Off to Vallarta!

Adiós a mis amigos. Vamos a nuestro lugar en Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Próximo - de la playa....

Keep the B & B dream alive - 5 tips for dodging Burnout!

If I've learned anything in 19 years of innkeeping, it's to be hospitable to the innkeeper. Here in the downtown, West End neighbourhood of Vancouver, there have never been more than half a dozen bed and breakfasts. Amongst my innkeeper colleagues, it was only a matter of a few years before my status changed from new kid on the block to the ancient innkeeper of the West End. I have since learned that this phenomenon is widely true across bed and breakfasting. There is rather horrendous burnout in what should be a very happy profession. Why? And how to avoid it?

1. Self-employment is a risk. Not everyone is cut out to handle that kind of uncertainty. It's easy, even a comfort, to gripe with your co-workers about the boss from hell and the inane company strictures, when you know that your salary will be deposited in your bank account every two weeks. Being an employee may be as boring as a clock but not knowing if you can pay the bills in two weeks can be an alarming wake up! Never open a bed and breakfast if you are fleeing the stress and headaches of a 9 to 5 routine. You could be trading that for a 24/7 nightmare. I would suggest that you are ONLY in a position to consider innkeeping if you have already succeeded as a dependable employee, a trusted co-worker, someone the company would be glad to rehire.

2.Plan. Plan. Plan. There are great books, online advice, consultants to hire and local college courses to help you decide if innkeeping is really for you. For me, the definitive guide that asked me all the thought-provoking questions was a book called "So - You Want to be an Innkeeper" by Mary Davies. It is still out there, now in it's third revised edition. The point of planning is to look at finances, locale, zoning etc, but ONLY AFTER you have looked in the mirror. Do you have the disposition to be hospitable? Ask yourself: Am I a warm person? Am I neighbourly? Am I concerned for the well-being of others? Be honest. Much can be learned but some things have to come from the heart.

3. So if you have decided you like people, are you still going to like them inside your home? The greatest downfall that I have observed in innkeeping is an underestimation of one's own primal need for privacy. Even saints need some private time for solitude and reflection. How much do you need? Is the B & B schedule that you have planned conducive to meeting your own needs for rest and recuperation? Is the physical layout of the B & B able to provide you and your loved ones their own "space"? Privacy is often about the psychological separation of the different components of your life. Work and home are symbolic of many things to each person and juggling them both under the same roof can be more than some can manage.

4.Okay, so you are ready to invite the world. It's because your heritage home has now been beautifully restored to museum condition. The design work and decorating details have absorbed and delighted you for months. That is well and good but most guests don't want to vacation in a museum. After the renos are cleaned up and the fun of shopping for the perfect antique armoire fades, you will then have to face the prospect of visiting with your guests, meeting their needs as paying customers, cleaning, cooking, marketing and the thrill of grocery shopping. And did I say cleaning? Only so much can be delegated before you are running a hotel. A major reason for burnout is the dawning realization, that maybe you should have focused more narrowly to become a self-employed contractor or designer or decorator or florist or even that museum curator. Personally, I believe that there is enough variety and multitasking to innkeeping to keep the mind active and the body engaged. Beware if the homebody housekeeping has become a bore. Ultimately, the best antidote to the isolation of working from home is the guest who accepted your invitation, chose your establishment in a crowded marketplace, took a chance on your hospitality and decided to share his/her own time and conversation, wisdom and insight. Just be yourself. Meet your guest as an equal. Communication is two way and over a shared cup of coffee can be surprisingly rewarding.

5. These days, it takes only a mouse-click to find so many beautiful bed and breakfasts on the market that have a proven track record of producing a fat income. Ever wonder why they are for sale? If it wasn't for lack of security or planning or disposition or the love of the actual day to day work, it is probably because a couple decided to do it all together! In other words, the business succeeded just as the relationship failed. Constant togetherness, night and day proximity can bring a relationship into very sharp focus indeed. All too often, it is only one partner who is romanced by the dream of bed and breakfasting and the other goes along - but only to a point. My suggestion is that life partners would do better if they kept some separation in their careers. It gives them something to tell each other at the end of the day. But if you both really want to be full-time innkeepers, try to work out clearly defined areas of expertise and management where you don't trip over each other each and every minute. And remember, be hospitable to the innkeepers! Give yourselves a vacation too!

