Start & Run a Bed & Breakfast. Richard Taylor

      By now you have conducted a number of surveys in the name of market research. Now you need to analyze this information to effectively establish the start-up parameters for your B&B. In the process, you will make your final customer selections and then visit an established B&B home that caters to the same types of customers.

      Before you begin, assemble all the surveys that you have completed in the previous chapter. Spread them out in front of you, and make sure you have the following:

      (a) Tourist attraction surveys

      (b) Customer surveys

      (c) Competitor surveys

      1. Summarize Your Market Research Surveys

      1.1 Choose your start-up customers

      Prior to conducting the customer surveys in Chapter 3, you had looked at the total range of visitors to your area, and had carefully weeded out any types of visitors that could be deemed unlikely to want to stay at a B&B. Therefore, your customer surveys represent only those visitors considered to be potential customers.

      Now it is time to reexamine these potential customers and to select a suitable range of start-up customers for your business. When you select your clientele, it is important not to restrict your choices to only one or two types, otherwise you may not have enough customers to make your business viable. On the other hand, you should avoid selecting all customer types because some of them may be incompatible. Guests that have good reason to complain about your other customers will not recommend or return to your establishment.

      1.1a Expense

      You have already listed the facilities and the services required by each customer on the customer survey forms. If you compare their requirements to the facilities you already have in place, you can get a rough idea of the cost involved in servicing that particular customer. You may decide that some of these customer types are too expensive to consider as start-up clientele and, therefore, you should set them aside for now. You may decide to broaden your customer base after a year or two in business. (Home renovation and equipment costs are discussed in later chapters.)

      1.1b Acceptability

      When you run a B&B, you learn very quickly to set your own house rules. You have no obligation to accept guests who make you feel personally uncomfortable. You may decide that you do not want to cater to families with children under a certain age, or smokers, or travelers with pets.

      Study each of your customer surveys carefully and try to imagine yourself inviting that customer into your home. Try to visualize yourself welcoming them at the door, engaging in polite conversation and serving them refreshments. Think about arranging their sleeping accommodations, cooking their food, and joining them for breakfast. If you determine that you would not feel comfortable hosting that particular customer type, declare them as unacceptable for your B&B.

      1.1c Compatibility

      Take all your “acceptable” customer surveys and see if any would be incompatible with the rest. For example, small children may present a problem to adult guests seeking a quiet weekend unless you have a separate wing of the house where either of them could stay. A steady stream of early-rising business travelers could present a problem to customers trying to sleep later unless you can provide soundproof facilities.

      If you foresee any incompatibilities that cannot be corrected, then you may need to reject one or more customer types.

      1.2 List your final customer choices

      Complete your own market research summary.

      You can sort chosen customers in order of booking days available (as shown on each customer survey). Enter all the choices in that order, then enter the total and monthly booking days available for each customer type.

      Your tourist attraction surveys show the local attractions that would generate tourist traffic in your area. Summarize only those attractions that would be preferred by your chosen customers. List them in order of popularity.

      Finally, your competitor surveys, which show a sampling of private and commercial competition in your local area, should be summarized.

      Separate the commercial surveys from the others. You don’t need to summarize this information, but keep it for future reference. You may be able to provide a few of the “extras” that they offer in your B&B.

      2. What Does Your Market Research Summary Tell You?

      Refer to your completed market research summary. You now have a list of final customer choices for your B&B. This clientele is both acceptable to you and compatible with each other. You can now plan your facilities and services to attract these customers. Your market research summary will help you in this process.

      The total available booking days will give you an idea of the amount of business you should expect from each customer. If Customer A is twice as available as Customer B, then it is reasonable to expect that your B&B will have more Customer As. You may not see exactly twice as many, but you should see considerably more of them. This statistic will help you provide the type of facilities that the majority of your future customers will want.

      The available booking day pattern will tell you when you should expect each customer type to be in your area. This statistic can be used to adjust your business to meet the requirements of different customers arriving at different times of the year. You can also use this information when establishing your operating season, planning your vacations, offering special rates, etc.

      The inventory of local attractions tells you what is likely to entice your chosen customers to travel to your area. The order of popularity indicates which attractions appeal to the majority of your future customers. You should consider advertising in brochures issued by the more popular attractions.

      The operating days of each attraction will indicate the months that you will feel the impact of these attractions. These figures will help you forecast the busy or slack months of your business.

      Finally, the summary of your competitors shows the most popular and the least popular facilities and services offered by your direct competitors. Study these statistics carefully. What would your customers want? What can you offer them that your competitors are lacking? Can you fill a need that currently isn’t being satisfied? Think about all the little extras.

      Study your competitors’ rates. Think about the type and style of B&B that your clientele would want. What tariff rate would be appropriate for your B&B?

      3. Do a Trial Bed and Breakfast Visit

      Now that you have chosen your range of start-up clientele, you are probably beginning to visualize the type of facilities and services that would best meet the needs of these customers. It is important to take a close look at a B&B that is already servicing your type of clientele. You need to look “behind the scenes” to get a better feel for the facilities that are required and the duties and responsibilities of the hosts.

      Even though you may have already stayed at a B&B, you probably thought only in terms of being the visitor, not the host. Now is the time to go visiting again, but this time with your eye to the competition.

      3.1 Choosing the home

      We suggest that you pick a home in another town by using a B&B guide book. Choose a home that has the same style and range of customers as your proposed business. Pick one that charges a rate that seems correct (compare it to your competitor surveys). Descriptions in guide books can sometimes be misleading, but rates usually point to the truth.

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