Innkeeper's Story

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The Accidental Innkeeper

from Mango Beach Inn

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When my husband retired and bought an old stone building in Marigot, St Lucia (described by James Michener as ‘the most beautiful bay in the Caribbean) I fell in love with it straight away. Every morning I’d walk to the beach for some Tai Chi and a swim feeling blessed to be able to call this lovely place my home.

And then the recession happened. I thought we’d be fine, we could live on our savings and what I earned from writing. “We’ll survive,” my husband said, “but life will change. We’ll have to manage without help and close down the bits of the house we can’t maintain and sit it out until we can sell. Nobody wants an old place like this right now.”

Telling Marie, our housekeeper, and JoJo, our gardener, they were jobless was more heartbreaking than the thought of losing our beloved home. I knew it would be hard for them to find work again and we’d become good friends. When I explained why we had to let them go, they were stunned. Then Marie said, “This used to be an inn you know. Years ago, I worked here then, we can do it again, you and me. I’ll show you.”

I didn’t know how to run a guest house, but Marie and Jo Jo did and they taught me everything they knew. My husband wasn’t crazy about the idea so we boarded off a section of the top floor, more for the benefit of the guests than to protect his privacy – he’s not called Mr Grumpy for nothing.

For the first few months (before we discovered Pamela’s website) we didn’t get many visitors. Which was a very good thing because I was clueless. Marie was out of practice and JoJo was struggling just to get the plumbing sorted out. I was pretty sure that guests would probably want hot showers, even in the Caribbean when it’s warm all year round and bathrooms aren’t always up to New York standards!

But we survived. And now we’re getting repeat business and bookings into next year. And when Mr Grumpy decided we could sell Mango Beach as a going concern I said “no,” straight away. That’s when I realized I was having fun – making people happy isn’t a bad way to earn a living!

I never planned to be an innkeeper, it was a matter of financial survival. But it’s brought in more than dollars, it’s given me a permanent grin. My uniform is a smile and wearing it usually fools me into feeling happy even when I’ve got a lot of laundry and too many breakfasts too prepare! I’ve never worked so hard in my life and we get our share of difficult guests, but I enjoy the challenge of winning over the sad ones. And when they leave us laughing and relaxed having arrived stressed and edgy just a week before, well that’s probably the greatest job satisfaction I’ve ever experienced!

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