Is there anyone else who'd rather stay in a chain hotel than a B&B?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I don’t like B&Bs. You wouldn’t believe how many people think I’m weird when I say this. I was told today that “You must just like blandness”, which isn’t true, though I do like guaranteed quality.

Yes, I know they’re quaint and I know they have character (sometimes) and every one is one-of-a-kind (yawn, so’s every house), but I just prefer the convenience of, say, a Holiday Inn Express:

*24/7 check-in/maintenance staff
*ALWAYS a private bath
*If I feel like breakfast at 8 a.m. I’ll come downstairs, if I feel like it earlier, or later, I’ll come downstairs then, and if I don’t feel like it at all, I won’t. (Most B&Bs I’ve stayed at ask you specifically what time you’ll be having b’fast.)
*Indoor pools- gotta love 'em
*Some people think it’s charming having the couple that owns the place sitting with you at 7:30 a.m. and telling you about the time their grandchild bit the head off a squirrel right in the very chair I’m sitting in or how their sister Ruth’s husband once drove through a city just 300 miles from where I grew up [the “where you from/oh, lemme find a connection to there” good host bit- which I appreciate the etiquette of, but… not at breakfast]. I am one of the farthest removed from a morning person you can even begin to imagine- it’s all I can do to act marginally alive early in the morning, let alone talkative.
*Hotels usually have better cable
*Hotels usually have better water pressure/amenities/etc.
Anyway, is there anyone else who’s stayed in both who prefers hotels?

2

I’m not going to contribute anything other than mere numbers to your thread, but, yes, having done both, I feel the same way as you do, for generally the same reasons.

3

Yea, I tried the B and B thing and it wasn’t for me. I felt too much like a guest in someone’s home (appropriately) and was burdened with the expectations that come with that (am I using the right towels?).

With my work I’m constantly staying in hotels and I actually don’t mind it. Clean sheets, TV at the end of the bed, nobody cares what you do and when you come and go, what more could a guy want?

4

Haven’t stayed in one, but based on this thread and other impressions:

I hate smalltalk. Especially with people I don’t know.

I don’t talk very much when I’m eating. Especially with people I don’t know. I don’t like talking when I eat, so unless you want me to eat slowly (as I talk to you) and thus eat everything you had planned to cook that day, just let me get the fuel in my body.

When I am on vacation, the notion of waking up before 11 a.m. is essentially criminal. “Oh, but you’ve simply got to have/see/smell/walk/[whatever]” – not unless it’ll be the most amazing thing ever and then put me to sleep. You do not want to be around me when I want to be asleep and you’re trying to be cheerful.

I do not want to have to worry about flaming around you. Chain hotels are big enough that employees are required to not visibly care.

I actively do not want your personal attention. I want to go about my business alone, in peace. If something is wrong, my wife will tell you. Otherwise, assume the lack of complaints means we haven’t discovered whatever mistake you think you made.

You haven’t heard of where (specifically) I live or where (specifically) I’m from, and when I tell you the area I grew up in (D.C.), the first word you’ll think of (politics) is not where you want to go. And really, there’s only so much stimulating conversation can stem from “So, Texas. Is it really that hot?” Yes. High this year is, I think, 115, and it was at least 105 every day (as far as I remember) in July. People don’t spend any more time outside after about 7 a.m. unless they absolutely have to.

I don’t want sunshine to wake me up. I want restfulness to. I’ve seen the sun enough, thanks.

I keep late hours, which means going to a B&B would really be unkind to the owners.

Basically, this: I am nice when there’s no reason to be mean, but I really, truly, really and truly, like being left alone. I prefer opting into conversations. I get internally grumpy very easily, and it slips out, and that’s no fun for anybody.

Plus, I really don’t care about gardens. And according to one professor I had, gardens are big with B&Bs.

5

Mostly I prefer chains. However on one business trip, I ended up staying at a B&B and it was far better than the hotel I’d left.

I was in Florida and the hotel my company had arranged for me to stay in was a full hour’s drive from the vendor site. Since I was overseeing a software implementation, that made for very long days and I did not want to add two more hours to it. Plus the chain hotel smelled funny, had messed up AC and was just generally gross.

The next day I asked around at the vendor site and they recommended the B&B I ended up using. For the same price, I had working AC, no weird smells, a very comfy bed, and without the chitchat you mentioned because I would get there well after the hosts would be in bed. Plus the wife packed me chocolate chip cookies since I could never have any of their appetizers or wine before dinner.

The cookies were really good.

6

It’s hard to have an orgy in a B&B room.

In all seriousness, hotel all the way. I always stay at the Orrington in Evanston, IL when I go there with my dad. The place is a real class act. Aces all the way.

7

I want a clean, inexpensive, bug-free room, with clean linens, & within easy walking distance of amenities (personal laundry, restaurant).

I don’t care about the rest.

Oh, yeah…it needs a good lock on the door. Perhaps a little security.

8

Have obnoxious rock bands ever trashed a B&B?

