About Bed and Breakfast Academy, The Yellow Ducks and Karen

Hi, I'm Karen and I own B&B Academy

I set up my own B&B in Shropshire in 2004.

There was very little support or information available for anyone starting a B&B when I went into business. And I made a lot of expensive mistakes along the way.

I'd worked for British Airways for 16 years, where I'd trained as a trainer. My role was as coach and manager, helping my team reach their best potential.

It suddenly occurred to me that I could combine my training background with my B&B skills to create a training course that would help aspiring B&B owners create the best B&B life for them, avoiding those expensive mistakes I'd made!

And Bed and Breakfast Academy was born in 2006.

Hi, I'm Karen and I own B&B Academy

I started up my own B&B in Shropshire in 2004.

There was very little support or information available when I went into business. And I made a lot of expensive mistakes along the way.

I'd worked for British Airways for 16 years, where I'd trained as a trainer. My role was as coach and manager, helping my team reach their best potential.

And Bed and Breakfast Academy was born in 2006.

Online Courses

I've been running the classroom courses for over 14 years now. Over 1000 people have travelled to Shropshire to attend the courses. We have about 90 of those in the Yellow Duck Collection, having set up the most amazing B&Bs across the country.

COVID has meant the classroom courses are on hold, but it's given me the opportunity to get the online course recorded - finally!

The online courses are much more comprehensive than the classroom courses. You can start them as soon as you sign up!

You don't have to travel to Shropshire or incur the expense of staying overnight!

Community and connection is so important to me. And we've achieved this via our facebook group and regular ZOOM calls

The Yellow Duck Collection

Everyone who goes through one of my courses gets the opportunity to be added to the Yellow Duck Collection Map and use the the Facebook Page to promote their business. People often tell me they know when a B&B has attended my course because of the levels of customer service, comfort and attention to detail. Each Yellow Duck B&B is unique but share a common desire to create the best B&B for their guests.

The Secret Facebook Community for course attendees is a safe place where aspiring and existing B&B owners can go for advice and to share their successes.

Find the Yellow Duck Collection on Facebook Here

I hate cleaning so why did I start a B&B?

Back in 2004 I was burnt out in my corporate career. I wanted a more relaxed way of life, to be my own boss, be there for my daughter, live in the countryside and spend time with my dogs.

I hadn't always wanted to run a B&B. It was a way of making some income that allowed me to live in a beautiful part of the countryside and work from home.

But much to everyone's surprise, I turned out to be rather good at running a B&B and I rather enjoyed it.

I don't like cleaning and I'm not great at early mornings, but I found I loved creating something special for guests who, much to my surprise, kept coming back. About 70% of my guests are repeat customers.

Dogs and knitting...

I'm married to Rob, who still works for BA. We have one gorgeous daughter, Jess, who lives in London with her fiance and dog, Alfie.

I'm a bit dog mad and we currently have 2 young lovely - work in progress lovely😉 - rescue dogs, Saffy and Ralphie.

I'm a knitting addict, enjoy cooking, reading and walking. I've also become very knowledgeable about dog training of late...

I'm a bit addicted to marketing and love helping other people in our B&B communities.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ONLINE COURSE

Find out more about the online course