Whelp, somehow within 1 month, I went from looking for a place for my mom to live, to buying, renovating, and having an up and running hostal! We named it Punta Bikini after the local geographic point at the north end of San Clemente here in Ecuador. Here is a picture of the point.
Punta Bikini, geographical point the hostal is named after.
I started working on the place the day after we bought it. The construction tasks were cleaning, sanding, priming, painting, all electrical wiring was torn out and everything replaced, door locks installed, fumigating, floors, entire bathroom remodels, etc. I had to get 5 rooms ready for rent within 2 weeks of purchase to be ready for the large San Clemente Festival on Sept 7th.
Prepping the walls for paint.
Storage room.
Re plumbing the pump
Upstairs electrical work with the kid I nicknamed “coco loco”.
This shows 1 of 2 ways how I DO NOT CHECK THE ELECTRICITY!
This shows 2 of 2 ways how I DO NOT CHECK THE ELECTRICITY!
A room under repair.
Federico with the electrical work.
Fremy drilling holes for more electrical.
Note the smoke from the drill trying hard to get through the very dense wood.
Cistern trap door.
With tight timeframes and many projects going on at once, I managed to get the place finished on time on Thursday at 5pm. By 5:30, we had our first customers for 2 nights.
Friday night of the festival was pretty slow and I was a bit disappointed in the lack of foot traffic by the hostal. Then I went to town and realized there were not many people in town. This made me feel better.
Now, Saturday was a different matter entirely. We had the place booked up by 5pm. I started to not feel well and went and laid down. Before I left, i arranged with one of the bands to use 2 rooms and the shower for changing for 2 hours. I charged them a discounted rate for this. That turned into a nightmare with my poor mom having to manage on her own as I was down and out with a stomach issue. They shorted her money, left the place in shambles and she had to track them down in town to get the last $10. That might be the first and last time we “help out the band”.
We turned away many people that Saturday night. One of the best features of the Casa Punta Bikini is it has several areas to just hang out and relax. There are 5 hammocks, many chairs and tables, and several places to just relax. We found our young clients were couples that did not want a lot of people in the rooms with them. This works well for our game plan as we plan to limit the # of people in each room to 4 max.
The patrons enjoyed their time and promised to come back. They gave good suggestions and were very nice. One couple was even nice enough to help my mother clean the bathroom after the band left.
My mother was a trooper and felt she was initiated after the first weekend. Other than the band bathroom explosion, everything went smooth.
Here are some of the “after” pictures.
Upper hang out area.
Bedroom.
Bedroom
Bedroom
Bedroom
Bathroom.
Downstairs hangout area.
More of the downstairs hangout area.
Front view.
John & Mary’s sign finally hung to some form of respect.
The kitchen window closed.
The kitchen window open.
Jack and Tonya, our first “travelers” staying with us. Its great to have like minded people staying with us. This is the start of what appears to be a long, fun, exciting journey!
John and Mary made us a much needed “HOSTEL” sign with a phone # to get us going for the first weekend. Unfortunately, I had to improvise a location for the sign for it to be seen from the main street. It was loving placed in a pile of sand to be visible. Sorry John and Mary for not having the ability to do the sign justice right away. Thanks so much for the offer and for making it!!!!!!!!!! It helped us tremendously.
John with the sign he and Mary made for us!
Keith and Becky made another sign for us as well! It was a nice surprise to see this hanging up one day when I got back from running around.
Jack and Tonya under the sign made by Becky!!
Several friends came by to offer their friendship and support through the entire process. Thanks go to Tio, John & Mary, Keith & Becky, Eida, Mirella, Linda, Gerri, Bethany, Jeff & Eileen, Joe & Nancy and everyone else who stopped by. The company was a needed break from the construction.
We appreciate everyone’s thoughts, suggestions and opinions in our new endeavor!
Make sure to go to the Casa Punta Bikini Facebook page if you get time. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Casa-Punta-Bikini
Figuring it out… 1 sudden business plan after another
Figuring it out in Ecuador 