Life
Couple Drunkenly Buys Their Hotel On Their Honeymoon
We've all done stupid things while drunk but this takes the cake.
D.G. Sciortino
10.16.18

People do a lot of stupid things when they’re drunk.

They get into fights, commit crimes, get married, or worse.

Some people might even go on a drunken online shopping spree.

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But Gina Lyons, 33, and her husband Mark Lee, 35, broke the bank during a boozy night on their honeymoon vacation.

That’s because they got drunk and decided to buy their hotel.

The couple, who hail from London, went on a three-week backpacking trip through Sri Lanka in December after getting married in June.

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They checked into a rustic beachside hotel.

The couple fell in love with its look and their friendly staff.

The two were on vacation so they started to drink.

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“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,” Gina told Daily Mail. “The hotel looked grotty and very cheap. But it was by the beach and had the ‘wooden tree house’ feel that we like.”

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And they drank a lot. About 12 glasses of rum in total.

During that time one of the bartenders told them that the resort’s lease was up for renewal.

In their inebriated haze, the couple decided that they wanted to be the ones to take over that lease. After all, it was only $39,000.

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“When we were on the beach drinking rum, 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 drunk,” Gina says.

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Apparently, they were drunk during the initial conversation to buy the hotel as well as during the more serious chats.

The fact that they didn’t speak the language didn’t help either.

“The next day we went and met an old couple who we had to speak to about renewing the lease ourselves,” Gina said.

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“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 drinking more rum and slowly getting drunk again. 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.”

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But their purchase ended up not being as much of a deal as they thought it would be.

They had to pay an additional $9,200 in legal fees and $7,866 to refurbish the hotel.

“So, it wasn’t cheap,” Gina said.

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The couple found themselves in a financial bind and struggled to pay the first half of the lease.

After that, they fell into unexpected debt when Gina found out she was pregnant.

“I felt like I was already a bad mother because I felt guilty that I’d wasted all of this money buying a business that might not work,” Gina admits.

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“Even our friends and family think we’re idiots and shouldn’t have been doing it – we owed a lot of money from the wedding and only lived in a tiny flat, and now we had a baby on the way.”

Instead of getting down in the dumps about it, they decided to try and make the business work.

“That’s when we decided to throw our all into it, both for ourselves and for the baby, and in July we officially became owners of the business,” said Gina.

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“Now, almost a year on from our drunken idea, we own the hotel and have started doing the hotel up and making it ours.”

They named the resort Lucky Beach Tangalle.

The seven-bedroom B&B has been open since July and has had a steady flow of regular customers.

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And it’s no surprise. The place looks like a blast! The couple has vowed to make sure their future business ventures are not completed while under the influence. You can follow the Lucky Beach Tangalle on Instagram here.

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