Exclusive | Provincetown: Gay Life Part Three

Notes on Accommodations & Resort Polices
Cancellation: resorts depend on a relatively short season to finance their year-round activities and so many require full or partial payment at the time of booking and forfeiture of full or partial payment depending upon when you cancel a reservation. Be sure you ask about resort cancellation policies when making your reservations.

Minimum Stay: during summer season, may inns have a four- or seven-night minimum. It's very unlikely that you?ll snag a room in high season for a lone Friday- or Saturday-night stay, except in cases of occasional cancellations. If you're trying to book for just a night at the last minute, your best bet is to call the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce or one of the reservation services in town (see below), but don't get your hopes up. We recommend to book as early as possible in summer and to plan staying at least two nights if you're coming during a weekend.

Charming Architecture
Many of the houses in P-town are very old and despite the flurry of renovations, you will still find a lot of steep stairs, tiny or non-existent closets, lack of air conditioning, and some potential for head bumping on low-ceilinged staircases. Many of these houses were built before the age of indoor plumbing, with bathrooms added later. Some inns have shared bath facilities and some bathrooms may seem like small afterthoughts built into the corners of bedrooms. Although increasingly prevalent, in-room TVs and phones are still less common than at other resort destinations. Wi-Fi, however, has become quite widespread. Unless otherwise noted in the descriptions, all of the guesthouses offer continental breakfast.

Innkeeper Associations
Several groups of Provincetown innkeepers have come together to create associations. Distinctive Inns of Provincetown is a group of eight upscale, attractive inns that offer some of best gay-owned accommodations in town. Provincetown Favorites [link to: www.provincetownfavorites.com] is a consortium of nine local gay-friendly inns, and Women Innkeepers of Provincetown is a group of seven fine inns owned and run by women, serving a largely but not exclusively female clientele.

Occasional Gay/Straight Mix
The quality of gay guesthouses in Provincetown exceeds the best of any mainstream properties in town. As the reputation for quality increases, so does straight publication media attention, and many of the best gay B&Bs are attracting growing numbers of straight guests. Some gay guesthouses report occasional winter weekends with no gay guests. If that's a factor for you, be sure to inquire ahead as to the gay/straight makeup of the guesthouse. For those seeking gay-only or lesbian-only accommodations, try to visit in the summer (the gay/straight mix varies dramatically by season: gay guests book a year in advance for their Provincetown summer vacation and fill many houses; less focused straight guests tend to be squeezed out. In the off-season visit during gay event weeks like Women's Week or Meet Your Man Weekend when bookings will be heavily concentrated in those areas. A final tip: book lesser properties that do not attract media attention and thus fewer straight guests.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Related Articles:
Provincetown: Introduction
Provincetown: Where to Stay
Provincetown: Where to Eat
Provincetown: Where to Play
Provincetown: What to See & Do
Provincetown: Where to Shop
Provincetown: Artistic/Cultural
Provincetown: Resources