--- title: "ESSAY: From Guesthouse Staff to Owner 01" description: "A former guesthouse staffer now runs three properties in Seoul and teaches operations workshops monthly. Her path from front desk to operator to co-founder shows what professionalization looks like in Korea's indie lodging scene." published: 2019-01-03T00:00:00+00:00 author: "ONDA 편집팀" category: "Insights" image: "https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a9e12694e95b0f5538de65_62e7681fc2321d701a8aff43_5e942ced459693293e75bd5c_bed-731162.jpeg" canonical: https://global.onda.me/en/blog?slug=essay-geseuteuhauseu-seutaepeueseo-sajangggaji-01 locale: en --- # ESSAY: From Guesthouse Staff to Owner 01 ### **01. Prologue + I Am a Guesthouse Staff Member** **Written by CHLOE, Operations Director, Sookso Development Lab (**[**https://brunch.co.kr/@merrychloemas**](https://brunch.co.kr/@merrychloemas)**)** ![](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b251b5a57f04a64e264d_62e7681fc2321dc5878aff47_5e942ced333832d58e439ac9_smartinn_screenshot0.png) ![](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b251b5a57f04a64e2659_62e7681fc2321d6fda8aff4a_5e942ced961046a5d57f4b25_smartinn_screenshot1.png) **CHLOE, Operations Director, Sookso Development Lab** Hi. I'm CHLOE, co-founder and Operations Director at Sookso Development Lab, a company that specializes in guesthouse operations consulting and training. I started in the hospitality industry as guesthouse staff, expanded my perspective as General Manager at a franchise guesthouse, then worked in sales and partner support at ONDA, a property management system provider. Now I'm back where I started — deeply focused on running guesthouses, this time as an operator myself. I want to share the know-how I've accumulated from wearing so many hats and operating properties with different concepts — widely, openly, and generously. ### **# Prologue** January 2019. I now run three guesthouses with my team. Once a month, I teach a free workshop on guesthouse operations for aspiring entrepreneurs and new operators just getting started. Whenever I meet people under the umbrella of "guesthouse," one question always comes up: **"How did you end up doing guesthouse work?"** I've told this story dozens of times, but I wanted to write it down so more people could hear it. A few months ago I started writing about "The Ideal vs. Reality of Guesthouses," but the topic felt heavy — I kept writing and saving drafts, never quite ready to hit publish. I realized I needed a lighter (?) tone to tell the full story. So I framed it around time and experience: **"From Guesthouse Staff to Owner"** — straightforward and relatable. Exactly what it sounds like: how I went from staff member to operator, and how I'm becoming an owner along the way. I currently run guesthouses in Seoul, but the properties aren't in my name. Think of it like a company hiring a professional manager to run the business. If someone asks what I do, I say **"guesthouse professional operator"** (or professional manager). My clients are people who've opened a property out of interest but lack the operations knowledge to make it work. Many have saved up retirement funds or opened a guesthouse as a second career or side business. But there are also plenty of people like me — former guesthouse staff dreaming of becoming "the boss." I chose this topic hoping it would resonate with both groups. ### **#1. I Am a Guesthouse Staff Member** This first piece is about how I got started. Why I became guesthouse staff, and how I adapted to the work. 2015. My third personal crisis (what everyone calls "job-hunting season") hit, and I was spiraling. I'd graduated from a well-known four-year university with decent grades, a solid English test score — the kind of résumé people envy. But like many humanities majors, I struggled to land a job ("sorry I studied liberal arts"). Still, the bigger problem wasn't my credentials. It was my **attitude**. I've always had a clear line between what I love and what I hate. If I didn't want to do something, I simply wouldn't — even if my life depended on it. Trying to write cover letters claiming "I've always wanted to work at your company" when I didn't mean it? My applications and interviews were probably a disaster. Thankfully, I did get a couple of final-round offers. But there came a moment when I couldn't keep forcing myself just to meet others' expectations. So I stopped. I quit everything — the contract job I'd been doing while job hunting, the certification prep, the cover letters — and pivoted. I decided to just do what I'd always wanted to do. And sitting inside that category of "things I want to do" was **guesthouse work**. Ever since I was young, I've been drawn to "work that makes other people happy." In college, I narrowed that down to "tourism." Of course, "making people happy ≠ tourism" isn't a one-to-one equation, but double-majoring in Tourism Management and experiencing the industry firsthand convinced me further. Tourism is vast, though — narrowing it down to a specific field wasn't easy. ![bed-731162](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a9e12694e95b0f5538de65_62e7681fc2321d701a8aff43_5e942ced459693293e75bd5c_bed-731162.jpeg) ### **Guesthouse? That sounds like me.