To B&B or not to B&B? A question of economics

At the intersection where the small inn and the family-owned restaurant meet sits the Bed and Breakfast. Long a hospitality staple in Europe, where they are variously called B&Bs and pensiones (pronounced: pen-see-owns), it has become something a little different here in the U.S.

In Ireland, for example, the B&B is just one part of the traditional family economy: He runs the farm while She runs the home and tends to the guests, supplying them with an Irish breakfast of eggs, porridge, bacon, sausages, black pudding, white pudding, tomatoes, soda bread, potato cakes coffee or tea, a feast ample enough to satiate one’s appetite until supper time.

Stateside, “we’ve turned the traditional B&B into a mini-hotel business,´ said Kit Cassingham, B&B consultant who once managed the Briar Rose in Boulder. “The Europeans use it as a sideline and offer an old style of hospitality. Here, the B&B is likely to be the primary source of income.”

Cassingham noted that while Europeans have mastered the arts of hospitality, they are not as good as Americans at the business end. Conversely, American innkeepers do not always grasp the finer points of gracious service.

“I have clients all over the country, and part of what I do is teach them to tend to the details as simple as lighting,” she said. “Being a full-time innkeeper is not the same as entertaining guests. It is hard work, and no surprise that on average a B&B owner stays in the business about five years.”

No one understands the demands of managing a first-class B&B any better than Leslie Vogt and Greg Belcher, who together own The Edwards House B&B, located on Mountain Avenue, two blocks from Old Town Square in Fort Collins.

“We have owned Edwards House for 12 years now,´ said Vogt. “We started with just the house, which is zoned as a buffer between commercial and residential. The location was ideal. Then seven or eight years ago we bought the old Webster farmhouse located on Mason Street and moved it here. It had been uninhabited, except for squatters, for years. We moved it, gutted it and added new construction for a conference center. We hold wedding receptions and cooking classes there as well.”

Managing cash flow

By branching out from the core of the eight-room B&B, Vogt and Belcher have been able to mitigate one of the problems that bedevils innkeepers: cash flow.

“In Europe where the B&B is a source of extra money, going a few nights without any guests is not a serious economic blow,” Cassingham said. “When it’s your primary income, it’s important to keep occupancy up. Innkeepers who do not have plans for marketing and plans for free time burn out quickly.”

Diversifying their B&B business is only one of the strategies Vogt and Belcher have used to stay fresh in the business and to maintain their reputation.

“We are responsible for what happens here 24 hours a day, but we don’t live here. We have a registered chef, Tara Ledet, to prepare our full breakfasts,” Vogt said. “It is nice to have her here.”

Vogt added that while the idea of owning an inn may look romantic from a distance, the reality involves doing a lot of laundry and cleaning toilets. The rooms with Victorian appointments, private baths and four-poster beds present their own cleaning challenges.

“The creative part of the business is creating a friendly, warm place for our guests,” she said.

The B&B as a part of local history – for example, the Edwards House was built in 1904 for Alfred Edwards from Mercer, Pa., a water man who helped develop the Mercer Canal and Chambers Lake, according to Vogt – and the innkeeper as a storyteller are parts of why this kind of accommodation continues to be popular among American travelers.

“I stay in B&Bs because the innkeeper can offer advice on where to go and where to eat,” Cassingham said. “I love getting to know other people and making these miniature friendships. One of the things an innkeeper sometimes needs to learn is to step back and let the guests enjoy each other.”

Although there are newly constructed B&Bs in Northern Colorado, such as the Cattail Creek Inn B&B in Loveland, the appeal of a B&B in a 100-year-old home is undeniable. Over the years, the Edwards House has attracted its share of suitors.

 “A number of people have approached me over the years,” Belcher said. “There was a young couple from the Napa Valley who would have been ideal innkeepers. But they had no money. It would take a special buyer to interest us.”

Meanwhile, American B&Bs continue to reinvent themselves.

“There was a time in the 1990s when almost anyone could succeed as an innkeeper,” Cassingham said. “Then with the recession and 9/11, B&Bs hit the wall. Only the savvy ones are doing well now. One trend is to go ‘green’; others are trying to figure out how to accommodate guests’ pets when there may be resident pets already there.”

Jane D. Albritton is a contributing writer for the Northern Colorado Business Report. Her monthly column features restaurant and hospitality industry news. She can be contacted at jane@tigerworks.com.

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