If you have time, it's fun to search the Internet, looking for a cozy little B&B in the place where you'd like to vacation, reading up on social notes from all over and imagining what each inn looks like if you suspect the photo is a little too picture-perfect. (They're all shot when the roses are in bloom, I suspect.) But if you haven't the time for such moseying, you'll be glad to know three of the bigger B&B groups have very helpful websites, and all have free newsletters to keep you posted. All three have pictures of and links to individual property sites as well.
The biggest is BedandBreakfast.com (www.bedandbreakfast.com) listing over 27,000 inns worldwide. In addition to its straight forward listings by destinations across North American and Europe, they have an Amenities section, so that if you want a fireplace or a hot tub (or both), you can search by those criteria. Best of all, however, is their Hot Deal newsletter, delivered by e-mail every Wednesday, which may alert you to some marvelous bargain in a spot you'd like to visit. Or even to remind you of some place you haven't thought about lately, but realize you really, really need to visit. In a recent Hot Deals in London offering prices started as low as £30 ($55.38) for a room at the Lonsdale House, for example.
In second place with 4,700 establishments worldwide (with more than 15,000 color pictures, they say) is Bed & Breakfast Inns Online (tel. 615/868-1946; www.bbonline.com), which has a Special Packages category. Among the 26 special themes listed are biking, theater and healing/wellness packages. There's even a "Rent the Entire Inn" listing, plus business travel packages and one for murder mysteries. Other sections of the site include a Win Two Free Nights section, and one for recipes and cookbooks. The Win Two Free Nights section changes monthly, they say. You can also subscribe to a free Inngoers Newsletter.
Bed and Breakfast Finder (tel. 888/547-8226; www.bnbfinder.com) comes in third with "just over" 3,000 inns listed. They were rated 5 stars by Innstar, which rates online directories of 130 sites, they say. BnB Finder also has a specials section, organized by state, and a Free Newsletter for seasonal specials and last-minute discounts. Further deals include those for Valentine's Day yearly, off-peak and senior citizen specials, and wedding & honeymoon specials. They also sell gift certificates online. The site has a featured inn category, one of which at time of writing was the Palmer Home on the fashionable East Battery in Charleston SC, with four bedrooms and one cottage, priced from $165 to $275 daily.
Have you used any of these sites to book a B&B? Do you know of an online directory you'd like to recommend? We'd love to hear from you. Just post your thoughts on our Lodgings Message Boards today.