Home (But Not Alone) in New York : The Faces Are as Friendly as the Price Tags at Manhattan’s New Proliferation of B

Only Cuddles the poodle was on hand to welcome me when I first unlocked the door to my Manhattan bed and breakfast lodging in a swank apartment building just down the street from Carnegie Hall. A note attached to the key and left with the doorman had alerted me to the pup’s presence, and it assured me he definitely was not an attack dog. With this comforting news, I stepped through the door to see what I had gotten myself into.

In recent years, hundreds of New York townhouse and apartment dwellers have made spare bedrooms available to paying guests--vacationers as well as business travelers--at rates usually substantially lower than those charged at the city’s hotels. The lodgings range from posh penthouses to rooms in modest apartments. On a two-night business trip earlier this year, I decided to see for myself what kind of experience a bed and breakfast lodging in New York offered. I knew I would be sharing the home of a stranger, which was a little intimidating. How safe would I be?

Almost all the B&B; hosts are represented by one or more reservation services, which handle all bookings and collect payments and local taxes. In the Manhattan Yellow Pages, I found almost a dozen services listed, and I picked one of them, Urban Ventures, at random. (Later, I visited the business offices of the seven oldest and best-known firms; see Guidebook, L17.) Urban Ventures quoted me a midweek rate of just $78 a night for a room with a private bath in an apartment just a 10-minute walk from the meeting I had to attend.

Not bad, I thought, for a city where many business hotels routinely charge $150 to $200 or more a night during the week.

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For that price, I also got an adjoining open-air terrace and a full breakfast--served in my room, as it turned out. And as a friendly extra, my host poured a huge vodka-on-the-rocks for me each night before I went out to dinner. Both evenings she directed me to her favorite neighborhood restaurants, where she promised I would find good food and a friendly welcome at a moderate cost. Local insights such as these are another benefit of a B&B; stay and can enhance a New York stay.

And, yes, my host was a she--a single parent with a teen-age son--and I am a he. Sharing an apartment with a stranger of the opposite sex is one of the realities of a New York B&B; stay, and one of many ways in which B&Bs; differ from hotels. You can, of course, ask to stay with a host of the same sex. But I figured if my host trusted me, an unknown quantity, I wasn’t going to make a fuss.

My first call to Urban Ventures proved, of necessity, to be a quick lesson in how the B&B; system operates in New York. Did I want “hosted” or “unhosted” lodgings, the reservation clerk asked. “Hosted” meant I would be given a room in an apartment or house in which my host and other members of the family would be present. “Unhosted” meant I would be given a key to an unoccupied dwelling, typically a room or apartment with a private entrance in a townhouse in which the host has a separate apartment. “Unhosted” usually costs more.

Decisions, decisions.

In the spirit of adventure, I decided to opt for a hosted B&B.; Next, Urban Ventures asked me in what part of New York I wanted to stay. I named an address in midtown Manhattan where I was scheduled to give a luncheon talk, and the clerk came up with three possibilities. Two offered a room with a shared bath at about $65 a night. I took the third with its private bath for $13 more. With city tax, the total came to $84.14 a night.

At this point, however, my reservation was not yet confirmed. As I was now informed, Urban Ventures had to call the host of my choice to determine if the room was free and if the host was available to take in a guest on the dates I wanted. If there was no problem, I would get a confirmation letter in the mail in a day or two. If the room wasn’t available, Urban Ventures promised to get back to me immediately to try for another place. Obviously, booking a B&B; is not something left to the last minute.

In a couple of days, the confirmation letter arrived naming my host--the first time I realized she was a she--giving me her phone number and telling me to contact her so she would know when to expect my arrival. Oddly, I hadn’t thought of this, but of course she wouldn’t want to be trapped in her apartment all day waiting for me to show up. B&Bs; don’t have 24-hour desk clerks. I phoned, got her message machine and, a few hours later, her return call. Easily enough, we worked out an equitable arrangement. She would be at work when I arrived at 2 p.m. to drop off my luggage, but she would leave a key in an envelope with my name on it with the building doorman.

