The bed and breakfast experience is unique. You get the benefits of living at home with service that rivals the best hotels. If you travel to the biggest cities or the smallest towns, there is a good chance there is a Bed and Breakfast available to you.

The best bed and breakfasts are small and privately owned. The owner usually lives in the same home and will do everything they can to make sure your stay is a pleasant one. Each owner brings their own special skills to the experience. In some cases the owner was a gourmet chef and his skills make meals truly enjoyable. Warmth, coziness and good food aren't the only benefits to staying at a B&B though. Your host can fill you in on local tourist attractions, restaurants, hiking trails and other interesting things to do on your stay.

The bed and breakfast industry is huge. With over 9000 bed and breakfasts in Canada alone finding one that meets your needs can be a challenge. That's where bed and breakfast directories such as The Bed and Breakfast Connector (www.bbconnector.com) come in. They provide easy to navigate websites that help narrow down your choices to the select few you are interested in. Other good sources of information are tourism sites and regional search engines.

Once you've picked the bed and breakfast you're interested in, your next step is to make a reservation. Most bed and breakfast websites provide reservation details and contact information to make this easy. In some cases you can even make your reservation on-line. Most reservation policies require you to cancel your reservation at least several days in advance. Unlike a hotel most B&B's are small enough that a canceled reservation usually means they've missed out on other opportunities.

This is just a little sample the bed and breakfast experience. Hopefully it will encourage you to stay at a bed and breakfast in the future and not just an uncomfortable hotel room with noisy neighbors.

Shawn is the owner of Tandac Enterprises and the Bed and Breakfast Connector.