Wednesday, February 23, 2011

MidWeek Mention - BED & FED

This week we're featuring a great new accommodation idea in the UK:

My name is Annabella and I want to tell you about the ever-increasing community that is Bed&Fed. Not only is there an opportunity for Brits to make money from their home and show off their fabulous hosting skills, but our friends across the Pond can definitely reap the benefits of staying with ‘real’ people (rather than in sterile hotels) who can give them a real taste for the UK and Ireland at an affordable price. Plus it's a lot of fun meeting new people!

FOR HOSTS:

Put a spring in your step and chase away those Winter blues by earning the easiest income you can imagine, while staying right where you are, at home.  Bed&Fed, the network of budget-beating ‘home from home’ guest rooms across the UK and Ireland, is celebrating its first birthday this Spring! More importantly with regards to the current economic climate, the website (www.bedandfed.co.uk) also offers a fantastic opportunity for homeowners to cash-in as Hosts.
Becoming a Bed&Fed Host is easy: earn money while sharing the comforts of your home by charging anything you like per person per night and ensuring that your guests are fed that evening with whatever supper you had already planned, have a good nights sleep and a simple breakfast of cereal and toast.

There is an unprecedented demand for Bed&Fed-style guest rooms, judging by the number of emails I receive from people looking for somewhere to stay. The Bed&Fed scheme is the easiest way to host - you can make money while showing off your fabulous hosting skills, and you don’t even have to provide the cooked breakfast that B&B owners dread so much!  As Hosts you are local experts - there is no-one better to stay with. Bed&Fed provides the toolkit for people to be their own entrepreneurs, and our network is demanding even more Hosts, which is fantastic news!

But what is this ‘tool kit’? It’s a paid profile on the website (you become a member of the Bed&Fed Community) with everything you’d expect including, amongst other things, a map where you can mark yourself should you wish to be located on the soon-to-be-released Bed&Fed iphone App.  Your business can be as big or small as you want it to be with Bed&Fedas your platform.

The reviews given by guests for this type of homemade hospitality, have been fantastic.  But what do the Hosts themselves really think?  A comment left on Bed&Fed’s Facebook pagespeaks volumes:  “We had a lovely B&F guest to stay last night.  Very chatty and fun - and he brought a lovely bottle of wine with him. He was very complimentary about the comfortable bed, our home, the supper and loved playing with our dog.  Perfect guest."

Bed&Fed’s success comes from its personal approach to business, expelling corporate methods in favour of friendliness and interaction with its database of Hosts. Belonging to theBed&Fed Community is fun: a cookbook of ‘Bed&Fed Recipes’ is in the pipeline, the ‘ChiefChick’ (me) blogs and tweets, the website has animated videos and even a catchy jingle.  In short - it has spirit. 

As part of our 1st Birthday Celebrations, every Host (for the modest annual membership fee of £70), will automatically gain access to discounts at various food companies and a £40 wine voucher.  Plus, this year there is a chance of winning the much coveted ‘Hostess with the Mostess’ Award – now who wouldn’t want that on their mantlepiece!

Bed&Fed is now recruiting and new Hosts will receive 15 months membership for the price of 12.

Important: Remember to reference your very own Hero “Pond Parleys” if you register to become a Host.


FOR GUESTS:

Why use the bed&fed directory?

  1. NO BOOKING FEES
  2. NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENTS
  3. SIMPLE TO USE and lots of choice from castles to cottages, farms to countryside retreats.
  4. Benefit from the local knowledge of your hosts 
  5. No need to remember passwords or usernames
  6. LIKE STAYING WITH FAMILY FRIENDS - Read the article THE GUARDIAN did to see what we mean - CLICK HERE 
  7. CHOOSE FROM DIFFERENT PRICE RANGES in our steadily growing database
  8.  A FRIENDLY AND APPROACHABLE COMPANY: Any queries please email chiefchick@bedandfed.co.uk or go to www.bedandfed.co.uk


3 comments:

  1. I can't see that this is a lot different than staying at the budget B&Bs we stayed at throughout England. Staying in people's homes and feeling like you're just another cousin who's there for a few nights is a wonderful experience. Love getting to know other people through that great conversation-starter, the family dog. :-)

    But I will check this out further. Thanks for the post!

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  2. P.S. I just visited the site and LOVE the fact that there is a photo AND A MAP of each entry. So helpful for people like me who need to be geographically oriented!

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  3. That would be great if only we had a spare room that wasn't titchy.

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