All Roads Lead to Swatragh - Chapter 33

Sue broke the silence of their ride with the first question, “Did you ever think of having someone run the B&B for you, Grace?”

“How do you see that happening, Sue? I can't afford to pay someone if the B&B is not making money, and I'd still want to make some money off it, right?” Grace responded.

“Well, if you gave someone room and board and a small stipend that might work. If it was a couple, one of them could work and the other handle the B&B. They'd have no overhead, and one salary would be just for their own spending,” Sue was trying to think out of the box.

“You may have something there Sue. So now I would need to find someone to do this. And what about seeing to the bookings. I need some kind of marketing plan,” Grace was thinking out loud.

They arrived at a little cafe still discussing this when they noticed a pamphlet in a news stand. It was a listing of available B&B's. Here Grace would have a starting point for advertising. She had also been looking at various traveling websites that listed B&B's in Northern Ireland. If she could get Aine's Cottage listed on those also, she might have a chance to make a go at this. Now the question of who to run the B&B for her. She couldn't expect Peter to do this. He'd never be able to handle the cooking. And they needed a way to facilitate bookings. The conversation continued as Sue and Grace at their lunches and walked around the small town.

As they walked Grace thumbed through the pamphlet. More and more she noticed that the B&B's listed had websites. After picking up some snacks and a few supplies for dinner the girls headed back to the cottage and started checking out the websites.

“Sue, you know these are not that complicated. Most of the reservations are made though a booking agency link, but some are direct through emails to the owners. I don't even have to be in Swatragh to keep track of reservations. I could do all that from Dublin.” Grace was surprised at how simple this seemed.
“But I need a website first.”

“Grace, it's still early, we can get some great pictures of the front of the cottage with the sign and all the roses. And then we can take some of the rooms. Will that work?” Sue was thinking right along the same lines as Grace.

“I was just thinking that my Internet provider allows me a small website space for a few euro's a month. I could use that. Let's get those pictures and plan the pages. We can use this site as a guide,” Grace pointed out one online that she liked.

The girls spent on into early evening working on the plan for the website. They had not even noticed that Peter and Chloe had not returned as it was about dinner time. They took a break to make a simple dinner together that they could add to later when Peter and Chloe returned.

As the girls ate they continued their conversation about the website. Should the price be listed? What information did they need to include? And how did Grace go about getting listed in some other pamphlets, or other websites?

Grace paused, and said, “I guess I'm going to reopen Aine's Cottage. Now I just need someone to run the place for me.”

“Grace, you should hold off just until you get everything in place and have some kind of grand re-opening type of celebration,” Sue suggested.

“What if we did some kind of community thing? Something where local people could come by and know that we are here. Like an afternoon event,” Grace's marketing skills were spinning faster than she could keep up.

The two girls continued to work on ideas and when they decided to take a break, they realized it was already dark out and past ten. Where were Peter and Chloe?