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  1. #176
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    BoganInParasite's Avatar
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    We've had an amazing 2020 and second season but today was the first time in ten weeks we have hung the vacancy sign out the front. Over the last ten weeks we've sold every room we wanted, leaving a few days and rooms closed here and there for rest. Then perhaps three weeks ago the bookings for January just stopped. We lost four bookings in December due to the COVID outbreak but actually resold those days/rooms for a net revenue increase. Suspect we'll get another week of stays and then almost no-one will be traveling, especially if there is are widespread lockdowns. Been a couple of days since I've seen the COVID province by province heat map but to my knowledge Nan province has not had any official COVID cases at all.

    Starting a Business in Nan Province-img_9262-jpg

  2. #177
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    Happy New Year BIP. I wondered how your business was fairing in these interesting times.

    I do have a question. Aren't you worried about visitors bringing the Virus your way? I would think its a gamble statistically speaking. Only takes one.

    A number of our friends suggested we do a Homestay set up at our place being we have 2 extra rooms and now the pool. I said straight up "Not gonna happen". I said I didn't add the pool and landscape my place only to wait on people hand and foot so they can enjoy it.

  3. #178
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    BoganInParasite's Avatar
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    It could happen JPPR2 but we strictly follow our MoH approved COVID procedures here and so do our guests. Masks, questionnaires, plastic wrapped glasses and cutlery, alcohol based cleaning, the lot.

    For those interested in figures since opening August 2019 we have hosted 247 guest stays for 889 guests. We've had 404 bookings but a shit-ton of cancellations and churn in these troubled times. We've achieved more than 500,000 baht revenue and our net profit is more than 50%. (Intending to be a bit vague on the big picture financial numbers from now on.) In this our second season we've achieved a revenue per pax night increase of 16% and held our costs per pax night steady.

    In terms of guest reviews we've got 84 ratings across Google, TripAdvisor, Booking.com and Agoda. Sixty three (63) have been perfect scores. We were briefly at 9.8 on Booking, the best in Nan province, but dropped back to 9.7 after two 9 scores in a row came in. Most businesses would be celebrating a 9 rating, it just gets us down.
    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    Happy New Year BIP. I wondered how your business was fairing in these interesting times.

    I do have a question. Aren't you worried about visitors bringing the Virus your way? I would think its a gamble statistically speaking. Only takes one.

    A number of our friends suggested we do a Homestay set up at our place being we have 2 extra rooms and now the pool. I said straight up "Not gonna happen". I said I didn't add the pool and landscape my place only to wait on people hand and foot so they can enjoy it.

  4. #179
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    Thanks BIP. Congratulations on your success. Glad you are still forging ahead even with all the Covid stuff.

    My wife's best friend was by today and again she said our place looks like a resort and should do a Home stay. I admire that you can "Handle" strangers mulling around your house. Clearly Home stays aren't for every one but can be a source of revenue if one is willing to accept strangers in and out. The upside of course is you can stop anytime and life goes back to normal.

    Best to ya.

  5. #180
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    BoganInParasite's Avatar
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    Thanks JPPR2. When we designed the house we had a homestay in mind and have been very successful in guests spending almost all of their time upstairs in the two large bedrooms and guest only living room, kitchenette and terrace. We have a small third guestroom downstairs that is used for group overflows and used for less than 10% of stays. We are okay for guests to look around our dining room and even the kitchen and have had no issues whatsoever with guests accessing a private area. Equally amazing is apart from one guest group that was clearly looking for an excuse to not stay the second night of their booking, we've had had zero behaviour/attitude issues. We've only had one damaged item from an infant ripping the decal off a fan and only one item go missing...a 129 baht torch. And that went missing during a stay by a group of middle aged Thai ladies so thinking someone packed it by error.

    Having said all that we do have a rough plan to build another homestay nearby and move the business to it. There is still a third bedroom downstairs for overflows but the house design is such that the rest of the ground level is screened off and can be locked off. Whether we execute this plan or not is still something we are discussing. Regards, -BiP

    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    Thanks BIP. Congratulations on your success. Glad you are still forging ahead even with all the Covid stuff.

    My wife's best friend was by today and again she said our place looks like a resort and should do a Home stay. I admire that you can "Handle" strangers mulling around your house. Clearly Home stays aren't for every one but can be a source of revenue if one is willing to accept strangers in and out. The upside of course is you can stop anytime and life goes back to normal.

    Best to ya.

  6. #181
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    Good on ya BIP!

  7. #182
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    And so not unexpectedly our second season has (largely) come to an end with the Nan province Governor decreeing that from tonight if you enter the province and come from or have been through a red area in the last XX days, you must do a 14 day quarantine. The wife spent Sunday night and yesterday contacting our future guests, returning or holding over (at guest request) the deposits and waiving fees for near-term third party site bookers. Everyone she spoke to was happy for her being proactive. All but one of the third-party bookers has cancelled, think that person is perhaps unused to how to do so. We have one booking in February that we've left for the time being.

    Last night we had a non-refundable third party booking for six guests that no showed. We're not going to waive that fee since the new restrictions were not in force and they could have called and sought dispensation. We had a couple of opportunities to sell rooms yesterday but couldn't because they were coming.

    We've decided to remain open for bookings while it does not contravene restrictions. But we've closed a room in Booking.com and all sales in Agoda until at least the end of February and will revert to our early second season practice of only one group a day. However with being unable to accept the 'red zone' folks, not exactly expecting to be overwhelmed with bookings.

    We are looking forward to a break, peace and quiet, and to a simpler life for the next several months. There are some improvements to our house, gardens and for the homestay business we'll get done slowly. Likely try to re-open in full say early June but of course all depends of COVID factors completely beyond our control.

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