Ottawa to Cabarete, January 2017, BnB

Welcome. However:

I would never recommend to anyone to come to the DR if they need to make money by opening a business. But, it is a great way to lose money. Did you realize that the tourist business on the north coast is the worst it has been in 20 years?

Did you take out an Ad on DR1 to promote this business?

At least you two don't have to worry about Sankies. :lick:

Welcome to DR1. Yes if you are going to continually mention your business you need to buy an ad. Friendly warning from another Canadian, please use "DR" or "the Dominican Republic" when mentioning this Island. People on this board get very upset when the proper name for this Island isn't used. Anal but true.

Good luck and I hope you have done your homework first. Lots of negative posts to follow but read because some could be good advice in the long run.

Working on line is the only way to go here. As long as you are willing to feed money constantly into such a venture, it will survive. A lifestyle choice of probably losing money is what you will likely be in. The ad is a requirement on DR1 to talk about such a business in the forums.

It's a little premature, but welcome to the North Coast. Obviously your business is geared towards vacationers. A BnB is a North American/European concept. Most tourist coming to stay on the North Coast are either booked into an all-inclusive resort with a vacation company or are looking for accommodations with a kitchen where the vacationer can cook their own meals.

Your proposed business will probably need to make the vast majority of its yearly income during the tourist season from October to April. It may be very quiet the rest of the year.

With respect to you publicly reaching out to other proprietors with a similar lifestyle philosophy, just be aware that segments of the DR are not quite as accepting of this as some other countries and societies. Some businesses that have openly made statements that the Church or the Police disagree with have been harassed and found themselves ongoing targets in the past. It might be a good idea to consider curtailing this aspect of your inquiries in public until you are up and running and have a more informed opinion of what impact such public disclosures may have on you and your business.

It takes time to grow any new business. You will be in direct competition with large established travel companies and condo rental agencies. You should expect that you will need to externally subsidize your daily life and new business for quite sometime before seeing a profit, if you ever get to that point at all.

Good luck and remember, the sum total of the many years of experience of lots of the expats here on DR1 is this: If you need to to work or operate a business to generate income to live on here in the DR, think really hard before you commit yourself. Many businesses simply do not succeed. Unless you have legal status to live in the DR, any business you start would also be illegal and your assets may be subject to seizure and forfeiture. Wages in the DR are nothing compared to what you could potentially make at home. Living in the DR without enough money is not pleasant.

Always have enough cash tucked away to get you out of here if things do not work out.

Good luck and I look forward to the grand opening party...

Last year's Christmas bookings in Cabarete were over the top....

an excellent year from the retailers I spoke with.
Hotels were full for 3-4 months.

william webster said:

Last year's Christmas bookings in Cabarete were over the top....

an excellent year from the retailers I spoke with.
Hotels were full for 3-4 months.

Click to expand...

As long as they can survive the other 8 to 9 months with hardly any business they are in great shape then.

To the OP. It is not like many here have businesses upon which to gain from another persons failure. Most of us have come here to retire and not run businesses. What we do is see others come here with the idea of opening a bar/restaurant/hotel etc, fail and move on. Time and time again. If the responses are negative, they are also realistic.

There's another BnB thread here... English couple in Samana

Oh, one more very important thing, start your Dominican residency while in Canada.

windeguy said:

As long as they can survive the other 8 to 9 months with hardly any business they are in great shape then.

To the OP. It is not like many here have businesses upon which to gain from another persons failure. Most of us have come here to retire and not run businesses. What we do is see others come here with the idea of opening a bar/restaurant/hotel etc, fail and move on. Time and time again. If the responses are negative, they are also realistic.

Click to expand...

Windy,
I'm sure you realize that company's like Macy's , Sears , etc all rely on the holiday period for their profits.

Without December, they're all pretty weak.

Retail is seasonal for many

Yes but Macy's or Sears can always run a sale or promo to lure the customers in. When there are few bodies in the DR to lure in...

Even a free giveaway is predated on convincing a potential customer to hop on an airplane to take advantage of that great deal. The OP has already explained that they are not in this for the income but for the lifestyle. Great. More power to them. They speak English, they are Canadian and they are from my home town - I like them already.

william webster said:

Windy,
I'm sure you realize that company's like Macy's , Sears , etc all rely on the holiday period for their profits.

Without December, they're all pretty weak.

Retail is seasonal for many

Click to expand...

Yes, but they have huge inventories of products to sell during that season. The "inventory" of a B and B is the same all year long.
So in a great Christmas season, a B and B will be turning away many clients. A B and B is not at all the same business model as a retail store. Your comparison is not a valid one.

Figuring out how to price yourself to the market will be a challenge in itself. Charge too much during high season and you get nobody. Better to leave something on the table than to go too high.

Advertise the "special aspects" of your business outside the country.

The LBGT tourism business is significant, but it is about 17% of the world tourism business. So don't limit yourselves. Being here in the DR will impose so many other limits already.