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On the appointed day, everything worked smoothly. When the taxi pulled up to the apartment building, I was pleased both by its excellent location in one of Manhattan’s best neighborhoods and by its attractive and well-maintained appearance. The doorman had the envelope, and the only surprise was the note about Cuddles. Following instructions, I took the elevator to the 18th floor to my room for the next two nights. Most (but not all) B&B; services require a two-night minimum stay.

I knocked on the door, but the only response was high-pitched yipping. So I turned the key and stepped inside. Cuddles, a white, furry ball, virtually flipped cartwheels in excited greeting. The little guy likes me, I thought. And then, as I looked around, I experienced a strange, momentary chill. Not because of the apartment; it was bright and cheery, a colorful place decorated by someone with an artistic bent. No, I suddenly felt like an intruder, a housebreaker even, in the home of someone I’d never met. Would I let a stranger from out of town in my home unescorted, even for $78 a night? I’m not sure.

The note told me I had the “peach” room to the right of the entrance, and I don’t think I could have wished for anything better.

With the luck of the beginner, I’d chosen an apartment that was ideally suited as a B&B; lodging. My room and bath were at the end of a separate hallway that could be closed off from the rest of the apartment. I could come and go without passing through my host’s private living quarters. On the second night I was there, my host, a free-lance video producer, threw a dinner party for friends, and though I heard chatter in the dining room when I returned to my room after a Carnegie Hall concert, I never saw any of them.

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Maybe I was just lucky this time, but the managers who run the New York B&B; reservation services told me they get very few complaints. Indeed, hosts who prove to be a problem are dropped from the listings. Apparently there is a large enough supply of amiable New Yorkers with pleasant lodgings to fill the current demand. Most first-time guests tend to be adventurous travelers who have stayed in B&Bs; elsewhere.

Understandably, many first-timers voice concerns about their personal safety, often telling the reservation services they are leery about spending the night in a stranger’s home. To reassure them, the reservation managers offer a convincing argument: They know their hosts, they have inspected their homes and they are in touch with them frequently.

In fact, the real problem, as the managers see it, is guarding their hosts against undesirable guests. Yedida Nielsen, who heads City Lights Bed & Breakfast, checks guest references, such as credit cards, and listens for any comments that hint a caller might be unsuitable. “We’ve developed a good third ear,” she said.

Actually, some repeat guests seek out B&B; lodgings because they believe a private home or apartment is safer than an anonymous hotel, says Sheli Leifer of Abode Bed & Breakfast. “They feel better staying with someone.” This is especially true of women traveling alone, who usually ask for a room with a female host.

“You’re taking a chance, and we’re taking a chance,” one host told me. Like all the hosts I talked to, she insisted on anonymity, both for security reasons and to avoid getting direct calls from potential guests. As it turns out, guests usually are on their best behavior, says Mary McAulay, who heads Urban Ventures. “People who will steal hotel towels won’t do it in a B&B.; They don’t want their hosts to think ill of them.”

Curiously, many of the hosts are active in the New York arts scene, renting rooms as a way of supplementing their fluctuating incomes in a city with a notoriously high cost of living. My host was once a singer in Manhattan night spots. Nielsen, a former actress and acting teacher, initially recruited her colleagues in the theater as hosts when she formed her B&B; service eight years ago. She took me on an inspection tour of the apartment of one of her more recently listed hosts, a Manhattan art dealer who lives in a huge, 10th-floor loft that is filled with offbeat art objects.

Richard Caine, who heads Performing Arts Bed & Breakfast, often appears in TV commercials, as does his wife. He offers townhouse lodgings near Lincoln Center, which accounts for the name of his service. And Lois Rooks of At Home in New York is a former classical singer who appeared in off-Broadway musicals and in TV commercials. Because of her contacts, she said, she is often given free tickets to undersold recitals and other performances, which she passes along to her guests. Leslie Goldberg of Bed & Breakfast Network of New York recently matched visiting opera buffs with a host couple who are opera singers.

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Though the hosts are in the B&B; business “for the money,” as the art dealer bluntly expressed it, that’s not her only reward. “I do like people, and I’m making friends. It’s nice when they come back.” She sees herself, too, as something of a hometown booster. “People who stay with me get a feeling of what it’s like to live in Manhattan. It’s a big city, but it’s also a very nice place.” Kathy Kruger of New World Bed & Breakfast echoed these thoughts. “I think it’s a terrific way to see Manhattan. It demystifies Manhattan and puts it on a human scale. I love this city.”

