HOTEL IN SPAIN: Joy and Spencer Rennie

Joy and Spencer Rennie decided to up sticks and move abroad when their search for a business in the UK proved fruitless.

“My wife and I had been thinking we wanted a complete change of lifestyle to what we had been doing previously. We have always wanted to work for ourselves. In April 2005, I was made redundant and that was the push we needed,” says Spencer.

“We knew we wanted to do something in the Bed and Breakfast line.

“We tried to buy a couple of B&Bs in the UK but we encountered lots of problems. With one of the purchases in particular they accepted our offer, and then someone else came along with cash and they didn’t give us a chance to come back to them.

“Then, when that fell through the vendors came back and offered it to us again. The same thing happened and it fell through a second time – they just couldn’t wait for us. That was when we decided to look abroad.”

Joy and Spencer had used the internet to search for a business in the UK so it was a natural progression to do the same thing when looking for a business abroad.

“The business we ended up buying was actually the only one we went to view. We looked at many on the net. I think you can get a good idea of how they look from pictures on the web. You can also look for feedback from guests on other web sites.

“What clinched it for us was that this business was unique; others were a bit out of our reach and much more expensive,” he explains.

“We compared it to the other places we had been looking at on the internet to make sure we weren’t paying too much. It was so easy – plus you can do it without talking to people.”

The business

The couple are now the proud leaseholders of a 10-room country hotel which they found through an English business broker based in El Torro, Mallorca.

It’s a 17th Century farmhouse surrounded by agricultural land. They have an Agrotourismo Licence, which means they have to cultivate some of the land in the 33,000 sq metre estate as well as running the site as a hotel.

“With this type of property, there are rules about what additional building you can have and the ratio of buildings to land must be maintained. The way things are for us – we can’t build any more. But we are happy with the way things are.”

There are five rooms in the hotel, some of which have been refurbished to include four poster beds plus five apartments which all have their own cooking facilities – and these are more suitable for families wishing to be more independent.

GLORIOUS VIEWS

The Finca (Spanish country house) is located in beautiful countryside in the south east of Mallorca, surrounded by vineyards, orchards full of fruit trees and mountains with glorious views. It’s the perfect retreat.

“It’s very quiet and peaceful here,” muses Spencer. “We are 1km from the road and 35 minutes from the airport. There is currently a lot of motorway building going on which makes it very quick to get around the island.”

This is also handy for their visitors, many of whom stay at the hotel as part of a tour of the island.

Planning and research

Spencer admits that they hadn’t done much research before taking the plunge and moving abroad.

He says: “To be honest, we knew a lot more about the UK market – we were very aware of how it all works and the way the businesses work, quiet and busy times etc.

“But, the season is longer in Spain and it has been very different, and a lot harder for us here than we thought it would be.

“The winter was very quiet and we were losing money, perhaps because we stayed open. The heating bills for this place are phenomenal. It’s oil fired and it costs a fortune. Next year we are going to close for a couple of months.

“If I were to go through the process again I would do a lot more research into what it’s like outside the season. Although Mallorca is an all year round place, the majority of hotels and amenities close for the winter. Although there are still people coming out here, you just don’t get the same kind of numbers in.”

Teething problems

Joy and Spencer revealed they got off to a shaky start when they first took over the business in August 2005.

“We have had initial difficulties with staff – in that the guys who were here said they would stay and then when we took over, they didn’t, which left us in the lurch a bit,” Spencer explains.

“The hotel was full at the time and we were definitely thrown in at the deep end. But really, we’ve had no major disasters and no complaints from the clients, but it was very stressful at first.”

Other problems the couple have incurred have been awkward guests.

“Guests can sometimes be a little awkward – like when they make a mess or break something and you can’t understand why.”

“We’ve had occasions where people have tried to take advantage, for example - coming back for breakfast twice. They think we don’t notice!

“On the whole the majority of the guests have been fantastic and we have made many new friends of different nationalities.

“Generally speaking, everything is ok – we get occasional problems with the telephone or electricity but that’s something I think we are just going to have to get used to. It’s the Spanish way – no one really cares about the fact that things break down.”

Business is business

As well as taking bookings directly, the couple work with tour operators from all over Europe.

“We had an issue with one of the tour operators that send us clients. They were very slow in paying us – basically there was a six month delay from when the guests stayed to when we got our money – and that was definitely a bit of a worry because it affects cash flow.

“It was a big enough sum to become a problem. To overcome this in the future, we have renegotiated our contract with them and I’ll make sure we get a deposit from them in future.”

The move

“Our friends and family were surprised when we told them initially and said we were very brave. They’ve been over to visit a few times – my son was here for Christmas and New Year,” reveals Spencer.

“My wife’s son came over to live with us after finishing his GCSEs last summer; he has worked for us but has also had to look for work elsewhere. He has integrated well and plays football for the local Spanish team in Felanitx.”

The language barrier hasn’t caused them any problems at all – partly because a lot of their guests are English and German. Any Spanish visitors they do have tend to want to practice their English.

Spencer adds: “We are learning to speak Spanish; however, the majority of our guests are German.

“We don’t get to practice very much – we’re out in the countryside here so we don’t really speak to that many people – unless we go into the local village.

“Another thing in Mallorca is that they speak a different version of Spanish here – a bit like Catalan – so some of the words that you know in Spanish, mean nothing here.”

“One of the advantages to living here, apart from the sun, is that the cost of living is lower. Almost everything costs less – petrol is cheaper. At one Euro a litre, it’s almost a third less than at home. Generally, driving is different but you soon get used to it.

“The Spanish people are fantastic – everyone has been friendly and welcoming.

“The experience has obviously been a life changing one with both negative and positive results.”

Future plans

Marketing and promotion is crucial for any business, especially one in a field where competition is fierce.

“We’ve got a great website – my son is a web designer and he designed it all for us. We also advertise with various tour operators and hope that word of mouth will bring us more custom.”

Joy and Spencer are also planning to extend the services they offer to holiday-makers.

“We want to add another string to our bow here and we are going to start offering activities – working with a specialist travel company.

“This place can be an ideal base for people who want to go off and do walking, trekking, hill climbing etc, but we also want to offer courses which can be completed here in the hotel and gardens – like jewellery making and painting.

“We want people to come here to specifically do those kinds of things in these beautiful surroundings – we want to widen our appeal to lots of different people not just families.”

Finally, Spencer has some words of wisdom for anyone out there thinking of buying a business, be it at home or abroad.

“Don’t rush into it and make sure to check it out properly. Even if you are put under pressure – when you are sure it is a very good deal, hold back a bit.”

“Remember – there will always be plenty of other business opportunities. Be a bit cautious…talk to more people in similar businesses.”