Project on B&B
A consulting-style strategy report evaluating a hotel chain's proposed partnership with independent bed & breakfasts across India — market fit, revenue-sharing model, and a full financial guesstimate.
Case File
Three angles on the same report — click through.
A hotel chain wanted to diversify beyond standard rooms and tap into travellers who actively choose small, independent B&Bs over big hotels — for the personal attention, local authenticity, and charm hotels structurally can't offer.
But "partner with some B&Bs" isn't a strategy. Which B&Bs are worth partnering with? What does the hotel actually bring to the table? And critically — what's the actual revenue split that makes this worth it for both sides?
The brief: build a full consulting-grade case for the partnership — market data, a real financial model, a partnership framework, and a concrete recommendation.
- Market Sizing — pulled India Tourism Statistics (459 B&Bs, 2,304 rooms, up from 308 B&Bs the prior year) to size the opportunity and confirm the market is actually growing, not stagnant.
- Accessibility Framework — built a 10-point evaluation checklist (strategic alignment, target market overlap, quality standards, financial viability, legal exposure) to screen which B&Bs are actually worth partnering with, not just any B&B.
- Financial Guesstimate — modeled projected hotel profit share separately for coastal vs. mountain B&Bs, across peak and non-peak seasons, factoring in booking channel mix (offline, third-party platforms, hotel's own platform) and loyalty-program discounting.
- McKinsey 7S Application — mapped the partnership across all 7 dimensions (Strategy, Structure, Systems, Skills, Staff, Style, Shared Values) to stress-test whether it holds together operationally, not just financially.
- Terms Design — defined the actual revenue-sharing mechanics: what the hotel provides (brand, capital, reward-program access, training) versus what it earns back.
Recommended a limited-liability partnership structure: the hotel contributes brand equity, initial capital, reward-program integration, and operational training — the B&B keeps full operational autonomy and its existing charm.
Revenue split: 40% of profit from bookings through the hotel's own platform (where the hotel did the acquisition work), and 15% of profit from offline and third-party platform bookings (where the hotel's role is brand lending, not acquisition).
Modeled outcome: a single coastal B&B in peak season alone projects to roughly ₹2.1 lakh in hotel profit share — before accounting for the reward-program value uplift or brand-visibility gains that don't show up in a pure revenue model.
The Guesstimate
Modeled hotel profit share per B&B, peak season, split by region — accounting for booking channel and loyalty-program mix.
Nov, Dec, May–Jul · 153 days
Nov, Dec, Apr–Jun · 152 days
McKinsey 7S, Applied
Stress-testing the partnership across every operational dimension, not just the financial one.
Strategy
Diversifies accommodation offerings, giving the hotel a competitive edge with travellers seeking personalised stays.
Structure
Defined roles and decision rights — hotel provides capital and support, B&B keeps operational autonomy.
Systems
Shared booking, payment, and CRM infrastructure integrated with the hotel's existing reward program.
Skills
Cross-training in service quality, cross-selling, and QA between hotel staff and B&B hosts.
Staff
Right-fit recruiting on both sides to close any operational gaps before the partnership scales.
Style
Aligned brand aesthetics and communication style so the partnership feels coherent to guests, not bolted-on.
Shared Values
Hotel professionalism combined with B&B warmth — a single service philosophy across both.
Terms of Partnership
The core mechanics of the recommended deal structure.
Duration & Renewal
Fixed initial term with mutual-agreement renewal or termination clauses.
Roles & Responsibilities
Hotel: brand, capital, reward-program access, training. B&B: service standards, active promotion, marketing collaboration.
Revenue Split
40% of profit on hotel-platform bookings, 15% on offline/third-party bookings — reflecting who did the acquisition work.
Dispute Resolution
Negotiation → mediation → arbitration, in that order, before anything escalates further.
Research Methods
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