Breadalbane House

13/03/2025

It's jubilee day! Not a round number, but a jubilee all the same. Today, we mark 16 years since welcoming our very first guests here in Killin. Many thousands have followed since, and no - we are not done yet!

We continue to work without the interference of the big online travel agents, quietly doing our own thing at rates we could not maintain if we joined the money-rakers. They very modestly "only" take 15 to 25% of the turnover of small businesses that do join. Very few are less greedy in what they take, but some go up to 30%.

Do you think of that when you "just" book with the big ones for the ease of booking? They fleece the industry, and many accommodation providers let it happen - they feel they have to. YOU, dear customer, have the power. The power to search just that tiny bit more on the internet, where you'll find the accommodations' own websites. That includes the ones you also see on the Big Sites, of course, but now you will suddenly also find the independents. More choice. Particularly: more of the smaller places. Places like ours.

Our rates have been increased in line with inflation since we ended our first year. No more. You are NOT paying for expensive online travel agencies. We are NOT keeping up in our rates with businesses that have joined them. We don't want to. We started living this life because it was the life we wanted to live. As a get-rich-quickly scheme, it has serious faults (you don't get rich, nor is it quick, and it is a *lot* of work that often remains unseen).

Do consider supporting the small independents! Book directly with the traditional B&Bs and Guest Houses! Don't give your money to the big online grabbers!

Over the past years, we have seen an increasse in self-catering. Many houses are bought up especially to rent them out for holidays. Have you tried it? Did you enjoy getting up in your holiday, just like you do at home, to make breakfast? To do the beds? To clean? If so: fine! Enjoy! If not: places like ours are there to take that off your hands, and give you back precious free time. The time that holidays should be all about!

Just a bit of musing after 16 years of doing B&B. They were good years. Great years. We hope to be here for more of the same!

All our best,
Désirée and Wouter

Breadalbane House - Bed and Breakfast Accommodation in Killin, Loch Tay, Perthshire, Scotland

13/08/2024

ST00428F.

What's that then? It is our brand-spanking-new Stirling Council short-term let licence number, which we received just within one year of application. It means we are good to go for three years from 01-08-2024!

13/03/2024

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the start of our Scottish adventure. We opened the B&B business as the new owners of Breadalbane House in Killin on Friday the 13th in 2009.

It is strange to see that from all accommodation providers in Killin, we are now the one to have been at it longest. However, there are no plans to stop in the foreseeable future!

The 2009 story appeared in the Killin News soon after we arrived. Ah... Youth...

Thanks to Dani Grant for the write-up!

23/01/2020

Let's see if this works. The old faded and small sign did not!

04/06/2019

We have entered the 21st century (better late than never, eh?) with, finally, a mobile-friendly website: http://breadalbanehouse.com. We are grateful to the designers, https://www.janewi.ch, who worked quickly, listened well, and came up with something we really like.

19/03/2019

Large On-line Travel Agencies (OTAs) bid on an hotels own name on internet search engines to divert enquiries to their own Platforms. It should be illegal to do this without a specific separate agreement.

19/03/2019

Our B&B is one of very many in the country. A lot of them operate, like we do, without the 'help' of the Big Gun Websites like airbnb, booking.com etc., etc.

They have ways, both honest and sneaky, of making life harder than needed for the likes of us. It would be good if the sneaky ways were made illegal, and although our belief in the efficacy of online petitions to the government is nearly non-existent, even making known how the sneaky things are done (and that they are done) is useful.

That's why, for once, we sign and share this petition, and we hope local B&Bs like us will do the same.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/243020/

Large On-line Travel Agencies (OTAs) bid on an hotels own name on internet search engines to divert enquiries to their own Platforms. It should be illegal to do this without a specific separate agreement.

07/03/2017

An epic plan! Here's hoping it'll work!

03/03/2017

A bit of very good news came in this week: in the coming season, Highland Safaris will be offering boat tours on Loch Tay! A great added attraction to the region, and at last a generally accessible way to experience glorious Loch Tay!

09/07/2016

A big thank you to all our guests who took the time to write lovely reviews on TripAdvisor. We're very happy with our second Certificate of Excellence!

06/07/2016

Does Facebook have a manual somewhere with instructions on how to reach 62.000 people in a village with a population of around 700?