B&B in Italy: always 3-night minimum?

[Anno]

This is a question from a punter: we're looking for somewhere to stop off one night to break our journey through Italy, and would rather go to a B&B than a hotel, but are finding that many places have a minimum 3-night stay (especially as we're looking for August in what is clearly a very popular holiday area). Just out of curiosity, can anyone tell me if this is actually a law (one website suggested this was a rule applicable to non-hotels), or simply good business sense for the B&B? There must be other travellers like us even in high season, so what do people in our situation do for one-nighters? Thanks for any advice!

[pepsipuss]

Not sure what the law says in Italy or anywhere else for that matter, but from a B&B owner's point of view, it is rarely worth the effort of changing the sheets and doing the cleaning for one night.

We have a two night minimum except August when it is 4, because in the heat I really don't want to be doing changeovers three or four times a week, although I admit I have occasionally done single nights when I think it might be worth it from a PR point of view. However I should add that we are a 'destination' rather than a stopover place, and generally when we are asked for single nights it tends to be for people who are buying property and need somewhere for a night prior to completion. As that means they will soon be locals we definitely break the rules.

[B&B netherlands]

i happily accept onenighters, esp. between october and april. as far as i'm aware of, we do not have a 'restriction' here on the minimum number of nights. at the moment, i'm having a 'regular guest' for 3 nights a week, a businessman. he's very tidy, has breakfast at the place he's working from (a business center) so i only 'supply' him with his favourite tea and biscuits...

i think from an owner's view, it mostly depends on your location - i'm not really in a touristic region, though rather close to amsterdam. if you are in a holiday sort of region, you most likely get 5-7 night bookings, which i rarely get. my summer 'backbone guests' are cyclists, all onenighters... but so easy to please! and... most of them clean up, bring the dirty dishes etc. to the kitchen and strip the beds - 'like we would do at home'...

i DO know that all B&B's in amsterdam state a minimum stay of two nights. some of them don't live even close to their B&B and give vouchers to have breakfast at 'the shop on the corner'. the key holder is usually the same shop or a trusted neighbour. who makes an extra little something by cleaning... and leaving clean sheets for the next guests (who make up their own beds, yes!)

i don't complain, it's my own choice, and i'm flooded with guests, this 3rd season of my business. well it does help i think, i'm the only B&B locally... with one collegue who is not easily found on the internet (the hamlet goes under an other name than my home village) so we keep an eye on eachother's availabilty and send eachother customers when fully booked...

[Anno]

Thanks for your comments. Largely thanks to reading the LMH forum I have come to understand how 1-night stays are not necessarily worth it to a B&B (and sometimes one-week stays to a rental) - especially in a tourist destination area - and I expect that's the nub of my own problem. Of course they don't want one-nighters "blocking" time and potentially preventing longer-term guest from booking.
But we really wanted to go to a "real" B&B in someone's home rather than a more faceless hotel. Perhaps we're trying to break our journey in the wrong place... I shall just keep looking and see if we have any better luck!
(On the French leg of our journey it was no problem to book for one night in the two different places we chose, even in August.)

[pambon]

Can you give us the location, may be able to help - or not

[Anno]

That's nice of you Pambon. Our idea is to find somewhere to stay one night (5 of us) in Liguria, somewhere around Genova, on the drive from Rome towards France - on a Saturday in August.
I got really excited the other day when I found a lovely place that would accept one-nighters - and noticed in the nick of time before I actually made an online booking that it was in Sicily! You have to keep your wits about you when holiday hunting online - I don't know how that one snuck into what, as far as I was concerned, was a list for Liguria... -

[pambon]

Have pm'd you some websites.


Liguria & Sicily...hmmm! No comment.

[Titti]

Just to reply to the original question, there is no law in Italy which sets a minimum stay for B&Bs. However August is peak season near the coast, so it's normal they are not taking one nighters.

[pambon]

My minimum stay is four nights but in July & August it's seven nights.