I’ll join the crowd and take hotels over B&Bs too. I have also never stayed in a B&B for the reasons mentioned - everything about them sounds horrible to me. I will also join the group in favour of the well-run small hotel. We’ve stayed in hotels all over about 18 states and three provinces, and those are my favourites.
The B and B we stayed at on Oahu was on a noisy street, had a gate you could only access certain hours, shared a driveway with the neighbor who got up and left for work at 6 AM (maybe he was the chef at a REAL hotel and had to start whipping up those yummy macadamia nut pancakes for ROOM SERVICE), was decorated in 70s faux Polynesian crap, had lumpy mattresses and was not exactly clean. We actually checked out, losing a night’s deposit, and went to a very nice hotel where I slept for 8 hours straight (not my usual routine). Hotels rock!
I’m with you. I’ll take a big chain over a B & B anyday. I don’t want my travel lodging to include personal interaction. I can’t honestly say why this is, but I prefer the anonymity of a large hotel when I’m away from home.
I think maybe it’s because when I go on trips, I generally have a very full day of things to do and am pretty beat when I’m done. I just want to go to my room, put on the TV and maybe take a valium or two. I’m not interested in talking to anyone or really dealing with people in any way.
Yeah, but then I watched SPARTACUS. I don’t like snails or oysters. I do like hot naked guys though. So I’m really not sure where I fit in.
Sampiro, if you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve got to check out Flirting With Disaster. Very funny flick with some sharp digs at the subculture of B&Bs.
“Without spontaneity, the world of B&B’s is fairly meaningless.”
Not particularly relevant, but one of my favorite signs outside of a B&B is in my former residence of Milledgeville, Georgia. It’s an old mansion in the historic district.
Milledgeville for those who don’t know (which I certainly didn’t until I applied for a job there) was the capital of Georgia from 1804-1866. It was occupied by Sherman, had a thriving antebellum economy, etc., and they’ve done a fantastic job at keeping their old downtown thriving and promoting local history, so the B&B is super popular.
Anyway, the sign:
Often occasioned the remark “I guess they’re talking about World War II?”
I’ve stayed in a B&B just once, and this sums up my feelings exactly.
I like motels better.
I like B&Bs, but under controlled conditions. It has to be somewhere in the back of Beyond, where the chains just don’t go. It has to be Scottish, and it has to be within staggering distance of a public house with a good selection of single-malts. Other than that, the chain hotel is prefered.
I had forgotten about them, but yes, Scottish/Northern English B&Bs are ok by me.
This was exactly my thoughts if I end up doing some traveling. I don’t care too much about where I stay, as long as it’s not Grandma’s House foofy and it’s close to some nightlife and attractions; being within staggering distance of a drinking establishment is a special bonus. Of course, most of the time when I travel, I end up staying at the home of someone I already know, so I’ve never really spent much time in hotels, let alone B&Bs.
I forgot what I was going to ask earlier - what’s up with the “firm” mattresses? We’ve started bringing a roll of foam with us on our trips now, the mattresses are so “firm” (read: so hard they hurt my hips and shoulders). Do people actually like mattresses so hard?
My wife and I have stayed in several B&Bs like this, and always have a really good time. Like Athena, I am NOT a morning person, and I prefer to have breakfast around 10am or so. My wife and I have explained to this the hosts and so far it’s never been a problem; the closest we had was once place that stopped doing breakfast at 9am, so they left it on the balcony for us (accessible from outside the room) and we woke up to lovely fresh-brewed coffee, eggs benedict, and so on. It was very nice.
There were other guests there but we didn’t see them except to nod pleasantries as we passed, no-one generally bothered us with irritating small-talk beyond initial introductions.
Hotel rooms are places to sleep and store your bags while you’re on holiday. A B&B is somewhere you go to feel refreshed, and so far my wife and I have certainly felt very refreshed after a weekend at a B&B.
The ones you guys are describing don’t sound very fun at all…
When I was in high school, we used to have band and chorus festivals in which the band and chorus members of local high schools would rehearse for two days and have a concert on the second night. There were various levels of this: county band/chorus, district band/chorus, regional band/chorus.
