Biz Traveler

After a hectic day of meetings, business lunches and flight layovers, how does coming back to a room with homemade oatmeal cookies, a wood-burning fireplace and an antique four-poster bed sound? Well, for business travelers who prefer the intimate setting of a bed and breakfast inn to riding up 30 floors on the hotel elevator, it sounds downright heavenly.

Staying at a quaint bed and breakfast inn while away on business is becoming a more common option in rural, suburban and even urban areas. "Not everyone wants to stay in big hotels," says Lisa Shaw, author of The Business Traveler's Guide to Inns & B&Bs (Williams Hill Publishing), a Windows-based computer directory of bed and breakfast inns throughout the United States. "Many travelers choose to stay at small inns rather than large hotels because it's a way to get to know the area better."

Whether you're yearning for an authentic local experience, rooms with a personal touch, or sightseeing recommendations from an innkeeper who knows the nearby hotspots personally, a bed and breakfast can be as welcome as a nip of brandy awaiting you bedside. But before you object, claiming that the cost is more than your tight business travel budget allows, Shaw says many bed and breakfasts are offering large reductions on room rates to draw in business travelers during the week. And most inns' prices are less expensive than the typical big-city hotels' rates.

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