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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