A Home from Home

To B&B The Best was a show on Channel 5 that featured an award winning B&B owner offering advice and help to struggling B&B’s in the UK. Lisa Holloway visited numerous establishments around the country and offered them tips on where they might be going wrong in attracting returning clientele. Unlike, The Hotel Inspector show, she is kind and considerate and doesn’t make snide remarks and criticisms but focuses on the positives.

The B&B’s featured are being run by people who have a desire to open up the spare rooms in their homes to offer travellers a cheaper and more comfortable, at home feel. This kind of accommodation offers a real alternative to the generic, often overpriced and faceless rooms that are found in the chain hotels across the land. Staying in houses offers a unique experience that gets you closer to the locals, closer to the authentic feel of travelling and where you can learn fascinating facts about the local area straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. For a Luxury B&B Northern Ireland, visit www.ashbrook-house.co.uk.

Lisa Holloway certainly has the credentials to appear on this kind of show, She has been awarded the Friendliest Landlady Award in 2012, the annual AA Dinner and Breakfast Award and an appearance on a cooking show called The Food Chain. On the show, she helps to clear out rooms, redecorate and show owners how to make the perfect breakfast. She also provides tips on how to effectively market the B&B.

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Another recent TV show that features the B&B is Four in a Bed which is a game show in which B&B owners visit other B&B’s and told how much their room is worth for the night. They have the opportunity to inspect the room, then take part in a form of entertainment before spending the night there. In the morning, they partake of the breakfast cooked by the B&B owner and then complete a form telling the owner exactly how they felt about their stay, whether they would come again and how much they would be prepared to pay for the stay. After everyone has visited all B&B’s, they are brought together to confront each other about comments left on the forms.

As you can imagine, there have been some catty remarks and a few arguments, which always make for good television. The great thing for B&B’s though was that the show raised their profile and helped to remind people of the friendly and comfortable stays that can be had in these establishments. If you’ve never stayed in one then you’re missing all of this:

  • Generally cheaper than hotels
  • Home cooked breakfast
  • Great local knowledge and normally free wi-fi and parking
  • Have a meal personally cooked for you
  • Care and attention that you deserve as you feel like an invited guest and not a room number
  • The best of both worlds – the convenience of a hotel with the comfort of a home
  • Unique touches in some places like chocolates on your pillow