Resources for Aspiring Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers

By Elizabeth Arneson, About.com Guide to Bed & Breakfasts

Whether you own a grand Victorian mansion in a historic neighborhood or a newly built log cabin in the mountains, you may have thought about opening a bed and breakfast. Many people are interested in opening their own bed and breakfast. Here are the resources you need to help decide if innkeeping is the career for you, and to open your very own bed and breakfast.

1. Planning Your Career Change
2. Buying a Bed and Breakfast
3. Running an Inn
4. Innkeeper Interviews

Planning Your Career Change

Deciding to become an innkeeper is not something you should take lightly. It's a challenging job that requires a specific set of skills.

• What is a Bed and Breakfast?
• Do You Have the Right Skills?
• Family Considerations
• Whose Job Is It?

• Do Innkeepers Make a Profit?
• Will You Make Money?
• Best Books for Aspiring Innkeepers
• More Aspiring Innkeeper Resources

Buying a Bed and Breakfast

Essential information for anyone thinking about buying a bed and breakfast.

• Before You Buy a Bed and Breakfast
• Inns for Sale
• Million-Dollar Bed and Breakfasts

• Startup Costs
• How to Name Your Bed and Breakfast
• Writing a Business Plan

Running an Inn

Running a bed and breakfast seems deceptively simple, often because innkeepers are so good at it. These articles and resources will hel pyou understand just how challenging it can be.

• How to Pamper Your Guests
• What Every Aspiring Innkeeper Should Know
• Starting a Bed and Breakfast: The Reality
• Being a Good Host
• Food Service
• Marketing Issues

• Rules and Regulations
• Zoning Issues
• Strange But True Innkeeping Stories
• Unusual Items Guests Leave Behind
• Recipes from Innkeepers

Innkeeper Interviews

Interviews with professional bed and breakfast innkeepers, including information useful to aspiring innkeepers.

• Adventurers' Country Bed and Breakfast near Cheyenne, Wyoming
• Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed and Breakfast in Mexico
• Cottonwood Cottage Bed and Breakfast in Salem, Oregon
• Durbin Street Inn in Casper, Wyoming
• Natural Bed and Breakfast in Tucson, Arizona

• Old Carriage Inn in Shipshewana, Indiana
• Pond House in Woodstock, Vermont
• Poppies Bed and Breakfast in Queensland, Australia
• Thomas Shepherd Inn in Shepherdstown, West Virginia
• More Innkeeper Interviews