Starting Your Own Guest House

Scene:

You are in your 40's, 50's, or 60's and feel like you want to do something new with your life...something international, related to travel. Remembering your fondest feelings of traveling internationally, you suddenly realize you would love to have your own guest house. A place where wonderful guests visit from all over the world, enriching your life and the lives of each other with delightful conversations and a shared experience in your beautiful rooms, garden, guest lounge, and dining room. New friendships emerge and you feel that you are offering a truly special part of yourself to people through your guest house experience.

Another Scene:

You live in South Africa. You are trying to improve your life and the lives of your family. Owning and running your own guest house would be a way to work towards a better life and would also empower you to be free of having to do a low-paying job for someone else. You could learn and grow your life while building something that you could be proud of. And you know you would really love to host wonderful guests from South Africa and from around the world!

These are two scenarios taken from years of visiting guest houses around the world, helping owners, speaking with guests, and through this web site, communicating with over 100 different people interested in running a guest house, or already doing so. This web resource is the result of my research. As a marketing professor for 25 years, I was fascinated by how successful hospitality businesses market themselves. I wrote and published case studies of some interesting ones. And rather than leaving my findings on how to run a successful guest house gathering dust, I am sharing them here in the hope that it will help others interested in starting their own guest house or those wanting to do so in a more profitable manner. Can you add your own thoughts and wisdom? Please contact me!

Why a "Guest House"?

A guest house is a romantic notion. It is quite different from a "bed and breakfast", hostel, lodge, hotel, or motel. Here are some differences between these types:

There are many variations on these definitions, but the purpose of stating them is to make clear that they are different from a "guest house" in certain ways. These differences include:

Guest House Principles and Practices

Here are some key principles of successful guest houses, and how these principles result in specific practices:

Principle #1: Guests feel welcome, safe, certain, comfortable, and relaxed in the best guest houses

Practices:

Principle #2: Rooms are intimate, safe, comfortable, and private

Practices:

Principle #3: Bathrooms are sanitary, nurturing, available, and certain.

Practices:

Principle #4: Spacious, friendly, comfortable, welcoming, and social common area(s).

(pictured at right: A lovely rooftop guest lounge with couches, tables and chairs, hammocks, plants, decorations, and wifi)

Practices:

Principle #5: Logistics are relaxed, trustworthy, professional, clear, certain, and feel safe.

Practices:

Principle #6: Extra value and special character - the "wow!" factors

Practices: (not all required)

Economics of a Guest House - Business Model Comparisons

The very best guest houses have solid business models and practices. Prices at these places are usually higher than competitors, not lower. A strong business model, professional practices, and higher prices allow the owner to continually update, refresh and maintain the facilities, and pay staff well. A virtuous cycle develops for guest houses that operate professionally. A quickly degenerating cycle develops for those guest houses that operate without care for facilities, staff, and guests. Most disheartening are those guest houses which try to offer a really low price and skimp on everything, with guests trading off financial savings against a poor experience.

Getting the business model "right" for a specific town, city, and country situation is necessary. The recipe will be a bit different in each place but there are some foundation pieces that seem to be universal. Below is a comparison between a typical guest house business model and those of other types of accommodation:

Type Source of Profits Description
Guest House

Majority of revenue and profits come from private room fees. Mid-range pricing of room rates, relative to a specific geographic area.

+ travel booking commissions (secondary source of revenue and profits)

+ drink and snack sales (minor source)

  • All ages, though >25 years old are more willing to pay for the quality.
  • Private rooms primarily.
  • Shared and private bathroom options.
  • Social atmosphere where guests specifically want to meet other travelers.
  • Location: Good access to the "centre" of things in a particular place.
  • Standards of the facilities, cleanliness, and service are high
  • Feeling of coziness important.
  • Staff are mature, caring, friendly.
Party Hostel

Revenue and profits come from a mix of 3 parts: shared room fees. Low-end pricing of room rates.

+ alcohol and snack sales (A very significant source of revenue and profits)

+ travel and tour booking commissions (Another significant source of revenue and profits). At one top guest house, these commissions were very important to the overall profitability of the establishment.

  • The party hostel provides just that: A party place for younger travelers who are very price conscious. The ability to meet and connect with other young travelers is essential.
  • The hostel is really three businesses that feed off each other: Maximum revenue per shared room, alcohol sales, and travel and tour commissions.
  • The more beds/bunks in a room the more revenue and profit.
  • Guests willing to trade off quality of facilities for cheap price and a highly relational atmosphere.
  • A party space and energy is expected.
  • Not necessary to be in the "centre" of a city, but in the "buzz area for young people".
  • Staff must be young and friendly.
Eco-Lodge

Majority of revenue and profits come from private room fees, which are higher due to the special natural nature of the lodge location.

+ alcohol and food sales (significant and necessary secondary source of revenue and profits)

+ extra services, such as yoga classes, mountain bike or kayak rentals, etc. .

