Bed-and-Breakfast Inns Weather the Downturn
THE CURRENT STATE of the bed-and-breakfast business belies the belief that bigger is better.</br></br>When sized up against their larger brethren in the lodging industry, bed-and-breakfast inns, which typically have 25 rooms or fewer, appear to have fared better since the recession hit the U.S. economy last spring. And they bounced back quicker from the vacancies brought on by the events of Sept. 11.</br></br>"To a certain extent, bed and breakfasts are shielded from recessionary effects," says Robert Mandelbaum, research director at PKF Consulting, a hospitality advisory firm, who helps the Professional Association of Innkeepers International compile data from its biennial industry survey. Guests of bed-and-breakfast inns tend to be affluent leisure travelers who are less likely to be susceptible to change during a recession, he says.</br></br>Average occupancy or room-rate data for the bed-and-breakfast sector is difficult to come by. Jerry Phillips, executive director of the Professional Association of Innkeepers, estimates there are about 18,000 bed-and-breakfast and country inns in the U.S., with about 36% in the Northeast, 28% in the West, 20% in the South and 15% in the Midwest.</br></br>Many inns, particularly those within driving distance of New York City, fared well after the attacks as people canceled their vacations and opted instead for getaways that didn't involve hopping on an airplane, says Bill Oates, a consultant in Brattleboro, Vt.