** Then, almost out of nowhere, the word **"guesthouse"** caught my eye. I slapped my knee and thought, *This is it.* Looking back, I probably should've tested the waters before diving in (and when I wonder why I couldn't do that for other jobs, I tell myself it was fate). Either way, I chose guesthouses that day — and I've stuck with it ever since. So maybe it wasn't a bad call. I don't know where the confidence came from, but I felt certain I'd be good at guesthouse work. More approachable than hotels. Closer to travelers. Helping them rest comfortably, listening to their stories, making sure they remember their trip fondly — it all sounded genuinely exciting. When I applied for staff positions, I didn't think about location, pay, or benefits. I only cared about one thing: **Does this job suit me?** This might sound strange to some, but after a brief, failed stint at my previous job, I learned that even if one thing is satisfying, everything else can fall apart. Great salary and benefits don't matter if you hate your coworkers and dread going to work. So I ranked my priorities. Number one: **work I actually like.** With guesthouses, I felt I could confidently say, "This is what I do." Even if it turned out different from what I expected, I wanted to stick with it this time — I was sure of that. Looking back, **I think guesthouses appealed to me because I could work more proactively.** And after failing once before, I kept my expectations low and stayed ready to take everything positively. That mindset helped me adapt. So if anyone thinks working at a guesthouse will feel like "being on vacation" — don't. Let go of that fantasy right now. ### **Not Fantasy, but Survival: Off to a European Guesthouse** I confirmed the guesthouse position and boarded a Europe-bound flight at the end of September 2015. The guesthouse where I'd be working wasn't just anywhere in Europe — it was in **Zagreb, the capital of Croatia**, a place not many people knew about back then. From the interview in Korea, I made my case clear: **"I'm serious about guesthouse work. I want to stay as long as possible."** Europe wasn't an easy place to return from, so I was determined to survive and prove myself. While others romanticized Europe, I was headed there to **live** — thanks to landing this guesthouse staff opportunity. After arriving in Zagreb, I put Europe's beautiful scenery in the rearview and focused entirely on **figuring out how to survive**. I'd heard rumors of someone who started as staff, rotated through multiple locations, and eventually became a **manager**. That became my goal: go from staff to manager, just like them. And as luck would have it, the person training me in Zagreb *was* that manager. Meeting the person I'd been curious about — and getting trained by them — felt like fate. But the handover period was painfully short. Officially three days. Realistically, two. The bigger shock? **I'd be running the entire property alone.** It was a small guesthouse — 7 rooms, 27 beds — but it was my first time managing one. The pressure was intense. Because it was a Korean-run guesthouse in Europe, we served Korean-style breakfast every morning. I had to handle guest service, cleaning, laundry, and reservation management — all of it, around the clock. I was still jet-lagged, but the training window was tight, so I clenched my teeth and learned by repetition. The hardest part? **Breakfast service.** I could barely cook enough for myself — maybe fried rice if I was feeling ambitious. Now I had to cook for 10, 20+ guests at once. At first, I couldn't even hold a knife properly. I went through Band-Aids daily. I can still picture the guests kindly eating my terrible food and saying it was good. The days flew by. New guests arrived. Others left. More guests flooded in. I spent my time accommodating requests, understanding problems, solving issues. Most days, I never left the building from sunrise to bedtime. If I did leave, it was after dark — just to buy groceries for the next morning's breakfast. Because I was so bad at cooking, I'd prep until 3 a.m., sleep, wake up at 7, and rush to finish everything by the 8 a.m. breakfast service. That's how I earned the nickname **"house fairy."