Guest house owner
Old job Shop owner and lecturer.
New job Running a guest house, The Trinity Hotel in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.
Start-up costs £40,000 mortgage, £2,500 on furniture, £1,500 on advertising/website.
First year's turnover £20,000 in our first seven months.
Current turnover Projected first year’s turnover is £50,000.
Best move Making the hotel look personal, rather than like a corporate hotel. I wanted it to feel like home.
Worst mistake Underestimating how much the building work would cost. We had no savings, so all our income goes on decorating now.
Top tip Remember the details – I always put fresh flowers in the rooms.
“Selling the family home two years ago and buying a guest house to convert into a boutique hotel was a huge change, not to mention a gamble. But so far it’s paid off.
We made the decision for several reasons. One of our daughters had moved out, my husband’s work in the City was no longer so certain in the recession, and I wanted a new challenge that we could both work on. And I’ve always loved interiors, so I loved the idea of an old house to get my teeth stuck into.
We took out a mortgage for an extra £40,000 to do all the plumbing, rewiring and building work. And last August, we finally moved in and had guests booked in that first night, surrounded by boxes!
After the structural work came the fun bit. We bought three huge vats of Dulux Calico and painted the whole place off-white. We bought a couple of chests of drawers from Ikea and Habitat, then used the furniture from our old house – chairs upholstered with Ralph Lauren leopard-print linen, purple Designer’s Guild cushions, my posters from the V&A’s Golden Age of Couture exhibition.
I’m a real hoarder, so it’s been lovely having a whole new showcase to display all my pictures and furniture. Guests walk through the front door and go, ‘Wow!’ In the hall, we have a huge chandelier made of hundreds of mink-coloured beads, an old chair with gold legs and a baroque table. They say a lot about the rest of the house, which is full of my favourite things.
Our £40,000 mortgage disappeared on all the structural work so we’ve had to do the decoration slowly. But we’ve had lots of bookings and expect to make £50,000 turnover this first year. A friend created the website and another did the photography and was happy to be paid down the line, which was a huge help.
The hotel’s my baby, really, but Alan is very sociable and enjoys welcoming guests. I don’t mind having guests in our home at all – they’re mostly in their own rooms and you have to love people to do this kind of job. We’re not the type to stand on ceremony.”
For more information, visit trinityhotel.co.uk.
