Lessons learnt from the B&B: 2 years on

Our family just completed 2 years of running a Bed & Breakfast/ home stay. Looking back, we realise that we stepped into this venture quite blindly, which is not advisable at all when starting a new business. Due to lack of experience, we did no prior market research or risk assessment. However, we've learnt a thing or two along the way.

We are still a no-profit business with 7 more years to go on our loan repayments. Essentially, still in the danger zone. Amid challenges and ongoing improvements, we've come to enjoy certain aspects of this little family business. Meeting open-minded people from various cultural backgrounds in various parts of the world have been interesting and rewarding. Hosting and being hospitable gives a warm feeling of satisfaction. A few guest-host relationships have progressed into good friendships.

I've even found my parents' thinking and perceptions changing and expanding slowly.

Shuri: Mom, this guest has an interesting profile. He does a lot of social work in health with vulnerable communities and seems to have an impressive educational background.
Mom: Then he's ideal for you.
Shuri: I think he might be gay.
Mom: No, I meant ideal for the type of projects you do for work.
Shuri: (Embarrassed for walking into that trap, impressed by her wittiness AND her indifference to sexual orientation). Oh. *mind blows*.

Mom: Don't you want to find a partner like the type of backpacker couples that come here?
Shuri: What type is that?
Mom: They seem genuinely happy, are loving towards each other and enjoy traveling without the extra baggage of kids and being overly attached to their jobs and maintaining houses.
Shuri: Yeah, that would be nice.

Of course, not all guest experiences are rosy.

Once, a guest left at the end of his stay without payment. Some are difficult to please and expect 5-star facilities and services for a low budget, some guests leave negative reviews despite our best efforts to keep them comfortable and we've had to bear small damages to property sometimes (because we noticed it after the guests left).

Like a cascade effect, several people and businesses around us have stood to benefit from our business. For example, Kumudu, our helper with housekeeping has a better paying job now for less tiring work (compared to her previous job). Another lady who earns a living by running a grocery store and making string hoppers receives orders from us. The bakery in our neighbourhood has increased sales for sliced bread. Many other grocery stores benefit from our purchases for the B&B supplies. Another family nearby provides accommodation to drivers who bring some of our guests. Take-out restaurants in the area benefit from the increased number of orders from tourists. Many tuk tuk drivers in the area benefit from offering transport and tours to our guests.

Our operations team has also evolved over time to take up various fitting roles, depending on each one's interests, abilities and availability:

Mom - Guest Relations, Chef, Local Buyer, Head of Housekeeping
Dad - Finance, Tours and Transport, Repairs and Maintenance, Garden and Garden Harvests
Bro - Transport, Repairs and Maintenance
Sister - Overseas Buyer
Nicky, our dog - Assistant Guest Relations Officer
Shuri - Hotel Reservations, Human Resources, Records Administrator, Consultant, Naturalist, Quality Control, Marketing, Innovation, Sustainability

Shu's titles boils down to these actually:

Hotel Reservations (making sure the booking calendar doesn't clash with accidental double bookings and responding to inquiries from guests and potential guests), Human Resources (managing people when they become difficult including family, keeping them happy and motivated, and resolving disputes), Records Administrator (meticulously filing, collecting data in spreadsheets and carrying out analyses), Consultant (having to provide information for family friends and others who want advice with starting their own home stays), Naturalist (attempting to generate interest in the environment and wildlife), Quality Control (nitpicking and throwing fits when standards fall - the family hates having me around for weekends for this reason), Marketing (showing off our property listing online and trying to "seduce" guests into booking with us), Innovation (trying out new and wacky ideas, because no one's there to stop it), Sustainability (trying to be environmentally friendly and ethical to the best extent possible).

Sri Lanka is an increasingly popular destination for international travelers and expatriates who return home to visit friends and relatives. In 2013, Lonely Planet nominated Sri Lanka as the #1 destination in the world to visit. In 2015, Forbes Magazine ranked the island among the “Top Ten Coolest Countries” to visit. Condé Nast Traveler, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, The Guardian, and the New York Times identified Sri Lanka as a top location to visit in 2016. In 2017, guests from 39 countries stayed at our B&B (up from 26 in 2016).

Travel trends in Sri Lanka are seasonal. Six months of the year are considered the high season according to the national statistics; January, February, March, July, August and December.

