Bed and Breakfast Experiences - good or bad?
 

I've never stayed at a B&B before, but for my Italy trip I have booked a B&B in each of Florence and Rome. The reviews for each seem good and the price is right.

I'd be curious to hear how other people have enjoyed their B&B experiences, in Italy, or in other countries for that matter. Previously in Europe I have either stayed at hostels or chain hotels. Does anyone prefer B&Bs over hotels for reasons other than price?

Hi will,

If 1000 people respond, you will get 300 horror stories, 300 fabulous stories and 400 so-so stories.

Where will you be staying? We can probably tell you about them.

Ira's right. But, I love B&Bs. I have stayed in B&Bs in Bath and Salisbury in England, and in more than a dozen places in the US.

There are so many variables that can make the experience good or bad, but I've enjoyed the ones I've been to.

Karen

My idea of a true B&B is that of a home where a couple live and they rent out one or two bedrooms either with their own bathrooms or a shared one. Then you join them in their dining room or kitchen for breakfast. That whole idea is a nightmare to me -- I'm not even fully comfortable staying with friends or relatives, yet alone total strangers in their own house.

However, these days people seem to throw that term of B&B around for a lot of different things including small inns that may have a live-in manager. That's another matter entirely in my book.

The Rome B&B I booked sounds more like Patrick's first example. I actually have the same concerns as well. I don't generally feel comfortable at a relative or friend's house - but then again I'm not paying them. But I'm thinking that it wouldn't harm me to try it (and of course the alternative in a slightly lower price range is a hostel dorm bed).

The Florence B&B sounds more like Patrick's second example.

Here is my thread about the Florence B&B:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34526100

And I added to someone else's thread about the Rome B&B:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34505953

I think I can handle anything except bugs, gross hygiene deficiencies, and unsafe conditions. I'm sure I've seen the tiniest, crummiest showers in Europe already (well, I suppose that's tempting fate).

We stayed at a B&B in Denmark in July, and it was the highlight of our trip. It was in a thatched roof farmhouse in the countryside, near the seaside town of Tisvildeleje. We had two adjoining rooms charmingly decorated, with a wood stove next to the bed that the proprietess lit each afternoon before we came in. The two rooms shared a small kitchen and large bathroom, so they formed a small private apartment in one of the wings of the farmhouse. There were doors leading from the bedroom to the garden. One of the wings of the house was used as an art gallery. I can't imagine a more idyllic setting. The woman who owned the place served breakfast in her kitchen, baking bread for us in the morning. We had fascinating conversations with her. We hugged good-bye.

The same trip involved an apartment in London and the Marriott in Copenhagen, as well as a small hotel in Lund, Sweden. Each had its benefits and I would stay in all of them again. But I am afraid I will never have occasion to pass through Tisvildeleje again, and that is too bad.

Hi WillTravel. Before going to Rome in March, 2001, I wrote to Carol Pucci, a travel writer for the Seattle Times, because she'd written articles about staying in B&Bs in Paris so I thought she might have done the same in Rome. Can't recall if, when she wrote back, she said she had stayed in one in Rome before but she did tell me that a lot more had been established in Rome due to the need for accomodations during the Jubilee Year in 2000.

After looking at a couple other websites (I forget which ones) we decided to go with the B&B Association of Rome: http://www.b-b.rm.it/ We wanted a place in the Centro Storico but couldn't find one so we decided on one in the Prati district, on the Via Cola di Rienzo, near the Tiber and Piazza della Liberta (Ref #22 on this page: http://www.b-b.rm.it/accommodations/bb_nw.htm ) Now 82 euros it was priced in lira back then and was only $67/night.

We loved the cool building it was in (it had one of those great iron elevators) huge bedroom, large comfortable bed, the large bathroom across the hall, and the simple but nice breakfast left on the hall table for us each morning. We also enjoyed staying in a part of Rome we probably would not have seen otherwise. The Prati feels more Parisian; the Via Cola di Rienzo is a broad shopping street lined with trees and there's a nice food market near the Vatican. It was also just a short walk across the Tiber to the Piazza del Popolo.

What was disappointing, on the other hand, was that we were hoping to have more interaction with the people living there. The description said (and still says) "The family speaks both English and French" but the only person in the "family" we met was an older woman and, while very friendly and charming, she spoke only a few words of English. I would have, ideally, liked the kind of situation I've had in other B&Bs, where you have breakfast, if not with the owners, then with other people staying there.

When I return to Rome, my preference is going to be to stay at the Hotel Primavera again, due to its location near Piazza Navona, the nice family who runs it, and the reasonable rate, but if that's booked, I'd definitely consider a B&B again.

What website/agency did you use for yours in Rome and where is it? I'll be very curious to hear how your experience goes.

Patrick -

I'm with you. I find the idea of a B&B kind of creepy - but then I;m a native New Yorker and used ot a little decent anonymity - to me much more valuable than any "kindness" from a troup of people that I might much prefer not to know.

