How to open a bed and breakfast (chambre d’hôtes) in France: rules, steps and a sample budget

What do you need to open a B&B in France?

This guide describes the rules that apply in France, as set out on the official French government page « Ouvrir une chambre d’hôtes ». If your B&B is in the UK or elsewhere, the rules are different: check with your local authority.

A chambre d’hôtes is not the same as letting a whole house (that is a meublé de tourisme, often called a gîte) or a small hotel. You live on site, you welcome your guests and you serve them breakfast.

Above 5 rooms or 15 guests you may no longer use the name « chambre d’hôtes », even under another label such as « maison d’hôtes »: you then fall under the rules for premises open to the public. Using the name wrongly is a misleading commercial practice, punishable by up to 2 years in prison and a €300,000 fine for an individual.

This guide follows the real order of a project: check the house, complete the formalities, choose your status, prepare the rooms, set house rules, then get known. If you plan to let a whole property, read our guide on opening a gîte in France instead.

Is your house suitable for a chambre d’hôtes?

Before spending anything, check the physical requirements. The official page sets minimum floor areas per room, excluding the bathroom and toilet:

You also need at least one bathroom and one toilet per 5 guests, and the room must be within your home (in the house or on its grounds). In practice, travellers increasingly expect a private shower room per bedroom: it is not compulsory, but it drives both choice and price.

What to check before you start

• The floor area of each room, measured without the shower room and toilet
• How many bathrooms and toilets guests can use
• The local planning rules (PLU) if you plan building work (new shower room, loft conversion, outbuilding)
• The co-ownership rules if you live in a flat, and informing the managing agent (syndic)
• A space to serve breakfast (dining room or the bedroom)
• Parking or easy access for travellers with luggage
• If the house is a second home: the energy performance certificate (DPE), because from 2034 it will need at least class D (this does not apply to your main home)

The compulsory services: welcome, breakfast, linen, cleaning

What sets a chambre d’hôtes apart from a simple let is the service you provide. The official page explains what is expected, and what is not enough:

Breakfast is where a B&B builds its reputation. Guest reviews almost always mention it: local produce, homemade bread or jam, a chat with the host. Treat it as your main product, not a chore.

What about evening meals (table d’hôtes)?

Serving dinner is optional and charged as an extra. The rules: a single set menu, served only to the guests staying in your rooms, at one shared table, preferably with local produce. If you serve alcohol with meals, you need an operating permit (permis d’exploitation, a 7-hour course valid for 10 years) and a restaurant licence (the « petite licence restaurant » or the full « licence restaurant ») declared at the town hall. Guests renting a separate gîte from you cannot eat at your table d’hôtes unless you become a restaurant.

The formalities, in order

Two steps are compulsory before the first night, and they are separate: the town hall declaration and the business registration.

1. Declare the rooms to the town hall

Use form cerfa 13566, online or at the town hall (mairie) of the commune where the house is. Any change (number of rooms, opening period) requires a new declaration. Failing to declare is punishable by a €450 fine.

2. Register the business

Letting chambres d’hôtes is a commercial activity, whatever your income, even if it is small. You register on the Guichet des formalités des entreprises (national business register, SIREN number). Exception: rooms on a working farm can count as a farming activity if they stay secondary. Letting rooms without registering is treated as undeclared work.

3. Choose your legal form and tax scheme

Sole trader (often as a micro-entrepreneur) or a company: for one or two rooms, most owners start as a sole trader. The tax scheme choice comes at the same time (see the next section).

4. Other things to sort out

• Ask the town hall or the intercommunal authority about the tourist tax (amount, period, how to pay it over): see our tourist tax guide
• Tell your insurer: a standard home policy may not cover paying guests
• Prepare your price notices (outside, at reception and in each room)
• Prepare police registration forms (fiches de police) for foreign guests, kept for 6 months
• If you serve alcohol: operating permit and licence

Message to your insurer

Hello, I am opening [number] chambres d’hôtes in my [main / second] home at [address] from [date], with breakfast [and evening meals]. Maximum capacity: [number] guests. Could you confirm whether my current policy covers this activity (liability towards guests, damage caused by them, theft) and, if not, send me a quote? Thank you.

Income tax, social charges and VAT

Income from chambres d’hôtes is taxed in France as commercial profits (BIC). Two schemes are available.

Social charges

Above an income threshold (€6,248 of taxable income in 2025, updated every year) you pay social security contributions. Below it, you pay the 17.2% social levies on investment income. As a micro-entrepreneur, contributions are calculated on takings at 21.2% and declared to the Urssaf. The ACRE scheme can reduce them in the first year.

VAT

You do not charge VAT while you stay within the basic exemption (franchise en base): turnover of the previous year up to €85,000, or of the current year up to €93,500. Above that, the rate is 10% on accommodation and evening meals, 20% on alcohol.

