Those British television programs make it sound an attractive and a reasonably cheap exercise leading to a relaxed and profitable business.
The reality is somewhat different.
If you need to make a living out of the business and support yourselves solely from the income then you will be working 7 days per week and 12 to 16 hours per day, getting up early, being pleasant to customers and continually interrupted while trying to complete the daily cleaning, maintenance, shopping and booking tasks. A B&B is a people oriented business requiring patience, a constant good humour and the ability to handle difficult situations with ease and with a smile. It also demands skills in cooking, cleaning, maintenance, decoration, emergency repairs, gardening, administration, marketing and communication. If you don't have all these then you probably will not succeed in a running a B&B.
To be able to run a profitable B&B business you need to have at least 5 rentable rooms, either with a couple of common bathrooms or with en-suite in every room. With less than 5 rooms the general cost of maintenance and taxes etc are unlikely to be covered by the income.
You will probably need to live in the building yourself or have accommodation for yourselves close by.
The interior and exterior of the building are covered by La Palmas strict building regulations, planning laws, fire regulations and health and safety regulations. Additionally the building has to be in a planning zone where tourist accommodation is permitted and the Cabildo (island government) has to be persuaded to give you permission to open a tourist-establishment and then the required number of 'bed-allocations'. Bed allocations are in very short supply and are not easy to get.
The regulations determine aspects such as room sizes, the material used in doors, windows and curtains and especially to food preparation areas and bathrooms.
To ensure a continuous flow of guests the property needs to be accessible by road or bus or be in a popular walking area or just have something very special.
So how much would it cost to buy an existing B&B on La Palma?
A Pension in El Paso with 6 rooms is currently on sale for 1,200,000 Euros.
You should expect to pay at least 400,000 Euros for a building with enough rooms that would still need to be converted to conform to all the building, fire, safety, hygiene and health regulations.
Building a B&B from scratch will cost almost the same amount of money, but take about 2 years to get built, furnished, decorated and approved by several authorities.
Finding suitable land is not easy on La Palma because of planning regulations.
There are a hand full of pensions on the island, some of which make a profit for the owners, others provide a secondary income and currently (summer 2008) 2 are for sale.
If you are looking for a return on investment in the holiday industry then a better option is to buy or build a group of holiday homes. The rates per night that you can charge for a holiday home are higher than for a B&B, there are fewer regulations because you are not preparing food, and it is far less work for yourselves.
We strongly suggest that you use the Internet to research the pros and cons of starting a bed and breakfast before starting to look for a suitable building. There are web sites with checklists and tips and warnings.
They say that many B&B owners burn-out after 5 years because of the stress and the long working hours, often without days off and without holidays. Those that don't burn out usually have family and friends living nearby who can help out and take off some of the load.
They say that most aspiring owners never get as far as purchasing a property because they cannot get enough money together, or realise that they won't get rich or realise how many hours they will be committed to or just how multi-talented they need to be able just to break even.
If you are still interested in starting a B&B on La Palma then perhaps we can help you find a suitable property. Once you have done the viability calculations and decided how many bedrooms, public rooms and owners accommodation and the all-important required location please let us know and perhaps we can find a property which may be convertable into a bed and breakfast or pension.
