Town suggestions for B&B - help!

Jonmel

Hello! I'm moving to ireland in spring 2013, i am coming over in january to view some properties it will be my third trip over and i have a shortlist of properties..but a few concerns! I am moving over with wife and 2 kids and looking to start a simple b&b. At the moment our favourite property is in ballyjamesduff, cavan but im not sure about the town? I know its not a tourist hub but right now it does not have other accomodation..is it a nice place? I cant find positive remarks and it looks old fashioned from the photos i can see on the net. Our other towns could be gort, galway or enniscorthy, wexford or last but not least strokestown, rosscommon, suggestions and opinions would be much appreciated as i dont want to waste time if the towns are not up to scratch! Thank you !

djimi

I would say Galway or the areas around Wexford would be your best bets of the places that you have listed. I might be wrong about this but I dont really see places like Roscommon or Cavan as being worth it to open a B&B unless they are near to a tourist attraction. Galway is a great city that has plenty of tourism, and Wexford is known as the sunny south east because it supposedly has the best weather!

Luca Brasi

Ballyjamesduff would be well down my list. A town like Roscommon would be suitable for the following reasons.
1 It has a rail link to Dublin. If advertising you could offer to collect people from the railway station if necessary
2 It has a golf course and race course. Again if advertising these are good attractions. Make contact with the local secretary of the golf club and race course and let them know that you have accommodation for visitors who are attending the races or playing in golf tournaments etc
3. The Abbey Hotel is a popular wedding venue but often does not have the number of bedrooms available to cater for wedding guests. Contact the hotel management and let them know that you are in business and can give good rates for wedding guests
4. There is plentiful supply of very good properties at reasonable prices in Roscommon at present. It is convenient to Knock airport, River Shannon, Athlone, Strokestown Famine Museum, Lough Key etc
5. It is a short drive to the motorway at Athlone with good access to Dublin and Galway
It is certainly worth researching more . Good luck

athtrasna

In Wexford I would suggest New Ross if you can get a property in the town. There's actually very little accommodation in or around the town centre and with attractions such as the Famine Ship and also the annual choral festival which brings thousands of people to the town I can't understand why there aren't more "urban" b&bs in it.

L1011

Strokestown is a ghost town with a ghost (NAMA or bank, not sure) hotel that'll be forever pushing your prices down to nothing - and that's even with the fact that it does have a tourist attraction or two.

bawn79

Id recommend Maynooth in Kildare - there is only one (rubbish) B&B in the town. The cheapest rate the hotel will do is €60 a night. There is a university and two massive employers (Intel & HP) in close proximinity and its a touristy place in its own right.

leonidas83

You cant really go wrong with Strokestown, very affordable houses & a very accessible area from Dublin or Galway. Its close to Athlone & short drive to the North aswell. In terms of cost to value, its probably the best. Wexford is a bit out of the way & doesnt really have a gr8 deal of tourist attractions. Galway is also a very good option but your only about an hour and half away from it in Strokestown & the cost of houses far exceeds that of Strokestown.

So from the point of view of affordability, accessibility & tourist attractions (Strokestown Park & Boyle), Strokestown imo is the best option for you.

Stavro Mueller

How about Kilkenny? There always seems to be something going on there.

Jonmel

Thanks for your suggestions...i'm still trying to convince myself to the best solution, happy new year!

Marcusm

OP; have you spoken with any b&b owners? My impression is that most of them have been having a hard time for upwards of 10 years. Whether falling occupancy due to the proliferation of cheap hotels, expansion of motorways making locations day trips or trying to pay off the cost of purchase, upgrade or repair.

Domestically, I hear of few people who use b&bs to the same extent and the tourist market can be difficult. There will be locations which will always be great (imagine a quality Aran Islands b&b or Dingle) but places like Maynloth I would avoid. Yes there are tourist attractions but not much more than a day's worth so unlikely to have a steady stream of guests. University might attract some but I doubt it would be sustainable.

Jonmel

Marcusm, thanks for your post its sound advice i have heard more than once recently. Our aim is to open either in a hyper touristic area like the burren or somewhere with zero accomodation available, like ballyjamesduff...lets say in our case overheads would then be non existant as we would only have 3-4 letting rooms..and the property remains a family home, it would be nice if the b&b were to work, otherwise i will be back in the office! :-)

djimi

If there is no accommodation available in a town then there is usually a reason for this! Places like Ballyjamesduff dont really have much need for a B&B.