That said, I have stayed in gasthauses in Germany several times. And they were run by families. But they each had 6/8 or more rooms with private baths and private dining room and lounge - and in one place garden - for exclusive use of the guests. The family quarters were always on a separate floor.

Also, people do seem to call B&Bs things that I would never catgorize that way - like a 15th centruy chateau. We ran into a Britisin couple who insisted we were staying in a B&B - to me it was a chateau. I mean there were like 15 bedrooms, private breakfast room, guests only lounge and game room (billiards etc) and optional dinner offered several evenings per week.

So if you count the last two categories I think B&Bs are great. But there is no way you could pay me enough to sleep in some odd couple's spare room.

I haven't stayed at them in years, only when a child and my folks would make us stay in them when traveling because they were cheaper. Of course, in the US, B&Bs are now often really inns and more expensive than regular hotels, if they are nice. Only without the services.

Well, put me in the camp of you couldn't pay me enough to stay in someones spare rooms they are renting out for the money. I don't even like talking to people I know and love in the morning, let alone total strangers. I just want to be alone when in my accommodations while traveling.

I don't have particularly fond memories of the B&Bs my dad dragged us kids around to when we were young -- they were kind of shabby and I remember my fondest dream was to stay in a real hotel.

If I had either kid with me on this trip, I wouldn't choose B&Bs either. But I guess I'm willing to take a larger risk on my own.

One of my best memories in Europe is from my very first trip, in 1979, to the British Isles. Outside of London, I stayed primarily in youth hostels and B&Bs. Some of the B&Bs I stayed at in the south of England were rather interesting, like the one that was a caravan (trailer) parked in the back yard of an elderly woman's house in Rye.

But the one I'll never forget was in a stone house in Edinburgh, run by the eponymous Mrs. Margaret Stonehouse (now, alas, surely departed from our mortal presence.) A smart and feisty Scot, she'd specifically wanted all of her guests (about ten or so) to mingle at breakfast in the morning. Because of that, at that one B&B, I met a German woman from Trier and a German guy from Nurmberg, both of who I visited on my next trip to Europe, a year later. I also met a guy from France, and two women from Gorizia (sp?) Italy and corresponded with them for a time before losing touch. All because Mrs. Stonehouse, bless her Scottish soul, wanted people to meet.

I've stayed in B&Bs in France, Italy, England, Canada, and the USA. I loved them all, except the one in the USA, where the owner had an absolutely maniacal obsession with plastic flowers, to the extent that they were wound all around the shower stalls, wastebaskets, and the edges of carpets.
But in Europe and Canada I had great experiences. The owners were always on a separate floor or wing, I always had a private bath in the room, and there was no forced mingling with the owners or other guests, which would definitely bother me.
One thing I do like about B&Bs is that the owners tend to offer great suggestions about places to eat and things to do that you wouldn't normally find in a guidebook or on the internet - things that come from being part of the community they live in for a long time.

Ooops! Sorry about that. Only the article title was supposed to be bold.

I stayed at B&Bs in France using Gites de France with complete satisfaction. We used B&Bs last summer in Venice and Bologna. I would not recommend the one in Venice because the beds were terrible, and would not recommend it in the heat of the summer because it had no AC. On the other hand, the one in Bologna (B&B Miramonte) was fine, although I am not sure that they had AC. Within the lower price ranges, finding an acceptable B&B from general listings may be somewhat more difficult than using an organization's list. But from my search on Italian B&Bs, those recommended by organizations were in higher price ranges ( I was looking for something less than 100 euros).

I prefer B&B's over hotels. Cheaper, quieter -I enjoy meeting people from other countries. Nothing but good experiences in every one I have stayed at. And I have made friends whose friendship will last a lifetime. I love the fact that I have reduced my lodging costs in London by 45%. You couldn't pay me to stay in Central London.

Where did you stay in Rome, rj007?

WillTrave
Ialmost always stay in B&B's in England and have only had unpleasant experiences when I stayed at the cheapest ones.
Now I pay a little more and check to see if the B&B is star or AA rated and if the B&B posts favorable comments by previous guests.
This will be hard to do in Italy.
Avoid the Accor motels in Europe as they are basic lodging with the toilet/shower down the hall and reek of cigarettes

don76, you must mean the Formule1 Accor hotels? Because the other Accor brands, from Etap on up to Sofitel, all have ensuite bathrooms.

WillTravel

In Rome, I stayed in a hotel rather than a B&B. It was the Aberdeen Hotel on Via Firenze. Very nice hotel, good location - 10 min walk from Termini. I got a 30% discount by mentioning Rick Steves. I think the discount is just for certain months.

The more I thought about it, the more uncertain I felt about staying at B&Bs. Maybe I'd feel differently if I weren't traveling alone. Plus, I found some bad reviews of my choices. Anyway, I switched to a convent in Florence and a hotel in Rome for only a little more money.