update from March 13

Now, where was I?

First, some thank-you's:
to Wendy, who says she has read these blogs and likes them and has.... um, what is the lingo here?... bookmarked them? so that she can follow regularly. I have a "fan"!

To Veronika, for a lovely supportive email with lots of !!!!!!.

To Coco, who wrote with a few tips -- a friend who does solar panels, and another who works with investors interested in new projects. De Weert Marketing... I think I saw them at the last Kamer van Koophandel (chamber of commerce) network event?

To Coen, who wrote suggesting that we try to tap into the market for holistic/spiritual trainings for businesses -- when he was at IBM, they offered a very popular Zen Meditation course in Utrecht. That course was at Zentrum (www.zentrum.nl) and Coen suggested talking to the owner there about how he got started, etc. Great idea!

Now, the update from Friday, March 13.

I started off by driving to a small city called Wijk bij Duurstede, a fairly well-known tourist destination also on the Kromme Rijn river. (the river runs from east to west, passing Wijk bij Duurstede, Werkhoven, Odijk, and Bunnik, then the old Fort Rhijnauwen and the estate at Amelisweerd, before coming into Utrecht next to the soccer stadium.) I was planning to visit Terecht Anders, the organisation that supports B&B's and organic farms and artists in the area. Their office was supposedly located in the tourist information center, but it turned out they had recently moved, without putting their new address on their website. That was a bit disappointing, but I decided maybe they are a bit of a shoe-string operation (like us) and therefore quite likely to be interesting people, even if a bit disorganized. I noticed that their website has no English on it -- which could also be seen in two ways: 1) they aren't very professional or 2) they are new and growing and there is an obvious way for me to participate, by helping them with translations.

Since I was at the tourist information center anyway, I decided to look around and talk with the receptionist there. She says they keep a list of local B&B's (it costs 35 Euro to get on the list) and they give that information out to anyone asking for it. (It doesn't appear to get you on their website, however.) I discovered two printed B&B guides for the Netherlands, one from "Bed and Breakfast Netherlands" where we are currently registered, and one from the ANWB (roughly equivalent to AAA in America -- they sell traveler's insurance, maps, hotel guides, etc.) The selection in Utrecht province was decent, but not overpowering, I thought. The average price for a room seemed to be around 70 Euro, compared to around 50 Euro for places outside the "Randstad" (the central, more urban part of Holland, including Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht and the Hague). But when 20,000 people come to Utrecht for an event in the Jaarbeurs (exposition center), and there's maybe 40 B&B's in and around Utrecht with maybe an average of 3 rooms each -- that's a lot of people who will have to stay at a hotel even if they would rather stay at a B&B. How can a B&B not be in high demand?

I had been on another website that morning, www.erfgoedlogies.nl. They specialize in lodgings and "arrangements" at houses/estates of cultural and historical significance, usually Monumental buildings. I called to ask them to mail me their registration information and to ask for some advice. A friendly woman in Drente told me that it is difficult to start a B&B. In the first 4 years, if you reach 35% occupancy, you are doing very well. But she did say it could be different if you also attract business clients. She herself is very much outside of the Randstad and only hosts tourists, and so business is very slow in the winter months. That was rather discouraging, which is why I was eager to talk to Terecht Anders. Oh well, something to look forward to for another day.

At the information center I also bought a bicycle route map for Bunnik and the surrounding area. That was very useful, because it showed the small back roads running from Bunnik directly to the University and the UMC (Universitair Medisch Centrum), which I explored at the end of the day.

I drove back to Bunnik to my next destination, the Monument Stichting, located in a building right next to our future house. (a stichting is a non-profit agency) In fact, the current owners explained to us that they had made a "deal" with the Monument Stichting, that the stichting employees could park up to 6 cars behind their building on property that technically belongs to Dorpsstraat 1. The owners, with their antique showroom, found this an improvement over having the cars on the street, blocking the view of their business.

The door to the Monument Stichting was locked, which I thought was a bit odd, but I rang the doorbell. A man came to open the door and seemed rather irritated. "What do you want?" "Well, I was just hoping to get some more information about Rijksmonuments... what one needs to do to maintain them and what the rules are and so forth...." That wasn't a good answer. I continued faintly, "you see... we are trying to buy the house next door, and I'm not from here, I need more information, maybe I'm at the wrong place...." That was a good answer. The man changed completely. "Oh, you might be our new neighbor! Fantastic! I'm Tom, please come in..." It turns out that I was at the wrong place, to get information on how to maintain Monumental buildings and so forth -- all that stuff is now handled at another office. But Tom said we were more than welcome to make a special appointment with him and he could advise us on everything. He was very busy at that moment but gave me his card. Whew. Turned out very well in the end.... and yes, he did ask if we had heard about the parking agreement :-)

My next stop was back at "Bio Goed", the organic food store, where I found Michael restocking the shelves. Could he point out the Mr. or Mrs. Schoenmaker, of the family somewhere across the street, the ones who used to have a B&B in Bunnik? He laughed -- it wasn't Mrs. Schoenmaker I needed to see, it was THE schoenmaker. Shoemaker. I had confused last name with title. But at least I'm not the only one: Paulus calls his business "Paulus de Kluskabouter" (Paulus the handy-gnome) and has occasionally gotten mail addressed to Mr. de Kluskabouter.

