Gina Lyons and Mark Lee from London, decided to purchase a rustic hotel after drinking rum on the beach while on holiday - and have renamed it ‘Lucky Beach Tangalle’ A pair of newlyweds got so drunk on their honeymoon they bought their own hotel.
Gina 33 and Lee, 35, wed in June 2017 and went on a three week backpacking honeymoon to Sri Lanka in December.
During their trip, the London-based couple checked into a rustic hotel on the beach and immediately hit it off with some of the staff members there. On their first night, they took to the beach with several bottles of rum and drank with one of the hotel’s bartenders, where they were told the current lease on the hotel was almost up.
The couple decided it would be a great idea to take up the new lease - which would cost them £30,000.As of July 1 this year, producer Gina and Mark, a sales director, officially own the hotel they drunkenly agreed to buy and have renamed it ‘Lucky Beach Tangalle’.
Gina said: “When we walked into the hotel we saw a group of old Sri Lankan men who were still drunk from the night before, so we started drinking with them.”The hotel looked grotty and very cheap, but it was by the beach and had the ‘wooden tree house’ feel that we like.
“When we were on the beach , we were told that the lease was almost up for the hotel.
“After finding out that it was £10,000 a year, myself and Mark thought that it would be a brilliant idea to buy it - because we were so high.”Now, almost a year on from our idea, we own the hotel and have started doing the hotel up and making it ours.”
Despite having had the initial conversation about purchasing the hotel whilst they were drunk, Gina explained the couple were also tipsy during the following, more serious, chats.
She said: “The next day we went and met an old couple who we had to speak to about renewing the lease ourselves.”We had to take two friends we had made with us so they could translate for us, as the couple didn’t speak English themselves.
“Because we didn’t understand most of the conversation, Mark and I were just sat.
“After some bartering, we finally agreed that we would pay £30,000 for the three year lease and pay £15,000 in the first year and the other half by March 2019.”But on top of that we had to pay about £7,000 legal fees in obtaining licenses and then £6,000 to refurbish, so it wasn’t cheap.” Despite struggling financially, the couple managed to pay the first half of the lease - however they stumbled into an unexpected debt three months after agreeing the purchase in March this year, when Gina discovered she was pregnant. (mirror.uk)
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