National Statistics

According to the Annual Statistical Report 2016 of the Sri Lanka Tourism Tourism Development Board, the average occupancy is 74.76% while the hill country (which we belong to) records 75.24%. However, we still have a long way to go in matching the national statistics. And theoretically, it's difficult to match since we can't employ full-time permanent staff yet and we close operations when the family needs time off.

Statistics from our B&B for 2016 and 2017

Here are some of our lessons learnt, two years on:

1. Don't let the competition intimidate you

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Board (SLTDA) actively promotes locals to open their homes to tourists. They use annual visitor statistics to back this. The result is an unregulated bloom of tourist guesthouses, home stays and apartments in all the major cities of Sri Lanka. We don't have an accurate count of such establishments in our city (not all are registered with SLTDA), but we estimate there are close to 500 in our city alone. While competition can give tourists attractive rates and a range of options to choose from, the competition hurts many businesses, especially those who have made big initial investments. In comparison, banks, which readily provide high interest loans to homeowners for tourism services, and the tourist board itself, which collects a registration fee and an annual license from registered tourist establishments, stand at an advantage.

Despite all this, using constructive criticism to one's advantage, being confident in your own unique brand (despite what your competitors do), experimenting with new ideas without fear, seeking advice from experts, and continuously thinking of creative ways to enhance guest experiences are some of the things that will help the business stay in the game.


2. It is a lot of hard work. Having a good team helps a lot. 

It's round-the-clock work, especially during tourist peak season - which is about 4 months in the year for us. We now have extra help with housekeeping. Still, managing calendars, responding to guest inquiries, arranging transport and tours, doing the breakfast service, shopping, paying bills, maintenance of facilities and managing accounts requires time.

Given the level of coordination required, a good team and good communication is a must. They must be trustworthy and capable. Managing the team involves identifying each other's strengths, quirks and the little things that drive them.

It's my parents, mostly my mom, who run the show at our B&B. It helps that she's the only pure extrovert in the family. As an unintended impact, we seem to have grown closer as a family and improved in our communication while running the operations of this B&B.


3. Reviews can make you or break you 

Everyone these days checks online reviews for travel recommendations, hotel reservations and tour operators. True enough, that's the most reliable feedback out there. Bygone are the days when tourism operators and establishments can hoodwink tourists with a lack of transparency in dealings. Modern tourists are well informed through various travel aides and experienced with travel. And as a responsible traveler, it has become one's obligation to leave honest feedback online for the benefit of others. This has made the world smaller and traveling a bit safer, which is good.

A guest review is final and permanent as far as hotel listings go. At times, maintaining ratings is like having to maintain an outstanding report card in school. Slacking will affect ratings and therefore sales.

What it means for service providers is that they will be held strictly accountable for their attitude, quality of service and facilities. This is where things like genuineness, empathy and attention to details scores the brownie points. Most important of all, we have to understand that our guests are people who, just like us, expect honesty and clear communication.

~ ~ ~ 

We don't know what the future holds for our B&B, but we'll try to make it a good one.



References:

Sri Lanka Tourism Strategic Plan 2017-2020. Downloaded on 6th January 2018 from http://www.sltda.lk/sites/default/files/tourism-strategic-plan-2017-to-2020.pdf 

Annual Statistical Report 2016. Downloaded on 6th January 2018 from http://www.sltda.lk/sites/default/files/annual-statical-report-2016.pdf

Parting with a pet

In life, we are faced with a choice: do we create new emotional attachments with other beings knowing very well that one day we have to part with them, or do we run away from it altogether to avoid the the pain that follows loss?

Exactly, an year ago, we were forced to adopt two kittens that were abandoned by the roadside. Although we asked around, no one was willing to adopt them.

So they came to live with us. We had to give a little extra care in the beginning to help them adjust to their life without a mother.  

They had a strong will to live. It helped that they had each other. Soon they were feeding normally.

There was plenty of love in our home coming from humans, dogs and other cats. The kittens grew up happy despite not having their biological mother around. 

Our female dog Lea took a liking to the kittens and soon took over the role of "mother". We were relieved. It was endearing to watch Lea clean them, play with them and watch them as they slept. Time and time again, we felt that the saying "He's/ She's worse than an animal" was an unfair one - for animals. Animals on many occasions display similar altruism as (altruistic) humans do.

To a certain extent, the cats probably thought they were dogs too. For example, while cats have a habit of covering up their poo, these kittens never covered up - because their dog guardians didn't.

Grandma Kitty (in the center) once reached her limit of patience seeing that the dog mother was not doing a proper job of bringing up two young cats. So she also took turns in cleaning the kittens and teaching them to hunt. 