Local business tax

The business property tax (CFE) is normally due, but you are exempt if the rooms are in your own home (unless the commune decides otherwise) or if your annual turnover does not exceed €5,000. The initial return (form 1447-C-SD) is due by 31 December of the year you start.

If you are tax resident outside France, or unsure which scheme suits you, ask an accountant who knows French and cross-border tax.

How much does it cost to open a B&B? A worked example

There is no standard budget: it all depends on the condition of the house. Here is an example for two existing bedrooms, no structural work, one shower room to add. The amounts are illustrative orders of magnitude: replace them with your own quotes.

Add running costs: suitable insurance, extra water and energy, breakfast supplies, laundry, booking platform commissions if you use them, and your own time (cleaning, shopping, welcoming).

To work out how many nights you need to sell to cover your costs, and at what price, follow the method in our guide on pricing B&B rooms.

Price notices, receipts, police forms: the day-to-day rules

Once open, a few obligations come back with every stay. They are easy if you prepare them once.

• Prices including tax displayed outside near the entrance, at the reception point and in each room: nightly rate with breakfast, extras (late check-out), internet access (free or paid), evening meal price including drinks, tourist tax when charged per guest, other services, arrival and departure times
• A receipt (note) for any service over €25 including tax (or on request below that), in two copies, one kept for 2 years
• An invoice for business guests
• A police form filled in by every foreign guest (including European guests, not minors), kept for 6 months
• Tourist tax collected and paid over under your commune’s rules

The details, with a model notice, are in our guide on price display rules for hotels and B&Bs in France.

House rules

These are not legal requirements, but they prevent most misunderstandings. Write them once and send them with the booking confirmation.

Welcome to [name of the house]

Arrival: between [4 pm] and [7 pm]. Let us know if you will be later and we will arrange it.

Departure: before [11 am]. Late check-out possible depending on availability: €[amount].

Breakfast: served from [8] to [9.30 am] in [the dining room]. Please tell us about allergies or diets when you book.

Evening meal: [days], to be booked the day before, €[price] per person including drinks.

Wi-Fi: [network / password]. Pets: [welcome / not accepted]. Non-smoking house.

Cancellation: [your terms]. Tourist tax: €[amount] per adult per night, on top of the room rate.

To write your cancellation terms, see booking cancellation policy.

Getting known before your first night

The first bookings rarely arrive by themselves. Three months before opening, prepare your online presence:

1. A Google Business Profile for the B&B, with the right category, photos and welcome hours: it is what appears when someone searches for accommodation in your village on Google Maps. See our Google Business Profile guide.
2. Your own website with each room, prices, availability and a button to book direct, without commission. See our B&B website guide.
3. One or two booking platforms to get discovered at first, keeping your website for returning guests and people who search for you by name.
4. The local tourist office, which often lists declared accommodation.
5. Your first reviews: ask your first guests at check-out, when they thank you. See Google reviews for hotels and B&Bs.

A chambre d’hôtes cannot be given official stars: it is always unclassified. Private labels exist and can reassure some travellers, but your reviews and photos make the real difference.

The three-month checklist before opening

90 to 60 days before

• Measure the rooms and check bathrooms and toilets
• Get quotes for the works, check planning and co-ownership rules
• Choose the name of the house and check it is not already used nearby
• Ask the town hall about the tourist tax

60 to 30 days before

• Register the business on the Guichet des formalités des entreprises
• Declare the rooms to the town hall (cerfa 13566)
• Adapt your insurance
• Order beds and linen
• Create the Google profile and take photos as soon as rooms are ready

The last 30 days

• Put the website online and open bookings
• Put up the price notices and prepare police forms
• Write the house rules and the confirmation message
• Do a test night: sleep in each room yourself
• Tell friends, neighbours and the tourist office

The steps at a glance

The steps to open a B&B in France by the rules, from checking the house to the first booking.

1. Check the house. Minimum floor area per room excluding the bathroom, at least one bathroom and one toilet per 5 guests, 5 rooms and 15 guests maximum.
2. Register the business. On the Guichet des formalités des entreprises: letting chambres d’hôtes is a commercial activity.
3. Declare to the town hall. Form cerfa 13566, online or at the town hall, before the first let.
4. Choose the tax scheme. Micro-BIC with a 50% allowance, or the actual scheme if costs are high.
5. Prepare the day-to-day rules. Price notices, receipts, police forms, tourist tax, insurance.
6. Get known. Google profile, website with direct booking, platforms, tourist office, first reviews.

This guide for your trade

• Hotels and accommodation
• Website for a B&B

Go further

• B&B and guest house website
• How to price B&B rooms
• Tourist tax in France (taxe de séjour)
• Price display rules for hotels and B&Bs in France
• More Google reviews for your hotel or B&B
• Booking software for B&Bs