How do bed and breakfast properties survive and remain competitive in the midst of hotel growth explosion in Cardiff

Abstract

The main key words in the title are survive, competitive, midst and hotel growth explosion. Survive will look into various techniques, systems, skills and strategies used by bed and breakfast owners amidst hotel growth explosion. Competitive means ability to continue to strive, the term midst means among and relates to the bed and breakfasts situated among their competitors, the hotels. Hotel growth explosion refers to the growth of hotels that is booming in Cardiff. These hotels range from a one star hotel to a five star hotel, and also include budget hotels and other non rated hotels. This research was aimed to explore the survival strategies of Bed and Breakfast (B&B) operators and their ability to remain in competition in the midst of hotel growth in Cardiff. The six key themes that were subject of focus were business plan, entrepreneurial skills, marketing, technology, growth and competition. A semi-structured interview that consisted of five B&B operators was conducted. The business plan and entrepreneurial skills were mostly viewed unnecessary by the B&B operators. Internet however was the most prevalent in marketing strategy. Two stages in the Product Life Cycle of a business that had been reached by the operators were success in stage 3 and maturity in stage 5. Growth of hotels in Cardiff seemed to have affected the majority of the bed and breakfast operators. Other operators though were not threatened by the hotel growth, as they believe that there is a readily available market that specifically prefers the B&B accommodation over hotels.