Great bed and breakfasts can be found all over the place. They are dotted throughout the country and have so much more to offer a traveler than what your standard, generic hotel has. The best bed and breakfast will almost always surpass the best hotel in terms of comfort, staff, personality and amenities. Below you will find some interesting statistics about the great bed and breakfast versus the soso hotel. And they just may change your mind when it comes time to stay somewhere for work or vacation.
In 2012, hotel guest satisfaction was only 757 out of 1,000. Only about eight percent of travelers have a sense of brand loyalty and continue to use the same hotel brand along their travels. Only 56 percent of hotel guests ever highly rate the staff at the hotels in which they stay. And three quarters of all travelers say that the amenities at a bed and breakfast are better than what can be found in a hotel.
At a bed and breakfast you are a personal guest to be treated with respect. You check in, are served breakfast by, and check out with the same exact person. With a hotel you check in with one employee, get your own mediocre breakfast, and then check out with another person altogether. And should you call to the front desk for anything, you get yet another employee and are just a room number to them.
Then there are all of the fees that you never plan for, but end up paying when it comes to a hotel. For instance, the average fee for parking overnight at a Chicago hotel is over 42 dollars. For a hotel it is recommended to tip the service anywhere between five and 50 dollars. In a bed and breakfast the tip is not expected at all. And if the hotel is big enough, you are expected to tip the door man, the concierge, the shuttle driver, the bell boy. Every person you interact with, essentially.
Think of it like the slow and local movement that is gaining so much traction nowadays. Do you want to support the big corporate giants who pay their workers minimum wage? Or would you rather support the privately owned and local establishment, put money right back into the local economy, and support the little guy in making a dream come true? You money and comfort are ultimately up to you, but I implore you not to rule it out before looking into some of the great bed and breakfasts available out there.