The List of Lists

OK now, all you other list lovers(would spellcheck make that "Lizst"?), I know you are out there. If you crave some post-holidays light and entertainment, be sure to check out the list of lists compiled by this self-described "narcissistic dilettante". I am convinced that he would make a wonderful breakfast conversationalist - say around 4 PM.

These are the best and worst and top tens, multiple lists of everything from advertising, architecture, art, autos, books( I think I am glad that bed & breakfasts missed the cut) and on it goes through business, comedy, comics, dance, design, dvd, fashion, education, film, food/drink, gadgets, games, ideas, media and be sure to explore the wonderfully eccentric miscellaneous, music, online, paranormal, people, photos, politics, religion, sports, science, sex, technology, theater, toys, travel, TV, videos, words/search.

Set aside the rest of the winter before clicking: The List of Lists:2008

Top 5 Reasons to Open a Bed and Breakfast

At the the turn of the year, I like(besides Sydney's fireworks) all of the Top Ten Lists, the retrospective Best Of ... Lists, and the look ahead to What We Might See in the New Year.

If you have ever thought that it would be nice to open a bed and breakfast someday, these are five good reasons to pursue your dream:

1. Self-employment is a challenge to yourself with the potential for great personal satisfaction.


2. Innkeeping is a particularly flexible form of self-employment that allows you to define the day to day details of earning your livelihood.


3. You can bring a wide variety of life experience and skills to the bed and breakfast table. A love of cooking might be equally as valuable as a love of home renovation.


4. Owning and operating a B & B is a multitasking delight. Each day is not necessarily like the last. Done right, it should not quickly grow stale.


5. In hospitality, your customers bring the world to your door. B & B guests are not only in vacation mode but they are often very seasoned travellers, who have purposefully chosen the personal touch of a guesthouse over the anonymity of a hotel. They are smart, considerate, genuinely interested in the the place they are visiting and as such, more likely to leave a positive impression of themselves behind them.
   

New Year's Eve

There are days in Vancouver when the low overcast and misty rain make me want to get on a plane. Not necessarily because I want to leave town. It's a great town. But just to climb above the gloom and see the sun that I know is above me. On those days, it is fortunate that I can walk to the beach, look to the west and receive a blinding flash of unfiltered sunlight just before it is swallowed by the sea. The glowing end of one day gives me hope for the next.

2008 was a year like that. The Bush Gang spread such a pall of lies, criminality and fear that honest people were deceived and depressed. War over oil and oil over environment. The parting gift from these sanctimonious fat cats was a recession that that will hurt them the least of all. They have surely taken care of themselves and will temporarily retire into their fortified playgrounds. Still - the election of Barack Obama is like a blinding flash of light. He is clearly one of us, a good man. His new team seem to be people of rational thought, ethics and science. His inaugural promises the beginning of something larger even than the American Presidency. The turning of the year gives me hope for tomorrow.

Let it melt!

Picture originally uploaded by Bree

EEK! Is it NEVER going to stop snowing! I must have become a real Vancouverite. Just like everyone else here, I am used to rain at this time of year. In fact, I embrace the simplicity and lifestyle of rain. Rain does not require the putting on and taking off of layers of clothing, the balancing act and tug of war with boots, the hunt for the missing mitten. I can drive and park in rain. Everything is conveniently close and quickly reached in the West End - in rain.

Only a mere ten days ago, I was rhapsodic - isn't the snow pretty/quick, let's take a picture. Then, it snowed and I shovelled and it snowed and B. shovelled and it snowed and M. shovelled. This is not right. Is THIS global warming? People moved here to escape this sort of thing. People born and raised here have a crazy, end of the world look in their eyes. Or maybe that's just the shivers as they lean on their shovels in their all year gear - a jean jacket and flip flops.

The weatherman says beware of severe flooding when it warms up. Nobody cares. Floods we know and love. Let it melt. Let it melt. Let it melt.

Fresh snow for the holidays.

Fresh snow for the holidays is a rare Vancouver treat! We have been decorating and baking. Our Christmas scones have green cherries and peppermint oil in them. Yummmm. The sweet smells from the kitchen combine with the evergreen odours of wreath, garland and tree.


