Steps towards starting a hotel business

BY ADEMOLA ALAWIYE

Steps towards starting a hotel business

The inability of owners to run hotel businesses successfully in the country has left many of the hospitality centres not functioning well. In this report, ADEMOLA ALAWIYE writes on steps to follow for profitable ventures.

Running a hotel business can be very lucrative; however, the competition in this sector is usually very severe. Not only should someone aspiring to start a hotel business have a large amount of capital to start this kind of business, he should also expect a significant amount of time to pass before pulling in crowds of customers to your hotel. It takes planning, patience and hard work to start a hotel business. Experts say some of the decisions to make to ensure that the business is run well will include the following:

 Get a job in the hotel or hospitality industry

Hotel experts believe that you need to spend at least a year working at a hotel so you can learn the details of the business, as well as what kind of problems you can expect. It’s much better to get paid to learn these things than to wait until you’re dealing with your own business and you’re losing money.

 Decide what kind of facility you want to open

Your hotel can be upscale or budget, aimed at business travelers or families, service oriented or no frills. When deciding on these issues, you should keep in mind what the local market will support, as well as what you can afford to finance. Find a building or have one built. Building or renovating a hotel is complicated. Hire a professional, such as a hotel architect or a hospitality consulting company to help you with design and layout.

 Write a hotel business plan

Your business plan should specify the fundamentals of how you are going to start and run your business. It should include the business goal, mission statement, budget, hotel location, hotel information, employee information and marketing strategy.

 Seek out financial aid

If you are building a hotel from scratch, buying an existing hotel or renovating a building into a hotel, you might need to invest anywhere between hundreds of thousand naira to millions of naira depending on your location, the size of your hotel and how much renovation is needed. Make sure you have a credible business plan so you can attract wealthy people who might want to invest in your business, such as angel investors or venture capitalists.

You may also be able to obtain financial aid by showing your bank your business plan or applying for one of the financial programs set up for small and medium enterprises.

 Obtain a business licence

Facilities like hotels often require a review by a city planning commission before a license is granted to the owner. This offers the local community a chance to express any concerns or ask any questions about the project, such as parking provisions or impact on the environment.

 Select a location

Experts say choosing the right location is one of the most important factors in determining whether your hotel business will succeed or fail. If you choose to open your hotel in a beautiful neighborhood that already has one or more successful existing hotels, it’s going to be very difficult for your potential hotel to succeed because you might not have the capital or credibility to compete with established hotels.

But if you open your hotel in the right location with little competition and have something about your hotel that’s unique and good quality, then there’s a good chance that your business can thrive and pull in visitors to the area. You’ll need to evaluate where travelers to your region want to stay, as well as what areas are lacking in lodging options. Focus your research on tourist attractions and downtown business districts.

 Determine how your hotel will stand out

Come up with strategies to make your hotel unique in different categories such as themes, amenities, atmosphere and services that you will offer.

Experts say there is need to research the hotels that are already doing well, figure out what qualities they have to make them stand out and figure out how you can copy them or improve on their practices. A good place to start is by reading reviews for hotels that have high ratings on websites or in magazines, they advised.

 Advertise your hotel business

According to experts, someone aspiring to start a hotel business should hire public relations and advertising representatives to help promote the business. Inform them about how your hotel stands out from its competitors and what makes it the best choice in the market. Continue to repeat the same message of what your hotel represents in various media, especially online.

Have surveys ready for your customers about their opinion of your hotel and what could be done to improve the service. Use your customers’ feedback as a way to constantly improve the quality of your hotel and in time, people will help you market your hotel by telling others about it.

Source: Punchng.com