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My Recipe Greetings POST Office Box 1723 Phoenix, OR 97535 541 973-5210
Innkeepers Found in Europe,
they possibly first sprang up when the Romans
built their system of Roman
roads two millennia
ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries
old. In addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns
traditionally acted as community
gathering places. In Europe, it is the
provision of accommodation, if anything, that now differentiates inns from
taverns, alehouses
and pubs. The
latter tend to supply alcohol (and, in the UK, usually soft drinks and
sometimes food), but less commonly accommodation. Inns tend to be grander
and more long-lived establishments; historically they provided not only
food and lodging, but also stabling
and fodder
for the traveller's horse(s) and for fresh horses for the mail
coach. Famous London examples of inns include the
George and The
Tabard. There is however no longer a formal distinction between an inn
and other kinds of establishment. Many pubs use the name "inn",
either because they are long established and may have been formerly coaching
inns, or to summon up a particular kind of image. The original functions of
an inn are now usually split among separate establishments, such as hotels,
lodges,
and motels,
all of which might provide the traditional functions of an inn but which
focus more on lodging customers than on other services; public
houses, which are primarily alcohol-serving establishments; and restaurants
and taverns,
which serve food and drink. (Hotels often contain restaurants and also
often serve complimentary breakfast and meals, thus providing all of the
functions of traditional inns.) In North America, the lodging aspect of
the word "inn" lives on in hotel brand
names like Holiday
Inn, and in some state laws that refer to lodging operators as
innkeepers Bed and breakfast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to:
navigation, search For
the German boy band, see Bed
& Breakfast (band).
Tourists of various nationalities chatting over breakfast at a B&B in
Quebec City, Canada. A bed and breakfast
(or B&B) is a small lodging
establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast,
but usually does not offer other meals. Typically, bed and breakfasts are
private homes with fewer than 10 bedrooms available for commercial use. Generally, guests are
accommodated in private bedrooms with private bathrooms, or in a suite of
rooms including an en suite bathroom. Some homes have private bedrooms
with a bathroom which is shared with other guests. Breakfast is served in
the bedroom, a dining room, or the host's kitchen. B&Bs and guest
houses may be operated either as a secondary source of income or a
primary occupation. Usually the owners themselves prepare the breakfast
and clean the room etc., but some bed and breakfasts hire staff for
cleaning or cooking. Although some bed and breakfast owners hire
professional staff, a property which hires professional management is
usually no longer considered a bed and breakfast, but enters the category
of inn or hotel.[citation
needed] Some B&Bs operate in a
niche market. Floating bed and breakfasts for example are a concept
originating in Seattle[citation
needed] in which a boat or houseboat offers B&B
accommodation. [edit]
Regional differences
[edit]
Australia
Despite the cultural
similarities and a population more than twenty times greater, there are
far fewer B&Bs in the whole of Australia
than there are in just the South
Island of New Zealand.[1] Since the 1960s the
average per capita disposable income of Australians has been greater than
that of New Zealanders and this has mitigated the powerful incentive to
let out rooms in their homes to travellers.[citation
needed] Another factor may be that Australia has, apart from
City
States such as Singapore,
the greatest concentration of city dwellers anywhere on the globe and
these cities are amply supplied with budget hotels and motels.[citation
needed] [edit]
British Isles
B&Bs, and frequently guest
houses, are a budget option where owners often take pride in the high
service levels, local knowledge and personal touch that they are able to
offer.[citation
needed] There tend to be
concentrations of B&Bs in seaside towns where, historically, the working
classes holidayed such as County
Down, Northern
Ireland, and Blackpool,
England, and isolated rural areas such as the Highlands
of Scotland and Connemara
where there is not the year-round concentration of travellers that would
sustain an hotel. They are present in most towns and cities, and their
numbers vary on trade such as for business travellers and tourists: York
and Edinburgh
for example both have several hundred establishments known as either
B&Bs or guest houses. In very busy areas, B&Bs may display a sign
saying "VACANCIES" (rooms available) or "NO
VACANCIES", to save both the hosts and potential guests the trouble
of them having to enquire within. Breakfast
is usually cooked on demand for the guest and is usually some kind of full
breakfast, but some offer a continental
breakfast. In recent years B&Bs
in the UK have
struggled against budget hotel chains such as Premier
Travel Inn and Travelodge.
