I saw a brief article about opening your own MTB B&B. And I thought: hmmm, what would you need? What would be ideal, and where would you build if you had the money? And how would you run it?…
What a great career opportunity… Hell, if you’re service oriented, what a great life! Anyway, I started to scope up some options for such a business plan and for the sake of the exercise, this is what I would consider…
Location: Mt Stromlo area? Blue Mountains? Southern Highlands? Adjacent to Sydney’s next MTB Park? Cairns, maybe if you like it hot? Near one of the popular and more distant race venues like Yellowmundee or Lidsdale?
Accommodation: Twin beds? Bunks? Single rooms for guys or girls who may decide to come on their own…definitely with own bathrooms. Put in twice the number of hot water tanks. MTB is a dirty business. None of those dinky little motel soaps either: have a huge liquid soap dispenser in each shower like the gyms.
Bike Storage: Secure garage or shed where bikes hang up & can be locked. Easily accessible, though, so riders can head out for an early one or do a night ride without disturbing everyone. Maybe a breath test on the locks to limit the, “Lesh go fuh a ride!” midnight drunken nudie rides.
Bike Cleaning Area: Rainwater Tank (gotta be green.. actually the entire business should be setup as a “green” tourism venue. It may take longer, but will bring benefits in time of more clients and lower costs); High & Low pressure hoses, over a draining grate so less clean-up, scrubbing brushes, vending machine with degreaser & lube…
Maintenance area with bolted down work stands: The ONLY place where you want people to work on their bikes (Maybe under a balcony or in a purpose-built garage with the bike storage?) This will keep lube and brake fluid out of your carpet (unless you’ve lived with bikers before, then you’ll probably already be planning floor to ceiling concrete).
Tools: You could provide a couple of captive (connected to something solid by a light cable) items - like a Phillips head and 4.5mm hex keys. Even the whole gamut … But you ARE going to lose them if they aren’t bolted down. OR you could rent out a fully stocked kit and it’s returned full or you start the deductions (Could be a very lucrative part of the business…) OR you sell tools from behind the counter or a vending machine. Or do a deal with the local bike shop to take bikes there. Nah, you’ll still need some crazy tool at 6am…and also, just buy a thousand you-branded tyre levers & mini bike pumps and give them away to each guest on check-in. See Marketing.
Compressed Air: Nice touch. Not essential, but otherwise tie down your floor-standing pumps.
Rental GPS Units: Unless you are good friends with the local Search & Rescue or enjoy spending hours on the phone to guys on bad phone lines… “Yeah, mate, I’m back in that in a valley with those 5 trails around me: which way do I go, again?” These are a potential revenue earner…
Maps: Free your-brand-branded trail maps of the local area. You won’t lose on this one. It will prevent someone becoming lost in the bush at dusk plus be a marketing tool when they take them home & pass them round. Don’t restrict yourself to MTB opportunities either. Trailflix website is frequented by runners and hikers all looking for similar trail info and they will be attracted to an outdoors-oriented weekend accommodation. E.g. if there’s a river nearby think about kayaking. i.e. ‘Safe’ kayaking…
Lounge with Fireplace & AirCon: Cover all the seasons. What a great place to sit back after a day on the trails & share war stories or wounds. OR set up your place near a couple of town bars. Don’t recommend serving alcohol yourself… that’s a whole ‘nother business…unless you do dinner in which case it’s obligatory. Have a heap of MTB mags and tourist brochures in the lounge. TV’s, if you have ‘em, strictly in the bedroom. Maybe run a loop of top MTB Videos if you have a recreation room. An internet connected PC in the corner is a good idea for resolving those late night “who won that race in Yellowmundee..?.
Gym: Lots of riders are sports junkies. Plus, unless you build it in Alice Springs, it’s gonna rain and they want some exercise before breaking open the 6-packs. In addition, riders will bring non-MTB partners who’ll want to do something. Have a couple of indoor bikes and maybe a few weights in a gym or have arrangement with a nearby gym… a few bits of kids play equipment in the back yard for families wouldn’t go astray. The Family Biker tourist might be a niche market which would call for a slightly different approach.
