第５回

B&Bにもお国柄が　部屋提供のみサービス一切なしがスウエーデン流

　六月に、家内とフィンランドのヘルシンキとスウエーデンのストックホルムに行って来ました。予約はすべてインターネットでしたが、ヘルシンキの四十四室あるホテルは、駅から十分とあったので、道行く人に地図を見せながら探して行ったところ、初めての道のりなので、着いた時は一時間をはるかに過ぎていました。

　ホテルでは浴室はシヤワーだけですが、洗面所にはフックで簡単にヘアドライヤーが備えつけてあります。家内は帰国すると、さっそくこれを真似て「澤の屋」の各部屋の洗面所にヘアドライヤーをとりつけました。

　ストックホルムでは、B＆B（ベッド・アンド・ブレックフアースト）センターのパンフレットの中から、中心街に近く、伝統的な部屋の造りで、客室が二室、猫が二匹、トイレと浴室は共同使用とあるので、家族との触れ合いがあると思いそこに予約しました。

　我が「澤の屋」のお得意さんであるニルソンさんが空港まで迎えに来てくださって、バスと地下鉄をのり継いでB＆Bに着くと誰もいません。携帯電話を架けると「予約を忘れていた。すぐ帰る」との返事です。ニルソンさんが「この国のB＆Bは、部屋を提供するだけで、一切のサービスはありませんよ」と言うので、これまで私どもが利用したB＆Bとは違うことを初めて知りました。
　家に入って用紙に住所と名前を書き、三泊分の宿泊料一、五〇〇クローネ（約二万一千円）を現金で支払い、玄関の鍵をもらいました。
　経営者は若夫婦で、主人は勤めに出ているそうです。ここは六階建てのアパートの二階部分で、部屋は花が咲き乱れる中庭に面し、明るくそして静かです。
　白夜の季節で、夜十一時頃まで明るく、街歩きをして夜遅く帰って来るのでオーナー夫婦とは一切会うことはありませんでした。猫は子供が生まれて五匹になっていて、部屋のドアを開けるたびに飛び込んできます。
　部屋の掃除もシーツの取り替えもありませんでした。帰る時は郵便受けに鍵を返して終わりです。

　帰国の飛行機の中で、来年はドイツに行こうと家内に提案すると「うちと同じ、十室前後の小さなホテルに予約ができたら、ついて行ってあげる」と条件をつけられてしまいました。

日観連月報８、９月号より

Episode 5

So many countries, so many B&Bs.　In Sweden, they offer nothing but rooms.

In June my wife and I visited Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. We made all reservations via the Internet. The hotel we stayed at had 44 rooms and was located within a ten-minute walk from the station. Reaching the destination by simply reading a map and asking people, however, was much more difficult than we expected. It took us more than one hour to get there.
In the hotel, each room had a shower bath but no bathtub. A washstand by the shower was furnished with a hair dryer hooked up on the wall. My wife liked this and furnished each washstand of our inn with a hair dryer after we returned to Tokyo.

In Stockholm, we consulted a guidebook for B&B (bed and breakfast) and chose an inn near the downtown. The guidebook says it is a traditional inn with two guest rooms, two cats and one bathroom shared with the owner’s family. We reserved the inn because we were looking for a place where we could have a conversation with them.

At the airport, our regular customer Mr. Nilsson welcomed us. When we arrive at the inn taking a bus after the subway, nobody was there.
We called the owner’s cell phone and told him our arrival. He forgot that we made a reservation. Waiting for him to come home, Mr. Nilsson told us that in Sweden B&B inns offer nothing but rooms. No service. We realized the inn we were going to stay was not like that we had known before. 　

We registered at the inn, paid 1,500 kronor (about 21,000 yen or 170 U.S. dollars) for three nights and received a front door key. The owners are a young working couple. The inn was on the second floor of a six story apartment and our room was well-lighted, quiet one, facing a patio filled with flowers. It was summer with the midnight sun so that it didn’t get dark until 11 p.m. We spent every night strolling about the downtown and came home so late that we could not see the owners. The two cats the guidebook mentioned had three babies to become a family of five. They ran into our room every time we opened the door. No room cleaning or sheet replacement. When we left the inn we put our key in their mailbox. That’s all.

On the plane to Tokyo, I suggested travels to Germany next year to my wife. Her answer went that she would come with me if I could reserve a nice little inn with about ten rooms like ours.

(The Japan Tourism Association Monthly Journal August/September, 2000)