Smaller, luxurious hotels have become popular as consumers look for more out of their vacation spending. Here’s how you can start a successful non-branded independent hotel.
Hotels, unlike most other types of businesses, are not chosen for the services they provide. They’re not selected, as software or music might be, based on the quality of what they make. Hotels are businesses that capitalize on the strength of their brand. If you want to buy a Mercedes, you know what you’re getting. If you want to travel like Jay-Z and Beyonce, you can look into the top-of-the-line hotels.
But when it comes to lodging, people generally purchase based on other factors. Competition is fierce, and considering the time and expense it takes to travel, people are less likely to settle for a hotel that might not be ideal. A common question people ask themselves when they are looking for a hotel is not, “Will this hotel change my life or add value to it?” but “Can I afford this place?”
When people are staying at a hotel these days, they want to be pampered. If they are traveling with their family, they want the whole family to have a good time. Hotels are designed by people who have your needs at heart. As such, there are times when the facilities they offer are over the top. Who cares if the pool is heated? What’s the point of having a 24-hour gym, and a yoga studio and a full-time aviary?
These days, though, many people want to travel to feel pampered. But they have no need to travel with all of the toys. We’re a mobile society, so people want to be able to move easily and quickly from place to place. That’s only possible when the hotel itself is mobile. That explains the success of the hotel with a on-site residence, which allows people to stay once and then move on.
If you’re one of the people who has been looking to make a mobile hotel, here’s how you can do it efficiently. Combine these four assets – location, quality, excellent staff and mobile quality – and you can create a high-value hotel that hovers everywhere.
Location, Quality And A Great Staff
Location is not everything, but it helps. It might not be possible to deliver a target market where there is no demand, but it makes sense to offer your product in areas that are already hot and can help you create a business that will move easily.
People like to be near corridors that are famous for great food and entertainment, but they want to be far enough away that they can still relax. They want to have access to good health care, but not have to worry about high premiums. Ideally, they want to be within a day’s ride of a major airport, so they can fly in and out.
Quality, on the other hand, adds value to everything. In a mobile hotel, that means not just suites with the biggest beds, but also a restaurant with top-flight cuisine, and a professional symphony playing in the evening. Someone wants to have a good time; give it to him. And good service is necessary. People get impatient when they travel, and often need help finding directions or getting a cot and a blanket for their child.
Quality and location are the first two factors in creating the right setting for a successful hotel, but they’re not the only factors. Mobile hotels are different from traditional ones because they have to be. That difference comes from the factor of the mobile. A more successful hotel is one that really lives up to that title. It should be able to move easily from place to place, so that guests can enjoy life where they want to.
For a business like that, excellent staff becomes even more important than it is for a normal hotel. The best person for the job is a hostess who can customize every interaction to be as individualized as possible, because every guest is a customer who deserves to be spoken to as an individual. If you have a fleet of hotels that you send out like mobile homes, make sure that every one of the hosts is trained not only on service but also on the local area and the kind of people who might be attracted to it.
A Mobile Quality Hotel
Proximity, luxury and excellent staff are all part of the equation for creating the perfect mobile hotel. There is one factor, however, that can make travel so much more elegant. If you want to go mobile, be a quality hotel that attracts the best products and services.
Consider how you can customize the services that you offer at each stop. While you might make a stop at a small town where people need a break, you can also suggest a surfing lesson because that’s something that would be of interest in that particular region.
There’s a variety of ways you can provide the most attractive set of services. For instance, you could partner with local shops and restaurants to put together one-price packages for those who want to learn something. This is a unique opportunity for you to collaborate with local businesses to offer a way for everyone to enjoy themselves.
Once a mobile hotel has success, people will want to settle in for a while. A full-time residency can be a great idea for a hostel that offers local restaurants and cultural activities. Think about offering guests the best that the region has to offer, to give them a great reason to stay longer.
Some areas of the world have become so popular that they are destinations in themselves. If you have a mobile hotel, you can take advantage of their popularity. Consider a group tour, for example, that tours through some of the most luxurious places on the planet. Offer an all-inclusive tour of Paris, with a stay in one of the prime Parisian hotels. People who would never be able to afford a €300 a night room wouldn’t give up the experience for anything, even if it is only for one night.
If you’re ready to take the leap into creating a mobile hotel, now is a great time to do it. The popularity of high-end, high-quality hotels, especially after the 2008 financial crisis, means that you have an opportunity to offer people more than they ever expected from a hotel. The best thing about mobile, high-end hotels is that they can be tailor-made to people’s desires. There is no limit on what you can do to make the world a more luxurious place.
Steps to Starting A Luxury Hotel
- To start a luxury hotel, you need to create a luxe experience. A great breakfast, a quiet room, no noise and a luxurious bathroom are all things that important. You don’t need to have a swimming pool, a tennis court and an aviary, but you can make your hotel a place for relaxation and pleasure.
