[lead] Do you have had enough of hotels? From the forest cabin up in Blue Mountain to the chateau villa in Western Australia, from youth hostel in Melbourne to the century cottage in Adelaide, it is here where the deepest memories engraved on.
In the mid-1980s, B&B spread from UK and emerged as a bed & breakfast (B&B) accommodation service in Australia. Nowadays, B&B becomes a popular accommodation choice in America, Europe, China and New Zealand.
B&B originated in 1960’s Britain. it was a B&B (bed and breakfast) family accommodation pattern which was often ran as a family sideline that offered countryside accommodation with the combination of local culture, landscape, ecological and environmental resources as well as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery activities. This conception divides it from hotels.
With the development of tourism in Australia, more and more Australian residents have set up private guesthouses and provide tourists with a new accommodation environment.
In Australia tourism resort and countryside towns, board with “B&B” on it can often be seen on the roadside. Houses with this kind of board offers B&B service and are usually 3-6 rooms in size.
Different from traditional hotels, B&B provides no luxury amenities. However, it can offer tourists to experience local customs, enjoy the zest and service of the owner of B&B, and experience the life different from the past.
Miss. Han Qingqing is a foreign student is Australia, also a travel enthusiast. She said, “I have visited more than 20 countries and countless cities. Visited Japanese tatami, British castles and Taiwan rustic guesthouse. In Australia, I have lived in the Blue Mountain forest cabin, modern apartment in Melbourne and small house built in mid 19th century in Adelaide. The difference I felt about Australia B&B is its themes and featured diversity. Like winery house, forest cabin, canyon villa, seaside cottage and youth apartment etc. Various featured and beloved guesthouses can be found on the website. Moreover, the scenery around B&B is very beautiful.”
Hosts of B&B are largely local or long-term residents. Tourists could share conversation with the host, make new friends and experience native rural life. Moreover, the price is much cheaper than hotels.
Qingqing said, “when you use accommodation apps and search hotels or B&B, you will find the big difference in price between hotels and B&B. In Australia, a normal hotel will cost 250 Australian dollars one night. But B&B is far cheaper. It varies in accordance with locations and levels. Usually ranges from 70 to 200 Australian dollars. What is more, it must be ordered in advance before arriving in Australia as it is run by small family. ”
Different from standard services in hotel, surprises can be expected living in B&B ran by local residents. For example, you sometimes may find a bunch of flowers laying on the bedside. What is more, when talking to the owner of B&B, you can listen to the stories of the owner’s family and some local gossips.
Qingqing recalls that, “I remembered one night, the owner of that B&B was an old couple, who were very friendly and talkative. One day, we just experienced the jump in Australia, so we played our video of jumping to them after supper. Unexpectedly, the more than 70 years’ old lady said that she had jumped 10 years ago. Then she shows us her video of jumping. Since the shooting effect of now and 10 years ago were different, the two videos were very funny.”
Sometimes, the kind host may offer you tea and coffee or snacks. You can use the kitchen, the washing machine, the dish-washing machine, parking lots and so on. B&B can meet these requirements which may can not be satisfied in hotels.
Potential problems with B&B
B&B prevails as a fresh accommodation ecology. But potential problems exist such as security and sanitation problems. Firstly, the security issue of B&B deserves great attention. Many guesthouses run without business license and government regulation. In the meantime, host of B&B can not make right judgement on customer’s identification.
Secondly, there are some flaws in house management and sanitation. B&B houses are usually short of hands, and service is not professional. The host acts as manager as well as attendant who manages multiple rooms at the same time.
Qingqing said, “Sanitation condition varies in different guesthouses. In some guesthouses, the bedding is quite clean, but in some guesthouses, the bedding and hygienic condition are ordinary. ”
With the rapid development of B&B, it will become much more standard.
Travel tips
While facing these potential problems, Qingqing also provides some of her own experience. Firstly, judgement should be made on the basis of the comments, pictures, basic information and descriptions on the house when choosing house and landlord. Normally, houses that received more comments tend to be more secure. Secondly, communicate with the landlord, it helps to form a deep knowledge of the house. Lastly, private booking is not recommended. Booking, Tripadvisor, Airbnb and some other B&B booking social media platforms are more of an option. If any problems occur, timely contact can be made with their operators.
Accommodation itself is a part of the journey. Living in B&B is a direct way of experiencing foreign life. Apart from the travel, the host of the B&B and their “home” can make you feel at your own even in a foreign land.
Keywords: B&B, Guesthouse, Tourists, Australia
More Reading:
https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Property/Your-home/Renting-out-part-or-all-of-your-home/
DI CHEN
440036900
Online Journalism Group 2 
June 2, 2016 at 10:07 pm
Hi DiChen,
It is an interesting topic, which contains innovation and creativity. The angle and structure of article are really clearly. After reading your article, I know that guesthouse is a new industry, which has advantages and disadvantages. Your analysis has strong key points, which would lead to audiences think deeply. Also, your interviewee has representative，she would give some significant information . At the end of your feature, you mention that the travel tips. It would give some practical suggestions for readers. Finally, I really like your pictures in the article. The arrangement and colors of these pictures would attract more audiences interesting. However, most of your pictures are comes from websites, it may generate copyright problems, you need to make your original photos in the future news. In addition, most of the hyperlinks are the link to the travel websites; you could pay more attention hyperlinks of the data and history of the guesthouse.