Today, a mother lost a child. She's devastated for the moment, but we hope she'll heal in time and come back to her usual self. More than the grief of losing the cat, we are more saddened to see how the grief not only affects us, but our other pets too. 

Today, a sibling bond was broken too. The black and white cat, who we call "Chuti Kitty" (meaning little kitty), will never have her playmate and companion again. She still appears confused over the loss. 

Animals feel, like us. They develop attachments, like us. They feel fear and they feel pain, also like us. 

As with any death, we begin to wonder if we could have done anything better. 

With humans, we wonder if we could have treated the person better while they were alive. Maybe we didn't appreciate them enough. Maybe we should have said we loved them more times than we did. Maybe we should have forgiven the small shortcomings and let go of the grudges, because in the end it doesn't make sense to hold on to those. Maybe we regret the hurtful words we used on them. 

Similar thoughts crossed our mind too. Should we have not scolded her as much as we did? Should we have given her more food when she demanded extra food? Should we have kept her indoors on the night she was hit by a vehicle outside our gate? Could someone have saved her in the dead of the night when Lea barked frantically? We don't know if any of that could have changed the outcome. 

Rest in peace (Dec 2016 - Jan 2018)

Preeny, you will be missed by everyone at home. In the short time we had you, you brought us much joy and many memories.

Once again, we wowed not to take in any more new pets.

A closer look at a double-edged sword

“All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

- William Shakespeare

Facebook, too, is a "stage" of sorts.

My life force appears to be plugged to the performing arts on this Facebook stage! I am a moderator of four Facebook pages, I am a member of over ten closed (interest) groups and then there's the management of the social aspect. Every moment of vacant self-awareness I have, I feel the urge to step into the Facebook universe. I look to it to be constantly entertained, validated and fed with information. If I don't log into Facebook, I feel like I've lost my crutches or forgotten my pills. "Liking" certain posts feels obligatory, but like the social rules in any society we live in, participation is a requirement. As citizens of this new social universe - which has no geographical boundaries - we have to let the world know what we see, what we do, where we go, what we eat, what we think and what we tell our closest people.

Sounds crazy? It should. And it's very stressful to both the party that feels obliged to keep reporting their life events and the party that has to react after getting bombarded with information about other people's lives. 

Smart phones replaced diaries, calendars, alarm clocks, cameras, calculators, GPS devices, pagers, radios, televisions, voice recorders, newspapers, books, albums, snail mail, typewriters, computers, modems, internet cafes, communication centres and even secretaries. Now we don't even have to step outside the home to get tasks like going to the bank, going to an IT store to get software and going to a clothing store done. Similarly, Facebook has also brought convenience to our increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Maintaining social interactions, sending out greetings and sympathies, staying up to date with the latest news and entertainment, getting instant feedback on questions, gossiping, making new friends, spying on the lives of others, checking out potential love interests, joining various interest groups, fighting for causes, getting worked up over silly things that others post, finding something to laugh about, showing off and maintaining an "image" (almost always a positive one) is like a full time job. Facebook has over 2 billion active users as of 2017. Leaving out pseudo accounts and duplicate accounts, that still counts for a lot!

Hahaha.. yeah.

For example, let's take my profile. Now I use "Nomad. Shutter bug. Dreamer. Tree-hugger. Scribbler. Stalker of bugs" as an introduction to my profile. In real terms, it actually translates to "Mostly homeless and lives from a suitcase. Knows only how to take photographs in Auto-mode of the camera. Easily distracted, possibly suffering from adult ADHD. Dislikes humans in general and constantly reminds them to protect nature. Struggling writer. Stalker of bugs (this is true)."

Up until a few weeks ago, I used a quote I had ripped off from the internet "Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." This quote attempts to give the impression that I am an avid traveler who's not afraid of taking risks and moving out of comfort zones, and preaches others to do the same. This is not entirely true. To compliment this quote, my cover photo boasts one of me sitting calmly on the edge of a rocky cliff, looking into a deep valley, surrounded by stunning scenery.

What actually went on moments before I took that photo kind of went like this:

Me to Bro: Hey, can walk over to that cliff and take a photo of me sitting on this cliff? Then I can take a cool one of you standing on that cliff.

Bro: Okay.

Me: (inches to the edge of the cliff, as close as my nerves would allow) Okay, let me know when you are ready. And for goodness sake, be careful.

Bro: Okay I'm ready.