  • Mixed travelers. Can be the young eco-hippie set or older travelers looking for a natural, peaceful experience. Longer guest stays lower room change over costs and increase profits.
  • Must provide good food at a carefully priced level.
  • Must manage guest expectations VERY well before they arrive, when they arrive, and during their experience. Absolutely key for a lodge of any kind.
  • Logistics getting guests to and from the location are very important for guest comfort.
  • Personal relationship building is very important between guests and staff/owners due to the isolated nature of a lodge. This puts pressure on staff and owners to be available and socially "on" 12+ hours a day.
  • Full services required. "Eco-lodge" does not mean washing in a stream! Full hot showers, proper beds & rooms, electricity, and wifi required.
  • Clear instructions and processes give guests comfort. The best eco-lodges are not free-flow dope smoking places, but actually professionally run businesses that give guests a great experience from start to finish.

In summary, the business model of a guest house is primarily focused on the quality of the room, the overall facility, and owner's manner of running the place. To maximize profits, the guest house owner provides a social, non-party atmosphere, cozy comfortable rooms with character, and excellent facilities such as bathrooms. The guest house, then is a "safe sanctuary" from which to explore a city and area. A place to return to at the end of a day of exploring to share experiences with others, get advice, rest, refresh, feel emotionally safe, and get culturally grounded. In exchange for crafting this experience, the guest house owner can charge much more than a hostel and have longer-staying and better guests.

Marketing the Guest house - How to get lots of bookings

By now it should be obvious that the best guest houses have some pretty clear principles and practices that make them successful.

But is it enough to simply operate professionally, in a friendly manner, and with awesome service? In other words, does "build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your doorstep", as the old saying goes, work?

The owner of one guest house in Belize said that actually yes, "word of mouth" (WOM) is their most powerful marketing tool. This is an established guest house, in a good location in town, and with many added services available. The owner is also very customer focused, ensuring the absolute best service.

The result is that he estimates that some 50%+ of his customers are WOM and repeat customers, 25% come from Trip Advisor and the rest from walk-in and other sources.

Having top Trip Advisor reviews is certainly important, but not everyone uses Trip Advisor and the majority of his business comes from doing the right thing - offering an exceptional experience.

Marketing Principles of Top Guest Houses:


Principle #1: Awesome service is #1

Practices:

Marketing is one area that can be frustrating for guest house owners. On one hand they know that spending time with their guests and offering a great place to stay are the keys to their business. But on the other hand, the business world seems to be telling them there are expensive advertising and marketing services that need to have money spent on. The most successful guest houses understand that marketing is not magic. It is relationship building. It is building relationships that lead to high ratings and word-of-mouth with guests before their visit, during their visit, and after they leave. And it is building value-added relationships with local hospitality "partners".

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ


"How do you know what guests really want?"

When starting a guest house you will not get everything perfect right away. For example, you may think that your guests will come from one area of your country or the world and find out you are getting bookings from very different places than you imagined. Or you may think "everyone wants a coffee maker in their room" when what your type of guests really want is hot water to make tea instead.

Suggestion: Make it a point to really understand the needs of your first 100 guests. One guest house owner noted that they had a kettle to make tea but some guests brought their own "loose leaf" tea and needed a metal tea strainer for it. So she bought one. A little thing but it illustrates listening closely to your guests to identify who they really are, what they like and don't like, and what will make their experience really outstanding.


A guest house with personality - nice decor"How should I decorate my guest house and guest rooms?"

A hotel or motel will usually be quite neutral in decor because they serve a wide range of guest types and don't want to have a particular look that stands out. A guest house can have "personality". And done tastefully, as can be seen in the photo here, it can be a memorable part of a guest's experience.

Note: The place seen in this photo is rated at 4.95/5.00 by 100+ guests on AirBnB, which is an absolutely top rating on that system. They are constantly listening to guest needs and using this feedback to improve their place, all areas are kept spotlessly clean, they are friendly in welcoming guests to their place and the town they are in, and their place has "personality", making the guest experience a special one.


"How do I find capital (investors, loans) to start my guest house?"

This is the most common question I hear from readers. And it is a challenging one to help with as each reader has a specific country and guest context, personal financial circumstances, and desired type of guest house.

There are several ways that successful guesthouses get the money to start:

From a reader in 2021:

rock paper scissors

"I have just read your article on Starting your guesthouse and laughed so hard on the Rock Paper Scissors illustration. It’s very sad on my part that I think I offer a great place and thought low prices would help but it does not. The neighbouring competition performs way better though they offer less and pricier: I guess word of mouth really works because they have been in business for a long time while I am only in the third month."


Do you need help with your guest house startup and marketing?


The author of this site is a former marketing and international business professor in Canada, who is pleased to hear from you about your plans and needs. "I am usually able to answer specific questions by email and offer guidance and suggestions." Contact Paul Kurucz for more information.

The Guest House

The above is one snapshot of what makes a guest house both a wonderful place to welcome guests and a financial success, too. Hopefully these research findings help anyone starting or running a guest house. If you can add any comments, insights, photos, or other suggestions, please contact me!

Interesting footnote question: Over the years I have heard from many people starting guest houses around the world. But one country stands out far and above all others for the number of people interested in doing so: South Africa. Like 10x the interest from other countries! If you have an insight as to why this is please let me know! I am really curious to understand the reason...

Thanks!

Paul Kurucz

Latest update: April 2022