The whole family runs the hotel, and has for years — even the children pitch in when they're home. Most guesthouses in town work the same way, a real family business rather than a corporate operation. Guests aren't in short supply; the family has little to complain about there, though few stay more than a couple of days. Most come through for trekking, spend a day in town, and move on. A steady stream of travellers passes through Luang Namtha on their way to or from China — some staying the night, many just stopping for a meal.
Plenty of people benefit from that traffic beyond the guesthouses themselves — restaurant owners, guides, shopkeepers who now sell more simply because demand for food has grown. Another large new restaurant opened in town not long ago. And it isn't only tourists filling those seats; some local people come by too, for a meal or a drink.
Electricity remains the town's daily inconvenience. Power runs only a few hours a day, which is why most businesses, and some houses, keep a generator on hand. It gets switched off early most nights, usually around ten. While the power's on, there's television to watch — those without a set at home can catch one at a hotel instead. Street food vendors without power simply work by candlelight after dark.
Most people in the city have running water. I do not think they have that in the villages.
Hot water isn't something the family worries about — the climate makes it unnecessary. Getting around town is easy enough: tuktuks for short hops, frequent buses for longer trips, and most residents get by on a bicycle or small motorbike. There's a small medical centre in town, though its facilities are limited; anyone seriously ill has to travel to a bigger city for proper treatment.
Culturally, the family doesn't see tourism reshaping much. People who run tourism businesses choose that contact and generally enjoy it — the social exchange, the chance to learn about other cultures. Those with no interest in interacting with tourists simply carry on with daily life largely undisturbed. It's different out in the villages, though: tourists who wander in unguided leave villagers with no real choice in the matter, while those travelling with a guide only visit villages that have actually agreed to host them.
There's little the family would change. Better-informed tourists — aware of trekking guidelines, careful not to leave rubbish in the forest — would help, though the tourist centre can only do so much if visitors aren't interested in listening. Otherwise, as the family puts it with a laugh, they're perfectly happy — and wouldn't mind if every tourist in town decided to stay with them.