2009 October Update - Almost been one year

I should have written more entries but I'll try to cap the progress. There's been alot of work on the cottages. Over the summer, we've been able to install new front doors for all of the cottages. We also installed an on demand gas water heater for the Falcon. It takes about 20 minutes or so to fill up the double sized jacuzzi bathtub, but it's limitless hot water which is really cool. We also renovated the Owl and moved a doorway from 'room 1 to room 2' to 'living room to room 2'.


We've also added onto marketing material like ads in magazines (Idyllwild Life, and Idyllwild Visitor's Guide) and a restaurant menu in a city down the hill. We got a poster made and rack cards, which are being displayed in front of Wooley's shop in the downtown area. That gets a lot of foot traffic so it's a good place to spread the word.













I also have a car magnet that I designed.

This year in marketing has been using solid lines and compartmentalized sections with room pictures, descriptions and the logo. It's clean and I've received compliments on the design.




Overall, everything is going very well. I believe the economy is slowly turning up as well. People are starting to feel more confident to go out on small trips. Gas is right around 3 dollars in this area of the California. The weather has been starting to cool down and it feels like it's going to be a good fall.

Bluebird Brand: Redefined

After much deliberation and working with the graphics designer, we've come up with the new logo, the first step in recreating Bluebird Cottage Inn.


The past month or so has been quiet. It's hard on the business without a lot of revenue, but it's been a good chance to keep on improving the rooms.

This coming week, I'll be taking new pictures to put on the website and use to start making advertisements. I've started working on more internet presence, most recently creating a Bluebird Cottage Inn group on facebook. If anyone reading this uses facebook, just search for "Bluebird Cottage Inn", join the group and I will be creating events and specials for facebook group members.

New Business Face

So January was alright and February is turning out good. At least enough to survive. I've been lucky to get some groups coming for a get-together, retreat or conference. In efforts to continue improving the Bluebird and its image, I've finally gotten around to hiring a service to build a new logo. They came back after two days with 5 designs. I'm learning a certain way, but in interest of getting a range of opinions, even if it's after I've chosen the logo. Comment on which one(s) you like best and why.

Christmas and New Years

Well, this was my first big holiday season and it was a success. Despite some previous bad reputations about the business, a majority of people were very happy with the rooms. There were a few issues with heat (back to the issue of doors and windows) and water pipes freezing. Both issues are in the near future goals of fixing it up.
But we even had a customer who had previously stayed here, was disappointed when he stayed here, but decided to stay again because it was a last minute reservation and of new ownership. When he checked out, he was very happy and enjoyed his stay. I think they are good signs for a new year.
As soon as I finish dialing everything in and making it a very comfortable, nice looking inn, I can move on to the next phase of marketing, specials, and customer interaction for building the business even more.

Getting ready for Christmas

After Thanksgiving was over, I had to prepare for Christmas and finish setting up accounts. One of the first things I had to do was change over the propane gas account so I could get the tanks refilled. Every time someone switches accounts, however, the lines must be test for leaks. When they tested, they found pretty heavy leaking. So again, I had to have a plumber come over to test the lines thoroughly to fix the leaks. Over two days of work, we found the leaks and were able to finish switching over the propane.
There were also drafts through the doors which we tried to block with weather stripping as best we could until we can replace the doors after the Christmas season.
And finally, we installed DVD players in all of the rooms. That was a feature sorely needed. Now people can comfortably relax in their rooms and watch movies on those cold winter nights.

Thanksgiving

As my first holiday with this business and having just taken over, I'm glad to have made it through. Some good friends came up and rented some rooms for a few nights, but on Wednesday night it rained so much that water backed up in the pipes and got into some of the rooms through the shower floor. So on Thanksgiving day, I called some plumbers and finally found one who was willing to work on holidays. I ran back and forth between trying to host my friends' families for thanksgiving dinner and trying to help figure out the plumbing system of the property. We ended up staying out fixing it until 3am and even then the plumber had to come back the next morning for one final go. But alas it was fixed. I had to cancel with some people who had reservations for those rooms which wasn't very fun. But I come through it with more experience.

First day

My first day, Nov. 6th, 2008, I arrived in the morning with my car packed with belongings, excited to see what awaited me. The previous owners, showed me around and loaded their vehicles for moving while I took over the office for the day.
It's alot of work to shift over accounts for things such as gas, internet, phone, etc.
It felt really good to sit at the desk and be at my soon-to-be full time office.
At the end of the day, about 8:30, I unloaded my boxes from the car and drove back down to Riverside to pick up some more boxes, and Isis, my cat, along with her necessities. I finally got back after 4 or 5 hours, unloaded the second load, gave Isis a tour of her new home and began organizing the office.
I finally gave into sleep about 5:30 in the morning. A long but successful first day...