They have been the backbone of the tourism industry but Ireland's B&Bs face an uncertain future
The Covid pandemic is just the latest challenge facing a sector that has been at the forefront of Irish tourism for half a century. File Picture: iStock
Janet Quin has been involved in her Bed & Breakfast business in Innishannon, Co Cork since she was 10. Like many traditional operators across the island, she learned the trade from her parents who opened their home to foreign travellers giving them an authentic céad míle fáilte.
Now aged 60, Janet is one of just 700 registered B&B owners in Ireland — a figure that has been rapidly decreasing since the late 1990s when there were 4,000 registered B&Bs operating in Ireland.
“I think the B&B market is disappearing very quickly,” said Mrs Quin.
In the 1990s, roughly 17% of all tourist nights were spent in B&Bs or guesthouses (a larger accommodation type with more facilities). The figure for hotels was just 12%.
The indigenous B&B industry was largely built, and is still run, by women — and it has been the backbone to the country’s tourism industry for half a century.
Some operators wanted independent income from their husbands and others wanted to re-enter the workforce after their children were raised.
Bridie Fitzgerald wanted to bring something to the kitchen table separately from her husband. The couple opened their home to guests in the late 1960s, around the time a movie crew arrived in Kerry to shoot .
Bridie hosted those working on the movie in her home and soon realised she had a knack for hospitality and officially opened her own B&B in the 1980s.
“It gave her independence and it gave her an income independently from my dad which is fierce important to her,” said Bridie’s son Breandán who helps his mother run the business today.
In West Cork, Catherine O’Sullivan also discovered decades ago that her talent is in the hospitality business and she opened her B&B in Rosscarbery in 1993 with her husband while they run a small farm as well. Prior to this, she worked in housekeeping for Cork University Hospital.
In Dublin, Anna Walsh decided to open her B&B with her husband Mike 27 years ago as she wanted to return to work after leaving her job to raise a family.
“I worked in the civil service years ago and, like every woman, we had to give up our jobs and all the rest of it. It was even hinted that one job in any household was enough back then,” said Anna.
These are just some of the women who grew an industry that was once at the heart of Irish tourism. Now they face several challenges to keep their businesses going. Covid-19, was just the latest blow.
Like every facet of the global tourism industry, the pandemic had a severe impact on the B&B industry with restrictions on travel resulting in a collapse in visitors.
“It was so sad. You’d get up every morning and you’d look at the book and instead of bookings coming in, you were tearing out bookings,” said Janet Quin. In the first year of the pandemic, her B&B had just over two weeks of business due to lockdown restrictions. Other B&B operators felt the same pressure.
Catherine O’Sullivan took the opportunity to take a step back and work on her home to make sure it was ready to welcome visitors post-pandemic.
“We had never taken time out because it was either very busy in the summertime or busy in the wintertime with our children. But when the pandemic came it was like putting the brakes on.”
She got some construction done on her home which she said had been put off long enough. But, due to Covid-19 measures, the construction industry faced several work stoppages.
This left people like Catherine in the lurch as, when restrictions were lifted for B&Bs last year, parts of her home were still under construction and she could not host as many guests as she could have otherwise.
Even in Dublin, in a B&B close to the airport and the city, Anna Walsh said she had lost almost all business over the past two years.
Although Anna has a lot of bookings lined up for the upcoming year, she is not taking in as many guests as she could as she is still cautious about the spread of Covid-19.
When she could open during the pandemic, she decided to take in only 50% of capacity. Yet she didn’t even get this amount of guests.
She also argued that urban areas like Dublin were hit even worse than B&Bs in the country during the pandemic as they didn’t benefit from staycations. But she added that B&Bs in the city did usually have better business in general pre-pandemic in comparison to most rural spots around Ireland.
Yet, Janet said that traditional B&Bs, where a guest stays in a family home where the host is present, did not get a windfall from staycationers:
The B&B operators said they were able to get some money during Covid-19 from repeat business with guests they had previously built up relationships with.
“The repeat business kept us going in the recession of 2008 and now,” said Catherine.
Problems in the traditional B&Bs sector have been around long before Covid-19 and did not creep up on the market all of a sudden.
Shortly before the financial crash, it was estimated that some 1,700 ceased trading as registered operations. By 2006, there were approximately 2,850 B&Bs in Ireland, a drop of 30% on figures from the 1990s, according to a study commissioned by Fáilte Ireland.