Rental Bikes: Someone will bust theirs on the first day of the long-weekend or will just want a change from their 10 year old rust bucket. Having 5-10 well-maintained bikes on hand (do a deal with a local bike shop or have a big brand sponsor their product) will be good insurance as opposed to arguing why an MTB Lodge “doesn’t necessarily have rentals and, no, you can’t “borrow” my Specialized Epic Pro…!”
Bike Shuttle: Dual use: At least some of the trailheads are going to be longer than a bike ride away and more importantly you need a way for guys to get their machines from the incoming transport hub (train/airport) to your location. Taxis won’t cut it.
Wi-Fi: These days the internet is essential. Everywhere.
Washing machine with a Drier: for the guy who brought only one pair of everything. Have branded or unbranded socks, nicks, shorts, suntan and insect repellent at the front desk or in a vending machine in the laundry. Overseas, vending machines are all over… we don’t have half of what they have over there but they can be a labour-saving and secure revenue generator. Coke and chips machine is obligatory. Free to set up too if you have enough revenue going through them.
Coffee Machine: Kick start in the morning or anytime.
Breakfast Bar: All you can eat buffet: cereal, milk, toast, juice, fruit. Then if they want they can pre-order a cooked breakfast. Have someone come in and cook only when you have orders.
Tours: If you are as mad about riding as most of us chainheads then you’ll want to be out on the trails at least some of the time. So long as you are a good all-rounder: convivial, good rider, can fix most things on the fly, very, very safe with OTHER people’s lives… then this could be a highlight and is certainly lucrative. You need expensive liability insurance to do this so treat it as a separate business plan.
Conference Room: Now we are talking big money. You want the weekend guys of course, that’s your bread & butter, but the great growth area is in hosting groups for conferences mid-week. Main requirement is a room with one or more tables & chairs for up to 20+ people, a projector and whiteboard and you’re away. Catering outsourced. This combines well with the bike hire, the tours, the gym, the breakfasts etc. You become part of the conference market AND tourist machine but service based industries are one of the fastest growing. Room nights is your key metric (Business reporting & analysis is another consideration). Again this requires a different “layer” business plan.
By now you are either getting interested, bored or backing well away from the computer. If you are in the former, don’t worry. You:
(a) can’t do this all yourself but
(b) can outsource a lot of this stuff (cleaning, cooking, café meals, tours, maintenance, gym, bike pickup, etc) to free up your time to actually get out and ride … choosing to do as much as you (or you & your wife/hubbie) have time for. The first couple of years is about building a business and these days, building a brand and a reputation. Whatever you do, do it well. And get a great accountant: the best can make a good business great.
Marketing: Plenty of opportunities: your own website of course, the bike mags, links to and from the tourist websites, NSW Tourism, Facebook, YouTube, Overseas Outbound tourism operators, blogs like this one. These days it’s as much as you have time for or want to invest in with a marketing/PR company. Tee shirts and 3 - 5 branded items for sale at the counter is a great way to help get your name out there.
Take a look at the websites from round the world and decide the elements that seem to be the most common; plus what are you already good at (eg I actually COULD organize a piss-up in a brewery, but apparently there’s little call for that as a business skill) and how this is going to fit in to your life. Don’t be 2 years down the track and burnt out like most new sole traders: the more you plan the better the outcome.
Like Will Levy did when he started mtnbike.com.au tours, call around and talk to as many people in and outside the MTB & tourism for ideas and filter the input, and then if you do decide to commit, create a business plan for the first 2 years, because its quite possible your ideas will be unprofitable. You are in this to make money unless you already have money in which case this is a retirement hobby.
If you do get started then let us know at Trailflix, we’d be happy to help promote (just because we’re into bikes) and as I said to the guy who was looking to build an MTB park, we’d love to film a documentary of the development…
1 comment to “MTB B&B Business: Idea Starter”
28th June 2010 at 11:34 pm by Grant
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I forgot to add that I’d like to hear from anyone who has set up their MTB B&B or is thinking about it…