EXPO DOLLARS
Residents hop into
bed and breakfast

THE GROWING crackle from impending Expo money is
luring: North Shore residents into the Bed and Breakfast

business.

AH three North Shore
municipalities have made special
provisions for homeowners hoping
to expand both financial and social
horizons by setting up B&B opera-
tions in spare rooms.

In North Vancouver City and
District, homeowners are permit-
ted a maximum of two boarders
under current bylaw zoning.

Enforcement, which is usually
carried out on a neighbor com-
plaint basis, will be somewhat
relaxed during the Expo period,
according to Ald. Stella Jo Dean.

Deaa, chairman of the Expo

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW
News Reporter

Committee for North Vancouver
City and District, estimates that
there are currently 300 BEB rooms
available in the two municipalities.
In West Vancouver, waere B&B
has been approved for Expo only
(from April 1 to Nov. 15), the
number of B&B rooms available
has not been accurately gauged.
Social Planner Richard Wagner
said Thursday the maximum
number of B&B guests permitted

NEWS photo Terry Peters

EILEEN Manahan readies the bed end of her new Bed and Breakfast
business. Registered with Old English Bed and Breakfast, Manahan
opened the doors of her B&B rooms last year. She also runs North

Shore’s Neelie’s Frames.

in West Vancouver homes will also
be two, ‘‘but that restriction will
be enforced only on a_ written
complaint from neighbors. ”

The only requirement for setting
up a B&B in West Vancouver, he
said, is that the house conform to
regulations set out for operations
by the B.C. Fire Commissioner.

DETECTOR INSTALLED

A smoke detector must be in-
stalled in or near guest accom-
modations; a fire extinguisher in-
stalled and clearly visible near
guest rooms, and two means of ex-
it from B&B accommodations
must be provided.

For those considering setting up
B&B operations in North Van-
couver City and District, the North
Vancouver Chamber of Commerce
has drafted a list of 18 guidelines
covering standards for safety and
general housekeeping.

Catherine Copes, who has been
in the B&B trade in North Van-
couver for the past five years, said
local interest in the business has
grown phenomenally over the
years and especially with Expo on
the horizon.

The opportunity to make extra
money and to meet people from
different couniries, she said, made
the B&B business extremely attrac-
tive.

$4,000 INCOME

Average price charged for single
B&B accommodation on the North
Shore, she said, ranged from $25
to $35 and from $35 to $50 for
doubles. Copes said her average
gross annual B&B income was
around $4,000.

She estimated that for the 165
days of Expo, based on an average
$40 per night with 23 days off for
the host, a fully booked two-guest
B&B operation could gross $5,700.

But Copes cautioned against a
careless quick dash into the B&B
windfall.

Besides the need for an innkeep-
er’s temperament, B&B operators
should realize that such things as
household insurance have to be

3 - Sunday, March 9
«i

NEWS photo Terry Peiers

ONE OF North Vancouver's original Bed and Breakfast operators,
Catherine Copes holds up the book she wrote and published on the art of
successfully running a B&B operation. Copes, who opened Copes Corner
some six years ago, has just take a leap into the business of running a

B&B registry.

upgraded to cover possible liability
claims from guests, she said.

LIABILITY INSURANCE

Gunnar Axelson, owner of Ax-
elson Agencies Ltd., said the
recommended $2 million insurance
coverage for B&B operations
would add an additional $10 per
guest per year to regular household
premiums.

He added that though insurance
companies were waving regular
B&B premiums for those
households getting into the B&B
business exclusively for Expo, in-
surance agents must be notified if
homeowners are _futting up B&B
guests, ‘‘or ousehold in-

surance po: « 10 longer be
valid."’
Copes also cz: *n°d against a

recent crop of -3;-oy-night B&B
registries that have sprung up.

She said registries usually charg-
ed B&B operations a 20 per cent
referral fee.

“But some have been charging
up to 33 per cent and _ taking
money from guests prior to their
stay, then paying the B&B opera-
tor later.”’

