Another Helping of Bed and Breakfast Guides

When I reviewed a dozen bed and breakfast guidebooks in this column in January, I noted that the number of such volumes seems to have proliferated along with B&Bs; themselves. I had no idea how abundant the genre had become, however, until--in response to my reviews--the Professional Association of Innkeepers International sent me a copy of their “Guide to the Inn Guidebooks.”

This loose-leaf, binder-bound volume, produced as a service to innkeepers themselves, lists more than 200 such guides currently in print in the United States. Although it is a listing rather than a critical review of these books, it does offer such information as whether a guide solicits fees for including a B&B; (many of them do) and, sometimes, what the other criteria for inclusion are.

Copies of “Guide to the Inn Guidebooks” are available to the public for $42 from PAII, P.O. Box 90710, Santa Barbara 93190. The guide is updated annually, with a new edition due in September.

More on B&B; guides and other hotel directories:

BED & BREAKFASTS AND COUNTRY INNS: The Official Guide to American Historic Inns by Tim and Deborah Sakach (American Historic Inns, Inc., $14.95 paper) and BED BREAKFASTS, INNS & GUEST- HOUSES IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, 10th Anniversary Edition, by Pamela Lanier (Lanier, $16.95 paper).

The sense in which the Sakachs’ guide is “official” isn’t clear (unless it’s just that it’s the official publication of the Association of American Historic Inns) and, according to the aforementioned PAII directory, they require an application fee from establishments they include. That guide also notes that membership in a regional or national innkeepers’ association is often a key factor in determining elegibility. On the other hand, the brief descriptions of listed places--about 1,400 of them--are packed with information; there are useful map coordinates keyed to Rand McNally road atlases, and attractive sketches as well as guests’ comments are often attached. There is also a straight directory of more that 6,000 inns and B&Bs.; Though you’ll need other guides for critical assessments, this one seems a good basic planning tool.

Pamela Lanier’s book offers still more entries--more than 9,000 B&Bs; and inns and 20,000 private guest houses are included--and for that alone, it has value to anyone planning a B&B; vacation. The descriptions are abbreviated, however (sometimes just name and address), and establishments pay a fee to be listed.

THE AUSTRALIAN BED & BREAKFAST BOOK 1993, compiled by J. & J. Thomas (Pelican, $10.95 paper) and THE NEW ZEALAND BED & BREAKFAST BOOK 1993, compiled by J. & J. Thomas (Pelican, $10.95 paper).

Though it isn’t clear if these guides charge listing fees (they aren’t included in the PAII directory, so it’s hard to say for sure), they do reproduce innkeepers’ own descriptions of their establishments verbatim. Some of the comments are quite evocative and even charming, however, and seem to give at least a hint of the tone of the accommodations. (From Masterton, New Zealand, for instance, comes this passage: “We are farmers whose family have all left home. . . . We look out on . . . paddocks with sheep, cattle, deer and free ranging red hens which give us eggs for breakfast!”)

BIKING THROUGH EUROPE, newly revised, by Dennis and Tina Jaffe (Williamson Publishing, $13.95 paper). Detailed chart-style route information, maps and various background information for biking tours of eight European countries, with shorter notes on pedaling through five more nations.

THE BEER DRINKER’S GUIDE TO MUNICH, revised edition, by Larry Hawthorne (Freizeit Publishers, $8.95 paper). Notes on history, ambience, clientele, specialty brews, etc., at some 40 of this beer-fueled city’s best beer gardens, beer halls and pubs--plus a guide to 20 discos, bars and night clubs (where beer, among other things, is served). There’s also a chapter on the city’s famed annual Oktoberfest and other beer-related festivities.

FODOR’S EURO DISNEY (Fodor’s Travel Publications, Inc., $10 paper). Forty-two pages of material about this controversial, money-losing theme park (including listings and ratings of rides and other attractions as well as of hotels and restaurants), sandwiched between 160 or so pages of basic guidebook stuff on Paris.