As a minimum, Nielsen expects her hosts to provide guests with bath soap and a full set of towels that are changed every two or three days, fresh linens that are changed at least every four days and a continental breakfast that includes juice, muffins and a choice of brewed coffee or tea. But the best hosts offer a lot more. “I want to see hosts who put out flowers,” said Goldberg, “who know where to get the best Chinese food, who know the off-Broadway shows--hosts who take that extra step.”

Each of the bed and breakfast services I visited is different. For example, Leifer’s Abode and Goldberg’s Network are basically one-person operations. The advantage in booking through them is that the two managers know their hosts personally and can give a precise description of the room or apartment being rented. The disadvantage is that you may sometimes get a recorded message or an answering service when you call, since they aren’t always at the phone. The larger firms, such as Nielsen’s City Lights and McAulay’s Urban Ventures, employ a reservations staff, not all of whom may have visited all the rentals. On the other hand, somebody is on duty during business hours to take calls.

Some of the firms specialize. Kathy Kruger of New World seeks out lodgings that are in the “solid, middle-class” category in “good” neighborhoods, which translates as more expensive. With her company, a room for one person with a private bath begins at about $80 a night. Urban Ventures sets less restrictive standards for its lodgings, offering rentals that begin at $40 a night for a modest room for one person with a shared bath. As McAulay sees it, “As long as you give an accurate description, you can sell almost anything.”

GUIDEBOOK

A Host of B&B; Services

* Abode Bed & Breakfast Ltd. (P.O. Box 20022, New York 10028, 800-835-8880 or 212-472-2000) is a one-person operation offering mostly upscale, unhosted apartments in Manhattan. Owner Shelli Leifer says she represents about 150 B&Bs; and has personally inspected all. A hosted room with private bath begins about $85 a night for two people, an unhosted apartment about $90 a night.

* At Home in New York (P.O. Box 407, New York 10185, 212- 956-3125) represents about 300 B&Bs; throughout the city, according to owner Lois Rooks, once a regular B&B; host herself. Her lodgings are hosted or unhosted and range from modest to deluxe. A hosted room with a shared bath in Greenwich Village begins at $60 a night for a single and $75 for a double.

* Bed & Breakfast Network of New York (134 West 32nd St., Suite 602, New York 10001, 212-645-8134) is another one-person operation representing about 200 B&Bs;, most of them in Manhattan. Owner Leslie Goldberg can describe each home in detail to prospective guests. Hosted rooms with shared bath begin at $50-$60 a night for one person, unhosted apartments about $80.

* City Lights Bed & Breakfast Ltd. (P.O. Box 20355, Cherokee Station, N.Y. 10028, 212-737-7049) is one of the oldest and largest services, representing about 400 B&Bs; throughout the city, according to owner Yedida Nielsen. B&Bs; range from modest to swank. A room for two in a hosted apartment is $60-$95 a night, and unhosted apartments suitable for a family are priced $95-$300.

* New World Bed & Breakfast (150 Fifth Ave., Suite 711, New York 10011, 800-443-3800 or 212-675-5600) focuses solely on Manhattan, offering about 125 mid-priced to upscale lodgings--most of them unhosted apartments. Owner Kathy Kruger says she inspects them all. The average price for a room with a shared bath in a hosted apartment is about $65 for one, $80 for two.

* Performing Arts Bed & Breakfast (223 West 70th St., Apt. 1, New York 10023, 212-874-4308) is a “confederation of small landlords” in the vicinity of Lincoln Center, according to Richard Caine, who heads the service. He features primarily unhosted apartments. Rates begin about $85 a night; a newly renovated three-room apartment begins about $125.

* Urban Ventures (38 West 32nd St., Suite 1412, New York 10001, 212-594-5650) is the largest of the B&B; reservation services I visited, and one of the oldest, listing more than 600 B&Bs; throughout the city, according to owner Mary McAulay, a former New York City high school teacher. Rates run the full range from cheap to expensive. A room for one begins at about $40 a night.