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I often spend weekends away with my partner, travelling around and seeing Britain’s outstanding countryside and cities. We often stay in that great British institution the B & B, the Bed and Breakfast, where you are in effect a guest in someone’s home. Many of these are very elaborate and comfortable, often in historic houses and the owners a mine of local information. The breakfasts are usually pretty good too, as are the prices.

Unfortunately, we have been using B & B’s less and less recently as they seem to forgotten that they need to run their businesses to meet their customers needs and not their own. The problem is that many B & B’s insist on a two-night stay over the weekend, so you have to stay (or pay for) either a Friday or Sunday night, even if you only want to stay for Saturday. Some operate this all year round or just bring it in for the summer and are usually unyielding on the issue. They assume that they won’t get a booking just for a Friday or a Sunday so they make you pay for something they think they can’t sell.

As we live in South East England, getting out to the country usually involves a couple of hours driving, something I don’t relish doing on a Friday evening. Likewise, we would never consider driving home on a Monday morning. It’s certainly not something we’re going to do just to keep a B & B happy, or just to feel we’re getting our moneys worth.

Luckily, things are changing in the budget hotel market, with chains like Travelodge and Premiere Inn opening hotels in country towns and city centres. Admittedly, a chain hotel room does not have the same ambiance as most B & B’s, and any breakfast is usually extra, but otherwise the pricing is comparable. Most importantly, they don’t mind how long you stay; just Saturday night is fine with them.

Earlier this year we wanted to stay in Bath, one of England’s foremost tourist cities, but only for the Saturday night. After ringing around eight or nine B & B’s I gave up, all of them insisted on a two-night minimum. Fortunately, Premiere Inn has a hotel a short walk from the centre of the city, with lots of car parking (also a major issue at B & B’s), so we stayed there and had a great time. Ludlow, is a lovely town in Shropshire that we often visit and although it’s awash with B & B’s we have given up on them as they all ask for a two night minimum, so instead we stay at the Travelodge on the edge of the town.

On one occasion I told a B & B owner that I was going to stay at a chain because of the two night rule and he replied ‘that wasn’t much of a B & B experience’. He was right, but as part of that B & B experience involves being ripped off, and being made to pay for something we can’t use, then we’ll take our custom to a company that runs their business for the convenience of their customers and not themselves.

I’m not sure how the B & B industry is faring in the recession, none too well I would imagine. What I do know is that the budget chains are opening hotels as fast as they can pour the concrete, and very often in places like seaside towns where traditionally people would have stayed in a B & B. Maybe when enough B & B’s have gone to the wall, the rest may work it out, by insisting on a two night stay at weekends they are driving what should be loyal customers into the arms of their rivals.