European-Style Bed-and-Breakfasts Flourish Across the Nation : Tourism: Establishments can range from a rustic cabin in the woods to a townhouse in Manhattan. Not all are the bargains they are cracked up to be.

When the American tourist met the European bed-and-breakfast, it was love at first sight, and why not? What better antidotes to workaday stress than some “warm fuzzies”--flowered chintz, buttered scones, friendly hosts.

Quick to spot a potentially lucrative trend, would-be innkeepers in this country hotfooted it to the nearest Laura Ashley store and began converting spare bedrooms, garages, barns and carriage houses into inviting getaways.

As the numbers of B&Bs; swelled, from 1,000 in 1980 to an estimated 20,000 today, what was once a quirky alternative for the intrepid traveler has become downright commonplace. In some cases, uncommonly common.

There are canopy beds, lavish breakfasts, warm hospitality and unusual surroundings. There are also exorbitant rates, misleading claims, surly innkeepers and, well, unusual surroundings.

At their best, aficionados say, B&Bs; blend old-fashioned hospitality with the freedom to come and go. They offer a chance to try out different lifestyles, to indulge in afternoon tea in Victorian splendor or experience life on a working ranch. In big cities, even first-time visitors can feel like insiders, with knowledgeable hosts to point out the best restaurants and attractions.

“We’ve become an impersonal society,” said Pat Hardy, co-executive director of the Professional Assn. of Innkeepers International.

“This is a way to go away for a weekend and have somebody know your name. If you don’t show up, they know they should worry about you. They know when you’re going to come in and they want to know what happened to you during the day. Somebody cares.”

There’s also an element of surprise often missing from big hotel chains. Some B&B; owners delight in surprising guests with champagne or cake to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries.

But the surprises aren’t always so pleasant.

Bobbi Zane of Fullerton, Calif., got a room at Lake Tahoe that belonged to the innkeeper’s daughter. “She said, ‘We didn’t move a thing,’ and she hadn’t, not even the clothes in the closet. It wasn’t cute.”

Betty Gladden of Alameda, Calif., visiting New York’s Long Island, got a host who ate her leftover breakfast off her plate right in front of her.

Sarah Sonke of Midlothian, Va., got a mildewed trailer in Tennessee with no running water. There was, however, a rat, which had left its signature on the guest book. And all for $75 a night.

“Inconsistency, overcharging, misleading advertising, poor housekeeping, snooty attitudes, unreasonable policies, inflexible innkeepers and poor security are all signs of growing pains within the industry,” said Sonke, director of the American Bed & Breakfast Assn.. She and others in the industry blame a decade of runaway growth and a lack of standards for threatening the honeymoon between the American traveler and the B&B.;

Last year, public outcry reached all the way to that citadel of consumerism, Consumer Reports, which denounced U.S. bed-and-breakfasts in its 1991 Travel Letter as one of the 10 worst ways to spend travel money.

“During the honeymoon phase, everybody thought they should open an inn. But with so many proliferating, the quality was slipping,” said Hardy of the innkeepers association. “America is not like England, where you have to go through rigid government standards. Here, there are no standards at all.”

In an industry that can’t even agree on what a B&B; is. A spare room and box of cereal in someone’s home? A small hotel that serves breakfast? Setting standards hasn’t been easy.

Spurred by complaints, the AB&BA; is trying to do just that.

This marks the third year that AB&BA; inspectors have fanned out across the country in search of the poor housekeeping, unreasonable policies and unfriendly innkeepers that constitute the three leading causes for complaint.

They also look for the details that can mean the difference between “good” and “excellent”: Are towels frayed? Light bulbs too dim? Books interesting enough?

It took a team of innkeepers and inspectors two years to develop one set of ratings for everything from seaside Victorians to rustic log cabins.

The American Automobile Assn. and Mobil also rate B&Bs;, “but ones that get a low rating can rationalize that those organizations are used to rating hotels,” Sonke said. “They can’t say that about us.”

The effort has proven “incredibly expensive and politically aggravating. The AB&BA; has cut hard new ground,” PAII’s Pat Hardy said.

The program has cost the AB&BA; a third of its members. Some were dropped for failing to pass inspection. Others quit in disputes over their ratings.

“I’ve been told to go to hell many times,” Sonke said. “So far, most of the support has come from consumers, not the industry.”

But the program has made a difference to Betty Gladden, who’s spent the past year making improvements to her B&B;, the Garratt Mansion in Alameda, Calif., based on AB&BA; recommendations.

