Bed & breakfasts worldwide experience strong growth. During the first half of 2015, the number of reservations at B&Bs was 39% higher than in the same period last year, and the number of accommodationsincreased by 18%. Especially couples without children choose bed & breakfast, statistics of Bedandbreakfast.eu, the world’s largest B&B website, show.
In the first seven months of 2015, 39% more reservations than in the same period last year were made on http://www.bedandbreakfast.eu. In the last six months, the number of rooms and apartments on the website increased by 18%. To learn more about B&Bs and their guests, in 2014 Bedandbreakfast.eu carried out market research among 3,704 B&B owners, together with Stenden University. The main results showed that the room rate of European B&Bs amounts to an average € 76.46 including breakfast, that the average annual turnover of European B&Bs is € 16,700 and on average, European B&Bs have 5.2 guest rooms and 7.6 beds.
40% of European B&Bs started after 2011, Bed & breakfasts are mostly visited by couples without children, for 41% of B&Bs they form the main guest group and a quarter of the guests stay in a B&B for business purposes.
Popularity explained
The popularity of bed & breakfast can partly be explained by the favourable value for money. “B&Bs are cheaper than hotels, but offer the same comfort. Besides, a clear trend is that tourists are choosing a more social way of traveling. They want to spend the night at a local’s and truly get to know an area. A B&B offers the personal experience they are seeking,” says Hanny Arens, founder of Bedandbreakfast.eu.
The research results are elaborated in the report ‘Bed & Breakfast in Europe – Occupation, turnover and other key figures,‘