9

Yes, I love the anonymity that comes with a chain hotel. Every so often I am conned by the image presented by the B&B – oooh, antiques! oooh, sherry in the parlor! – but I usually manage to get it together and remember that once I’m there, I hate the in-your-faceness of a B&B.

Once in a while I do find a good blend – an independent hotel that’s run like a HOTEL but has some interesting aspects. We stayed in a great hotel like this on a vacation to Salem, MA. It was fairly small and full of lovely antiques (with modern mattresses) and offered the twee amenities like evening port, but also had all the normal things you’d expect from a hotel, like cable and well-appointed bathrooms and staff who didn’t care if you came in at 2 AM or slept past noon.

10

If I was staying there on business, I’d probably prefer the blandness and uniformity of a chain hotel - it may not be exciting, but it can be relied upon to perform in a number of necessary ways with some consistency.

For a holiday or leisure stop, I might well prefer something a bit more personal and possibly quirky.

11

Chain hotel for all of the reasons above …

I stayed in a phenomenal B&B once in DC, 2 blocks from a metro station, private bathroom, fireplace in the bedroom, windows onto a private garden on 2 sides [the room was the back corner first floor, I think it would have been that little bedroom for invalids or servants back in the mid 1800s when the house was built] and ti cost about the same as a chain hotel.

In general B&Bs cost more than chain hotels also …

12

B & B’s make me uncomfortable, like you’re staying at someone else’s Grandmothers house.

Hotel all the way. Motel if it comes down to it.

13

Never did a B&B because it’s like doing a sleepover with strangers. Plus, what if the other guests are real assholes and you’re practically living with them? No thanks. Waaay too intimate.

My uncle owned a very successful B&B. He’s a great cook and a super nice guy. LOTS of return business. He made a small fortune on the business.

I might have stayed with him, but that would be the extent of my B&B experience. It’s almost creepy. Like Dwight Troot (sp) creepy, possibly.

14

We stayed in a B&B once for some anniversary. It was OK, but not our cuppa.

As others have mentioned, we’re usually not big on getting all cozy with strangers. We were there to be with each other, not you, and no, we don’t care to join you for a glass of wine in the afternoon. The breakfast was good, but ordinarily I prefer to have a choice and be able to order a meal, instead of eating whatever’s put in front of me and making nice. We really had nothing in common with the other couple that was there, so it was a bit of a strain, at least on us, making small talk, and we couldn’t be our usual snarky selves and make jokes/comment that only we got. There was also the thing of feeling like you were in somebody’s house, and strangers at that. It was an anniversary, remember? Not to comfy about, er, messing up the sheets.

15

The idea of a B&B sounds downright awful to me. When I’m in a hotel, I like to wander around and see what’s there (so thats where the vending machine is. hey, a gym!) and no one bothers me while I do it. If I were in a B&B, I’d probably lock myself into my room to avoid the small talk.

And having breakfast with a bunch of people I don’t know, at a time they specify…nope. That’s not a vacation. That’s an obligation.

16

OK, now I know that you really ARE Augusten Burroughs. He mentions the same thing in his book Possible Side Effects.

17

I haven’t stayed in a B & B for the reasons mentioned above. I’m shy (really!) and hate small talk, and would feel uncomfortable as all get out in a B & B. Anonymous hotel, please.

18

One more in favor of sterile hotels. When I first got married we tried the romantic B&B route. Hated it. Last thing newlyweds want are to be staying at Grandma’s house, which is what it felt like. We tried 3 in the first year of marriage, and have never tried in the 10 years since.

Plus, sharing a bathroom! I’m not paying $70 to share a bathroom with other guests! :eek:

19

I’ve never stayed in a B&B, but we did stay in a quaint little old hotel on Block Island a few years back. That was kind of neat. Kind of that B&B feel but without the weird old couple.

I like the Starwood W hotels. They’re kind of like sleeping in a nightclub in the not-too-distant future.

20

I’ve got mixed feelings. We’ve stayed at some nice B&Bs. Marjorie’s Kauai Inn on Kauai was awesome. Beautiful view, hot tub on the deck, fresh mango with lime juice waiting for us in the mini-fridge upon check-in. Scrupulously clean. The two hotels I’ve stayed in on Kauai were considerably more expensive, rather moldy, and would have been insanely more expensive for a room with a decent view. Other B&Bs have had truly delicious gourmet breakfasts. I can only think of one set of hosts that didn’t impress me, and that was because it really would have helped us out to be able to use their microwave to heat up some leftovers for lunch, and they couldn’t make that happen. I haven’t actually found the hosts to be particularly intrusive. Unless it’s a business class hotel, I often find chain hotels to be kind of disgusting–mold, dust, dingy linens, full of noisy teenagers staying for some group activity, things like that.

I do have one communal breakfast horror story, though. All of the families staying at the B&B (maybe 3) were sitting around having breakfast. One of the families had a son about 12 years old, and they we talking about his upcoming birthday. He blurts out “How can I be turning 13, when you and dad have only been married for 12 years?” Awkward silence ensued.