Other stories in "B & Bs"

• Original inns
  If an ordinary B&B isn't enough, try one in a silo or on a boat.
• How to find a bed-and-breakfast
  To travelers, B&B usually means 'best bet.'
• Five things to look for in a B&B
  Here's how to find an inn you'll like.
• Dwelling in the past
  Around Lake Superior, overnight guests can try out life at a lighthouse.
• Chocolate on the St. Croix
  For a spring tour, inns overflow with goodies.
• A view of a room
  On B&B tours, guests can see a prospective getaway for themselves.

Hosts with the most

At small inns, a knack for hospitality makes a few stand out.

I'd been at the Arbor House Inn in Madison only a few hours when deja vu set in.

My room was in the 1853 Plough House, a former tavern and stagecoach stop that's one of the city's oldest buildings. It had a gas fireplace and floral decor, and it was a few steps across a pergola-covered walkway from the Annex, where wine and appetizers awaited guests near a wood fire in a window-lined great room.

It stirred a faint sense of recognition. An inn with two buildings, historic status, gas fireplace, floral decor . . . oh, right, I stayed at one of those last week, too.

I stay at a lot of B&Bs. I get tired of them sometimes, but they're more interesting than motels and generally a better value.

Not always, though. After the first night at the Arbor House, I started thinking about the other B&B. Wine was available there, too, but it was old, sour boxed wine in a fridge at the top of an unheated stairwell. Instead of dainty sesame crisps topped with citron jam, blue cheese and almonds, there was a tray of snack-size candy bars near the door.

Breakfast was fresh berries and a supermarket croissant — nice, but not enough fuel for the day of skiing I had planned. The Arbor House went all out, serving French toast and apricot smoothies, poached pears and freshly baked muffins. And when we returned in the evening, dessert was waiting — ginger cake with creme fraiche one night, strawberry cheese torte the next.

The proprietor of the other inn showed us to our room and hurried off to his own home across the drive. At the Arbor House, proprietor Cathie Imes was busy with other guests when we arrived, so innkeeper Verónica Luquis settled us in front of the fire and brought us cups of thick, rich chocolate to drink while we waited.

When Imes was free, she showed us around the inn. There was a sauna in the Annex, in addition to a leather sofa for reading the three daily papers in front of the fire, and in the Plough House there was another gathering room, with Internet access plus a fireplace, TV and VCR with movie library. There was a kitchen guests could use and a barrel of umbrellas to borrow. An anteroom held mountain bikes, helmets, maps and a pump; trails are nearby, and the University of Wisconsin Arboretum is across the street.

In our room, the Cozy Rose, we found a small fridge, a basket of Aveda products, handmade soap, robes, a down comforter and a fresh rose. Before we left for the evening, Imes answered questions about the concert we planned to attend and shops we wanted to find. We'd already chosen a restaurant from the extensive recommendations she and her husband, John, list on their web site.

She'd thought of everything; the other proprietor was on autopilot. Of course, there was a difference in price — the other room was $9 more.

I often marvel at the vast differences between inns. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, they're like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.

Usually, the price is based on amenities. If the room has a double whirlpool and a fireplace, and the inn is in a popular tourist destination, it's going to cost at least $200 on weekends.

But these days, you can rent a whole cabin or condo for that much — in winter, even less. Hundreds of lovely vacation homes are available in this region through online rental services, and sometimes they're also listed in visitors guides along with hotels.

So if people can get their luxuries — and a lot more privacy — by renting a cottage, why would they go to a B&B?

Because at a good B&B you're a guest, not a tenant. Smart proprietors realize they have competition, and they set themselves apart by practicing the fine art of hospitality. Imes is always thinking about her guests.

"Our phrase is, show them some love," she says. "Guests have refined and polished us over time; we're still looking at the comment cards every day. We don't ever think we know everything after 13 years."

We stayed at the Arbor House over its 13th anniversary, and it had a full range of guests: A stressed-out couple who wanted to be left alone and two older folks who wanted to chat about becoming innkeepers. Two women on a girlfriends getaway and a young couple celebrating an anniversary. Two couples attending a paddle-sports exposition and a family from San Francisco with the mother downed by the flu.

Imes and her staff had to tend to us all.

"We morph to our guests; we're high-touch when you need it, low-key when you want that," she says. "If you're an innkeeper, you keep your ego in check."

It's a pleasure to stay in a really good inn with a thoughtful host. Most innkeepers do try, but some have a tin ear for their guests' needs. My husband loves to tell about the time we rose before dawn to go bird-watching on a freezing day in November and returned to our B&B famished and chilled to the bone, only to be served a breakfast of cold wine soup, raspberry sorbet and morsel of ham souffle. Our hosts had cared more about matching the food to their red-glass dishes than tending to our needs. Then, they made us sit through a musical performance before we could flee to the cafe down the street.

In a box of chocolates, they'd be the stale strawberry cream. Luckily, there are a lot of fresh, buttery caramels and toffees out there, too.

Trip Tips: Hosts with the most

Arbor House, Madison: This inn is renowned for its "green" practices and calls itself An Environmental Inn. It's on Monroe Street, not far from very good shopping and restaurants. It offers the use of mountain bikes and a canoe pass for nearby Lake Wingra. It has eight very attractive rooms, 608-238-2981, www.arbor-house.com.

