After successful long-term careers in the retail sector, Karen Levis and her husband decided to get out of the city and try their hand at operating a lodge in the remote West Coast community of Bamfield.
The lodge includes seven accommodation units, a communal living room and large dining room, operating year-round with everything from weekend getaways to all-inclusive fishing and sightseeing charters. The remoteness of the area presents challenges, because guests still expect to be pampered at a level of urban sophistication. This necessitates meal-planning around intermittent grocery and supply deliveries (the boat arrives from Port Alberni three times per week) and finding and retaining staff from the limited employee pool of a small community. Despite the satisfactions of playing host, one cannot underestimate the reality of running full-tilt all summer, being tied down to an operation seven days a week, and then worrying about income during lean winter months.
Karen found that the numerous sales and marketing courses and the networking skills acquired during her sales career proved invaluable for operating a lodge: "We were so green when we opened the lodge. I have to credit a representative from Tourism BC for identifying improvements we could make to the lodge to increase the guest experience. Opening a business involves lots of trial and error and reliance on the surrounding community. Never underestimate how helpful even your competitors can be."
Karen advises you to examine thoroughly the local community and the variables that could affect your business. For example, is it resource-based, meaning that the community could decline if the resource dries up? Would you be located in an environmentally sensitive area that could affect the activities you want to undertake?
To search for tourism education and training programs in the accommodation sector, be sure to check out our Tourism Training Directory.
