@Quincy,
We decided to build a guesthouse in St. Lucia, because every time we returned to visit friends and family, we didn't want to stay with them. The primary reasons were that we were on holidays, and usually they weren't. So, we didn't want to disturb them or disrupt their work and school schedules with our comings and goings. We also didn't want to feel obligated to contribute to housekeeping for a full house of folks. We observed that many of our friends who live abroad, and regularly returned to the island also didn't want to stay with family.
We've traveled a great deal, and decided that we wanted to offer folks a reasonably priced accommodation that still had many of the conveniences of home. We prefer to cook most of our own meals with local produce and ingredients, and we found that most of the accommodations where we stayed lacked kitchens items or the ones that were present were in poor condition. At first, we thought our target market would be international holiday takers from Canada, Europe, the UK and the US. Actually, about 35% of our bookings are locals or from the Caribbean region. Ultimately, our goal was to have a business that would pay the mortgage and running expenses of the property. We definitely, aren't getting prosperous from this endeavor.
We've been closed since March 2020, so I cannot comment on the quality of post-pandemic guests, but we've made some significant renovations in preparations for their arrivals (hopefully, this summer). Gone is the shared guest kitchen and balcony dining area, and complimentary laundering of personal items when we washed the linens and towels. Now each suite has a kitchenette and laundry appliances. We also have installed a smart lock and a Ring doorbell at the guest entrance. We will be able to greet guests from our porch as they approach the guesthouse, but we will remotely unlock the door so they can gain entrance instead of meeting them at the door. Another thing that I believe will greatly impact locals, is that we will no longer accept cash payment upon arrival, and they will have to pay online (we have our own site for those who do not use another platform). Which is something that many people are not comfortable or familiar with doing.
Personally, I believe that the travel industry will see a surge in the latter part of 2021 into 2022, because people are eager to get away from wherever they been during the past year.