Bed-and-breakfast outlets nationwide are scrambling to stay in business by searching for new markets, offering package deals, banding together and even taking lessons from the chains.
“We’re hanging on, but we’re struggling,” Colorado B&B owner Jim Peiker told the Denver Post.
At least four central Denver B&B’s closed in the past two years.
The hotel occupancy rate in Colorado fell from 64% in 2000 to 57.6% in 2002, and it was relatively flat through 2004, said Richard Scharf, president of the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Higher rates for B&B’s are part of the problem.
The average B&B rate in a recent year in Denver was more than $136, while the average hotel room was under $87.
A recent survey found that most B&B’s are in rural areas.
Said Robert Mandelbaum of PKF Consulting in Atlanta:
“Urban B&B’s are still a small part of the industry. How many large single-family homes do you find in urban settings?”
Report by David Wilkening
