Breakfast or no breakfast?

[Ian-And-Helen0]

Hi. My husband and I run a fairly sucessful AirBNB here in New Zealand. We provide a continental breakfast of a variety of cereals, toast with a range of jams/spreads, orange juice, yogurt and tea or coffee.  We recently did a world trip and was amazed that only one of the airBNBs we stayed at supplied breakfast. We would be interested as to how many do supply breakfast and how many don't.

I always thought that B&B stood for Bed and Breakfast?? Also is what we supply in line with others who do supply breakfast?

Cheers Helen

[Anita120]

Hi Diane. I got my earnings summary for 2016 but no email about under $20,000. New host so finding my way. Can you forward that email to me?

[Dee9]

@Anita120

It was not a mass email, it was personal correspondence between me & customer service. But here is a copy & paste right from this website. If you put '1099' or 'tax form' in the search it will come up:

US persons who have earned over $20,000 and had 200+ reservations...

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires US companies that process payments, including Airbnb, to report gross earnings for all US users who earn over $20,000 and have 200+ transactions in the calendar year. If you exceed both IRS thresholds in a calendar year, Airbnb will issue you a Form 1099-K.

[Bruce43]

@Anita120 what about you called it "**&^$^#"  ?    instead of breakfast, there could be a legal loophole there.

 What happened to Ohio?

 Taxman by the Beatles makes sense

just pondering

[Julia66]

@Ian-And-Helen0  Hosts can choose whether to offer breakfast or not.  Do what is most convenient for you and your routine, facilities and inclinations.  The breakfast you offer sounds just great, but you aren't obliged to offer it unless there is nowhere for guests to eat out and if you don't want them cooking in your kitchen.

Where I live there isn't anywhere to go out to get breakfast and I don't want to have to clear up after guests in my kitchen, so I provide it.  I make a full cooked breakfast, because that is traditional here.  I actually find it easier than the self-service option with pastries, yoghurt and fruit as I have a long way to go to shop and can't always guarantee to have these items fresh, whereas you can freeze most of a cooked breakfast.

If I go abroad and book a hotel room or an Airbnb Private Room in a city, I enjoy going out for a local breakfast.  If I go away for a few nights with my husband to a rural Airbnb here in Scotland we will always choose one with the luxury of a full cooked breakfast.  Many Airbnb's here don't offer a hot breakfast.

B&B stands for Bed and Breakfast.  Airbnb doesn't mean Bed and Breakfast but just hints at something similar and at the airbed origins.  Hosts have the option whether or not to tick the Breakfast box in Amenities, and guests have the option of filtering for breakfast, it isn't compulsory.

From reading posts here, I would say that most city hosts don't provide breakfast with Private Rooms.

[Markus65]

Hello.

I'm hosting for 2 months and didn't start out with breakfast. I'm considering though to start serving. That is why I came across this thread. What I have is a few bowls with fruits, chips and snacks and a Kuerig with a large variety on coffee and teas that are available 24 h. There is a very good breakfast place and donut shops less than a mile away. So, you see that I haven’t made up my mind on what to do. The question I have would you consider a place more because it has breakfast or even pay more?

Regards

Markus

[Micheline-And-Corey0]

I felt sooo bad recently just hosting my first guest I didn't provide any breakfast ... 

Often times my schedule is hectic I go without eating breakfast myself ... 

I dont really have the time to run a BED and BREAKFAST , just to make sure the home is clean and comfortable for a guest . 

But can I have some suggestions on EASY SELF SERVE breakfastes . I provided my Keurig for Coffee and Tea go figure this guest didnt drink either .... she didnt make any remarks about me not having breakfast ... but something isnt sitting right with me . I would like to be more attentive for the next guest .... ANY SUGGESTIONS WILL HELP 

[Lorraine58]

Hi Micheline and Corey

As a marketing strategy I do provide a range of foods for our guests to prepare their own breakfast and as I prefer to clean myself I recoup the costs by adding a cleaning fee.  

