How do I hand over my bed and breakfast to a new owner?

A bed and breakfast depends on its hosts more than most businesses do. Guests come for the breakfast, the welcome and the house, and much of that is knowledge only you hold. A good handover moves that knowledge, along with the accounts and the guests, so the new owners begin with what you spent years building.

Write down the host’s know-how

Put your routines on paper: the breakfast menu and recipes, where you buy ingredients, how you handle allergies, your laundry and cleaning schedule, and the repairs you do each season. Add notes on repeat guests and what they like. Hand it over as a binder or shared folder, and walk through it in person.

Move the listings and accounts

List every account tied to you: the website and its domain name, booking sites, social media, the phone number, supplier accounts and the email address guests use. Plan with your buyer when each one transfers so no booking is lost. Keep a record of the log-ins you hand over, and remove your own access afterwards.

Plan your move out of the house

If you live on site, set a date for leaving and settle what stays: furniture, linens, art and kitchen equipment. Put the inventory in writing. Think about how guests booked after closing will find the house, and hold a day when personal belongings are cleared before the new owners arrive.

Introduce the new hosts to regulars

Write to past guests, tell them who is taking over and what is staying the same. If you can, be there for a few stays so regulars meet the new hosts with you in the room. Agree how long you will stay available for questions.