A Traveler’s Guide to Bed & Breakfast Guides

So-called bed & breakfast accommodations--whether actual small hotels or private homes accepting paying guests--are increasingly popular in the United States. Often family-run and at least sometimes very reasonably priced, such places tend to be friendly, intimate and quaint--and thus, to many travelers, infinitely preferable to chain motels or conventional downtown hostelries.

As B&Bs; have proliferated, so have guides to them. Here is a selection of some of the more recent ones:

THE ANNUAL DIRECTORY OF AMERICAN BED & BREAKFASTS edited by Julia M. Pitkin, 1993 edition (Rutledge Hill Press, $18.95 paper).

This is the most extensive catalogue of B&Bs; I’ve seen--a thick volume (of 1,424 very thin pages) listing more than 6,000 establishments all over the United States and in Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. About 1,000 of the entries are reported new since the ’92 edition. Besides basic information (proprietors’ names, rates, means of payment, acceptability of children, etc.), each establishment gets a brief descriptive paragraph.

Though these descriptions are informative, offering notes on such things as the history of the house and its proximity to local shopping, restaurants and tourist facilities, they are hardly objective. In fact, such tourist-brochure phrases as “Enjoy pampered elegance,” “Relax and enjoy your visit” and “You’ll cherish the natural setting” abound--suggesting that, however useful the guide might be for its factual content, it is highly uncritical and apparently draws heavily on material supplied by the B&Bs; themselves.

ABSOLUTELY EVERY BED & BREAKFAST IN ARIZONA (ALMOST) edited by Toni Knapp (The Rockrimmon Press, $10.95 paper); ABSOLUTELY EVERY BED & BREAKFAST IN COLORADO (ALMOST) edited by Toni Knapp, second edition (The Rockrimmon Press, $12.95 paper); ABSOLUTELY EVERY BED & BREAKFAST IN NEW MEXICO (ALMOST) edited by Toni Knapp (The Rockrimmon Press, $10.95 paper), and ABSOLUTELY EVERY BED & BREAKFAST IN TEXAS (ALMOST) edited by Toni Knapp (The Rockrimmon Press, $14.95 paper).

These are little more than collections of listings (without the PR attached), stripped down to the essentials--including very brief descriptions (“1970 ranch house; on 10 acres in the Animas Valley; antique furnishings and art work”) as well as the hard-core facts. A nice touch: Entries refer readers to other guidebooks in which the establishments in question are reviewed in more detail.

BED & BREAKFAST IN CALIFORNIA by Kathy Strong, fifth edition (The Globe Pequot Press, $11.95 paper).

A straightforward guide to more than 400 Golden State B&Bs; by a former B&B; proprietor. Descriptive paragraphs are reasonably detailed, but they are rather bland, lacking much in the way of strong opinion.

FODOR’S BED & BREAKFASTS, COUNTRY INNS, AND OTHER WEEKEND PLEASURES: The West Coast by Tom Gauntt, et al. (Fodor’s, $15 paper).

As its title indicates, this is a fairly wide-ranging guide (California, Oregon and Washington are covered), with basic sightseeing information, notes on restaurants and the like framing the listings--and with a number of distinctly non-B&B; places included. Plenty of background and descriptive detail is included for each establishment.

THE B.C. BED & BREAKFAST GUIDE by Sarah Bell (Gordon Soules, $11.95 paper).

Little more than a collection of obviously self-generated advertising statements from the establishments included--”Come and share our delightful oceanfront house,” “Jane serves a different gourmet breakfast every day,” etc.--this guide, listing 197 B&Bs; throughout British Columbia, might nonetheless be of interest to B.C.-bound travelers simply because it covers a lot of little-known places not found in other guides.

THE NON-SMOKERS’ GUIDE TO BED & BREAKFASTS, edited by Robyn Martins (Rutledge Hill, $9.95 paper).

Though it shares a publisher and a format with “The Annual Directory of American Bed & Breakfasts” (see above), this is an independent volume in more ways than one. First of all, although it includes only about 1,150 places, it lists some that aren’t included in the larger work. And even for the listings that are shared, different descriptions--which seem inflated with somewhat less puffery--are given here.

Even the facts don’t always agree: The “Directory,” for instance, says that Greene Gate Village in Saint George, Utah, consists of eight restored pioneer homes; the “Non-Smokers’ Guide” says nine. Sutton’s Weed Farm in Hudson, Mich., is on a 180-acre plot of woods and paths in the former guide, a 170-acre farm in the latter. Well, they do say that stopping smoking alters your perceptions.

THE BED & BREAKFAST GUIDE TO GREAT BRITAIN by Susan Causin, Elsie Dillard and the Editors of Consumer Reports Books, revised edition (Consumer Reports Books, $15.95 paper) and THE BEST BED & BREAKFAST/ ENGLAND/ SCOTLAND/ WALES, 1992-93 by Sigourney Welles, Jill Darbey and Joanna Mortimer (U.K.H.M. Publishing/Globe Pequot Press, $15.95 paper).

The phrase “bed & breakfast” doesn’t necessarily mean quite the same thing in the United Kingdom as it does in North America. Though some British/Scottish/ Welsh B&Bs; are indeed small inn-like hotels or converted residences, a British B&B; can also be simply an inexpensive hotel of no particular character at which breakfast is included in the room price. The meticulous, highly professional Consumer Reports volume (in the same series as “The Good Food Guide,” the best restaurant guide to the British Isles) includes B&Bs; of all types, described plainly and often evocatively.

The section on London is particularly useful: Given the astronomical rates charged in that capital by conventional hotels, it’s a pleasant surprise indeed to find listings for so many reportedly clean, well-located little B&Bs; in the $75-$100 (per double) range. “The Best Bed & Breakfast” guide covers mostly private homes with B&B; facilities, from urban apartments to Tudor mansions. Here the prices are even lower, often as little as $30 per person.

HOW TO OPEN AND OPERATE A BED & BREAKFAST HOME: An Unabridged Guide by Jan Stankus, third edition (Globe Pequot Press, $14.95 paper). Andr just in case you’d like to try the B&B-keeper;’s trade yourself, this comprehensive how-to book covers everything from “Would you make a good host?” to bedroom and bathroom furnishings, to advertising and legal matters. Remember, though: If you open your own B&B;, you won’t have much time to visit anybody else’s.