Bed and Breakfast Backlash?

Columnist Claims Travelers Are Bucking B&Bs

In a recent feature for CNN.com, travel columnist Christopher Elliott opines that there is a growing "backlash" against bed and breakfasts because of meddlesome, annoying innkeepers. According to Elliott, business travelers in particular are opting out of the small inn market.

Forum Discussion Is there a bed and breakfast backlash? Tell us what you think on the Bed and Breakfast Forum. Read Christopher Elliott's "Bothered & Badgered at B&Bs" at CNN.com. Elliott also wrote a pro-B&B column for ABCNews.com two years ago.

The column, to put it mildly, raised the eyebrows of many in the innkeeping profession. In this excerpt (you can read the entire column by clicking on the link in the gray sidebar), Elliott explains why he has now decided to stay at bed and breakfasts "only under duress":

"For the last five years I've been a loyal B&B kinda guy -- until I stayed recently at a small property in Pennsylvania for a few weekends in a row. On my first weekend, I didn't sleep at all. A freight train thundered past my room at 11 p.m., 2 a.m., 4:30 a.m. and about 6 a.m. (the latter being my wakeup call, no doubt)."

He also describes the second weekend, during which the innkeeper peppered him with questions at breakfast -- questions "about my personal life that I wouldn't consider answering from my own family members, let alone a complete stranger." But the only examples Elliott gives of the annoying questions are, "Where are you from?" and "What brought you to town?"

By the third weekend, Elliott writes, the innkeeper had taken the offensive and offered him advice about his personal life.

In an email interview, Elliott says he was inundated with responses to the column, many from innkeepers. Some wondered why he would go back to the same inn three weekends in a row after having such an unpleasant experience the first weekend. "Well, occupancy levels in that town were pretty high, for starters," he says. "Also, I really believed that the experience had to get better. Instead, it got worse."

Elliott also explains that this incident -- although it was the only one mentioned in his column -- wasn't the sole reason he's giving up after five years of being a B&B customer.

"The experience I mentioned followed several other negative experiences at small inns and B&Bs," he says. "I didn't write about them because it would have added a lot of unnecessary detail to the column. Instead, I let other travelers tell their story about how they had turned away from B&Bs."

Those other stories included a woman who stayed at an inn where the innkeeper became infuriated because she didn't take a shower until after breakfast, a television producer who didn't like social interaction in the morning and the lack of data ports, and a public relations executive who didn't like the way in which an innkeeper encouraged her to participate in the mix-and-mingle atmosphere.

Clearly, Elliott is entitled to his opinion -- and to express it in his columns. In fact, he makes a number of important points which deserve further exploration. On the following pages, we'll take a look at some of his arguments and see why he's often wrong -- but sometimes absolutely right.

Navigate this article:
B&B Backlash? (Introduction)
Why Christopher Elliott is Wrong
Why Christopher Elliott is Right
Where To Go From Here
Interviews with Christopher Elliott and Pat Hardy

Have an opinion about Elliott's column? Share it in the Bed and Breakfasts Forum.

Related Resources Aspiring Innkeeper Resources Running a B&B Christopher Elliott's Web Site PAII Web Site

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