My wife and I own the Alexis Park Inn & Suites in Iowa City, IA, located right next to Rwy 25 at the Iowa City Airport. It's a small, 30-suite (44 bedrooms), all-suite hotel, built in 1979-80. We bought the place in 2002, and have spent the last 7 years remodeling it into the nation's only all-suites, all aviation-themed hotel.
See us here:
www.AlexisParkInn.com
We are members of the hotel-motel association, as well as the bed & breakfast guild (we're kind of a hybrid between the two). We're either a very small hotel, or a humongous B&B -- it depends on whose looking at us, and from what angle. (We deliver breakfast to each suite each morning.)
That said, we've learned three things:
1. You'll make enough money to nicely support your flying habit, but don't expect to get rich.
2. You'd better love what you're doing, cuz no one could ever pay you enough to work so hard.
3. You absolutely cannot rely on fly-in business. You MUST have alternate revenue streams.
There simply aren't enough pilots in the world to support a hotel. You must have a location that allows business from another source -- in our case, it's the University of Iowa and some other larger businesses. (Procter & Gamble, ACT, Oral B, etc.)
One example of a hotel that has been trying to make it virtually 100% on pilots: The Hangar Hotel in Texas. They've got a wonderful, new, scratch-built facility on the airport grounds, a terrific aviation theme -- and when we visited on a Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, we were the only guests in the entire place. It was truly painful to see. After years of trying, they are now in "survival mode", with the restaurant and bar moth-balled during the week in a desperate attempt to save money. It's agonizing to witness, because they've got a facility we could only dream of building.
So what's their problem? Their airport is miles from town, so the only people who can conveniently stay at their place are fly-in pilots. And we all know how far down GA flying is nowadays. There just aren't enough of us left flying to support a lodging establishment of any size.
I'm sure their weekend business is still good -- but that's another thing to remember -- you cannot survive on just Friday/Saturday business. There are 5 other nights of the week, and the expenses don't stop just because your guests left...
Our airport, on the other hand, is very close to town, making our location ideal for drive-in business, too. We're less than a mile from the University campus, downtown, etc. -- and that makes all the difference in the world. Our business is 97 drive-ins for every 3 fly-ins. (But of those 97, there are a helluva lot of "wannabee", current or former pilots...)
In the summer, of course, those numbers change. But you get the picture.
If you want to build something rather isolated (like, for example, Gaston's Resort), and you're just doing it for fun, go for it. If you're hoping to make millions, though, you'd be better off buying yourself a soul-less big-box 400-room chain motel near a commercial airport.
Good luck! You're embarking on the adventure of a lifetime...