I listened with great interest. Xiao Song seemed to enjoy sharing his experience as well. He continued, “Brother, if you're opening a new guesthouse, I suggest you close the bookings for the entire Chinese New Year month online right now… Experienced tourists are shrewd these days; they might book their rooms online as early as November. How can you sell them rooms at off-season prices during the New Year?!… Last year, a friend of mine who runs a guesthouse suffered a huge loss because he lacked this experience… Other guesthouses of his caliber raised their prices to 800 yuan a night during the New Year, but because he didn't close the bookings for that period, his guesthouse was fully booked by December at off-season prices, meaning he lost tens of thousands of yuan. Do you think he lost out?”

"Wow, if you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have known there was such a market price!"

Xiao Song nodded, then asked me, "How much does your inn cost per night during the off-season?"

"The cheapest is four hundred, while suites sell for a thousand."

Xiao Song questioned, "There aren't such high prices inside the ancient city, are there?"

"I'm not in the ancient city, I'm over at Longkan, there's a sea view."

Xiao Song stared at me for a while, then slapped his thigh and said, "Hey, look at my eyes! Aren't you the guy who rescued people in Majiuyi a while ago? No wonder they said your inn has a sea view... I heard your inn has reopened!"

"Keep a low profile, keep a low profile."

Xiao Song handed me a cigarette and said, "Even if this off-season is really slow, it won't be as slow as yours... After all, only a few dozen inns and hotels by the sea have reopened, but the market is so big... Brother, your inn is really a money tree right now!"

I smiled and asked, "If it were around the Lunar New Year, what price do you think would be appropriate for a regular room at our inn to cost per night?"

"Three times the normal price... For your inn, I think selling it for five times the price shouldn't be a problem."

I was shocked...

Seizing the opportunity, Xiao Song said to me, "Brother, your high-end inn must offer airport pickup service. Why don't you partner with us? I'll definitely offer competitive prices and provide a driver, so you won't have to invest in manpower. This way, you'll save time and effort, and we can also make some money following in your footsteps."

What high-end cars do you own now?

Xiao Song replied somewhat awkwardly, "The best one is this BMW that just drove over. I'm in the early stages of starting my business, so I don't have that much money to invest in high-end cars."

“525 is enough, but what if you rent out this car and our inn needs to pick up people? ... And there is an even bigger problem. Like today’s guests, there are eight of them. If I hadn’t borrowed a car from a friend, I would definitely have had to rent another one.”

"this……"

After hesitating for a while, Xiao Song gritted his teeth and said, "Brother, if you decide to cooperate with our car dealership, I'll go and get another Mercedes-Benz E-Class. My friend has a used one that's in pretty good condition. I've been thinking about this lately, but I just can't bring myself to do it."

"Let's talk about the price."

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Song replied, "I'll give you the most sincere cooperation plan... I'll take care of all the pick-up and drop-off services at your inn... It'll cost 12,000 yuan a month. We'll provide the car, the driver, and the fuel, and we guarantee we'll be there whenever you call."

"On average, that's four hundred yuan a day."

“Brother, your inn has no shortage of business… If I run to and from the airport four or five times a day, it’s like I’m losing money… How about we charge by the number of trips, 150 yuan per trip?”

"Ten thousand a month, if that's acceptable, let's sign the contract."

"No, our costs are really high!"

“Ten thousand, you won’t lose money on this deal. When the car is not in use, you can do business with other inns. We don’t object to you using this resource to generate income.”

"I'm just worried that your inn is doing too well. If you make four or five round trips a day, you really won't make any money."

I smiled and replied, "If our inn is really doing so well that you're losing money, I'll definitely raise the price for you... buddy, just think of it as starting a business together. Our inn only has ten rooms, and many guests stay for a week at a time, so we don't have that much pick-up and drop-off frequency. Don't worry... this price is fair to you."

Xiao Song pondered for a while before finally replying, "Brother, you can't joke like that. If your inn's business is really so good that it makes our car dealership lose money, you'll definitely have to raise your prices here."

"Meeting is fate. We do business cleanly and honestly, striving for win-win cooperation... I think we should also write the price increase clause into the contract. Now you can rest assured, right?"

"Don't worry, don't worry... I'll call my buddy right now and ask him to hold onto that E-Class for me."

I smiled, thinking to myself that this was a good thing. By outsourcing the customer service to Xiao Song, we not only saved ourselves a lot of trouble, but also saved a lot of costs.

I feel that my luck has really turned around since I came to Dali, because many things have gone surprisingly smoothly.

...

Around 2 PM, Xiao Song and I picked up the guesthouse's first group of guests at the airport on time. The guests were pleasantly surprised by the level of hospitality we provided, especially the Mercedes-Benz G-Class that I borrowed from Ye Zhi, which made them think that the guesthouse was run by a rich second-generation heir in Dali.

Back at the guesthouse, I arranged rooms for the guests and then invited them to sit in the small bar for a while. Coach Ma and Peach generously gave the elderly people Pu'er tea, and Tie Nan chatted with them the whole time, introducing them to places worth visiting in Dali.

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