austra a écrit :
Pour finir, nous avons l'intention d'ouvrir un Bed and Breakfast, après acceptation de ma résidence là -bas, si vous avez une idée, témoignage quand à l'ouverture d'un tel lieu, merci de m'aider.........
Pour le B & B, je peux t'aider un peu car en Septembre 2004 j'ai fait un "Bed & Breakfast course" d'une semaine avec Glenormiston College, en preparation pour le commencement de mon B & B en fevrier 2005.
(C'est un course assez connu en Victoria et tres utile car il y a assez beaucoup des choses complique a propos du commencement & running d'un chambre d'hote a Victoria (il y a des autres regles dans les autres etats d'Australie)
I can just tell you some of the major issues which our class came up against.
Out of the class of 20, by the end of the week, after finding it so complicated a process, only 5 or 6 people in the class remained dedicated to starting their own B & B - the rest decided to abandon the idea.
Complication number 1: although if you accommodate 5 guests or less, you don't have to lodge a Planning Permit application with the local council, you still have to register the kitchen of the B & B with the council, and that's where a lot of the very tricky fairly new rules come in.
Even if you don't plan to serve full meals in the B & B, you still need to have a food handler's licence (which requires another course - a 1 day one this time) if you serve any food at all to your guests (even cereal or milk). You have to keep detailed records of where you buy your food supplies for the B & B, how you transport them, how you store them, and at what temperature (if serving meals you also have to test food regularly with a thermometer!)
If you serve guests any alcohol (even for free) you have to apply to the Liquor Licencing Commission for a Liquor Licence (fines for not having a licence are very high indeed).
One of the biggest complications and expenses, especially to start off: Public Liability insurance (starts at around $1000 for a small B & B like mine, and increases dramatically if you have any of what council considers 'high risk' activities - like any animals around or horse riding.
Most Tourism associations will not allow you to be a member with them now and display brochures with them unless you have $A 15 million dollars worth of Public Liability insurance (there are different levels - 10 million used to be the maximum, but associations have recently increased what they say is 'needed').
I don't want to put you off, and it's certainly not impossible to run a B & B, but it's getting more difficult and the expenses are higher than before.
To give you an idea of just how much paperwork is involved: our 'users manual' for B & B operations & setting up which we were given at the end of the course is about 200 pages....about half of that is concerned with the food regulations and forms you have to fill in, records you have to keep.
Most useful things we learned in the course: unless you have at least 3-4 bedrooms in your B & B, don't imagine that you can make a good wage from it.
I had to accept by the end of day 1 that my B & B sleeping 5 people will only be a hobby, and will barely make profit (but fortunately I want to do it, whatever it takes).
Some good advice we were given: be unique - find a stable, special niche market and stay with it. Examine carefully as many other different B & Bs in the area you want to start a B & B in, for market research.
If I hadn't gone with an Aussie theme for mine, I would have tried for a French decor one instead - there are only about 2 or 3 B & B's with French names or even a little bit of a theme in the whole Melbourne area.
For market research, a good area to examine would be Daylesford, a town of 3,500 people in my region (Hepburn Spa Country, 100 kms de Melbourne) - since they have almost every type imaginable (about 700
B & Bs in just this one little region).
Bonne chance avec tout les choses!
Si tu as des autres questions, n'hesitez pas!
Kate