- To start, you need at least 2.5 acres of land and a building to put it in. You can build on to the land as you get older, but it’s better to get this together before you go any further, because you need a busy location to start attracting clients. That means making sure that your property is on a thoroughfare, with lots of stores and things to do nearby. Finding the land is the hardest part of starting a hotel, but once you have it, it will be easier to find someone to build you a hotel.
- To find the right land, look at the US Department of Agriculture’s land registry. Start by searching for available lands in your area, and then filter the results to focus in on the best ones. You want to get the property when it’s fresh, before it has been snatched up by someone else. And the best way to learn about it is to ask around for property agents who can connect you with the right people.
- If you’re not sure about the size of your space, look at other successful luxury hotels. See how many rooms they offer, and you’ll have a better idea of what you can do. And if you want, you can buy companies specializing in hotel supplies. When you do this, you can save a lot of money on starting up your business because hotel suppliers know how to manage luxury services. They can also help you find your employees.
- To manage operations, you can hire someone who knows what he’s doing. Look for someone with management experience and then find a grad school to help you filter them down by focusing on people who have a history of managing luxury hotels. The right person will be able to help you hire a key management staff who can get you started and keep your business moving.
- Create a marketing budget for your hotel. The important thing for luxury hotels is to have the right ads and look the part. If you want people to feel as if they’re walking into a fancy hotel, make sure that you have names for your employees and a uniform for your desk clerks. If you can, avoid using hotel colors, because pink and yellow are common for cheap hotels, which drives away your luxury customers.
- Think about the kinds of activities and events you can offer. You want to be able to get as many people as possible to come to your hotel, so think about how you can do that. You can, for example, create a loyalty program, just like the airlines do, where people who come to you often are greeted to special prices and activities.
- The most important thing to have is great staff. The best luxury hotels have great staff that is able to treat every guest like a member of the family. If you can do that, your business will succeed. Great staff is especially important because you have to get new people in every few days. So make sure that you have staff who is welcoming to every guest.
- The best way to get this kind of staff – who isn’t always looking for something else – is to make sure that you pay them more. The good thing about luxury hotels is that they tend to be in high demand. Therefore, better trained staff makes good payments, especially in the service industry. Ask people how much they want, but it might be a good idea to start the pay between $15 and $17 an hour. With that kind of money, people will find a lot more people coming to work for you.
- Finally, make a flyer. Put up information about your hotel and leave it in town. Put it in mailboxes along you travel route, or create a coupon code that will put it in e-mails and newsletters. Create it and offer discount rates and packages to get people going to your hotel. It should be clear where the hotel is, and it should show off the details of the hotel. Send e-mails out, and be sure to ask through friends and family.
These steps will help you get started with your luxury hotel and is likely that if you follow the steps you will succeed in starting the business.
The Luxury Hotel Market
Back in the 1980s, few people predicted that the hotel room business would boom. At that time, hotel income was about half of what it is today. However, due to the great diversity of hotel rooms, the market has expanded. The world’s highest-rated and most luxurious 5-star hotels can be anywhere. So what does it take to start your own luxury hotel?
The first thing you need is a great location. Luxury hotels are not hidden away in small towns or rural areas. They are in large cities where there is a lot going on. Find a great location for your luxury hotel in a city. Hopefully, there is already a fairly high population in place. Then you can attract visitors from all over the world.
It also helps to have a good or great building. If your hotel is outdoors, make sure it’s a space where some 50 people can congregate in a smooth space. That will make it easier for you to create a smoothly-run hotel. Ideally, you want to find a place that has a nice view.
The next step is to find a management company. This is somewhat of a contradiction, because if you find a great location, most likely someone must have already managed it. Like any business, you want to be versed in all aspects of running a business. For example, if you create an air-conditioned room, you have to be skilled in air-conditioner repair. Therefore, you want to find a management company that has a vibrant slate of employees who can bring the hotel’s rooms, supply receipts and machinery back to the service.
To run an excellent luxury hotel, you really need to be organized. It’s important to have all the receipts in the right place so your employees know that you expect them to do a great job. It also helps if you create a profit-sharing system in which your employees have an incentive to do a good job. This can come from a hotel rating system.
As the manager of your luxury hotel, you must also provide great service. Professional people treat each guest with respect and dignity. You should listen to your customers, since they can provide important feedback on how to make your hotel better. Many hotels provide staffing services in which your customer feedback is taken into account. You can also hire a concierge or service team that can handle some of your customer service.
Finally, think about getting a website and taking reservations online. In a modern world, people like to be able to book a room and pay for it through the Internet. That way you can also save on your bookkeeping when you don’t have to manually keep receipts. The more modern you are, the more likely you are to succeed in the luxury hotel industry.
If you’re ready to start a business, then consider opening your luxury hotel. Many people want to stay in a luxury hotel, and you can start a prosperous business by paying attention to what makes a great hotel. If you do your homework, you will have a great asset for the rest of your life.