Should B&Bs also have thresholds?

B&B is not a farmhouse

A B&B is not a farmhouse, even if it sometimes looks like it. Compared with the simple, old and extensive model of farmhouses, homestays are undoubtedly a qualitative leap forward.

B&B is not tourism

Some people say that B&B is a type of leisure agriculture, but judging from an Anji B&B, this is not entirely the case. Anji is close to Moganshan. When the Moganshan fire was a mess, Anji was actually focusing on traditional tourism. Later, I thought that since Moganshan can operate B&Bs, Anji should also be able to operate them. If B&Bs If it has characteristics and good service, it can attract guests to come to the B&B for vacation.

But the fact is that after several months of operation, it was discovered that there was a gap between reality and ideals. 80 to 90% of the guests who go to Moganshan go to B&Bs. They will go to a B&B for vacation, but the guests who come to Anji are still mainly for tourism. Therefore, from the perspective of consumer demand for services, the difference between the traditional tourism industry and B&Bs is still very obvious.

B&B is not a hotel

Although B&B, airbnb, and hotel are all accommodations, the difference is still very big. For comrades who often travel on business, no matter how high the hotel star rating is, , and I have no intention of enjoying it. It will emphasize standardization: hot water, room temperature, several pillows with different fluffiness, room cleaning time and waiter response speed.

B&Bs belong to the new standardization, or it can be called personalized standardization, or it can be called nostalgia, feelings, or just-go travel. Maybe this is the so-called "tonality" and consumption upgrade.

Financial threshold

There are still financial thresholds for B&Bs. Take the most famous Mogan Mountain as an example. It is roughly divided into three levels, such as naked Valley and French Mountain Residence. Model, the investment capital is hundreds of millions, and the more representative foreign developers such as Da Le Zhi Ye, Qing Jing Yuan She, Yu Cun, Cuiyu, Wujie, etc. often invest in tens of millions, while some local developers, such as The investments in Yuanshan, Jutu and Xipo B&B are in the millions.

In general, a B&B is not a simple renovation of a hollow village, it needs other content to carry it. The surrounding environment and the B&B to be developed need to be unified in style, and the style needs to be improved. These basic requirements determine that the investment in a homestay will not be too small, ranging from a few million to more than 10 million.

Long payback period

The investment payback period of B&Bs is shorter than that of hotels, but it must be longer than we think. Many B&Bs are indeed hard to find a room on weekends, but during non-weekends they are deserted, and the input and output are not proportional, or in other words, they fail to achieve the ideal state.

Take Anji Pinecone Garden as an example. There are 9 Pinecone guest rooms, with room prices ranging from 480 yuan to 880 yuan. The initial planned return period is 3 to 5 years. After nearly half a year of operation, , has extended the payback period to more than 5 years. The current balance of payments is fairly balanced.

The person in charge revealed that in addition to guest room operations, catering services have also been launched, so that they can maintain a monthly profit of 20, but it is still far from the ideal state.

Operations

B&B, like any branch of the service industry, has its high-demand, complicated, trivial and thankless side. There is a view but also a house. Finding an old house with the best view and renovating it is harder than you think. It is common for B&B projects to fail in their management radius due to being too remote.

Marketing

Considering that a large part of B&B sales is scenery, new problems will arise. Not everyone’s hometown is picturesque, and places that are too remote are not suitable for opening B&Bs; you also need to have some sales skills and package the originally worthless old mountain house into a good story to sell it. Many B&Bs are now being marketed through self-media, which also creates a big “gap” for traditional farmhouse operators.

All these aspects of operations and marketing are not something that ordinary people can do on their own. A small-scale company (or operations team) will become the standard.

Of course, once most of the preliminary preparations are completed, whether it is money, people, relationships or customers, they may come back to you in the opposite direction.

Local government support

B&Bs are different from other industries in that they need to deal with farmers. Farmers’ house rental contracts may increase in price at any time, and this has become a problem that investors in B&Bs have to face. Big risk.

While preparing to open a B&B, the information I received was all positive. Once the decoration was completed and ready for business, I discovered that the relevant departments did not treat you as a farmhouse. Sanitation requires a license and is stricter than a farmhouse. Fire protection is still indispensable, the road at the door needs to be negotiated with the villagers, parking is very troublesome... and these all require local people to support your project.

What B&B customers need is higher quality, more features and a better consumer experience. What B&B operators need is better reputation, higher unit price and richer products. To make money, if you want to be satisfied at the same time, it depends on your comprehensive ability in triathlon.