Innkeeper memoirs: Borders hosts ‘Geckos & Other Guests’ author

Local author Gabriela Taylor took her experiences running a bed-and-breakfast operation north of Kapa‘a and documented them in “Geckos & Other Guests: Tales of a Kaua‘i Bed & Breakfast.”

Taylor has had several travel articles published, but this is her first book.

“This is a memoir,” Taylor said. “Its emphasis is on my life on Kaua‘i, and deciding to have this bed and breakfast. It’s kind of a behind-the-scenes look to a bed and breakfast, things that guests don’t even hear about.”

Taylor moved here in the 1970s, and opened a bed and breakfast in 1987, near the Keapana Center.

In the book, she recounts how she had to rebuild the bed and breakfast after Hurricane ‘Iniki, times when she was learning how to trap chickens so they wouldn’t disturb guests, and how she played host to some of the oddest of guests.

In the chapter “The Banana Patch Bunch: Staff,” she likens an innkeeper to a dancer “who must be trained in every movement form. Instead of ballet to hip-hop, however, it’s flower-arranging to floor-polishing, hospitality to fruit-harvesting.”

“Some people think that in handling a bed and breakfast, it’s calm and tranquil, but there’s all this drama,” she said.

Taylor will be doing a book-signing and reading session tomorrow at the Borders Books, Music, Movies & Cafe in Lihu‘e at 2 p.m., and then the following Saturday at the Robin Savage Gift & Gourmet Hanalei in the Ching Young Village Shopping Center, also at 2 p.m.

“Everything is all true in the book, “ she said.

“There were so many interesting things that happened while managing the bed and breakfast that there was no reason to fictionalize it. I’m hoping to engage people into participating and sharing their experiences with bed and breakfasts.”

Lanaly Cabalo, lifestyle writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or lcabalo@kauaipubco.com.