We run the best bed and breakfast in Europe… but a bitter loophole cost us being crowned the world’s no1

If you asked most travellers where they could find Europe’s best bed and breakfast their minds may wander to the idyll of the Cotswolds or charming towns in France’s Loire Valley.

But North Yorkshire? Perhaps not.

But in fact Toulson Court, an eight-room guest house in the seaside town of Scarborough was crowned the best in Britain and Europe, according to a recent TripAdvisor poll.

However, despite travellers falling head over heels for its home cooked breakfasts, and old fashioned hospitality – its owners James and Angela Rusden say a loophole has stopped them taking the world’s no1 spot.

The couple were stunned when Toulson Court was voted best in the world in 2021 based on millions of Tripadvisor reviews spanning 37 regions around the globe.

The family owned business repeated its astonishing success in the Travellers’ Choice Awards twice more in 2022 and 2023.

Now James and Angela have learned this week while they were still best in the UK and Europe, they had slipped to fourth best in the world in this year’s poll.

Angela said: ‘It is still an amazing achievement be competing with hotels next to beaches all over the world.

‘But Tripadvisor say a B&B is any accommodation which does not have 24 hours reception, even if it has 24 hour security.

‘But I do feel disappointed to lose to a hotel chain and other hotels, the same as last year.’

Toulson Court bosses James and Angela Rusden still run the best guest house in Britain and Europe, according to a TripAdvisor poll.

Toulson Court was voted best in the world in 2021 based on millions of Tripadvisor reviews spanning 37 regions around the globe

Europe’s best bed and breakfast is not in Paris, Rome or even London – but Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast

The top choice this year is Pinkcoco in Bali, Indonesia, a Barbie pink branded hotel with pink furniture that is part of a six hotel chain.

Bathers in pink costumers lounge on pink sun loungers among fake pink flamingos next to outdoor pools and a spa offering nail treatments and massages.

Described as being for ‘cool adults only,’ the bar offers refreshments from cocktails to coconuts. There is also an on-site hair salon, and ‘zen’ garden,

Second place went to the Sapa Centre Hotel in Vietnam based in the city centre of Sa Pa with a French Bakery and 25 rooms with balconies and views of the mountains.

In third place was Morocco’s Dar Ahlam Hotel, which advertises itself at ‘the gateway’ of the Sahara desert, an ideal place for travellers to have a luxurious pit stop.

Built as a 200-year-old rammed earth fortress, its 14 rooms offer breathtaking views of the Atlas Mountains.

Toulson Court attracts guests for a more modest £100 a night despite a much cooler climate and lack of a sea view.

James, 53, and Angela, 58, met in Pontefract while working for a recruitment agency and decided to do something different.

They agreed to open a guest house in Scarborough and settled on a Victorian property in Columbus Ravine just around the corner from the cemetery.

The family owned business with only eight rooms repeated its astonishing success in the Travellers’ Choice Awards twice more in 2022 and 2023

In 2024, they were declared best in Britain and Europe but beaten into second place in the global poll by the boutique hotel Voile Bleue in Mauritius

The hotels that pipped Toulson Court to the post are in holiday havens a far cry from Scarborough’s beaches

It was dated but James said it felt like home. So in 2016 they set about turning it into a home from home for their new guests.

Five years later were stunned to receive a phone call from Tripadvisor saying their’s was now best guesthouse in Britain, Europe and the World.

James said: ‘When we got the call we thought at first it was a friend of ours playing a trick.

‘In our country, a B & B is seen as a small family run hotel. But Tripadvisor class accommodation as a B & B if it does not have 24-hour reception, even if it has 24 hour security.

‘But we are still delighted. If you had told us in 2016 we would be running the best B & B in the world we would have been blown away.

‘We run a small B & B in Scarborough and when guests request a sea view we have to tell them we haven’t got one.

‘We finished fourth in the world this year. But we were beaten by three hotels. They even have hotel in the name.

‘In this country, we interpret a B & B as family run and homely. Really if you go by that definition we would have won it last year and this year.’

Angela said: ‘It is still an amazing achievement be competing with hotels next to beaches all over the world.

‘But Tripadvisor say a B & B is any accommodation which does not have 24 hours reception, even if it has 24 hour security.

‘But I do feel disappointed to lose to a hotel chain and other hotels, the same as last year.’

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