When you own a bed and breakfast, you want to ensure that it is charming and comfortable for your guests. A relaxing, charming experience is what most people anticipate when they choose to stay at a bed and breakfast instead of a hotel. If you are looking for some ways to transform your bed and breakfast, this article has some ideas to help you get started.
Have a Conversation Piece in Your Lobby
Your guests start and end their stay in your lobby, so you want to make it stand out. The lobby needs to be a welcoming space, and putting a conversation piece in the lobby can help. It will give the guests something they can comfortably talk to your staff about and encourage them to interact with your staff and the other guests.
A big sculpture or piece of art, a unique piece of furniture, or something that is linked to the history of your town are all great choices.
Install Crown Molding
Crown molding can dress up a room pretty easily. If you are on a budget, polyurethane crown molding is an affordable option, and your guests will not be able to tell because it is not made of wood.
Use Art from Local Artists
It is common for a bed and breakfast to be connected to its local community. As part of that connection, consider supporting local artists by using their work to decorate your bed and breakfast. You can even commission a local artist to create your conversation piece for the lobby.
In the dining area and common rooms, you can display local art for sale too. Your guests may be more likely to purchase this local art because it is a beautiful memento of their trip. It will also help show that you support your local community.
Make the Lighting More Interesting
Lighting can change the entire look and feel of a room. Invest in some lamps that stand out and look beautiful to your guests. You can find some interesting lamps at antique stores or buy more modern lamps for a sleeker, industrial look. Make the lighting a bigger part of your B&B's decor.
Use Fresh Flowers
Fresh flowers are an excellent extra special touch that most guests will not be expecting. Fresh flowers will give your guests something beautiful to look at and a beautiful scent they will enjoy. There is something that is calming about looking at a bouquet of flowers, so they can make your guests feel welcome and comfortable. Put the flowers at the front desk, in the lobby, on tables in the dining area, and in the guest rooms.
Create Accent Walls
Having accent walls in your rooms and in the common rooms is a great way to add a little bit of character to your B&B. There are a lot of ways that you can go about this:
- Paint: Pick a bold and bright color that works with the rest of the room but stands out, like a bright green or blue. If there is an accent color that is already in the room, use it to paint your accent wall.
- Wallpaper: When people think of wallpaper, they often think of it as tacky wallpaper in old homes. However, there are a lot of wallpaper designs these days that are chic and beautiful. You can use it to give a room a rustic or antique feel.
- Brick or Stone Veneer: Brick and stone draw the eye and can make a room feel modern, industrial, or rustic, depending on the colors and the rest of the room. Natural brick and stone are expensive, but the brick veneer is much more affordable and can be DIY installed.
- Wood: Using wood planks to create an accent wall can also be beautiful, and it is another option that can give the space a unique feel.
- Decals: Wall decals are unique and can be a great way to transform your B&B with an accent wall. These can often be changed out, too, so you have multiple design options to keep your accent walls looking fresh.
Give Each Room a Focal Point
Make every room in your bed and breakfast unique and special by giving every room its own focal point. Take the time to find something that will make every room stand out and design the room around it. For example, a fireplace with a beautiful piece of art hanging above it is a picture-perfect focal point. An antique furniture set in one of your rooms can help you shape the design for another room.
Your guests want to be comfortable and enjoy their vacation, and an outdated bathroom with old-looking tiles will not feel very relaxing. It is relatively easy to change out your tiles for something new and attractive that will feel luxurious. If you want to give the bathroom a spa-like feel, you can even replace the tile on the bathroom walls and in the shower with stone veneer. It is waterproof and will make the room feel calm and relaxing, which your guests will love.
Invest in the Bed
After a long day of traveling, nothing sounds better than climbing into a big, comfy bed. Good mattresses may be expensive, but your guests will appreciate them. If your mattresses are uncomfortable, your guests will probably not come back, and they will not recommend you to their friends.
In addition to investing in comfortable mattresses, get some soft, plush bedding. A down comforter and a cotton duvet are an excellent duo to make your guests think they are sinking into a cloud. For an extra touch, add a quilt folded at the foot of the bed. Stack the pillows, too, to make the bed look even more inviting.
Create a Self-Service Drink and Snack Nook
In your dining area or one of the other common rooms, create a little area with coffee, tea, and maybe even a mini fridge with cold drinks. You can also add some snacks to the nook, including freshly made cookies or appetizers, when it is later in the day. Some pre-packaged single-serving snacks are also a good idea to include, like bags of chips. This is a cute touch that your guests will enjoy.
Give Your Guests a 5-Star Treatment
There is more to improving your bed and breakfast than decorating. You can try some of these things to make your guests feel like they are in a 5-star hotel room:
- Leave branded products in your rooms, like plush bathrobes, slippers, hand sanitizer, notebooks, pens, or coffee mugs. Guests can take these with them when they leave, so they will remember your bed and breakfast the next time they travel to that area.
- Offer free desserts or freshly baked cookies at night.
- Stock the bathrooms with toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and lotion.
Not sure where to get branded products from? Talk to other small business owners in your area to see if you can partner with them.
Offer a Welcome Basket
You can take this one step further by making little welcome baskets for your guests. You can include a sweet treat, guides or maps to your area, business cards from your local partners, fruit, nuts, and even a small bottle of wine. The toiletries and other branded items we mentioned above will also be perfect for your welcome basket. If a guest tells you they are coming for their anniversary, consider adding champagne to the welcome basket instead of wine to create a romantic, celebratory feel.
If you decide to include snacks in your welcome basket, make sure you note it on your website so that if a guest has food allergies, you can accommodate them. You do not want to accidentally give a guest cookies with peanuts when they have an allergy. Alternatively, if you want to surprise your guests with the basket, just ask them directly about food allergies when they book their room, so you can tailor the basket to their needs.
If you do not see guests mentioning some of the items in your basket consistently, but they mention other things, remove the things they are not mentioning. For example, if you provide a bottle of wine in your welcome basket, but none of the guests note it, but they rave about the freshly baked cookies in it, get rid of the wine.
Install New Flooring
If you have carpets in your B&B, think about exchanging that for hardwood floors. If you really want carpet in your B&B, use throw rugs instead; they are a little easier to keep clean, and they can be removed easily if a guest damages one.
If you already have hardwood floors in your B&B, think about refinishing them. It is not always easy to refinish a hardwood floor, but it is something that you can DIY in a few days. The floors can also be stained to turn them into a different color if you do not like the look of them after you are done refinishing them.
