When I started answering the Tourist Bureau’s letters from people wanting to rent houses on Bequia I had no idea what I was in for! I wasn’t being paid to answer these prospective visitors, and my efforts to help were costing me valuable time as well as money. When word got out that I was sending people to various houses throughout the Island I had a stream of “wannabee” landlords clamoring for me to rent their properties. I also had an ever-growing amount of mail to answer, word-of-mouth had seen to that.
When I got a fax machine communicating with people from abroad became easier, but it also proved expensive. Back then a one-page fax to England was $12.00 EC and I was sending an awful lot of faxes. I tried to get a feel for the people I was recommending a property to, and would send them a one-page fax with three or four house descriptions and contact details for the home-owners. In most cases I would receive an answering fax requesting pictures of the houses. Hah! I actually went with a camera to the houses and took pictures, which were developed at great cost on the mainland. I then mailed the pictures (paying of course for the postage out of my own pocket) with a note asking that they send them back to me so that I could use them again.
Most of the time the visitors who booked houses as a result of my mailed or faxed communications were happy campers. I met them all sooner or later, they knew I owned the Pizzeria and dropped by to introduce themselves. They were always full of questions about the Island, which I did my best to answer from my busy kitchen. At times I felt more like a tour guide than a restauranteur, and it certainly had its frustrations!
One couple came looking for me highly upset, they had arrived the previous week and were renting a house at Friendship. They claimed they had been robbed, and my heart sank, this was something I didn’t want to hear about or have to deal with! However, they had not been robbed on Bequia, rather on the mainland. Pulling a small envelope from his pocket, the man told me to taste the contents. Rather confused, I asked “Why? What is it?” The man said, “What does it look like?” Well, to me it looked like baking soda and I told him so. “See?” he exclaimed, “We were robbed! The fellow on the dock in Kingstown stole our money!”. It finally dawned on me that the angry fellow on my doorstep was complaining that he had been sold baking soda instead of cocaine by some enterprising thief. What on EARTH did he expect me to do about it? Sheesh!
I also got my share of grief from the landlords of the properties, either they didn’t like the people I had sent or the guests had broken a dish or a glass. The complaints were plentiful, but the best one came from one of the foreign home-owners. He had a large house at Spring, and hearing that I was helping tourists find rental houses he asked me to rent his home whenever he wasn’t occupying it himself. I put him in touch with three couples from New York looking for a three-bedroom property and left it at that. I found out soon after their arrival that the three couples were gay, the maid was extremely upset at the thought of men sleeping together. The six men enjoyed their stay, but I was dreading the return of the home-owner! Sure enough, I heard his voice calling my name as he stomped up the Pizzeria steps; “Judy Simmons! Judy Simmons”! You rented my house to homosexuals!” The man was red-faced as he shouted at me and wore an out-raged expression. “They decorated the dining room table with sea-shells and re-arranged all my furniture!” “Well”, I said, “that sounds kind of nice”, which made him even angrier! “Because of you we have to boil all the sheets and towels, don’t ever send homosexuals to my house again!” That was the thanks I got for spending my own dime faxing the guests and sending pictures by mail at my own expense. That particular home-owner got his wish, I never sent homosexuals to his house again because I removed him from my ever-growing list of rental houses.
One morning the phone rang at 4:00 A.M. when I was trying to enjoy a rare sleep-in. Mac, after answering the phone, handed it to me. The very English voice on the other end said, “Reservations Please!”. It was a travel agent from England wanting to rent a villa for his clients and demanding to know what type of commission I paid. That was the day Mac told me I needed to start another business, enough was enough! It was time I was compensated for my efforts, it was time for a company we eventually named Bequia Villa Rentals .
did Bequia Villa Rentals morph into another company?
When I retired from the business I turned my guest list over to Grenadine Island Villas