It depends on your goals and what level of involvement is desired. A five room Bed and
Breakfast in the right location to generate reasonable occupancy can be profitable, with
two conditions: 1. the owner routinely does all the operational jobs; and 2., there is
outside income from a partner. In the PAII Industry Study, 80% of smaller B&B’s depend
on an outside income.

In an 8 to 12–room model, income can be sufficient to hire part-time help for
operations, but the critical jobs remain the owners.

Only when you reach a level of 15-18 or more rooms can you afford staff capable of
decision-making roles.

In many ways, number of rooms can fall into this category or “more is less” as size
increases the level of staffing and alleviates some of the pressure that leads to “burn
out”.