Owner of North Vancouver’s
Western Comfort B&B registry
Barbara Sniith said registries rate
B&Bs on a three to five star
system, with corresponding rates
going from $40 to $70,

Movie camera operator
killed filming car chase

WEST VANCOUVER camera operator Bruce Ingram, 40,
died last week while filming a high-speed car chase for a Vancouver resident worked with
Canadian feature film on location in Tucson, Arizona.

Ingram, who worked 15 years in
the B.C. film industry, was the on-
ly fatality in the accident, which
reportedly injured eight others.

The camera car, weighing ap-
proximately two tons, was carrying
the crew when it flipped over dur-
ing the chase scene of a Mon-
treal-based production The Wrath.

Ingram, a member of locals 291
and 667 of the International
Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees — British Columbia's
largest film union, had been work-
ing on the production since
January.

Union ~ business _ representative
George Chapman said Ingram was
in popular demand as a camera
operator, and had many friends
both ‘‘inside and outside the in-
dustry.’*

Chapman said Ingram’s last two
pictures, which were for Expo 86,
were among the camera operator's
favorites.

The films are The Challenge, for
the B.C. Pavilion, and The Rainbow
War, recently nominated for an
Oscur, which was made for the

BRUCE INGRAM

Canadian Pavilion.

Besides working on numerous
U.S. television movies, Ingram
helped to film such feature movies
as Bear Island, Star '80, Jane Doe,
Mother Lode, Grey Fox and Glit-

ter Dome.

On Glitter Dome, the West

local producer Justis Greene, with
whom he graduated from
Delbrook Secondary in North
Vancouver.

Ingram, an avid sailer, also at-
tended the University of B.C.,
where he studied marine biology.

“It was a terrible tragedy. We
were close for a long, long time. |
can only say fond things about
him,’’ Greene said. ‘*We’re getting
calls from all over the world.”

Ingram’s talent was noted by
Frank Stanicy, from California,
who worked with Ingram on Love
Mary, Consenting Adults and
Three Wishes of Billy Grier, televi-
sion productions filmed in Van-
couver in 1984 and 1985.

Ingram was Stanley's assistant
on these projects.

“He was a remarkable human
being,’’ said Stanley. “He could
have matured into one of the
leading cinematographers in
Canada. I felt fortunate to find
someone like that in Vancouver.’’

IATSE, Ingram'’s union, has ini-
tiated 2 Bruce Ingram Cameraman

See Cameraman
Page 8

collision.

Released: “Thursday, r
"report \ criticized” crew..of. the’
Queen of Cowichan because he

ferry’s radar was not -in-use‘at:: -ti

the time’ of the collision, and’
too little evasive action: was
taken too late.“ -: .

The report also” ‘stated that
ferry crew were not. looking out
for small craft when the Queen
ef Cowichan rammed’ the 10-

metre. (33-foot): Kimberley:-in —

waters off Whytecliff Point.

Three. passengers on’ the:

pleasure *: salt Kim, 45,

Michael, - and ‘12-year-old :

Martin Kwok — died asa result.
of the collision. : :
George Kwok, owner of the

in an effort to establish a code
of ethics and head off the possible
damage done to the image of
registries by unscrupulous opera-
tors, 14 area registries have banded
together to form the West Coast
Bed and Breakfast Association,
Smith said.

Registries can be checked
through the Better Business
Bureau. All registries, Smith add-
ed, must be registered with Con-
sumer and Corporate Affairs in
order to take deposits, otherwise
they are illegal.

Annual fees to register with B&B
registries, she said, should not be
excessive, $50 is average.

GO IT ALONE

For those going it alone, initial
marketing can be the biggest
stumbling block to B&B success,
but once established, word of
mouth is often all that is needed.

Lyne Armstrong said she has
run a B&B for almost four years.
Her initial investment was approx-
imately $500 to renovate her B&B
suite. Thus far in 1986, she is fully
booked to August.

“We love it. You meet people
from all over the world and make
a little extra money.’’

B&B, she added, was the best
way for people from other coun-
tries to really meet the local peo-
ple.

Comporation followin
quest into the tragedy:
Mi -b

quest: jury in vaily Nov
were, directed at the B. C

Kimberley, .was - criticized | for: H

‘orth Shore News