Inside, everything is cosy by the fire. The old house creaks in the frosty weather. I am sure she feels her age on winter nights but her spirit is ready for another hundred years.


Even though we close the B & B for Christmas Eve and Day, New Year's Eve and Day, we receive lots of holiday guests, who need a little getaway to shop or ski or just to get away. Sometimes, it's an especially good time to rekindle a romance and look forward to the new year together. Sometimes, it's solo downtime, to write, to think or just to rest. We understand. We set the stage, spread a big home-cooked breakfast but otherwise leave them to their privacy and own thing.

Hi Santa !

Sunday was such a cool, clear day - enough to put a rose in children's cheeks. 300,000 folks, including me and my honey, cheered as Santa came to town. He ho-ho-hoed, the bands played and the floats floated in a sea of sparkles.

Hi Santa !

Techies love bed and breakfast too!

Do you love your iPhone? Are you lost without your GPS? Technology may aggravate but sometimes it does truly impress. Nelson House B & B is pleased to announce that we are among the first bed and breakfasts in the world available through iPhone.

The screenshot above is a sample of a typical listing on a free application called "Inntouch." It can be found here.

You just download it to the iPhone or iPod touch. Then you can launch it and use the integrated GPS search function to find a B & B nearby your current location. Gotta admit, that's cool.

The Inntouch app includes a link to the B & B's website, email, a map locator and best of all, with one touch, that big green Call Button connects directly to the B & B that you are viewing. Did I mention that this app is FREE!

The app was developed by the tech-friendly folks at Iloveinns.com and Apple.

Vancouver dreamin'

Vancouver used to always be followed by "B.C." You know - British Columbia. It was because of the other Vancouver, in the state of Washington. I have noticed that the BC suffix has now been dropped. B.C. now designates a whole other subject, like British California or Bring Cash. The city has achieved standalone status.

Vancouver has grown up. She is young(c.1880s) by world standards but the world has begun to take notice. For a longtime, she was a provincial place, a rather rough town that grew into Terminal City. Terminal in the sense of the end of the road(as viewed from back East), as in a major rail, freight and port facility. Vancouver's reputation has suffered the envy of some other cities that have more history but less geography. For too long, Vancouver was all about setting - a city that leaned against a wall of mountains as she splashed her feet in the vast, mild Pacific. A surreal green rainforest with mist dripping from every limb. A westcoast experience derided as the Wet Coast. It was only with Expo'86, that the world was compelled to note the chutzpah of a gawky teenage city bold enough to invite everyone to come and see.

And they have come and seen. And many have bought a piece of paradise, a room with a view. Beauty, beauty everywhere. For some, that beauty has been reason enough to lay back and roll another one. For others, it has been a magnet that uprooted and drew them from half a world away. The world's languages fill the streets. Smart young people in sandals design the computer games that the world will play next year. They social network avidly, climb a mountain competitively and are as apt to take the bike to work as the BMW. Their world is plugged in, 24 hours and global.

Vancouver is now as fresh and dewy as this year’s Hollywood starlet. The city has great bones - the Coast Mountains soar over a glassy new skyline. The makeup is minimal and immaculate - the Pacific Ocean washes miles of chilled but sandy beach. Most attractive - for Vancouver’s turn in the spotlight (and to the delight of visitors) – this city is a friendly tease. She has become open-minded, hip, cosmopolitan and maybe a teensy bit pretentious.

Vancouver offers both sexy and becalming lifestyles. Canadians elsewhere trade down from high-powered careers and trade up to more expensive housing, just to be here, to go play outdoors, and yes, to smell the roses. Non-Canadians have ceased comparing the city to the mountains of Zurich, the bayside zaniness of San Francisco, the Pacific ports of Hong Kong and Sydney. Vancouver is unique. She is no longer just a pretty young thing. No where else do you hear people talking endlessly about "quality of life". Ultimately, this city knows that her inner beauty will define her and that remains a work in progress, a work of maturation. In 2010, she knows that the world will see an Olympic Vancouver with panhandlers outside the ice arena, homeless outside the many fine restaurants, the poor and deranged, the rich and deluded, side by side in "lotusland". Still, the city beckons - come and see!

Youtube videos courtesy of paulngstewart