Winging It: Bed-and-breakfasts benefit from travel trend

Saving money on travel has been a bright spot for consumers this year, given how much discounting airlines and hotels have had to do as they battle the recession. Prices for many trips are 10 percent to 20 percent less than they were this time last year.

But that means life has been pretty grim for many of the people who own and operate hotels - unless they happen to occupy one of those special niches in the market that have what travelers seem to want when times are tough.

That fits the description of the American bed-and-breakfast industry. For a variety of reasons linked to the economy, B&Bs have not suffered the same declines in business that the standard hotel has, according to a recent study done by a locally based innkeepers' association.

Rather than flying to a resort area for a week or two, more people are taking short vacations and long-weekend trips, usually driving to their destination. And while most bed-and-breakfasts do attract some business travelers, they aren't the main source of guests.

"We believe many of the trends in traveler behavior have moved people in our direction," said Jay Karen, president and chief executive officer of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, based in Haddon Heights.

The study shows that the median occupancy rate for B&Bs in 2008 was 44 percent, the same as it was in 2007 and an increase since 2005, when it was just 35 percent. The occupancy rate for the hotel business was 63 percent in 2007 and fell to 60 percent last year as the economy was tanking.

The average B&B has just six rooms and has an average daily room rate of $150, considerably more than a typical lodging.

The organization's study of innkeeping operations and finance doesn't indicate that bed-and-breakfast owners are suddenly getting rich. "We're not blowing it out of the water," Karen said. "We're just holding our own."

The wide difference in average occupancy is largely because most B&Bs cater to leisure travelers and are located in areas with brief high seasons, he said.

Hotels that depend more on business travelers, especially those at the upper end of the rate scale, have suffered the most in the recession, according to industry officials and analysts.

Many high-end resorts in particular have taken a huge hit from cancellations of meetings by companies that were desperate to save money, or at least desperate to avoid the appearance of lavish spending.

At the same time, about three-quarters of all B&Bs at least occasionally host business travelers who prefer them to a hotel, or need to go to a rural area where they're sometimes the only choice, Karen estimated.

These days 93 percent of them have high-speed wireless Internet access, a necessity no matter what kind of guests a lodging has, or where it is located, the survey showed.

My interest in how B&Bs attract business travelers started 20 years ago, when I did a column on Barley Sheaf Farm, in Holicong, Bucks County, one of the region's first.

Like many in suburban areas, Barley Sheaf was using its location between two major cities and near numerous corporate headquarters to draw business groups.

Barley Sheaf had 10 rooms then, and had converted a portion of an old barn into a conference room with about a dozen chairs and the latest office technology of 1989: a fax machine, speakerphone, blackboard, and overhead projector.

Today, the inn is named Barley Sheaf Farm Estate and Spa. It has 16 elegantly appointed guest rooms, going for rates that start at $275 a night. It has three conference rooms, wired like the rest of the inn for high-speed Internet access, as well as a full-time "event coordinator" on staff.

While those room rates are higher and the meeting facilities larger than what the average B&B offers, they are still a good example of how these small businesses have found a way to cope, no matter how dismal the travel market may be.

An update on this month's continuing travel saga, the Aug. 8 stranding of 47 passengers overnight on a Continental Express regional jet at the Rochester, Minn., airport: The Department of Transportation investigated what happened after members of Congress, and lots of others, asked why travelers continue to be tortured in this way.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the local representative of another regional carrier, Mesaba Airlines, "improperly refused the requests of the captain to let her passengers off the plane."

LaHood said Mesaba was the only airline with personnel at the airport able to assist Continental. The Continental crew was told by Mesaba that the airport was closed to passengers, apparently because there were no security screeners available, when, in fact, no rescreening was going to be needed.

He added that senior airline managers for Continental should have gotten involved to get the passengers off the plane.