Canadian Bed and Breakfast Guide 98-99

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

The 14th edition of Canada’s only national bed and breakfast guide
lists more than 1250 B&Bs. However, it is not exhaustive and therefore
should be used in conjunction with other sources of information about
B&Bs, including government tourist information guides, telephone books,
agencies, word of mouth, and the Internet.

The listings in this book are detailed enough to allow travelers to
make an informed choice about their accommodation. Pantel uses symbols
to codify information about the services offered and then uses words to
describe the services in more detail. The symbols cover such things as
whether or not babysitting is available and whether or not non-English
languages are spoken. Their use is cumbersome, but saves space and makes
the guide more useful to non-English readers, and Pantel’s 18 symbols
are on the low end of the scale for this kind of guide. Guides aimed at
the international market use many more symbols; the Scottish Tourist
Board bed-and-breakfast guide, for example, uses 65 symbols.

Most of Pantel’s listings also include a small black-and-white
photograph of the B&B. Unfortunately, many of these owner-supplied
photos are of poor quality.

Since this is the only national guide available, anyone planning to use
B&Bs will want to own a copy. Also recommended for public libraries
across Canada.