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DoChara's Ireland Blog
Random Writings about Ireland and the Irish
Saturday
July 23 2005
Sweet Dreams
Statistics just released reveal that stays in B&Bs are down almost 20%. Not long ago this was a booming sector of the accommodation market in Ireland, so what went wrong?
There are excellent B&Bs in Ireland, ones that I am happy to recommend to anyone, secure in the knowledge that those who stay in them will have a good experience, but they are vastly outnumbered by the legions of average, poor and plain awful places. The problem is that until you stay there is no way of telling which is which. The Failte Approved sign indicates that basic requirements have been met and and the place isn't a complete dump, but it tells you nothing at all about the quality of the experience you will have.
Too often it's like this. You enter a hallway full of brochures and other tourism paraphenalia, are welcomed and shown your adequate but unexciting and often quite small room, get your key, are told when and where breakast is served and then you are pretty much on your own, free to come and go and nobody will pay much attention to you.
You are not however encouraged to 'hang around the house' - in fact guests who do are considered to be intensely annoying. There will be a bit of perfunctury chat while breakfast is served, in a characterless 'guests only' room, then you pay and go on your way. Next please.
There was a time when you really were treated as a family guest, or at least something close, now that is little more than a nice idea but a rare experience. Many B&Bs are purpose built, the family may not even live there and if they do you will have nothing to do with them and may never even see them.
Two people sharing a room in a B&B will now pay €0-90 per night. With a little digging around you can get a hotel room in a decent hotel for maybe €20-30 a night more. In a hotel you have access to a bar, a restaurant, an elevator and maybe someone to carry your bags to your room. There will likely be a night porter to let you in and get you a drink if you return late and you have a place to hang around if the day is really wet - in a B&B you generally check out after breakfast and you are on your own until you check into the next place in the evening.
That's a lot of added value for relatively little more money.
If all you get from a B&B is a poor version of what you get in a hotel, why bother? Those B&B owners who recognise this and offer real quality, a genuine welcome, a 'home from home' athmosphere and an experience that guests really enjoy are doing just fine and will continue to - word of mouth alone will see to that since such gems are rare and valued.
Many of the others, if they do not see the writing on the wall, are doomed.
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