"I see a blurring between the B&B and the boutique hotel"
A new, younger generation of innkeepers is muscling its way (subscription required) into the sleepy $3.5 billion B&B business with its own ideas about lodging. At a host of new and newly owned inns, they're replacing traditional decor with post-modern rooms, swapping afternoon tea for Internet access, and taking a pass on socializing with their guests. In short, they are tinkering with a formula that has served B&Bs for ages. "You might as well strike the 'breakfast' out of 'Bed and Breakfast,' " says Richard Gordon, an inn inspector based in Providence, R.I.
Young innkeepers are taking over B&Bs in record numbers, with a quarter of inns now run by under-40 owners, according to a survey by BedandBreakfast.com. That's up from 9% in 1997. Brash and creative, these new owners say the industry needs to become more kid-friendly and play down the schmoozing with hosts and fellow guests. "People my age don't want to stay at some place that looks like their auntie's," says innkeeper Drew Ogle. His B&B, Christopher Place Inn, features "theme" rooms ("Camelot" and "The Secret Garden") and lets guests show up in bathrobes at breakfast.
That's nothing compared to the Villa at Saugerties, N.Y., where the rooms feature stark, minimalist decor, and 28-year-old innkeeper Aimee Szparaga has been known to greet guests in a bikini. "I see a blurring between the B&B and the boutique hotel," she says.
Newfangled or not, the bed-and-breakfast has become a tempting business for young entrepreneurs these days. There are nearly 30,000 B&Bs in America -- more than all the Hiltons, Hyatts and Holiday Inns combined -- and the industry has been steadily growing for decades. In all, it's projected to grow by about 4% this year, compared with the hotel industry's anemic 1.6%.
Indeed, since Sept. 11, hotels and motels have been much harder hit than these smaller rivals, which don't depend as much on business travelers. Innkeeping is "almost recession-proof," says hospitality analyst Robert Mandelbaum of Atlanta's PKF Consulting. In hard times, these owners can always cut back on staff and do more work themselves, or simply "put a couple less bacon slices on the plate," says Jerry Phillips, executive director of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International. That flexibility and security appeal to thirtysomething refugees from recent corporate upheavals who want more control over their lives.