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UK: Ahead of International Women’s Day 2025 [8 March], Rachel Tasker, managing director of Luxury Hot Tub Holidays UK, discusses building an STR business as a single parent while going through the menopause.
After 20 years of building a BTL [buy-to-let] portfolio and doing a few flips along the way, the holiday let market caught my attention. I’ve taken on far bigger projects than I ever thought possible, so how hard could it be? My main obstacles I believed at the time were location [an hour away from home] and finding new trades to cover the ones that wouldn’t travel for me. I also had no experience in hospitality, so that was a whole new learning curve. It turned out that those issues were relatively easy in comparison to tackling the menopause along the way.
Despite being a single Mam of two young sons and being well into my forties, I was up for the challenge [I self-manage my BTL portfolio as well], but convinced I could do it all, I began the major refurbishment of the first cottage.
After all the work was done and it was time to kit the entire house out, I started to feel incredibly tired. I was exhausted with the long hours, the driving, I’d done a lot physical work [which I was used to], but I quickly became more than just tired from the process. The first time I realised it was more than just taking on too much work was when I was making the bunk beds up ready for the photo shoot and I needed to have a nap. Never in a million years would I be the person to nap on the job!
I put the tiredness down to physical and emotional overload, why did I think one woman could take on all this was my explanation for the extreme tiredness. It was all my own fault, so I just needed to get on with it. Unfortunately, I then started to feel sick occasionally on a morning, which is no good when you have two kids to get to school at 8am and two businesses to run. To be honest, I didn’t know what was wrong with me but I was struggling to put sleepless nights, extreme tiredness and sickness down to just work. I had never had any problems with any of these things let along all together, so when I started forgetting lots of things and feeling confused as well, I thought this is it, I either have some sort of cancer, dementia or both.
The tipping point that forced me to go and see my doctor was one morning taking my two young sons to school at 8am and I felt so sick I had to stop on a main road and throw up. I was so embarrassed, in the street, my sons were obviously very concerned, and I am sure I looked like a drink driver.
It was an awful experience, but looking back, I can’t really pinpoint when the symptoms started. They crept up on me but I was certainly in significant need of medical help and some support / information for a year leading up to the being sick in the street incident.
It’s a real shame I had no idea what was happening and I had no adult support around me so no one knew what I was going through except my young sons.
On arrival at my doctors, they immediately reassured me that all the symptoms I had were the menopause and everything was explained to me in detail. I was given information and prescribed HRT [hormone replacement therapy]. Not really fully understanding HRT, I was just happy to give something a try.
I remember I started taking it on a Monday and by the Thursday, I was back to my old self. I leaped out of bed, no sickness, no need for naps, my mind felt sharp and ready to solve whatever problems came on the day. Honestly, I felt fantastic. I actually remember saying to someone I worked with at the holiday lets that week that I felt 25 again! I was making the beds with enthusiasm instead of sleeping in them.
The fog lifting [I fully understand why it’s called brain fog] enabled me to start reading up on menopause and understanding what I was going through. This newfound knowledge gave me permission to be kinder to myself, instead of feeling like I’d let everyone down. If I’m not the perfect mother or pulling my weight at the holiday lets, changing beds, doing repairs, advertising and doing all the other million moving parts that hospitality requires, it’s okay as I’m going through a massive life change. Some things will need to be modified to suit me and where I am now.
Unfortunately, due to other health issues, I can no longer take HRT but I am grateful for the time I could take it as it gave me relief when my symptoms were at their worst. My boys are young men now and it is also much easier with the holiday cottages as I’ve had time to systemise and develop what has become a successful business.
Data points:
- There are 48 recognised menopause symptoms so no two women’s menopause experience will be the same
- There are three stages of menopause which will apply to women and 50 per cent of our population:
- Perimenopause – in the UK, the average age to reach the perimenopause stage is 45, and this stage with debilitating fluctuating symptoms day and night can last for between five to seven years
- Menopause – the average age of reaching menopause [which is just one day] is 52
- Post-menopause
- In a 2018 Femmar study:
96 per cent of women said they felt unprepared for menopause
66 per cent claimed they felt “robbed of life” during menopause
90 per cent wanted to learn how to manage their menopause naturally, without hormonal or pharmaceutical treatments.
Author: Rachel Tasker
Company: Luxury Hot Tub Holidays UK
Contact email: luxuryhottubholidaysuk@gmail.com