Me: (Poses) Did you take me with the whole scenery? Don't zoom into my face. Take another one!!

Bro: Okay, I took another one.

Me: Is it good?

Bro: Yes.

Me: Okay, now let me take yours.

See? Not as dramatic as the photo depicts.

Then comes maintenance of this "image" of "I am a cool, single girl, enjoying a carefree life, traveling, helping communities, fighting to protect nature, plays the violin, following my dreams and nothing can possibly go wrong". Truth is, I am as insecure as other girls out there (only varying in the degree of insecurity). I sometimes wonder if the life choices I made are good ones. I feel lonely occasionally. Traveling is not 100% fun (maybe just 70-90%) and it involves certain inconveniences, which we hardly mention on Facebook. If someone were to ask me to play a piece on the violin, I would freak out because I have no practice and no confidence or skill for an outstanding solo performance. Helping communities is also not so clear cut; sometimes they don't want to be helped, sometimes NGO's play out on grant money instead of helping communities, observing positive results of project work can take a long time and sometimes projects don't have the expected progress. Sometimes, it feels we use vulnerable people to boost our good samaritan image online.

In a paper published in 1986, psychologists Hazel Rose Markus and Paula Nurius claimed that a person has two selves; the “now self” and the “possible self”. The possible self is what we would like to become, what we could become, and what we are afraid of becoming. Social media platforms allow a person to become their possible self, or at least present a version of themselves that is closer to it.

After a photo or anything else is posted, any Facebook notification on the phone tempts me to go see what it is about. "Is it a "Like" for what I posted??" or "Did someone comment on it??" or "What did they say??" or "How many "Likes" did my post get?" or "How come I get more likes for pictures of me but less for something decent and thought provoking that I said??".  If  there are no notifications, I think "It's been about 2 hours, why hasn't anyone reacted to it?" or "Could I have posted something offensive?".

Some friends are opposed to having their photos posted on Facebook. Although they pose in all the photos with the group during the event, which in their mind is normal like in the 90's, they don't like their photos posted on social media. This situation can make a serial Facebook poster annoyed. "If you didn't want your face on Facebook, then WHY ON EARTH DID YOU POSE WITH US?". To be fair, a non-poster would not comprehend the level of desperation in people who want to publish everything that happens in their lives. 

I am not always needy for Facebook attention. Sometimes, I want my posts to be informative and carry a deeper message. Sometimes, I want people to be inspired and more appreciative of nature through the things I capture on camera. 

However, in a list of x number of Facebook friends, a significant number of them (me included) will post perfect family/ couple photos all the time, couples expressing their love for each other on a regular basis in front of the Facebook audience, people posing with their newly purchased luxury vehicles, holidays, travels, food, animals in their garden, promotions, various phases of their pregnancies leading to birth and growth of the child afterwards, how many kilometers they ran in the morning on which jogging route, parents announcing the many achievements of their children and some announcing illnesses and personal tragedies. Truth is, although some of our closest friends and family might be genuinely interested in our posts (or pretend to be), most people are not really interested in our lives, as much as we want them to be/ think them might be.

Facebook, the thoughtful application it is, has an "unfollow" option to stop following friends who keep sending a lot of unnecessary information to the news feed. Admittedly, I have "unfollowed" many Facebook friends to improve the quality of my news feed, but it's always work in progress to weed out people who may appear sensible and stable at first but break out into narcissists and attention seekers later.

The dark side to Facebook addiction, in addition to making us vulnerable to media bias and a tendency to tempt us to exercise deceit (exaggeration, if you may), is that our lives can stagnate in a superficial layer of skewed reality. According to this guy, even our self-talk can become too negative when bombarded with superficial information:

I feel that the connection I had with my deeper layers of thinking, which probably inspired and stimulated some of my blog posts in the past, has become somewhat severed. I wonder if my increasing occupation with Facebook has anything to do with it.

A good indicator of Shuri's brain function (for analytical thinking and focus) over the years. But hey, I think it's making a slow comeback!

Facebook and other social media can contribute to healthy relationships which are usually hindered by factors like distance and time differences. It can also be a massive source of information, social support and networks that can advance human potential. However, the biggest worry about Facebook is the tendency to be addictive and psychologically manipulative. Addictions can impair normal life, give additional stress, make people less productive, less healthy, less aware of their physical surroundings, trigger depression and, make people disengage with reality, meaningful relationships (with people who are near them) and other hobbies. If not used in a careful manner, Facebook also has the ability to stunt human potential.