Читать книгу Start & Run a Bed & Breakfast - Richard Taylor - Страница 27

Refer to your completed market research summary. You now have a list of final customer choices for your B&B. This clientele is both acceptable to you and compatible with each other. You can now plan your facilities and services to attract these customers. Your market research summary will help you in this process.

The total available booking days will give you an idea of the amount of business you should expect from each customer. If Customer A is twice as available as Customer B, then it is reasonable to expect that your B&B will have more Customer As. You may not see exactly twice as many, but you should see considerably more of them. This statistic will help you provide the type of facilities that the majority of your future customers will want.

The available booking day pattern will tell you when you should expect each customer type to be in your area. This statistic can be used to adjust your business to meet the requirements of different customers arriving at different times of the year. You can also use this information when establishing your operating season, planning your vacations, offering special rates, etc.

The inventory of local attractions tells you what is likely to entice your chosen customers to travel to your area. The order of popularity indicates which attractions appeal to the majority of your future customers. You should consider advertising in brochures issued by the more popular attractions.

The operating days of each attraction will indicate the months that you will feel the impact of these attractions. These figures will help you forecast the busy or slack months of your business.

Finally, the summary of your competitors shows the most popular and the least popular facilities and services offered by your direct competitors. Study these statistics carefully. What would your customers want? What can you offer them that your competitors are lacking? Can you fill a need that currently isn’t being satisfied? Think about all the little extras.

Study your competitors’ rates. Think about the type and style of B&B that your clientele would want. What tariff rate would be appropriate for your B&B?