Bed and Breakfast Inns
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 2,600 bed and breakfast inns (BNBs) in the US with employees provide short-term lodging, often in private homes or small buildings. As the industry’s name suggests, breakfast is included in the room rate. A large number of BNBs have no employees and about 95% are run by owners as a second career. The number of rooms a typical BNB has ranges from four to eleven, with an average of six guest rooms.
Sensitivity to Economic Conditions
Economic downturns and the corresponding decline in travel affect all types of lodging establishments, including BNBs.
Seasonality of Demand
Many BNBs are located in vacation destinations that experience peaks and valleys in tourist traffic.
Industry size & Structure
Industry Forecast
Bed and Breakfast Inns Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Apr 5, 2024 - Employment Sank, Wages Rose in 2023
- Employment by bed and breakfast inns declined by 12.4% in December compared to a year ago after increasing 2.2% in the previous annual comparison, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall employment by B&Bs fell about 15% between December 2019 and December 2023 as the hospitality industry struggled to rebuild its workforce after the pandemic. Average wages at travel accommodation firms were $21.03 per hour in December, a 2.5% year-over-year rise and a new industry high, BLS data show. Meanwhile, producer prices for travel accommodation firms were relatively flat in December compared to a year ago.
- In April, US News & World Report unveiled its inaugural list of the 250 top bed-and-breakfasts, inns, and small hotels across the United States. The rankings recognize top properties in 17 US cities and small towns – from Maine, to Florida, to Texas – selected based on US News user research indicating that staying in B&B accommodations in these destinations would be of particular interest to travelers. B&B properties were ranked based on star ratings and expert and guest sentiment by collecting annual awards from distinguished travel publications and TripAdvisor use scores, the magazine explained in a press release. B&Bs in Asheville, North Carolina, Bar Harbor and Portland Maine, Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, Key West and St. Augustine, Florida, and Fredericksburg, Texas all made the list of best in their markets for 2024.
- The United States ranks 17th out of 18 top travel markets in terms of global competitiveness, according to Euromonitor International. Only China performed worse according to the study released by the US Travel Association in January. The USTA blamed decades of underinvestment and a lack of focus and coordination from federal policymakers for the nation's poor performance. While the US is still the most desired destination for global travelers, it slid to third in total visits (behind Spain and France). In 2023, it’s estimated the US welcomed nearly 67 million international visitors – down from 79 million visitors in 2019, and only 84% recovered from pre-pandemic levels, far behind other competitors’ recovery rates, according to the study. Countries were ranked by: national leadership; brand & product; identity, security & facilitation; and travel & connectivity, with the US underperforming in national leadership, and identity, security & facilitation.
- The US Department of Homeland Security in November announced it would make available an additional 65,000 H-2B temporary worker visas for fiscal year 2024, according to the US Travel Association (USTA). That’s welcome news for the many bed and breakfast operators who’ve struggled to hire enough temporary staff during peak travel seasons. The workforce shortage in the travel industry continues to exceed one million open positions, per the USTA. The DHS said it expects to make an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for FY24, on top of the congressionally mandated 66,000 H-2B visas that are available each fiscal year. The additional H-2B visas represent the maximum permitted under the September 2023 Fiscal Year 2024 Continuing Resolution, according to a DHS press release. Workers from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras can expect an allocation of 20,000 visas.
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