Customer Rating: 
Summary: Best Bed & Breakfast available
Comment: Found this entertaining, fun, and highly informative. If you need encouragement in starting a b & b biz, this is for you! Great anecdotes that are amusing and educational. Good advice all around. Particularly liked the checklists.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Most complete
Comment: Have you ever flirted with the idea of opening a B&B? Many people have, but most don't have any idea where to start. Jan Stankus's book will tell you everything you'll need to know whether you have one spare room or six.I admit I was thinking about the possibility of buying a larger house than we can afford and putting the unused space to use as a B&B. I needed information, but surfing the Internet was a long and time consuming job.
I did end up with two trade journals, that I'll tell you about later, but there is no web site that has the plethora of information in this book.
This book is very well written. I actually sat down with it and read most of it straight through, like a novel. The index is so good you can easily go back to the topics you'll need if you pursue the B&B route.
Stankus doesn't pull any punches when she tells what's involved in owning and operating a B&B. I found out things like:
* the difference between a B&B and an inn
* safety concerns for yourself and your house
* zoning issues and ordinances
* insurance, fire laws, and other legal requirements
* furnishing and outfitting your home
* how to get in the guide books
* applying to and using an RSA (reservation service agencies)
* ways to market your B&B business
* what's involved in the B&B lifestyle
* your competition - how to find it and use it to your advantage
* how to price your rooms
* determining your start-up costs
* amenities - what are they and do you need them
Included are: some useful web sites; a state-by-state list of the RSA's; U. S. & Canadian tourist offices; and a number of various work sheets.
Stankus also deals with issues such as allowing pets or children as guests, medical concerns, food preferences and allergies.
There is enough information to give a reader a solid background in how a B&B works.
Here are some other sources if you're enamoured of the idea of a B&B:
* look for local or regional classes (many times taught by owners of B&B's)...
As always, Globe Pequot's "How To" series is chock full of useful information, reasonably priced, and delivers more than expected. I've decided B&B (or innkeeping) isn't for me. But, if you want to explore the option for yourself, I can't think of a better book to start with.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy reading/great information
Comment: After taking a seminar in Opening a Bed and breakfast, I found this book to be very informative and influential in my decision of opening my own Bed and Breakfast soon. Realizing it will take a few years to get it up and running successfully, I know that this will be my goal and I feel I will be very successful in this endeavor with the help of my husband.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Starting a B & B is more than just clean sheets!
Comment: A terrific book for the person thinking of starting their own Bed and Breakfast! Stankus has supplied a cornucopia of useful information. From sample forms to listings of help organizations in the B & B field, including suggestions on how to make your B & B successful! Sprinkled throughout the text are comments by actual Bed and Breakfast hosts/hostesses.
How To Open and Operate a Bed & Breakfast is a straight forward guide to help the novice successfully achieve their goal of opening a B & B. A great book to read with a highliter in hand. I look forward to other editions.