** Because I worked inside the house all day, every day. ### **The Joy of Guesthouse Work = Understanding Your Role** And yet, I was happy. Sure, I was new — but the work itself was thrilling. Everything passed through my hands. I could see the results of my effort immediately. That was deeply rewarding. Because so much of the work required initiative, I constantly learned new things and found it fun. Most guests left reviews saying they rested comfortably, and many added that I seemed to genuinely enjoy my work. They said my energy made the atmosphere warmer and more welcoming. As guesthouse staff, is there any greater reward? That was the ultimate validation. I'm not sure if it was good luck or bad luck, but jumping straight into peak season as a new staff member forced me to adapt quickly. Within a month, I had the workflow down and started developing my own little tricks. Most of the trial and error I went through is pretty universal for guesthouse staff, so in the next piece, I'll go deeper into the daily routine and share some episodes — for anyone hoping to work at a guesthouse or just starting out. Either way, what I learned in that first month as staff became the foundation for how I now train employees and staff at the guesthouses I operate. I can do what I do now **because** I was guesthouse staff. ![](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b251b5a57f04a64e2651_62e7681fc2321d9bcc8aff46_5e942ced961046c88b7f4b26_11.jpeg) Free guesthouse operations workshop (May 2018) Of course, not everyone who wants to run a guesthouse needs staff experience — but if you're planning to open or operate one, I highly recommend spending at least a week, or even just one day, experiencing what staff do. Understanding the staff role makes running the operation so much smoother. Today, I go by many names: boss, operator, general manager, Chloe (we all use English names at work). But I'm still guesthouse staff. Because I represent many staff members. ![](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b251b5a57f04a64e2655_62e7681fc2321d766d8aff49_5e942ced45969391e575bd5b_13.jpeg) "Operations Manual" — I write the manual for every property. And it's constantly being updated. Every guesthouse staff member should embody service: dedication, consideration, understanding — for guests. And this service mindset must start with the leaders: the owner, the boss, the general manager. Leading by example is how you bring the entire team along. Many aspiring entrepreneurs, operators, and owners overlook this. **If there's no staff, the boss becomes the staff.** That's how guesthouse operations work. Even if you hire staff, every operator and owner must first experience the work from A to Z — understand it fully — before managing others. That's the right way. And if you're dreaming of becoming guesthouse staff, you need to know exactly what the job entails before you start. Guesthouses *look* fun — but that doesn't mean they *are* fun. A guesthouse is still a business. It has to make money. As someone still working as guesthouse staff — and working alongside other staff — let me offer one piece of advice: **Guesthouses are usually much harder than people expect. Don't approach it as something fun. Approach it as work, as experience, and ultimately as a job.** In the next piece, I'll talk about how I went from staff to manager, and the different roles I played in both positions. To everyone dreaming of guesthouses — I hope this helps. **[Series Index]** **(Stories About People in Guesthouses)** **01. Prologue + I Am a Guesthouse Staff Member** 02. A Day in the Life of Guesthouse Staff: 25-Hour Close-Up 03. Why Did 'Guestaff' Become a Thing? 04. The One Thing Guesthouses Need Most: People (Stories About Running Guesthouses) 05. What Guesthouse Owners Worry About 06. There Are Great Guesthouses — and Terrible Ones 07. Well-Run Properties Have 'That Thing' 08. The Guesthouse Standard (Stories About Starting a Guesthouse) 09. Is a Guesthouse Hospitality, Service, or Real Estate? 10. The DNA of a Guesthouse Operator 11. Do People Who Succeed Just Succeed? Do Properties That Work Just Work? 12. Even So, I Love Guesthouses ![smartinn.jpg](https://zqcfqfqgiyckyhazcfrk.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/webflow/6316f3f75130788ec2d762dd/65a8b252b5a57f04a64e265d_62e7681fc2321d68198aff48_5e942ced459693ba7e75bd5d_smartinn.jpeg) ## [**Read the full magazine version here <<**](http://bit.ly/magazineon25)