This decrease is down to a few things. Firstly, B&B tariffs rose by roughly 20% between 2001 and 2004 while their main competitors at the time, three star hotels, dropped their price by 7% according to the Fáilte Ireland study conducted by audit firm BDO.
Fast forward to a few years before the pandemic and the difficulties in the B&B sector were becoming more pronounced. Overseas visitors accounted for most of the demand for B&B accommodation with an estimated 4m bednights in 2013. While this reflected a small recovery in demand, the volume was still one third less than it was in 2006.
Then, from 2008 to 2014, Fáilte Ireland-approved B&B premises declined by almost half as 1,200 premises and 5,000 rooms exited the regulated market over the period.
The contraction of approved supply during this time is significantly larger than declines in other sectors such as hostels, self-catering, and camping and caravan parks. The aging profile of many of the operators is especially problematic in recent times.
Anecdotally, Janet said most of the B&B owners she knows are in their 50s and 60s, leading to a shorter operational lifespan compared to hotels. Traditional B&Bs are usually part of a family home so when the owner decides to stop operating, the business isn’t sold, it simply stops trading.
“B&B owners I know, there are very few under 60,” said Anna. “So they were in the high-risk category so they are were not going to open. And if they did open, they were going to be very careful. Which is what I did.”
In addition to the growing age profile of operators, traditional B&B owners have also had to battle the rise in popularity of Airbnb.
Janet said the company has become a “thorn in the flesh” for her and her business.
In 2013, Airbnb chose Ireland as its base for its European headquarters and it quickly became a leading choice for holidaymakers in Ireland and abroad, putting even more strain on Ireland’s B&Bs. Catherine says:
“Where else can you come into a family home and be treated like you’re coming for a visit?”
CEO of B&B Ireland Helena Healy does not see Airbnb as a threat to the traditional B&B market though and said there is room for everyone.
“Airbnb has been there for many many years and hasn’t destroyed the traditional B&B product.
“There is room for the quirky Airbnb product and there is room for the traditional B&B product. I don’t see for one minute that it’s going to wipe them out,” she said.
However, because of the link to Fáilte Ireland, traditional B&Bs were even further restricted during the pandemic, unlike some Airbnbs.
Although foreign travel is back on the books, one good year will not be enough to revive the traditional B&B business in Ireland.
“The overall sentiment is 2022 is going to be the start of the recovery,” said Ms Healy. "There’s no doubt about that."
She said that 800 B&Bs are registered with B&B Ireland, but the organisation’s website has a lower figure of 700 on it.
In addition, she said that over the course of the pandemic, between 100 and 150 B&Bs stopped trading under B&B Ireland. It’s unclear if the operators permanently stopped trading or if they decided to cut ties with B&B Ireland.
Unapproved B&Bs are openly trading through Booking.com and Airbnb, a pre-pandemic report by B&B Ireland stated.
For an unapproved B&B, the advent of the big web booking merchants is a ‘godsend’ as it provides a route to market where it can compete openly with the approved B&Bs, with no membership fee and payment by commission on results, it continued.
The capital cost to meet minimum requirements coupled with the annual renewal fee were outweighing the benefits of Fáilte Ireland approval for traditional B&Bs.
In addition, there are no effective barriers to enter the trade as there would not appear to be any restrictions or penalties for trading as a B&B outside of the Fáilte Ireland approved scheme.
However, being a Fáilte Ireland-approved B&B gives an extra layer of security for both operator and visitor. They receive symbols from the Irish Tourism Standards Board or from B&B Ireland’s Quality Framework which is based on international best practice, and designed to meet the criteria of Fáilte Ireland’s approval scheme.
Although a lack of regulation in the B&B market is a big issue for operators, they have said B&B Ireland have been supportive post- and pre-pandemic.
Despite the challenges the B&B operators face, they are optimistic about the year ahead and look forward to once more welcoming people into their homes.
“I presume I’ll keep going. I can’t see that I wouldn’t,” said Janet Quin.
B&B Ireland celebrated over 50 years in business recently and, to mark the occasion, they conducted a survey of Irish B&B operators to get their views on the upcoming year.
The survey showed 74% of hosts said they are anticipating more bookings this year, while 77% of hosts are feeling either confident or very confident about business for the year ahead. One third of B&B owners are also opting to extend their season and open for longer as a result.
“The B&B industry, as far as I can see, is a very important part of Ireland,” said Catherine O’Sullivan.
“I love that buzz of chatting to people and making them breakfast and making sure they’re comfortable. I just love doing it,” she added.
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