The $2000 breakfast

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This article came up in conversation. At least I think this is the article ... I had to search online for it.
I am happy for the owner of the place who has found success, but I was astounded by the over simplified explanation of how ... redecorating, finding recipes, hiring a web designer and printing brochures ... then boom. b&b Sort of. We all know what a rental of 30 days to one person might mean in our areas.
But maybe things do just fall into place like this sometimes. But often they don't. I'll let you read the article and decide for yourselves.
Anyway, I've accepted that $12.50 an hour temp job. Because I've got bills to pay. Last nite I got to know a few of the other temps. One of them, a married guy in his 50's, asked me what I used to do. When I told him, he got very excited. He and his wife are barely holding onto their house and he just read the above mentioned article ... and they 'are going to turn the house into a b&b. simple!'
Hey, I don't want to crush the guy, stomp on his dreams ... He's been out of work for over a year, that's why he took the temp job. It's a paycheck. I just barely mentioned checking with the town where he lives first. Just as a start. But he was way ahead of me ... He and his wife were up all nite, planning breakfasts and rearranging furniture in the bedrooms. He's already deciding on room rates.
 
seashanty said:
Hey, I don't want to crush the guy, stomp on his dreams ... He's been out of work for over a year, that's why he took the temp job. It's a paycheck. I just barely mentioned checking with the town where he lives first. Just as a start. But he was way ahead of me ... He and his wife were up all nite, planning breakfasts and rearranging furniture in the bedrooms. He's already deciding on room rates.
Oh no!! What a perfect example of just why those sorts of simplified B&B stories can be so downright dangerous!
 
Too bad there's no place for comments. Or to ask how the other 29 days went with the biz guest.
Yes, I agree, some people just fall into it. But I was paticularly incensed at the 'bored housewives' comment and the 'hobby' shot. And now that she just 'made' $2500 it's suddenly a 'real' business. She should have taken the time to apologize to everyone she insulted in the first part of the story.
You know, tho, this is how people have made money for a long time. It's not like it's something 'new' that has just been discovered. Even tho those who just thought of it think they invented something.
There is obviously a lot of learning about to take place if she didn't even have a bill or invoice made out for her guest. Along with now having to provide brekkie everyday instead of just collecting rent.
Good luck on the job. Maybe you can make some fees consulting as a B&B innkeeper!
 
I can't find her website by googling Cin namon Inn Alaska. Don't know how that would be a place that CSM even found out about in the first place.
 
Ugh. Firstly, consider the source. Secondly, it's incredibly badly written. I couldn't even finish the article.
 
Like that is really going to happen here. I would be dickered down to nothing! I had 2 separate calls while I was in Virginia about a long term rate. I quoted $250 per week which was less than $50 per night and both said no. The article does not say if there were other facilities in the area or other than the reference to Juneau where shw was.
I feel sorry for you because he will probably be pumping you for info. You will have to tell him the truth that the $2000 breakfast is not there.....
 
Like that is really going to happen here. I would be dickered down to nothing! I had 2 separate calls while I was in Virginia about a long term rate. I quoted $250 per week which was less than $50 per night and both said no. The article does not say if there were other facilities in the area or other than the reference to Juneau where shw was.
I feel sorry for you because he will probably be pumping you for info. You will have to tell him the truth that the $2000 breakfast is not there......
If there are no hotels that do corporate rates in the area of the B&B in question, maybe she could get $85/night. I know no one here would pay that, corporate rates and gov't rates are lower than that.
But, the article was written as a source of inspiration in the positive thinking mode (I'm considering the source on that comment). It had to turn out wonderfully.
 
I did a Google and found a listing on the 1000 pound gorilla for Alaska but no web site. There is another in FL with that name. No reviews for Alaska.
Edited to add: I found a comments on the Contact us if anyone would like to also send them a comment. I told them this article was so sad because it is so misleading.
http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Contact/Feedback/Comments-and-corrections
 
yes, it's a sweet little article, intended i believe to say give thanks for blessings that come your way and make the best of a situation ... more than to say 'redecorate, gather your recipes, get a website and brochures and you're set.' my co-worker is grasping at straws and maybe he does have the right kind of house in the right spot with the right kind of zoning that is all up to code and maybe he'll get the necessary permits and just enough folks will stay with him to help him hold onto his house.
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yes, it's a sweet little article, intended i believe to say give thanks for blessings that come your way and make the best of a situation ... more than to say 'redecorate, gather your recipes, get a website and brochures and you're set.' my co-worker is grasping at straws and maybe he does have the right kind of house in the right spot with the right kind of zoning that is all up to code and maybe he'll get the necessary permits and just enough folks will stay with him to help him hold onto his house.
sad_smile.gif
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Iaking into consideration the publication - Let us pray......
 