McCormick House, Hayward, Wis.: The proprietor of this gorgeous, restored 1887 manor knocks himself out to such an extent that when I was there, another guest warned him to pace himself. English-born Dean Cooper dotes on his guests, offering to upload the house iPods with their favorite music, providing ice cream and popcorn for DVD screenings on each room's flat-panel TVs and offering evening treats and a nightcap by the fire in the library.

In the morning, he prepares a made-to-order English breakfast, with freshly squeezed orange juice and selections that include rashers of bacon, grilled tomatoes and toasted crumpets — or Cheerios, if requested. Outside, there's a hot tub and formal garden with reflecting pool, where afternoon teas are served in summer. Cooper sometimes shows movies there, too, with popcorn and jujubes.  715-934-3339, www.mccormickhouseinn.com.

Whiteley Creek Homestead, Brainerd: This tranquil inn in the country outside Brainerd "takes you back to a time when laundry flapped lazily on a clothesline in the breeze." Lively proprietor Adrienne Cahoon loves the simpler days of the past, and she's furnished her inn with all kinds of homespun treasures.

In the evening, she serves treats on a screened wraparound porch, which features twig furniture and a gigantic fieldstone fireplace built around the bed of an old dump truck; in the morning, she serves such old-fashioned entrees as sausage gravy over biscuits in an 1890 rail car decorated with mobiles of old kitchen implements. There are three comfortable cottages and two rooms in the inn. It's closed in winter, 218-829-0654, www.whiteleycreek.com.

Solglimt, Duluth: This inn on Park Point, just across the Aerial Lift Bridge, has a fantastic location on the beach and three arty rooms with exceptionally comfortable beds; I got to stay in Kandinsky's Loft, named after one of my favorite artists. But the most memorable thing about it is breakfast; attentive proprietors Mary and Brian Grover are magicians with a paring knife, turning pears and pineapples into all kinds of decorative art. Check for last-minute and off-season specials. 877-727-0596, www.solglimt.com.

Poplar Creek Guesthouse, Gunflint Trail: It's worth staying at this attractive inn just to hear Ted and Barbara Young's stories about life in the far north. Barbara cooks the big breakfasts, and Ted sends guests out canoeing, hiking, snowshoeing or skiing, along the Banadad Trail or into the Boundary Waters. There's a room with two beds, a room with a double whirlpool and a housekeeping suite, 800-322-8327, www.littleollielodging.com.

Maplelag, Callaway, Minn.: The hosts of this western Minnesota cross-country ski resort practice the kind of genuine hospitality no marketing seminar can teach. It doesn't take Jim and Mary Richards long to turn guests into friends who come back year after year; their son, Jay, and his wife, Jonell, are following in their footsteps. The varied rates include three bountiful meals a day, including a Sunday-morning Scandinavian smorgasbord, and the cookie jars are never empty. 800-654-7711, www.maplelag.com.

Alexander Mansion, Winona: This 1886 manor was a labor of love for Lynn Ihrke, who restored its gleaming Victorian grandeur. She and her husband, Fred, serve evening wine and hors d'oeuvres and an organic five-course breakfast, and guests get a quartet of Watkins bath products to take home. There are four tastefully decorated rooms, 507-474-4224, www.alexandermansionbb.com

Creamery, Downsville, Wis.: The Thomas family were experts at hospitality, having run this western Wisconsin inn and restaurant with quiet competence from 1985 to 2008. Now, they've turned it over to one of their former employees, Terry Vajgrt, and his wife, Paula. The renovated rural creamery just off the Red Cedar State Trail has 12 rooms, 10 with double whirlpools, and breakfast is included. Four rooms are above the excellent restaurant, and eight are in a newer adjoining building; there's also a bakery, cafe and wine bar. 715-664-8354, www.thenewcreamery.com.

Blue Heron, Ely: There's a lot to do around this cozy lakeside inn on the edge of the Boundary Waters — canoeing, bird-watching, moose-watching, snowshoeing, skiing — and proprietor Jo Kovach lends equipment, arranges permits and gives tips to her guests. Delicious breakfasts are included in the rates, and dinner is available Thursday through Saturday. 218-365-4720, www.blueheronbnb.com.

White Fox Inn, Thunder Bay, Ont.: This inn at the foot of the Nor'Wester Mountains, built in 1962 for the president of the paper mill, really spoils its guests. Nine rooms, all with fireplaces and whirlpools, include a hot breakfast delivered on fine china and crystal; movies also are delivered to the door. In the evening, guests can have a candlelit four-course dinner in the top-notch restaurant. When I was there on a Sunday, the hosts upgraded me to the largest of the luxurious rooms; that's typical Canada Nice. 1-800-603-3699, www.whitefox.com.

Washington House Inn, Cedarburg, Wis.: This restored 1886 cream-brick inn and 1870 annex on Cedarburg's main street is big, with 34 rooms, but service still seems personal. There's a daily wine-and-cheese social hour and a large breakfast buffet that includes freshly baked muffins and breads, a killer homemade granola and as much freshly squeezed orange juice as guests can drink. During the holidays, innkeeper Wendy Porterfield plays St. Nicholas, putting small gifts in guests' shoes; when we were there in June, we got a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries. 800-554-4717, www.washingtonhouseinn.com.

Last updated on September 10, 2008