I buy local products such as bacon and eggs, local wholemeal bread, yogurt, and milk a choice of teas and coffee. The foods are ones my husband and I usually have and therefore if the guests do not use them we do.

Hope that helps

Lorraine and Geoff

San Remo's Quiet Retreat

[Katie-and-Jim0]

We provide a light breakfasts which guests enjoy, many comment on it.  Guests get an email shortly before their arrival with directions and such, it tells them about their first morning breakfast options. They have an assortment of teas and locally roasted coffee beans, choice of 1%milk or vanilla almond milk, 1/2 & 1/2 creamer or another option if they'd prefer, orange juice, a few yogurts, and fresh bakery goodie. Milk and juice is in small carafes, we get muffins from a small cafe down the road, we also have a canister with dry feral in thegarages, We have never found a leftover muffin. Breakfast is one of the small extras that guests routinely comment on.

[Gigi54]

Love the idea you have of emailing guests about their breakfast options ~ thanks for the tip!

[Lacey6]

I just opened last week.  I offer a Guesthouse.  I have the fridge stocked with milk creamer juice ginger ale mustard mayo ketchup apples oranges cookies English muffin bread.   In the cabinet I have 3 dry cereal oatmeal pretzels 

[Lorraine58]

Hi Lacy Congratulations on opening your Airbnb Guest House. I do assume you offer tea and coffee. Hope this helps Lorriane

[Ian-And-Helen0]

We set out a basket of mixed one serve boxes of cereals, various spreads (jams/peanut butter etc)

margarine spread, any homemade spreads (lemon curd) a yogurt, jug of milk, a fresh fruit                    ( manderine or similar depending on the season). We make toast on request and offer orange juice, tea or coffee.

Everyone seems surprised at what is on offer. Its easy to do as we set out the majority the night before.  Sometimes its a hassle to go downtown looking for somewhere to find breakfast.

This way they can come downstairs at whatever time suits them and have a good start to the day.

Cheers Helen

[Rebecca695]

I am pretty new to this Airbnb thing...but I LOVE it! 

AGREED!  The second "B" is supposed to be "Breakfast." 

Even though I know it's optional, I too have been serving a simple breakfast; Juice, coffee,   pastries, fruit, etc.  But I find that it rarely gets consumed. Not even the coffee!  Do most of you ask if they plan to eat the night before?  Or do you just put it out no matter what?  I have 3 rooms and every day so far that I've had guests, I've had at least two rooms booked which means I'm having 2-6 guests at a time. I've wasted a lot of time and (inexpensive) food.

Suggestions?  I don't want to be rude and act like I don't want to "go to the trouble" if nobody is eating...

[Sarah977]

@Rebecca695  Airbnb is just a company name now. If we took it literally, none of us would provide actual beds for our guests,  just air mattresses on the floor 🙂

If you find that guests aren't availing themselves of the breakfast food, there's nothing wrong with asking them when they book with you if they're going to be interested in the breakfast you are happy to provide. Some people just have coffee or tea in the morning and never really eat breakfast/brunch until later (I myself am in that camp) . I offer my guests coffee or tea, but don't say I provide any food or drink at all, so they're always grateful for whatever is offered. There's always fruit in the fruit bowl, which I tell them to help themselves to, but my guests come here to spend time on the beach and enjoy the tourist town where there are about 300 places to eat in about 6 square blocks (someone told me they figured out that the national sport of Mexico isn't soccer or bullfighting, but eating). My guests aren't interested in sitting around having a leisurely breakfast at home, they want to go out for breakfast, and then hit the beach.

So I'd say just tailor your breakfast offerings to what your guests actually are going to avail themselves of, which may be no breakfast at all. Having some snacks around, like chips and salsa, that guests can enjoy while relaxing around the house outside of meal times, may be more appreciated in some cases than breakfast food.

[Lorraine58]

Thank you for sharing those isights. I find my guests do enjoy the food I leave. If not eaten at breakfast, bacon and eggs a fresh organises to squeeze, they have it for another snack lunch maybe - all items we can use if left. Lorraine