Surviving Covid-19 as a Small Accommodation Business

In short, evaluate your business practices, plan new opportunities and adapt quickly. 

It is like the race horse mentality; first out of the gate, run to the finish line and receive the reward. 

Many accommodators shut down for the shoulder seasons. Many during the trying Covid times, have taken the woe is me attitude – it’s not worth the extra effort, labor and costs to have spotless hygiene in our rooms. If it’s your standard to have up-to-date accommodations and to have spotless hygiene, not only do you have the good reputation but you already have good housekeeping practices in place.

We made bold moves as an accommodation provider with the aim to increase sales and profitability:

Actions that we took:

1. We hired a full-time assistant in October: 

• this allowed us to train in shoulder seasons,
• assist with continuous improvements increasing value of our property,
• allowed us to concentrate on marketing (see bullet 3).

2. We increased our month-to-month rentals for off season (after Thanksgiving up to Victoria Day weekend). We evaluated the potential loss of travelers due to Covid lock downs vs opportunity for steady income. As it turns out we had the second wave of COVID when we were in lock down.

• Increased monthly room rentals from 4 to 6 out of 9 rooms,
• Increased monthly cottage from 1 or 2 to 3 out of 4 cottages.

3. We increased marketing:

• $750 RTO7 grant for social media for FB and Instagram:  FB Reach engagement 85,400 with 17,800 post engagements and followers increased 155%. 
• $2500 Mainstreet, Digital Transformation Grant for updating website and more social media campaigns.
• Target Electric Vehicle Market via a Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association Grant of approximately $2210 to install two Level 2 EV Charging Stations.

 

The result was an increase in:

• Cash Flow: 
• First quarter 2021 was 130% of 2020
• FYTD 2021 was 112% of 2020

• Summer bookings. By the end of March 
• 95+% occupancy for July
• 85+% occupancy for August
• By comparison when we took over the business in May 2017 previous owner only had an occupancy of approximately 30%.

An old strategy is to perform a SWOT analysis on your Business

• Strengths: Characteristics of your business that give it an advantage relative to others.

• LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION - We have an awesome waterfront location.
• We have excellent reviews - Specifically our cleanliness and friendliness.
• We operate year-round.
• We have 4 insulated cottages.

• Weaknesses: Characteristics that place your business at a disadvantage relative to others
  • We generally shut down cottages after Thanksgiving
  • We generally only open less than 50% for off season month to month rentals 

• Opportunities: Elements in the environment that the business could exploit to its advantage.
  • Lack of affordable accommodations. 
  • Home sitting not available as “snow birds” are not travelling to USA
  • Increased revenue (even at discounted rates) to cover fixed and additional variable costs plus profit
  • Increase marketing for prime time

• Threats: Elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business.
  • COVID-19 lock downs
  • No international or even local travel
  • Reduced revenue due to reduced travel - fixed costs remain the same

Thanks,


Wilfred Laman, P.Eng.
Bruce Peninsula Business Alliance Inc.
Phone: 905-518-6235