High
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PR & Media Relations in Spanish - Website positioning
BED AND BREAKFAST INN
If being domestic is your thing, considering a bed and breakfast business
might be in your favor. With a flair for cooking and a true enjoyment of
tending to the comforts of others, you could be happy and successful with a
bed and breakfast inn business.
Bed and breakfast inns continue to spring up all over the country, and the
number is rising. In 1975, there were only 400 bed and breakfast inns in
the United States. That number is over 15,000 today. The Professional
Association of Innkeepers International foresees a doubling of bed and
breakfast inns during the '90.
This growing trend services a type of customer who travels but wants a change
of pace from the traditional hotel stay. It might be the corporate
traveler, who my prefer the bed and breakfast inn to a hotel when it is
convenient to their destination. For leisure travelers, the bed and
breakfast inn may be the destination in and of itself when located near a
popular or desirable vacation spot.
What a bed and breakfast inn offers customers is a homey, cozy atmosphere
at typically the same or slightly lower cost as a comparable hotel.
Instead of hallways of rooms cloned with the same layout and design of
bedspreads, wallpaper curtains, fixtures, and carpeting, guests of bed and
breakfast inns can expect to get a good night's sleep in a room with a
variety of make-up and design much more like their own beloved bedrooms.
Add to that the other elements that make it feel like home - dining room,
kitchen, sitting or living room, and some good home cookin' - and it's not
hard to see why bed and breakfasts are an appealing choice of travel
accommodations.
Two things are key to a successful bed and breakfast inn - location and
number of rooms. Profitability is directly tied to occupancy rate, and so
the more desirable the area is for vacationers, or the closer it is to an
urban area which draws regular business travelers, the greater the chances
for making money. In any case, a bed and breakfast with four or fewer
guest rooms will have a more difficult time being profitable, a according
to the Professional Association of Innkeepers.
Given a good location and adequate number of rooms, your ability to provide
the ultimate in hospitality will be a powerful marketing factor in your bed
and breakfast business. Being friendly to all types of guests at all times
and responding to their needs - even demanding ones - is essential. Also,
cooking home-cooked meals, and keeping things neat, fresh, and orderly are
prerequisites for repeat customers.
And with word of mouth advertising so important in a service business like
this, providing the extra touches, like turning the beds down or fresh
flowers in the rooms, is another smart marketing tool. It's the little,
unexpected things that will pleasantly surprise your guests and etch
permanent memories in the minds of these customers.
And finally, bed and breakfast inn owners need to be prepared to do the
things they normally do at home anyway - be flexible to sudden changes ,
ready to generate an alternative plan, and respond calmly and quickly to
crisis.
The personal pay back for providing the ultimate bed and breakfast
experience can be very satisfying. Bed and breakfast inn owners have the
opportunity to live in a desirable location and spend the majority of their
time in the home which they have worked so hard to decorate and maintain.
They can have their children at home; children can also become involved in
the business. They have the opportunity to meet all kinds of interesting
people from around the United States and possibly the world. And the
expenses of running a home become tax deductible, i.e., cleaning supplies,
car expenses, insurance, eating out, magazines, travel.
The obligations for these benefits, however, are the fact that you need to
be at home all day seven days a week, with a telephone nearby your side at
all times. Any time away, like a day off or a vacation, needs to be well
planned a with a highly reliable replacement hired.
The investment for a bed and breakfast inn will vary substantially
depending on if you already own the home or not, and the renovating costs
in the area in which you business is located. Expect to pay from as low as
$10,000 per room to as high as $40,000 per room in renovation costs of your
existing home. If you're buying a home to convert into a bed and breakfast
inn, the costs may be as high as $70,000 per room, again depending on where
in the country your business is located.
Room rates will also vary due to geographic location. According to the
Professional Association of Innkeepers International, the standard rate
ranges from $100 to $120 per night in the northeast and west. In the Midwest
and south, rates are in the low $90's. Corporate rates are typically
about 20-25% of the standard rate.
As mentioned earlier, occupancy rates will be key to profitability.
Average occupancy rates nationally are at about 38%, with as high as 66% in
the west, 51% in the northeast, and 45% in the south. Rural areas are at
about 45% and urban areas at about 65%.
With these figures, the Professional Association of Innkeepers
International averages three possible income scenarios for potential bed
and breakfast inn owners to consider; 1-4 rooms at a 44 percent occupancy
rate will generate a gross income of approximately $42,000 for a net loss
of $8,000; 5-8 rooms at a 46 percent occupancy rate will generate a gross
income of approximately $111,000 for a net profit of $12,000; 9-12 rooms at
a 51 percent occupancy rate will generate a gross income of approximately
$245,000 for a net profit of $63,000. Keep in mind that some states
require bed and breakfast inns with more than six rooms to adhere to the
state's hotel laws.
If you are giving this business serious consideration, be a guest of
several bed and breakfast inns. Read tourist and travel oriented books for
reviews and recommendations. Notice what's considered "good" and what's
not.
Workshops put on by bed and breakfast inn associations can also help give
you vital information on running your own business. For a taste of
reality, you may even want to try it out and take on work as an inn sitter
for vacationing owners.
If becoming a bed and breakfast inn owner is for you, begin by getting your
business listed in as many travel and guide books as possible. Make
contact with local travel and reservation agents and become a part of their
regular referrals. For their services, they will expect between a 10 and
35 percent commission off your room rate.
Advertising in travel magazines and special sections of newspapers and
other periodicals regularly will also support your goal of a steady stream
of customers. And look for public relations opportunities as well, like
feature stories on television and in print geared for a vacationing
audience or some related topic. Get in the habit of sending our press
releases to your local media. It may lead to valuable and inexpensive
visibility.
Finally, with word of mouth advertising being so important to a hospitality
business such as this, the more you do to delight your customer while they
are within the walls of your inn, the bigger your marketing army. If your
customers have a special experience, you can bet they'll tell everyone at
work as well as all their friends and families about it. And keep in touch
with them. You can solicit their repeat business through regular mailings
offering special discounts and promoting special events in your community
that they will want to attend.
Being a bed and breakfast inn owner is much more than just keeping a neat
house. It's a career loaded with variety and challenges -from the tasks of
running a business to planning and implementing marketing to personally
providing a full array of hospitality services. Whereas hotels have a
staff of people performing duties in just one of these areas, you get the
opportunity to direct the entire operation . . . and all from the comfort
of your own home!
For more information, contact:
American Bed & Breakfast Association, 1407 Huguenot Road, Midlothian, VA
23113; (804) 379-2222.
Bed and Breakfast National Network, Box 4616, Springfield, MA 10010.
Professional Association of Innkeepers International, Box 90710, Santa
Barbara, CA 93190; (805) 965-0707
The Front Desk, Eugene McAllister, Box 1706, Guerneville, CA 95446; (707)
869-3121; software for reservations, mailings, and billing at $215.
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