Many Bed & Breakfast Inns Closing Due To Low Occupancy
According to
Smith Travel Research, hotel rooms now stand at close to 71%
occupancy. B&Bs, which depend less on weekday business travel, have
occupancy rates closer to 41%.
With such
occupancy rates, plus the costs to maintain the business coupled
with rising interest rates it has been more difficult for innkeepers
to pay the monthly mortgage and still earn a profit by renting rooms
to seasonal and weekend guests.
So change is
underway...and the traditional bed and breakfasts which have thrived
for decades by promising to make guests feel like family are closing
down. The dynamic is playing out across the country.
Behind the
vanishing inns is a simple equation: Many B&Bs are worth more as
properties than as businesses. The California Association of Bed and
Breakfast Inns says seven of its members sold their properties last
year, each to buyers planning to convert them into private homes.
The
Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) reports
that the number of rooms in B&Bs and country inns decreased 11% in
2004 and now number 148,000. PAII was formed in 1988 and the trade
organization estimates that the country�s 20,000 inns generate some
$3.4 billion in business. Interest in B&Bs grew with the 1980s TV
show �Newhart,� whose main character traded a career as a New York
writer to become the proprietor of a Vermont inn.
Given the
number of B&B rooms and their low occupancy rate, here�s a market
the barter industry could help by providing a much-needed assist.