“To me, it was a shot in the arm,” Gladden said. “Someone came here who had nothing to gain and helped me see the problem areas in my inn that I couldn’t see.”

While many states have regulations governing taxes or alcohol, the majority exempt B&Bs; of three rooms or less from state health department inspections.

In Massachusetts and Maine, B&Bs; that serve full breakfasts are subject to state inspections. “I’m in favor of that,” Sonke said. “I wouldn’t have been three years ago, but I am now because of the things I’ve seen.”

Pennsylvania B&Bs; had been governed by the same law that applies to the state’s restaurants, but the Legislature voted in June to exempt B&Bs.; Efforts to substitute less stringent standards were thwarted by B&B; owners.

“We’re now attempting to write voluntary standards,” said Dorothy Wax, vice president of the Pennsylvania Travel Council. “But the idea of regulation tends to scare people.”

Like it or not, standards are on the way, prompted not only by B&B; marketing and trade organizations but also by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is conducting a series of B&B; tax audits across the country that are likely to result in standard definitions for the industry.

Innkeeper Mary Davies, owner of 10 Inverness Way in Inverness, Calif., is among those who argue that standards could compromise individuality.

“I know an innkeeper who has wonderful, tattered family Oriental rugs. My sense is that they wouldn’t pass the AB&BA; inspection. They’d say, ‘Why don’t you replace those crappy rugs?’ ”

Other innkeepers view the very notion of regulation as intrusive, said Bobbi Zane, who reviews inns for Fodors travel guides and publishes an industry newsletter called Yellow Brick Road.

“Individual entrepreneurs who have been in business successfully for a number of years recoil from the idea that somebody should tell them how to run their operations,” she said.

Many B&B; owners were attracted to innkeeping by the prospect of being one’s own boss. Others were drawn by what Pat Hardy, a former innkeeper, calls “the Green Velvet Skirt Syndrome. They picture themselves serving wine in the parlor to their guests. In fact, that’s a very small part of your day.”

After nine years in the business, Hardy sold her nine-room inn. “By that point, I’d seen 10,000 people. I was becoming numb,” Hardy said.

“The sameness of it takes so much energy--the spot on the stairs where people bang their suitcases once a week. The staff who don’t show up. Some days, when the guests come, you don’t want them to use the stuff you’ve just cleaned and washed.”

On the other end of the spectrum are Chuck and Charil Fulkerson of Taos, N.M., novice innkeepers still thrilled by their decision to quit their respective careers in sales and marketing and hairstyling.

“We keep waiting for the ‘guest from hell,’ somebody who complains about everything, but so far, we haven’t had anybody like that,” said Chuck Fulkerson. After just over a year in business, the Fulkersons are an unqualified success, already doubling the size of their three-room B&B.;

Veteran innkeeper Dane Wells, owner of the Queen Victoria in Cape May, N.J., the self-proclaimed B&B; capital of America with 40 in a town of 5,000, has watched the industry grow during his 12 years as a B&B; owner. He said that in addition to standards, a changing market is also forcing B&Bs; to change.

“When we got here,” he said, “guests were more willing to suffer idiosyncrasies, like shared baths. But with more people traveling, we’re no longer getting pioneers. We’re getting converts from the hotel trade, who want a little more in the way of amenities.”

At seminars, workshops and classes, savvy innkeepers are learning to cater to this broader market. As a result, more B&Bs; are allowing children and accepting credit cards. There are fewer shared baths and minimum stays and more telephones and TVs. Deposit and cancellation policies are becoming fairer. And more B&Bs; are offering afternoon tea, bedtime snacks and hors d’oeuvres.

Travelers searching for memorable experiences along with places to sleep have more options than ever. Dog sleds hang from the ceiling in the Iditarod Room at Yukon Don’s, an Alaskan homestead barn in the Matanuska Valley, 35 miles north of Anchorage. Smoke Hole Lodge, a 1,500-acre mountaintop ranch in Petersburg, W.Va., runs on kerosene, wood and bottled gas, for authentic turn-of-the-century flavor. And visitors to New York City can book anything from a SoHo loft to an East Side townhouse through City Lights, a bed-and-breakfast registry.

All of which may explain why, despite the problems, Sonke remains an unflagging champion of B&Bs.;

“We’re like teen-agers trying to figure out who we are and what we want to be,” she said. “None of our problems are unsolvable.”