Marcusm

leonidas83 wrote: »

So from the point of view of affordability, accessibility & tourist attractions (Strokestown Park & Boyle), Strokestown imo is the best option for you.

Seriously? A town of less than 800 people with a famine museum and few other attractions (and no industry or educational institution for other trade)?

Anyone who wants to be in GAlway or Athlone would go to those places. Availability of cheap housing is only good if the OP really isn't that bothered about the B&B aspect.

As regards Wexford, you might think it's out of the way but it is more of a tourism/B&B country than Roscommon (it is the heart of the sunny south east). It has 59 Bord Failte approved homes as compared to 18 in Roscommon. IN the current environment, i suspect thiose continuing to pay Bord Failte subs are more likely to reflect those with business. There might be competition but there's also likely to be business to compete for.

Jonmel

Big thanks to all, your comments have convinced us that we were thinking on the right lines all along. We will either purchase a great home in ballyjamesduff..and maybe not even run it as a b&b but we will have purchased well being less than an hour from dub, or if we go for the b&b look closer at properties we have spotted in ballyvaughan and down on the ring of kerry..

athtrasna

Jonmel wrote: »

Big thanks to all, your comments have convinced us that we were thinking on the right lines all along. We will either purchase a great home in ballyjamesduff..and maybe not even run it as a b&b but we will have purchased well being less than an hour from dub

Sorry to disillusion you but you will be WELL over an hour from Dublin unless you are travelling at 4am. Navan to Dublin is generally an hour or more with traffic. You are looking at a minimum 90 minutes and longer at rush hour.

Jonmel

Thanks, well aware of the traffic but fortunately i would not be around in rush hour :-))

djimi

Even in good traffic Ballyjamesduff is not within an hour of Dublin; not even close.

If you want to be in that sort of proximity to Dublin then I would strongly consider Wexford. Especially if you are serious about opening a B&B. Forget about places in the midlands; there is a shortage of B&Bs in these areas because there is no need for them. Wexford is one of the better tourism spots in the country and even though there are plenty of B&Bs in the area it is for good reason.

L1011

Wexford Town is significantly further away from an hour away than Ballyjamesduff is


(that may possibly be the most confusing sentence I've ever written)

Juwwi

If you want to be near enough to Dublin I'd go with Kilkenny for a B+B.

There will always be bussiness for B+B's there with the amount of hen and stag party's that descends there.

After Kilkenny I'd say Killarney then Galway city for busy places.

Im sure property prices in these places would be much dearer than the likes of Cavan tho.

augustus gloop

i am originally from a place 10 mins from ballyjamesduff, not to burst your bubble but its a crap town at the minute. Zero night life and if your travelling to Dublin city centre your gonna need at least 80 minutes, plus 2 tolls.

djimi

MYOB wrote: »

Wexford Town is significantly further away from an hour away than Ballyjamesduff is


(that may possibly be the most confusing sentence I've ever written)

Oh I know, but if the OP is happy to be 90 minutes away from Dublin in Ballyjamesduff, they may as well go the extra half hour and open a B&B in a place like Wexford where there is the business for it.

TwoShedsJackson

I'd recommend considering this very carefully before buying anything - my sister sold up in Dublin and moved to Co. Clare just before the market crashed in 2007. They were able to buy the place in Clare outright and so have no mortgage, but it is a tough life as they are now finding.

Hotels are much closer to B&B prices than ever before and offer a lot more for it - if my sister has 3 of her 9 rooms taken on a given night she is doing well, and it is pretty much just subsistence living. Now, they also did it for a lifestyle change as they have two young kids and did not want to bring them up in Dublin, but they have found trying to integrate into the local community quite tough - easier than it would be without kids, but still not easy - rural communities can be quite insular and it's a really different way of life.

I don't intend to put you off, just be very careful before making a decision.

RoscommonTom

I wouldnt recommend starting a b and b in ros town, no tourists come here at all ,o youd be empty all the time, Galway, Sligo or Westport would be perfect but I'd say the houses there would be dear, best of luck

pappyodaniel

There's been a lot of calls for Kilkenny. It's a stag/hen 'Mecca' and would you seriously want boozed up people and all that goes with it staying in your house?



Neither would I.

