Do you know that lovely programme ‘Hello Goodbye’? Joris Linssen talks to people at Schiphol who are waiting for their loved ones. It produces moving and sometimes funny stories. I have the privilege of experiencing that every day at our holiday business on Ameland. People often ask: isn't working in hospitality incredibly hard, how do you keep it up? The answer is simple: meeting people from every corner of the Netherlands and beyond gives so much joy and insight beyond your own ‘bubble’. From Amsterdam hippies and down-to-earth Groningen farmers to posh types from the Gooi. All with their own stories, assumptions and wishes. “We have breakfast included, but do you also provide breakfast for our dog? Because that's what we assumed.” It's wonderful to come up with a fitting answer to questions like that and still keep things pleasant… And the nice thing is that everyone is in a holiday mood rather than a funeral mood.
Some are clearly fans of the TV programme Bed & Breakfast and really think along about how everything could be even better. As soon as the new season starts on TV, the number of lists with well-meant advice rises dramatically. At check-out, people arrive with an arsenal of handwritten notes on what, in their view, really needs to change: “We missed a lemon squeezer”. Aha… seriously? Yes, dead serious. Curious, I take in every list. Sometimes chuckling inwardly at what people come up with. Very kind, but wouldn't you rather have gone to the beach while you were here on the island?
But welcoming regular guests who come year after year is also a source of happiness. Dorothee, for example, has been holidaying at our family business for decades. For 40 years she has traditionally brought delicious German chocolate biscuits. That's why, as a toddler, my husband already looked forward to her arrival. He is now 45, but that doesn't spoil the fun. She helps our sons with their German homework and walks our dog when we're busy on a changeover day.
So some regular guests really feel like family. You see their children grow up, and when they start families of their own, they come to the same holiday address too. That feels truly rich, doesn't it?! We share in their lives, because everyone's life has ‘Good Times, Bad Times’, to throw in yet another programme. For example, couples who came together for years and then suddenly check in alone, because divorce or death means they have to carry on on their own. Of course tears flow at reception then, and we make an extra effort to make it a meaningful time on Ameland! So for the business owners on the island, the tourist is not only a source of income but also a ‘happiness machine’ that enriches our lives. At least it is for me.
