I received a reservation enquiry this morning and after divulging the rates and ammenities offered, the man ( I was going to write "Gentleman") had the audacity to ask "Is it American owned?" and when I replied that I am an American, he slammed the phone down!!!!
It seems that in this modern world we still have some bigots who cannot change their racist attitudes. This question about "American owned" always has that racist tone to it.
This phone call has really upset me and I hope that I never have to put up with this in the future.
We treat all our guests as though they've come to our home and go all out to make their stay here as pleasant as possible.
If you are reading this blog I hope that you will come over and experience our hospitality.
Rolla did not have a White Christmas this year, just rain and fog.
Since it was again very quiet, I helped Vina with the housekeeping and we were done with the laundry and housekeeping by 12 noon.
Since we're Hindus we dont celebrate Christmas as such,we invite our family friends for Dinner, and along with the wives played Cards. That night we just had 1 guest check in. What a big difference from the Christmas season we used to have in Zambia! There the busiest time of the year was the Christmas eve business in our shops and in those days there were no credit cards in use so we had to come with the cash and count the notes at home. The there would always be a party at a friend's house where we'd have "Chicken Kadai" and "Prawns Masala" all accompanied by bottles of "MOSI" beer. So on Christmas day all the men folks would be nursing a hangover and the ladies would do the household chores.
Someone asked me if I gave or received any presents during Christmas and I had to say no, but things are going to change for this family from next year as our Grandson, Nikhil, will be growing up we are going to buy lots of presents for him and will not let him feel that he is missing out on the Christmas spirit.
Now only a few more days left for 2007 to wind up and 2008 is almost upon us.
Occupancy has been pretty dull, so far we have remodelled 6 ground floor rooms, and hope to finish remodelling the remaining 4 ground floor rooms in Jan 2008.
ps. I did receive a box of imported cookies from Mid America Bank, even though I do not bank with them,( Greg, the Manager knows me from the Golf club) and from Marcia Rehm(my American Family Insurance broker)
The weather has made people to postpone their travel plans so last night we checked in only 1 guest. So Vina will have it easy today- she really hates doing work in the cold weather.
We dropped off our daughter Jigsha at the airport in St Louis and got stuck in traffic on I-270. Having your siblings visit you is so wonderful and its the parting that is always the sad part. We cannot wait until she and my son,daughter in law and Grandson come visiting again.
So far we have finished renovating Rooms 121,122,123 and work is going on in 119,120.Expenses keep on piling in remodelling but my motto has never been to just make money but to plough back my profits into the motel for it to be the BEST.
Hi to all my blog readers.
Thanks to the initiative taken up by my daughter, Jigsha, I am now all set to update my blog site quite often.
The greatest event that took place within the last year has been the arrival of our first grandson (NIKHIL AMIT DESAI) who was born in Atlanta on Oct 16th 2007. Vina was in Atlanta to witness the arrival of Nikhil but unfortunately I was stuck here in Rolla at the motel and had to see his pictures posted by my son on my computer. I did manage to fly down to Atlanta in November and see that great bundle of joy.
As noted earlier I have started to remodel some of the ground floor rooms by removing the old wood panelling and putting in new insulation and sheet rock. I hope that my guests will appreciate the new brighter rooms.
On November 15th we completed 5 years of owning and operating the Rustic Motel and we are forever indebted to Curtis and Lucie Smith who gave us the opportunity to take over this motel from them. In these past 5 years never have we delayed our monthly mortage payments and that is a record I hope to continue in the future too.
Today the snow and ice is slowly melting away and I have to drop my daughter off at St Louis for her flight to Knoxville. She is more adament that I continue blogging so I hope that I do not disappoint her.
ps The price is a gallon og regular Gas in Rolla today is $2.89.
This is Jigsha - Bob and Vina's daughter. I'm visiting my parents here at the Rustic Motel and am blogging on my dad's behalf. My dad promises to take up his blog with renewed interest if he can find some free time during the day.
He's been pretty busy making renovations to the motel. Some of the wood panelling is being removed so that the rooms have a more bright and airy feel. See some photos of a room being worked upon and the finished version too:
It snowed here on Saturday. We were expecting about 6-12", but thankfully we only have about 2". My dad had prepared the night before by laying out salt on the sidewalks. UMR had a graduation ceremony on Saturday but was unaffected by the snowfall. See a photo of the Rustic Motel with a bit of snow below.
Since the Rustic Motel blog is being heavily attacked by spammers, we have had to disable comments on the site. I'm hoping to have this resolved soon. My daughter has tried spam CAPTCHA, but we have been unsuccessful in getting it installed.
If you have tips on ways I can prevent comment spam, please email me at info@rusticmotelofrolla.com.
And please share your comments about your stay at our motel by emailing comments@rusticmotelofrolla.com.