yes, it's a sweet little article, intended i believe to say give thanks for blessings that come your way and make the best of a situation ... more than to say 'redecorate, gather your recipes, get a website and brochures and you're set.' my co-worker is grasping at straws and maybe he does have the right kind of house in the right spot with the right kind of zoning that is all up to code and maybe he'll get the necessary permits and just enough folks will stay with him to help him hold onto his house.
sad_smile.gif
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But it seems the 'grasping at straws' folks may think that's all there is to it. And that's the tough part. We could have turned our old house back into a B&B (3 shared) the way it was when we bought it, but we just could not see why anyone would want to come to our town or stay in a room where they had to share a teensy bathroom with 2 other rooms.
But, we did have to sell that house because we couldn't afford it, so I totally get wanting to hold onto your house especially in this market. We just got lucky that it sold immediately. (The house itself was lucky, I think. It drew people to it when it needed a new influx of money!)
I hope your new coworker realizes this article is written about someone who was already renting rooms in a separate house. If your coworker is going to have strangers living in his house with him, I hope he definitely does his homework. He might want to start with the 'Air B&B' type of arrangement.
 
i will tell him about the Air B&B thing. my question is (well, i have lots of them) is it all legal to do wherever he is?
 
i will tell him about the Air B&B thing. my question is (well, i have lots of them) is it all legal to do wherever he is?.
Well, that is something he is going to have to find out from his town. But I don't think it is technically 'illegal' to rent a room in your house to whomever you want. If it is, a lot of college kids are in trouble! It's when you get into the meals and amenities that I think you get caught in the system.
Here the state just said they're no longer going to bother regulating any accommodations under 5 rooms. I don't know if that was 5 and under or what. I bet they still want the lodging tax, tho.
 
article said:
"I don't want to get fat. Could you just serve me cornflakes for breakfast tomorrow?"
LOL That's exactly what I would say if the breakfast was bad. ;) I might say it after a week if the breakfasts were good ... but after the first day, I would say that if it were bad ... or I didn't want someone hovering over me all through breakfast.
 
article said:
"I don't want to get fat. Could you just serve me cornflakes for breakfast tomorrow?"
LOL That's exactly what I would say if the breakfast was bad. ;) I might say it after a week if the breakfasts were good ... but after the first day, I would say that if it were bad ... or I didn't want someone hovering over me all through breakfast..
swirt said:
article said:
"I don't want to get fat. Could you just serve me cornflakes for breakfast tomorrow?"
LOL That's exactly what I would say if the breakfast was bad. ;) I might say it after a week if the breakfasts were good ... but after the first day, I would say that if it were bad ... or I didn't want someone hovering over me all through breakfast.
Interesting point.
 
"Shortly, the astonishing thought came to me to open a bed-and-breakfast. I dismissed that idea. Home hobbies, like a B&B, were for bored housewives"
What??? Are you freakin kidding me? That is first of all, highly insulting, dangerously inaccurate and really pisses me off. Soon enough she'll realize the check that's coming her way is not $, but a way overdue reality check.
 
"Shortly, the astonishing thought came to me to open a bed-and-breakfast. I dismissed that idea. Home hobbies, like a B&B, were for bored housewives"
What??? Are you freakin kidding me? That is first of all, highly insulting, dangerously inaccurate and really pisses me off. Soon enough she'll realize the check that's coming her way is not $, but a way overdue reality check..
The Farmers Daughter said:
"Shortly, the astonishing thought came to me to open a bed-and-breakfast. I dismissed that idea. Home hobbies, like a B&B, were for bored housewives"
What??? Are you freakin kidding me? That is first of all, highly insulting, dangerously inaccurate and really pisses me off. Soon enough she'll realize the check that's coming her way is not $, but a way overdue reality check.
Yeah, that really got to me, too. I like your take on it...'a way overdue reality check'!
 
i will tell him about the Air B&B thing. my question is (well, i have lots of them) is it all legal to do wherever he is?.
Well, that is something he is going to have to find out from his town. But I don't think it is technically 'illegal' to rent a room in your house to whomever you want. If it is, a lot of college kids are in trouble! It's when you get into the meals and amenities that I think you get caught in the system.
Here the state just said they're no longer going to bother regulating any accommodations under 5 rooms. I don't know if that was 5 and under or what. I bet they still want the lodging tax, tho.
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I think that the legality is a point. We looked at two lake lots, different lakes, downstate l to build on. We were thinking that being part-time down staters that we might have a house-sitter, or ABD student/ renter part of the year. One place allowed it, the other absolutely not!! The local zoning was so strict that they would even make you register visiting clergy!
I don't know that they would throw you in jail, but much trouble and fines would ensue. (We bought on the other lake).
 
That was such a "wambie bambie" artifcle, its insulting to our professions...sad very sad.
 
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