Traditionally, business travellers used B&Bs but many of these clients
now tend to stay in budget hotel chains. However, in holiday areas the
B&B and guest house still prevail. Unlike the hotel chains, they
provide a more comprehensive service and breakfast is included in the
price, and some who stay regularly may simply like knowing their hosts.[citation
needed] B&Bs tend to place
their bedrooms within three different categories:[citation
needed]
[edit]
Cuba
In Cuba,
which opened up to tourism in the 1990s after the financial support of the
Soviet Union ended, a form of B&B called casa
particular ("private home") became the main form of
accommodation outside the tourist resorts.[citation
needed] [edit]
Israel
In the
patio of a guest house in Tamchy,
Kyrgyzstan The Israeli B&B is
known as a zimmer (German for room). All over the country,
but especially in the north of the country and the Galilee, zimmers
have become an alternative to hotels for romantic weekends or family
vacations.[2] [edit]
Italy
In Italy, regional law
regulates B&Bs. [edit]
India
In India,
the government is promoting the concept of bed & breakfast.[3]
The government is doing this to increase tourism, especially keeping in
view the expected demand for hotels during the 2010
Commonwealth Games in Delhi.[4]
They have classified B&B in 2 categories - Gold & Silver B&B.
All B&B will be approved by the Ministry of Tourism who will then
categorize it as Gold or Silver based upon the pre-defined criteria.[5] [edit]
Kyrgyzstan
The tourism industry in
Kyrgyzstan includes some B&Bs. One group, called CBT,
organises homestays with people who own homes and rent rooms by the night.
They help tourists and travelers in Kyrgyzstan find places to stay.[citation
needed] [edit]
New Zealand
A Centre
of New Zealand Bed and Breakfast As in the USA,
bed and breakfasts in New Zealand tend to be more expensive than motels
and often feature historic homes and furnished bedrooms at a commensurate
price.[citation
needed] [edit]
North America
Many B&Bs in North
America try to create a historical ambiance, with old properties
turned into guesthouses
decorated with antique furniture.[citation
needed] For example, the Holladay
House in Orange, Virginia is an 1830s Federal-style
brick building that has been converted into a bed and breakfast. In the
last ten years, B&B and Inn owners have been launching upscale
amenities to improve business and move "up-market." It is not
uncommon now to find free wireless Internet access, free parking, spa
services, or nightly wine and cheese hours. Due to the need to stay
competitive with the rest of the lodging industry, larger bed and
breakfast inns have expanded to offer wedding
services, business conference facilities, and meeting spaces as well as
many other services a large hotel might offer.[citation
needed] The custom of opening
one’s home to travellers dates back the earliest day of Colonial
America. Lodging establishments were few and far between in the 1700s, and
apart from a limited number of coaching inns (a few of which survive as
inns today), wayfarers relied on the kindness of strangers to provide a
bed for the night. Hotels became more common with the advent of the
railroad, and later, the automobile, and most towns had at least one
prominent hotel. During the Great
Depression, tourist homes provided an economic advantage to both the
traveller and the host. Driving through town (no Interstates then),
travellers stopped at houses with signs reading Tourists or Guests,
indicating that travellers could rent a room for the night for about $2.
The money generated needed income for the home owner and saved money for
the traveller. After World War II,
middle-class Americans began travelling in Europe in large numbers, many
experiencing the European-style B&Bs (Zimmer frei in Germany, chambres
d’hotes in France) for the first time. Some were inspired to open
B&Bs in the U.S.; tourist home owners updated their properties as
B&Bs. The interest in B&Bs coincided with an increasing interest
in historic preservation, spurred by the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976 and
assisted by two crucial pieces of legislation: the National
Historic Preservation Act of 1966, and the Tax
Reform Act of 1976, which provided tax incentives for the restoration
and reuse of historic structures. Through the 1980s and
1990s, B&Bs increased rapidly in numbers and evolved from homestay
B&Bs with shared baths and a simple furnishings to beautifully
renovated historic mansions with luxurious décor and amenities. The next
big change started in the mid 1990s when the Internet became a major
marketing force, making it affordable for innkeepers to promote their
properties worldwide. Email marketing, in particular, serves as a useful
tool for the Bed & Breakfast industry, for it proactively builds
relationships with the existing guests after their stay. This helps
increase the likelihood for more repeat bookings and also guest referrals
in the future. At present, travellers research and book B&B online,
checking out detailed photos, videos, and reviews. B&Bs are found in
all states, in major cities and remote rural areas, occupying everything
from modest cottages to opulent mansions, and in restored structures from
schools to cabooses to churches. [edit]
Spain
In Spain, B&Bs are
often run by people who place personal or family needs ahead of wealth and
profit maximization. The business attracts numerous entrepreneurs with
predominantly lifestyle motives, yet challenges them in specific ways.
Spain does not have a B&B culture like Great Britain. As anything
"modern" rules, locals usually shake their head at tourists
visiting B&Bs when they could stay at a "proper hotel" for
the same money or less.[6] A study[6]
of the years 1997–2000, using a sample of 1131 Spanish firms, suggests
that marketing must be done over the medium to long term to be effective.
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