Jan
The future of the Irish B&B
Posted in: Travel Talk Blog by Katherine on Mon, Jan 5th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Statistics just released reveal that stays in B&Bs are down sharply. 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, but the truth is they are 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: they are clean, well enough equipped and met the approval criteria. But its not all about the number of bathrooms or the size of the beds. These sort of things tell 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 paraphernalia, are welcomed and shown your adequate but unexciting and often quite small room, get your key, are told when and where breakfast 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 often made to feel uncomfortable. There will be a bit of perfunctory 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 <em>were</em> 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 in the part the guests sleep in and even 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 regularly be asked to pay from €80 per night up €120 to in popular locations. With a little digging around you can get a hotel room in a decent hotel for relatively little more. In a hotel you have access to a bar and a restaurant, there will be someone to carry your bags to your room and staff available all day.
There will likely be a night porter to let you in and get you a drink if you return late and you’ll have a place to hang around if the day is really wet.
That’s a lot of added value for relatively little more money.
Those B&B owners who recognise this and offer real quality, a genuine welcome, a ‘home from home’ atmosphere and an experience that guests really enjoy are doing just fine and will continue to – word of mouth alone will see to that such gems are valued.
Many of the others, if they don’t see the writing on the wall, are doomed.
I live in the USA and have spent the last ten years traveling and always make it a point to stay at B&B’s – the last two times in Ireland, I just had the best time, but the place went out of business – dismal economic times!
I love this little article because it clearly states some of the ‘difficulties’ with staying at a B&B vs. a hotel.
The welcome, to me is the most important thing. Right away I know whether or not I spend one night or three at the place (I rarely reserve a B&B – just go with the flow – that way, I can get ‘out’ of a nasty situation, and quickly.
I stay at a B&B because I want to ‘know’ the people of the land I visit. There is no sense in spending a small fortune just sleeping in a place. I can do that in a hotel and, as you say, get some nice amenities for my dollar. I do NOT want to cook though. I would love to sit and watch – but that rarely happens. However, I love it when the host at least spends a few moments at the meal with me.
I always ask what my host would suggest as a place to eat, what local pub has music to my tastes, and what is ‘the’ best ‘tourist’ attraction in the vicinity.
I am blessed in that I have many friends here in the states who have relatives with B&B’s in Ireland – so I never have to worry about a ‘nasty’ experience.
Thanks for the neat article.