Michael said, shall I quickly introduce you? I said, sure, if that's possible, but what about your store....? He was already out the door. There were no customers inside at the time, and apparently Bunnik is quite sleepy, as he said! We walked briskly to the corner store (shoemaker, keymaker, dry cleaner, clothing repair and probably more...) and I was introduced to Geerke. She used to run "De Binnenplaats" B&B, with 2 rooms and 5 beds. I asked how it was. Very busy, she said. I said, you mean, like 60% occupancy? She said, no, full. Full. She was listed on the www.bedandbreakfast.com, the same site we use, and she always had customers, even after raising her rates to 75 Euro. Tourists from all over Europe, business people connected to the bedrijfsterrein (business zone) near the highway, people training at the nursing school. Companies would book both rooms for several weeks or even months. There are no other lodgings in the area, except for the Mercure hotel on the highway. It was madness. She had her shop to run, plus another business as professional photographer, plus 4 children, and it was too much.

I asked Geerke what she thought of our chances at Dorpsstraat 1, with 5 rooms and 10 beds. She said, you'll always be full, and you can ask more because of the house and the location. It won't be much more work than my 2 rooms with 5 beds, because there isn't much difference between making breakfast for 5 and making breakfast for 10. If you like having guests, and if you have some private areas in the home just for you, it will be fine. As long as you get approval from the gemeente. All the technical and logistical information on how to run a B&B is on the B&B website.

So. Later that night, I revised my spreadsheets to show a "realistic estimate for occupancy" rate of 80%, up from my previous estimates of 35% to 60%. 5 rooms, at 50-120 Euro per room, at 80% occupancy, comes to a projected income of 11250 Euro per month. That feels nicely reassuring. A mortgage/loan payment would be, at the worst, around 9000 Euro per month, and hopefully closer to 5000 Euro. And we haven't added income from room rental, extra meals and incidentals, the practice, or the handiman business. *I* feel 80% confident now that we can do it, which of course is a whole different thing from convincing a bank that we can do it.

On the way home, I followed some of the smaller roads in and around Bunnik. I drove quite unexpectedly right by the Hofstede van Beesde -- another one of Bunnik's 6 wedding locations. It looked like a country club -- wow -- quite in keeping with their fancy website www.hofstede-debeesde.nl and the super-glossy info packet they sent me. (Of course, I didn't ask for an information packet, I asked if I could make an appointment to tour their facility and talk to someone about possibilities for working cooperatively). Clearly they are in another league -- but still, it is walking distance from the Dorpsstraat, so people who are marrying or celebrating there would have the possibility to stay the night with us. Not a bad thing.

I drove past the University, and happened to see the Ronald MacDonald house, so I know where to go when it's time to ask them about getting on their "back-up" list.

I ended up at the canoe and bicycle rental place near the stadium. They are closed at the moment (it seems they are open from April to October), and the information in their display case was very faded and difficult to read. But it appears that they take their canoes and their customers to several different drop-off points on the Kromme Rijn, several times a day. The people can then paddle leisurely downstream back to the stadium. I squinted: the drop-off points seemed to be Wijk bij Duurstede, Odijk, Bunnik, and Rhijnauwen... and there were little photos pasted on a map of the river... and the photo next to the Bunnik drop-off point was our house!!! Incredible! It seems that the field of grass across the river from the house is where the canoes go in the water.

I revised our local marketing plan, in my head. Top of the list: not advertisements in the paper or posters around town. Sitting on the terrace eating lunch and waving. Tasteful sign in the yard:
Huis aan de Brug
Bed & Breakfast & Ontmoetingscentrum
Biologisch, ecologisch, rustig en gastvrij.

(translation: House by the Bridge, B&B and meeting center, organic, ecologic, peaceful/restful, friendly/hospitable). Easier than falling off a log.

But the bank thing and the "ontmoetingscentrum" part remained rather uncertain.

That evening, I found the registration information from Erf Goed Logies in my inbox. They do seem to be a good organisation, doing a lot to support their members and, indirectly, Monumental buildings and Dutch heritage. But I learned that membership for a B&B with 5 bedrooms would be 750 Euro per year! That would be worth it, of course, if our occupancy rate was 20% and we wanted to double it. But if we are already going to reach 80% easily? I suppose it could also be useful if we were very popular and wanted to raise our rates and cater to a more affluent crowd. But... but... we aren't really the affluent-crowd types. Not that there's anything wrong with having a lot of money, it's just that it's so fun to socialize with a wide cross-section of people. But perhaps the most important reason to still consider joining Erf Goed Logies is their emphasis on "arrangements." It would be nice if we regularly had visitors who, for example, wanted to celebrate their anniversary with a 3-day vacation including hiking, canoeing, picnic basket with a bottle of champagne, Shiatsu treatments, and sitting in the hot tub under the stars. If these people don't find us through the normal channels, we could always consider joining Erf Goed Logies later....

I checked back at the forum for members of www.bedandbreakfast.nl, where I had left a question about the economy, occupancy rates, and getting mortgages. 7 people have answered my survey: 1 said business was much worse, 2 said it was somewhat worse, 2 said it was somewhat better, and 2 said it was much better (compared to last year.) And one person had posted a written response: She has her own B&B, and she is a real estate agent specializing in unusual buildings, including B&B's. She used to work as a horeca real estate agent. She knows how to do exploitatiebegrotingen (how to translate... budgets for exploitation... basically how much money you can expect to make from using a building) plus the other stuff you need to arrange financially for a B&B, including a business plan. It sounded too good to be true, so I was immediately suspicious. Her last line, though, stated that a first visit was free. No 178 Euro surprises. I took a deep breath and called to make an appointment. Results will be posted in a few days, I hope!

But first, I need to write another post about Sunday.