, cakes, jams, marmalades, so that we have something fresh and delicious and unique with which to tempt our visitors.
If a guest has requested a packed lunch, then this is prepared after breakfast. However, we have probably been preparing things for 24 hours, baking a quiche or an empanada, for example, and then that day, creating a lovely salad or two. It has to be said that Andrew’s salad creation skills are beyond compare, and what he does with salad vegetables, fruits, nuts, cheeses and elaborate dressings is pure alchemy.
Hosting requires a lot of shopping, nipping off to Mercadona to get fresh fruit and bread, staples of the breakfast table. If we are preparing dinner, then the preparation for this can easily stretch across a couple of days, particularly if we are creating a splendid dessert, or something that needs a lot of marinating.
Running a kitchen is a new experience for us, as timing is key. Our kitchen is open-plan to the dining room, so if we have dinner guests in the winter, I can’t stamp about the kitchen cursing, as is my wont, and we have both found a groove into which we have happily slotted. Andrew tends to work wonders on tapas and first courses, leaving me to tackle the main course and dessert. We have been concentrating a great deal on presentation, flavour and the use of seasonal products, and it is working fairly well, so far. We do love creating things in the kitchen, and it has been relatively stress-free and enjoyable.
“Ian and Andrew are excellent hosts. We chose to eat dinner there on two nights and the food was restaurant quality. Superb fish dish one night. The best pork another. Served with tasty accompaniments. Fabulous desserts and cakes. Breakfast was awesome too.”
If a guest has checked out in the morning, and we have another guest arriving that same afternoon, then we have a fair bit to do. During the pandemic, we have avoided tight changeovers, but this is not always possible, so we need to get stuck into the bathroom and getting the bed ready for new arrivals. Although we advise guests that they can’t check in before 14:00, we don’t always know when they might arrive. We do ask them to give us an estimated time of arrival, but this doesn’t always happen, so we can find ourselves biding our time in the afternoon, while we wait to welcome our next visitors.
Alfie LOVES guests. Sadly, I think the reviews he keeps getting have rather gone to his head, so when the doorbell rings to announce arrivals, he barges past us almost as if to say, “they’re not here to see you, they’re here to see me!
“And don’t forget: you will fall in love: at least with Alfie (the smartest dog ever)”
Alfie all set for Gin and snacks on the terrace
Booking.com and Airbnb
Someone in the hospitality business advised us to ensure that we were listed on Booking.com. We also put the property on Airbnb. Anyone who has done this will know that you need to set aside 6 months to input all the information needed to optimise your performance. Listing is SO time consuming and, in many cases, not massively intuitive. Fortunately, we have a reservation platform that synchronises with the main booking platforms, so that our prices and availability all match everywhere. We’ve only had one, almost-double-booking, but that was because both clients had exactly the same name!
We had an unfortunate experience with Airbnb where I spent the weekend trying to get support to sort out an issue, to no avail. It was only when I mentioned by dissatisfaction on Twitter that Airbnb responded, and their policies seem to be very heavily geared towards the client and not the host.
Booking.com is also not without its problems. We have had a spate of bookings that have then been cancelled a couple of days afterwards. No explanation given, but something of an administrative nightmare, as we could be losing other bookings during the time that the initial booking has blocked out a room. Booking.com seemingly only allow you to take deposits once your listing is tried and tested. We have always tried to have a flexible cancellation policy, particularly during the pandemic, when everything has been so uncertain, but it can be frustrating. I have no idea how restaurants have been coping with the large numbers of no-shows they have been subjected to, and the subsequent loss of revenue.
Dinner on the terrace
Breakfast on the terrace
Be careful what you call your Bed and Breakfast.
The Spanish market does not really understand the concept of a Bed and Breakfast. They are used to self-catering properties or hotels. If your property is called Casa something-or-other, there is an assumption that it is a Casa Rural, and therefore self-catering. Another friend of ours has a small hotel called Casa something-or-other, and they eventually had to clear up misunderstandings by renaming their establishment Hotel Casa something-or-other. We have had guests arriving armed with bags of ingredients, ready to hit the kitchen and the microwave. We now make it clear that guests do not have use of the kitchen and we don’t have a microwave. One guest heated up their ready-mixed coffee drink in the kettle and another decided to boil their eggs in the bottom part of our Coffee maker.
Have a lovely website.
If you eventually want to wean yourselves off the main booking portals, make sure you have a gorgeously enticing website. More often than not, your own website rates will be cheaper than the prices quoted on other platforms, so guests will do their research, and you won’t have to pay commission. By having a lovely website, you can tell your own story in a far more effective way than you can within the constraints of a huge listing site. Telling your story in your voice is one way of ensuring you appeal to the right guests for your property. This all ties in with a really well considered social media presence. I am lucky that Andrew runs our Instagram feed for Casa Higueras, and it is very well thought through. There is one account we have seen where the Instagram feed seems to have a lot of photos of wine consumption which, in itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, but it might not tempt too many guests to flock to the door unless they are particularly desperate for a chilled white.
Block out time for yourselves.
Without help, running a B and B can be relentless. Make sure you do block out a few days here and there, just so you can regroup, make another batch of granola, read a book. If it makes financial sense, then do get someone to help with the laundry and cleaning as it can be hard to consider a future filled with joy with one hand down the u-bend.
The guests are the highlight.
Our guests have been wonderful, diverse, entertaining, charming, interesting and appreciative. We wanted to invite people to visit our village because we are so passionate about the place. It is immensely gratifying when we are able to rub off some of this enthusiasm, and share the beauty of this place. It’s tiring, but when guests leave and you feel that you have made another friend, and you want them to come and stay again and again, then it is all absolutely worthwhile. However, if Alfie gets another star-billing in a review, he is out on his ear…
“Where to begin. Andrew & Ian have built a beautiful, warm and welcoming home in the mountain village of Moclin. To be able to share it for a few nights was a joy. Casa Higueras was an excellent place to disconnect. The rooms are great, breakfast delicious, views stunning. Andrew and Ian were charming and so generous with their time and knowledge of the region. We ordered dinner a couple of nights and enjoyed a fantastic 3 course home cooked menu and enjoyed choosing from local wines. A wonderful spot.”