Well, for everything above county (which was close enough to home to do day camp style), the out-of-towners would stay with host families at the location that was hosting the festival. And frankly, B&B’s feel to me exactly like staying with those host families felt like: a stranger’s house, where you weren’t sure how to act, or what you could touch or look at, or when or what you were going to eat, and sleeping in (usually) a college-age child’s bed (because they were off at college and the room was vacant), not sure how late is too late to be up, not sure what you can risk touching in case of fingerprints or breakage…generally more stressful than relaxing, frankly.
Give me a completely impersonal and bland hotel room, please.
As I have to travel often for my job I find the chain hotels way more comfortable. I really am just looking for a few hours on my laptop and then off to lala land.
I’ve only been to one B&B and thought the experience was nice. I got married there though and the owner had the good sense to leave us alone. She would leave breakfast out on the patio and gently knock on our door.
There were only three guests rooms and they were all self contained so there were no shared bathrooms or community nonsense. I don’t even remember meeting the other guests actually.
I’ve been in B&Bs that were okay and others that were like they had been designed by Raggedy Anne on Acid: every surface was covered with some kind of knitted, quilted, or crocheted thing. With chains you know what you are getting and the staff don’t want to talk to you anymore that I want to talk to them. If I’m trying to get away for a weekend, a B&B might be okay, but usually I want to walk out of my hotel and be smack in the middle of downtown.
I’ve only stayed in a B&B once, and for that purpose, it was perfect. My best childhood friend got married in a small town in Maine, and she had a stroke of genius regarding the accommodations: all her family stayed in a motel, and all the bridal party (myself included) and significant others basically had a huge slumber party in a nice B&B a few miles down the road. We took over the whole place, so except for the owners (who were very nice, but mostly left us to our own devices, which was fine), there was nobody to make small talk with who wasn’t a childhood friend.
Also, not having your mom in a room down the hall from you the night before your wedding? Priceless.
Other than that, I’m not much for small talk either, so I’d probably go the hotel route (non-chain hotel would be preferable if there were one in the same price range). But most of the time, when I travel somewhere, I have family or friends to crash with. I am wherever I am for the location or an event (wedding, etc.), so I really don’t care too much about the hotel room except as a place to sleep. (And yeah, what’s up with the mattresses that are so firm they hurt your back?)
I’m with 5-HT here. When I travel, and I do a lot, I’m in the room to shower, sleep, and check e-mail/work on the computer. That’s it. Give me a comfortable bed, controllable climate control, sufficient accessible electrical outlets, and bathroom big enough to fit me and I’m fine. Lodging is not a destination for me, just a place to recharge while I’m enjoying the destination. Keep the frilly pillows, the antiques, the squeaky windy staircase, and especially keep the breakfast.
One day when I’m traveling just to get away from home instead of going to a destination, maybe a Bed and Breakfast will be in my plans.
I will admit I have been to a couple of B&Bs in the Southwest that really didn’t fit the typical mold. The rooms were in small cottages, there were no shared facilities, the accommodations were comfortable, and there was no frilly foo-foo. I felt like I was in a comfortable place of lodging, not a guest in someone’s house, and felt more at east coming and going as I pleased, walking around without thinking my steps would disturb anyone in adjacent rooms or downstairs, and not watching my every move to make sure that an errant brush of the hand wouldn’t knock over an heirloom antique.
I wonder why so many B&B operators see the need to make their rooms resemble what you might find at your grandmother’s or aunt’s house, or a small-town old tyme this-is-how-they-lived-back-in-1885 Victorian heritage house museum. Do they expect that most visitors are going to be kountry kitschy women?
The other thing about B&Bs - few permit dogs. I have two that always travel with me.
We’ve stayed at a couple that were stunning and wonderful and a couple that were real horror shows. One that was so “Victorian” that every horizontal surface was covered with fans and pearls and gloves. You couldn’t put down a book or a glass of water. And the shower didn’t drain, so I was up to my ankles by the time I finished.
The best places? You just tell them you’re allergic to grapefruit and you sleep a little late. You’ll see them in the morning. What incredible architecture, nothing you’ll see in most hotels. The Moondance Inn in Red Wing, Minnesota, has Tiffany and Steuben chandeliers, and their dogs will dance for you only if you want them to. You no likey, dogs no dancey. The Glynn House in Ashland, New Hampshire, lent us clothes when the airline lost our luggage.
I’m a misanthrope. B&B’s are anathema to me.
Plus, I’d feel very uncomfortable getting personally acquainted with the person who I know will eventually be handling my semen-encrusted sheets, pillow cases, bath towels, duvets, seat covers, tea cozy…