Start & Run a Bed & Breakfast. Richard Taylor
• Tariff structures
• Meals provided
• Services provided
(i) Brochures from local hotels, motels, inns, and lodges:
• Types of accommodation
• Tariff structure
• Services provided
3. What Tourist Attractions Are in Your Area?
A considerable number of customers to your bed-and-breakfast home will be visitors to one of the local tourist attractions in your area. It is useful, therefore, to do a survey of these attractions so that you will have a better understanding of the length of stay, the age range, and the interests of these visitors. You will also be able to determine the specific months of the year when people are most likely to travel through your area.
3.1 The tourist attraction survey
Let's discuss a tourist attraction survey. Let’s review each section:
(a) The first column shows the name of the local attraction (and any further comments needed to clarify the nature of the attraction), the distance to the attraction from the B&B, and the gate total, or yearly attendance record, for the attraction.
(b) The second, third, and fourth columns define your target customers. They indicate how long the average visitor would spend at this attraction, the age group most likely to attend, and the range of interests of the customers to that particular attraction. When answering some of these questions on your own attraction survey, you will have to use your own judgment unless the attraction has published statistics available.
(c) Visitor patterns indicate the operating season of each attraction and show the number of days in each month that the attraction is open for business. For the sake of simplicity, consider each month to have 30 days (including 4 weekends).
3.2 Do your own tourist attraction survey
Do your own tourist attraction survey. Phone or visit each attraction in your area and get their descriptive brochures, information on their operating season, and their yearly attendance figures.
When you select local attractions for your survey, start with the one closest to your B&B and move geographically outward from there. It is more likely that the closer attractions will provide the most customers for your business.
Make sure you fill in the operating day patterns for each attraction. We suggest that you survey no more than six attractions.
As with all the completed worksheets, keep your tourist survey close at hand for future reference.
4. Know Your Potential Customers
4.1 Who are your potential customers?
No matter how many tourists your area attracts, not all of them will be potential customers for your B&B. You need to separate potential customers from unlikely customers by researching how people visit your area. For example, if you live in a popular tourist area with annual summer festivals, arts celebrations, etc., the potential for customers throughout the high tourist season is greater. If, however, you live off the beaten track, your customers may be more likely to be weekend getaway seekers.
Review the following list of unlikely customers and remove them from your plan for your potential market. Then review the list of potential customers and keep the variety in mind when you are thinking about attracting clientele to your B&B.
Unlikely customers:
• Organized tours with preplanned itineraries and standard hotel arrangements
• Sightseers who spend a few hours only in each location and then move on
• Day-trippers who spend the day in your area but do not require overnight accommodation
• Campers who bring their own sleeping quarters so they don’t need your accommodation
• High rollers who are looking for action and are attracted to luxury hotels with fitness clubs, tennis courts, and other amenities
Potential customers:
• Families who are looking for a home environment that can provide safe and friendly accommodation for their children
• Single parents who are looking for a similar home environment and who welcome the extra support that a friendly host family can provide
• Business travelers who are looking for a comfortable rest and a good home-cooked meal — usually in a downtown location
• Women travelers who are looking for safety and security and who appreciate the added protection of a family setting
• People traveling alone who enjoy the companionship of a B&B
• Retired people who have plenty of time to travel and to pursue their interests and who often seek the less-hurried atmosphere of a B&B
• People pursuing a particular sport or hobby who are looking for facilities that can cater to their particular needs
• People attending cultural attractions who enjoy the study of history, science, or the arts, and who are seeking the company of hosts who appreciate those values
• Professional people who are looking for clean and comfortable surroundings, friendly hosts, and interesting conversation
• People visiting local friends or family who need nearby accommodations
• Personal friends and “friends of friends” who want to visit you
• People who have heard about your B&B either through word-of-mouth or written advertising
As well as all those listed above, you should include any other local visitors you think would be potential customers. Each local area has a different mix of visitors and accommodations. Your B&B may attract other types of customers not mentioned here.
4.2 What facilities and services do your customers want?
Once you have determined your potential customers, you need to carefully consider what each type of customer is looking for in accommodation. You can do this by completing a customer survey for each type of potential customer you anticipate accommodating.
Let’s review each section of Carol and Bob's research:
(a) Beside potential customer, Carol and Bob have indicated they are considering families with young children. They have noted the age range as 1 to 40 because young children could be defined as 1 to 10 years, and parents could be 18 to 40 (approximately). This statistic is useful when thinking about the facilities and services that this type of customer might want.
(b) Customer availability indicates the monthly visiting pattern normally expected for this type of customer and the reasons for this pattern. You may get this information from existing statistical data or you can give your best estimate based on common sense and a knowledge of your own area. For the sake of simplicity, consider each month to have 30 days (including four weekends).
(c) Booking days available indicates the total days in any one year that you could reasonably expect to book this type of customer. Add the estimated days for each month to get this figure.
(d) Actual number shows the number of this type of customer that visit your area in any one year. You may get this figure from existing tourist statistics; however, an actual number is often difficult to obtain. Personal observations of the types and volume of tourists in your local area may provide you with an estimate of the percentage of tourists that fall into this category. If you cannot obtain this figure, leave the space blank. Carol and Bob estimated that there are about 1,200 families with young children visiting the area each year.