Let me begin by stating that both the house and the room we stayed in were lovely. Our experience at Garden Song B&B was very disappointing. There were many options available to us in Natchez, but we booked our room (through Hotels.com) specifically because it was small, and it included breakfast which we feel is safer during this time of COVID. This was a non-refundable rate of $165 per night. We immediately received an email back stating, “Please remember that our discounted rates do not include breakfast.” According to the Natchez B&B Association, Garden Song rates are $135-$165 per night. I emailed Dan, the proprietor back and had no response. The next morning, I called and left a message and received no response. We didn’t care about a big breakfast but wanted to avoid having to go out to get it. Since we had paid upfront, we felt we had no choice but to check-in.
Part of the B&B experience is to be able to gain local information from the proprietor. We never saw a single person the entire time we were there. We did, however, hear from a dog, that we assume was crated somewhere in the house the first night. The poor animal howled and whimpered until 2:30 in the morning, keeping us awake.
We recognize that these are extraordinary times we are living in, requiring flexibility. We do feel a bare minimum requirement when booking a room is the ability to communicate directly with the proprietor.