LikeLike
June 3, 2016 at 1:49 am
Hi, Di Chen, I’m Yunlong Chen. As a people who likes traveling, I’m interested in your topic. Actually, I was not familiar with the guesthouse until I read your feature.
The structure of your feature is very clear. Firstly, you talked about the history of the guesthouse. It is very interesting. Then, you analyzed the advantages of the guesthouse in Australia. When talked about the price, you compared the price of the guesthouse with the price of the hotel. It is very good – direct and clear. Also, you attached the photo of your interviewee, which makes the feature more believable. Next, you discussed the issues of the guesthouse, which is concerned by people who like traveling. Finally, from your interviewee’s angle, you gave some suggestions of how to choose a guesthouse.
It is a good feature which is clear and interesting. However, I have some suggestions.
Firstly, if there are some videos about the guesthouse, it may be more vivid.
Secondly, if you can provide more data through hyperlinks, such as almost how many guesthouses are in Australia now and how much revenue the industry could generate every year, the audience may know more clear about the background of the guesthouse.
Finally, as Shoemaker (2006) points out, bad news is more newsworthy than good news. If you can focus more on analyzing the disadvantages of the guesthouse and how to solve the problems, the feature may be more attractive.
Thanks.
Reference:
Shoemaker, P. J. (2006). News and newsworthiness: A commentary.Communications, 31(1), 105-111.
LikeLike
June 3, 2016 at 2:17 am
Hi DiChen,
Thanks for providing a so fantastic topic. I really like your romantic lead which likely leads readers to a real journey just following your words. It grasps the interest of the readers successfully. Your feature has a relatively logical and clear structure so that the readers could find whatever they want about Australian guesthouse easily. Your pictures are attractive and make people produce a desire to have more insight about it.
I just find two problems. Firstly, as I mentioned before, your have a wonderful lead. But why is followed by the background and history? I think it would reduce the interest of readers to read on. Actually, I think the background could be linked by hyperlinks directly, thereby readers can skip historical information. I know feather should be stated by a background, but I reckon it should be the background of news or information rather than things itself. The other problem is there is no entry point in this article. I mean it could be added a story, an incident or special interview related to the Australian guesthouse in the beginning rather than just statement and introduction, I think.
By Yidi Zhang (Edith)
SID: 450108042
LikeLike
June 3, 2016 at 4:33 pm
This feature is written in a very clear logical manner with attractive lead, informative introduction of B&B history, two-way analysis about advantages and disadvantages, with travel tips as an ending. The interviewee who has sufficient travel experience in B&B accommodation is well selected. In terms of newsworthiness, the popularity of B&B is a trend in recent years, which is a good topic worth exploring in depth.
In this feature, the author uses different online components to narrate, including hyperlinks, images and a map. Hyperlinks are all very useful so readers can click to find out more relevant information. A selection of images gives readers a direct idea about the diversity of B&B. However, there are two problems in the use of images. The first image is in low definition, so it is a bit fuzzy compared to others. According to captions, most of the images are from Wechat, but no detail about specific websites or authors. This might cause copyright issues. The map at the end of this feature is very informative showing B&B prices in different places in Australia. However, note on this map the names of different states are in Chinese. This can be inconvenient for readers who do not speak Chinese.
LikeLike
June 5, 2016 at 4:36 pm
Hi Di Chen, thanks for your post. Compared to your proposal post, I recognised that this time you noticed the copyright issue of the photos. You credited some of the photos, however when you posted pictures selected from Wechat, you failed to provide a more detailed source. Since Wechat is a social network platform, I agree with Cynthia Zong that you had better write the certain person or organisation that produced the photos, or you might still meet copyright problem.
One more question about the pictures was the selection of the one of Qingqing’s. Obviously, it was a picture of Qingqing thinking about your problems. However, it could be changed to a better one which could tell stories. For instance, she might have a photo with the Australian old couple mentioned by her. It would be far more interesting than this one with the pale wall.
Another question came to me when reading through, was why you choose Qingqing as your only interview subject. According to your feature, she was the only interviewee while she was far from an authority. After all, it seemed that you aimed to write a feature report, rather than a profile feature of her. Although she was a B&B enthusiast, the feature need more voices from other stakeholders, such as the guesthouse hosts, their competitive hotel managers, the government department and the researchers in related fields. Additionally, as I suggested in your proposal post, as a reader as well as a travelling addict, I would like to know the aura and the weakness of Australian guesthouses, which lacked persuasion in the feature. Overall, it was too general for either a traveller or a travelling column editor.
LikeLike