Bed & Breakfast Occupancy Survey

by Pamela Lanier

Bed & Breakfast Occupancy is a timely and diverse topic. We at BBIGI have been conducting a live and online survey with our B&B membership over the last 18 months that has resulted in some really interesting figures on B&B occupancy and the needs of innkeepers to be-or not to be-full.

The survey was conducted at the Pennsylvania Lodging and Tourism Association, Bucks County B&B Association, Montana B&B Association, B&B Association of Alaska, Sunshine Conference, the Wisconsin Innkeepers Association and Arizona Association of B&B Innkeepers. In addition, we queried the attendees from the Illinois, Heartland and CABBI conferences via e-mail. And finally, we asked all of our B&B membership to respond via e-mail.

Regional Breakdown of results:
East USA (Pennsylvania, Bucks County and Sunshine)
What is your occupancy rate? Is this occupancy rate adequate?
High Season (s): 69.92% Yes 28%
Balance of Year: 37.39% No 70%
Misc. 2%
Do you want or need your inn to be relatively full all the time?
Yes 66.66%
No 31.33%
Misc. 2%

Central USA (Heartland, Illinois and Wisconsin)
What is your occupancy rate? Is this occupancy rate adequate?
High Season (s): 59.5% Yes 12.17%
Balance of Year: 35.28% No 77.5%
Misc. 10.33%

Do you want or need your inn to be relatively full all the time?
Yes 58.5%
No 33.17%
Misc. 8.33%

West USA (Montana, Arizona, Alaska, & CABBI)
What is your occupancy rate? Is this occupancy rate adequate?
High Season (s): 69.32% Yes 25.5%
Balance of Year: 33.09% No 61.75%
Misc. 12.75%

Do you want or need your inn to be relatively full all the time?
Yes 59.25%
No 30.75%
Misc. 10%

Our membership of BBIGI (from throughout the US & Canada)
What is your occupancy rate? Is this occupancy rate adequate?
High Season (s): 70.83% Yes 32%
Balance of Year: 37.16% No 65%
Misc. 3%

Do you want or need your inn to be relatively full all the time?
Yes 65%
No 32%
Misc. 3%

Composite findings
What is your occupancy rate? Is this occupancy rate adequate?
High Season (s): 67.39% Yes 24.42%
Balance of Year: 35.20% No 68.56%
Misc. 7.02%

Do you want or need your inn to be relatively full all the time?
Yes 62.35%
No 31.82%
Misc. 5.83%

Our conclusion from these surveys is that the B&B industry has several types and styles of innkeeping, typified, for occupancy purposes, by 62% of innkeepers surveyed wanting or needing to be full relatively all the time. This is the bulk of the 68% of the respondees who stated that their occupancy rate was not adequate. That means that 6% of innkeepers who don’t want to be “full relatively all the time,” still are not satisfied with their occupancy. The balance of the innkeepers surveyed are often in the profession on a part-time or lifestyle basis and enjoy periods of relative free time, without bookings.

Primarily inns who want or need to be relatively full all the time are those who have been recently purchased or constructed (and therefore have high overhead), and those inns with over 5 rooms.

After conducting these real time surveys and hearing actual feedback from hundreds of innkeepers who truly want or need better occupancy, we have come to the conclusion that only the most widely distributed, simple and fool-proof methodology can work for innkeepers who need to maximize reservations - especially utilizing the Internet.

We have accelerated and are continuing our search for the best possible solution and distribution of online B&B availability for inns that want or need to be full. We’ll keep you advised and will continue to solicit all innkeepers on this critical subject. If you have any comments, please send them to feedback@TravelGuideS.com.