Merging Breakfast on Vacation Rentals. Impressions so far

[KostasPapahadjis]

This year we decided to add breakfast on the Villas we are running in Rethymnon, on the Greek island of Crete.

We also added another villa on the rent, going from three to four. I believe that adding breakfast was the decisive factor that brought in great bookings so far this year, allowing us to easily fill the extra villa despite the less than average performance of other owners in the same area.

Since the overall cost contribution of a breakfast buffet onto the Net price is very small (less than 1.5 Euro per person per day) and judging by the results, we decided to continue having breakfast as service. All our guests were super excited, and found it to be worth while.

What do you think, and what is your experience so far-if you have any with breakfast? Can you do something like this in your area?

[Margaret]

We provide basic breakfast supplies in the apartments for the first morning (muesli, part baked rolls, spread, jam, milk, fruit juice, coffee - beans and instant, and English tea bags). We find this is welcomed by almost all guests.

[olive]

"Can you do something like this in your area?"

In France, it could be a decisive factor in transforming an activity into one requiring TVA registration and/or registering as a "commercial activity" for which full social security payments are due.

Please note that my comments are totally non-judgemental.

Also, please note that since recent hostile remarks on the forum, I am not prepared to indulge in long discourses on tax law.
My comments allow anyone interested to make further research for themselves.

[CSE]

We run what you would call a B&B. The laws for supplying food is quite strict. Even if it is all wrapped in plastic. The person handling the food should have done a hygiene coarse. You may also find that you have to have a different kind of sanitary inspection by the government body in your country responsible for such things too.
So to sum up you have a good idea, but watch the laws!

[Tizfata]

So to sum up you have a good idea, but watch the laws!

Kostas, I can feel a very positive energy coming from your post.
Every now and then I toy with the idea of doing something like that (mostly off-peak season) but, as casasantoestevo pointed, you have to be carefully informed about the law in your area/country.
In Italy is the same than in Portugal, so no Tizfata-made breakfast for my guests

[aasta]

Hello...reading this with interest, as we hope to open our B&B soon...what did you mean with Italy is the same as portugal?
I did take an on line hygene course...what else should I know? Our solicitor has not mentioned anything about not being able to serve Breakfast...regards, aasta

[KostasPapahadjis]

So to sum up you have a good idea, but watch the laws!

Kostas, I can feel a very positive energy coming from your post.
Every now and then I toy with the idea of doing something like that (mostly off-peak season) but, as casasantoestevo pointed, you have to be carefully informed about the law in your area/country.
In Italy is the same than in Portugal, so no Tizfata-made breakfast for my guests

That's why we have this sorted out for good. So...we do not prepare breakfast ourselves; instead we have chosen the best Catering company on the Island of Crete to deliver a breakfast buffet at the villas every morning. We have arranged a place in the garden undfer umbrellas where the Guests can come anytime between 8-11am and have a huge breakfast! The catering company is responsible for everything: cleaning, preparing the area for comon use again as a garden after breakfast, etc. etc. Not only this; I have arranged for one payment at the end of the season (end October). So what I am saying basically is that we outsource, and we do not have to be liable to the Law for catering. And it comes really cheap, so cheap, it really does not get in your way of hitting your target revenues!

[Tizfata]

Kostas, this idea (catering) is just fantastic!
Food for thought...
(I just wish we had the same prices here... But I could investigate and have a more realistic idea...)

[KostasPapahadjis]

Kostas, this idea (catering) is just fantastic!
Food for thought...
(I just wish we had the same prices here... But I could investigate and have a more realistic idea...)

Yes, I think you should give it some serious consideration; I am sure that you will find a good catering company that will give you a good price for this; times are rough, so you can bargain a great price. This is what I did!

[CSE]

Kostas, Here in Spain the hygiene laws seems to cover the handling of food. So hopefully the breakfast come straight from the truck onto the table and none of your staff handle anything. Not even the coffee or getting the fruit juices from the fridge!


aasta I thought I had written about these rules in a previous posting. They are EU wide. If you have taken an online certification was it EU based? Is the certificate awarded written in Portuguese? If not then the Portuguese authorities may not recognise it. It is not the job of the solicitor to ensure you have all the right credentials to open a business. You should ask at the local body that looks after the registration of B&Bs in Portugal.

[aasta]

thanks, Ian and Irene....i was having a senior moment!!!! I did take the online hygiene course before leaving the USA and received a certificate...which was supposed to be valid for entire EU...it is still in storage with our things which should be arriving in two weeks...
will now go back and reread the thread from back in November of 2009 to refresh my overloaded, in slow mode memory!!!
thanks...aasta

[olive]

Kostas, Do you have business contacts with local hotels, apart from your holiday letting business? If so, you might have access to special treatment that owners without these contacts don't have.
(One of your websites looks like a hotel advisory site.)

I don't like offering a service I can't guarantee and I wouldn't be 100% sure that my local hotel would be reliable all the time if I was paying a low price.

[KostasPapahadjis]

Kostas, Do you have business contacts with local hotels, apart from your holiday letting business? If so, you might have access to special treatment that owners without these contacts don't have.
(One of your websites looks like a hotel advisory site.)

I don't like offering a service I can't guarantee and I wouldn't be 100% sure that my local hotel would be reliable all the time if I was paying a low price.

Yes, we are working bookings etc on 20 hotels in Crete, except the Villa rental business. But no special treatment. There are many companies that can happily do this for Villa owners, it just that they have not picked it up yet there. Same situation (almost) as regards WiFi; this year we were the first villa to offer WiFi for free to our Guests. Now I hear that ten more owners have added WiFi in the middle of the summer; we are offering WiFi from last November. There is a lot of copycat going around!

Another example: adding your villa to Expedia. Not a single villa from Crete was there last year, we were the first to go live last July. Go and see now how many villas from Crete are on Expedia; as I hear, they are overflowing with bookings-Expedia is probably the second most powerful way to bring bookings in.