Luca Brasi

RoscommonTom wrote: »

I wouldnt recommend starting a b and b in ros town, no tourists come here at all ,o youd be empty all the time, Galway, Sligo or Westport would be perfect but I'd say the houses there would be dear, best of luck

I agree that your "traditional tourist" doesnt call but there is plenty scope for the visitir coming for weddings, family events, etc. playing golf etc Its all about marketing. There are plenty of attractions within an hours drive of Roscopmmon A small ad in The Irish Post in London or on the free sites would get enquiries.

djimi

Luca Brasi wrote: »

I agree that your "traditional tourist" doesnt call but there is plenty scope for the visitir coming for weddings, family events, etc. playing golf etc Its all about marketing. There are plenty of attractions within an hours drive of Roscopmmon A small ad in The Irish Post in London or on the free sites would get enquiries.

You might get enquiries and bookings but I would be in no way confident of getting enough business to make a living from it. As I said, if there are no B&Bs in the area already its not because its an untapped gold mine of tourism...!

Luca Brasi

djimi wrote: »

You might get enquiries and bookings but I would be in no way confident of getting enough business to make a living from it. As I said, if there are no B&Bs in the area already its not because its an untapped gold mine of tourism...!

You certainly have a point as regards making a sole living on it but I still feel there is enough to provide a reasonable second income

antoinolachtnai

The problem is that your overhead per room is very high, much higher than a hotel which has the benefit of scale. It's easy to think your overheads will be low because your scale is small, but it's just not true. Servicing and cleaning rooms and preparing breakfasts are real costs. You also lose the amenity of your home.

If you really want to do this, the best thing is to buy an existing B+B with an existing trade. You could do this more cost effectively than you might think. If you do well, you will have customers from Day 1. Otherwise it will take at least 18 months to get all your approvals and ramp up, in my experience in an urban area. In a rural area it will take longer.

coffeepls

Just thought I'd mention, if it's any use to you, that I have a friend of mine that owns a hotel in Co Clare (you mentioned an interest in Gort) earlier, and he is broken hearted with the fact that there is a lack of flights to Shannon in recent years, as this really killed business for the region in general. The main income for hotels is weddings. I think your safest bet is to aim for the popular towns of Galway and Wexford (mentioned somewhere). I would not recommend Maynooth, it's a university town built around that, it's 'lively' with students all year round except for the couple of summer months when it becomes very quiet (no students) - I say this as a past student and person who lived there for 2 years (including the summer). AFAIK Intel bought some houses etc near the plant for visiting employees, they bought out some of the locals when Intel was first built (so I heard), and the only Intel employees I ever knew of in Maynooth were living there.
My hotel owning friend has always stressed that the money to be made is in the rooms, cleaning & maintenance of rooms is of minimal expense compared to the income it generates. Feeding people is the expensive bit. He also is glued to the remarks that are made in trip advisor..... and constantly takes the feedback into account. So I would suggest you might use tripadvisor to see what remarks people are saying about various regions and what they are looking for in a B&B.

road_high

I think Kilkenny or Wexford if you want to be reasonably close and acessible to Dublin (M9 MOTORWAY) and both towns/counties have lots going on with festivals and are high on the tourist trail in Ireland...no offence to Cavan or Roscommon but not exactly places on the top of the list for getaways. You want to run it as a business at the end of the day. Kilkenny has the dearest hotel rates in Ireland so you'd get away with charging far more than most places.
Also, for non- tourist trade Kilkenny would have many conferences throughout the year and a pretty strong local business community as another revenue stream.

road_high

leonidas83 wrote: »

You cant really go wrong with Strokestown, very affordable houses & a very accessible area from Dublin or Galway. Its close to Athlone & short drive to the North aswell. In terms of cost to value, its probably the best. Wexford is a bit out of the way & doesnt really have a gr8 deal of tourist attractions. Galway is also a very good option but your only about an hour and half away from it in Strokestown & the cost of houses far exceeds that of Strokestown.

So from the point of view of affordability, accessibility & tourist attractions (Strokestown Park & Boyle), Strokestown imo is the best option for you.

That is not true!! The county has a long list of attractions many others would give their righ arm for...Dunbrody Famine Ship, Hook Lighthouse and Johnstown Castle...that's before we even get to the lovely beaches and restaurants. Strokestown is the middle of no where in comparison...so what if Galway is 1.5 hour away ...parts of Wexford equally are that if not closer to Dublin, Waterford, Kilkenny and Cork. The OP would want to be off their heads to open up there unless they had ties to Roscommon specifically.