A B&B exchange adds up to the best possible deal for everyone (meet innkeepers Ben and Barbara)

...

In a typical scenario, Ben and Barbara Smith decide they could use a change of scene, and turn to the B&BInnterchange website for inspiration, discovering a perfect location just a half day's drive away from their own place.

The Smiths have done this several times before, always looking for vacation spots relatively close to home, and now their own inn boasts an eye-catching "Recommended Inns" folder filled with brochures from B&Bs they have visited, and available to guests who also like to travel.

In turn, their brochures are scattered liberally around other inns within a 200-mile radius, and several guests have confirmed that they made their reservation thanks to a recommendation from another innkeeper whose judgment and good taste they trusted.

This time, Ben and Barbara choose an inn they have never visited before, so they click on a members-only link and send a quick e-mail introducing themselves and requesting a room for three nights two weeks away.

Back comes a cheerful confirmation, and once again the ball is rolling. The Smiths' B&B is a 12-room operation with regular rates ranging from $150 to $300 a night, pretty much matching the B&B they have chosen for their getaway.

Every participating B&BInnterchange property has up to three tiers of room rates ($150-$195, $200-$250, $275-$350, for example) and can choose to place a limit on the value of exchanges. Ben and Barbara prefer to select the rooms they visit on the basis of how they look rather than their pricetag, and they are always happy to put exchange guests in the best room in the house when it is available.

When they check in at their destination, Ben and Barbara will take with them a B&BInnterchange form that will confirm their readiness to reciprocate with a three-night stay at their B&B. They will also happily pay a $25-a-night overhead fee to their host so that their visit does not put anyone out of pocket.

The Smiths' B&B is an urban area surrounded by a wealth of museums, galleries, gardens and theme parks, and they are a magnet for far more B&B exchanges than they could never hope to find the time to use.

Before they signed up with B&BInnterchange, they were reluctant to consider exchanges for just that reason -- after all, theirs is a business that depends on their personal attention for its success and there's a limit to how long they can be away from it!

Getting away for a while is so much simpler now.

They get to meet and become friends with other B&B innkeepers from all over the country, and exchanges that are with B&Bs that are too far away for them to hope to visit themselves are simply posted in the B&BInnterchange Marketplace. Non-industry members (discerning guests who prefer family-owned inns with great food and good company to so-so hotel chains with neither) can then snap up those unused "room nights" at discount prices.

No one loses with B&BInnterchange!

...