How to Start Hotel Business in India | SkillsAndTech

Are you unsure of how to begin a hotel business? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. A number of first hotels which we’ve become known as were established by a hotel owner in Exeter, England in 1768.

The industry has grown to become part of one of the biggest worldwide. But dreaming of creating a hotel company and actually running it are two totally different things. That’s where we can help.

We’ll show you how to begin your hotel business using step-by-step instructions, expert guidance, and tips that can be implemented. Read on to discover the essentials that all hotels must have to be successful.

If you’re planning to begin a hotel business, you’re in the right spot. Because we’ll guide you on how exactly to go about it. The first step is to understand the most important basic hotel industry concepts like the size of the market and what the most important areas are as well as the way in which revenues and profits are earned. We’ll then discuss the key elements to not just opening a hotel, but also to succeed in it!

Hotel Business Plan

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Before starting a business you need to draw a hotel business plan; here are some benefits of having a hotel business. Instead of listing the advantages of the establishment of a hotel instead, we would like to provide some feedback we received from hotel owners across the globe who assisted us write this piece. 

The majority of hotel owners want to meet people who come to their hotels and appreciate reviews that praise the service they offer guests. They also prefer the flexibility of a life that doesn’t require working from 9-5. This is what they have to say about it:

“I would say the two things I love most about owning a hotel are: the freedom of lifestyle it affords me and meeting interesting people/guests who I would have never ordinarily met” David Duron, owner of Lemon Beach Resort in Ghana

“The most important thing is working for yourself and meeting positive people on a daily basis. We are passionate about people and love being in their presence. The other aspect is the chance to test various strategies and innovative techniques to make it work. 

It is most enjoyable to go back and again, to places that your guests have never been before.” Janis Stepins, the owner of Karlamuiza in Latvia

“It’s truly a dream coming to life when you witness your design built and implemented exactly the way that you had envisioned it. In my situation, coming from a background of technology startups, my approach is to work quickly and efficiently.

When you run an establishment, you are in full power to make it with agility and efficiently assess how your choices and performance affects the overall performance. However, it’s satisfying to watch guests have a great time particularly when we add the best of our individuality into our properties. The most memorable thing is to witness the staff being proud to be part of the team in the industry and truly love the place as if it were their home.” Fay Li, owner of Beyond Boutique Villas in Bali

Tips from successful Hotel Owners

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Akino West, Copper Door Bed & Breakfast: “Really be focused on developing a strong marketing strategy and revenue management strategy to ensure you can keep growing your business and refine it as time goes by. 

The marketing of hotels is often ignored but it’s the thing that differentiates you from other hotels. You should have a well-thought out business plan, communicate with other hotel owners , and take lessons by observing your own mistakes.”

David Duron, Lemon Beach Resort: “I wish I took more time to select the best restaurant and property management system. These are the foundation of our hotel business and it’s a major choice that we didn’t take into consideration when first began. You should buffer any market studies. Whatever business plan you’ve come up with, be sure to add 30 percent of additional costs and 30% more time to build it. You will not be surprised”

Leonard Pinger, Pinger Hotels: “Get versed in revenue management and dynamic pricing systems. If you begin an establishment with low or seasonal prices in this day and age, you’re almost certain to be unsuccessful. A lot of owners select their location due to their love for the area (places they enjoy) or for the sake of opportunity (wherever they are able to purchase). 

Before you start looking, make a thorough analysis of the area and the real estate market in your area. If there’s excessive supply or low demand, it’s going to be a tough path no matter how great your product”

Fay Li, Beyond Suites: “Build from scratch. Our first hotel we decided to invent and enhance the property we already had. Even though it has performed extremely well from the very beginning to today we learned lots about the ways that people make shortcuts to quality when they are developing. 

We were fortunate that we knew that anything that could be damaged could need to be replaced, so we utilized the majority of that budget. We learned that quality and design are the most important. Additionally, finding the ideal person with experience in local operations is well worth the effort, time and money. 

According to the saying that the first blow is only half the fight. Things like management style and operational efficiency are able to be improved and learned as time passes. This means that you are able to modify or even reinvent anytime you want to. Your interior design, style of decoration and the food you serve are able to be changed or upgraded when required. 

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However, that’s not the case regarding the style and design of your house and area it’s located in. These are the aspects to concentrate on with the greatest intensity since there is no way to go back. But even so there are some great sites at the wrong place that don’t work. It may sound like a cliché, but it’s actually the truth: location, location, the location. In addition, make use of the local knowledge as you can to facilitate your work and is important to be respectful of the local community”

How to Start a Hotel Business in India – Step By Step Guide

If you are having a question that how to start a hotel business in India here is step by step guide to starting hotel business

Do You Want to Build or Buy?

Your first choice is to search for a hotel for sale or develop one entirely from scratch. We asked hotel owners if they’d prefer to construct an entirely new hotel or purchase an existing hotel for their next property , 72 percent of them said they’d rather build the new one. It was a surprise to us since building is always more risky and is more costly.

Hotels are less risky because they have a proven performance record and you’re aware of the outcome: a complete hotel operation that’s producing cash. It also eliminates the time-consuming procedures of obtaining permits as well as designing the space and constructing the hotel. In addition, you’ll have a useful list of guests’ past stays and a staff who is well-trained and familiar with the property.

However, building your own property allows you greater control over the construction of your hotel experience from the bottom to the top. Hotel developments that are new can yield more profits over the long term than purchasing an already-established hotel. In general, once the project is finished, you’ll have the chance to earn more cash because you’ve taken on more risk, which includes the possibility of an eventual windfall should you decide to ever decide to sell. But it’s also more risky because the money you earn will be held for a long period without income.

If you’re deciding to build or buy a hotel for sale, you’ll require a thorough market analysis that can confirm positive trends in the market that support the new developments in hotels. It is also important to assess the properties you have in place for improvements, including the addition of modern technology to simplify operations and boost the bottom line profitability. These efficiencies let you make more money from your existing hotel, which makes it a better investment than otherwise.

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Gaige House + Ryokan Gaige House and Ryokan located in Sonoma County, California features 29 rooms set in a serene location

Analyze The Data And Determine Feasibility

If you’ve decided to purchase or construct the structure, the next step is to be sure the numbers are in place. The numbers will tell you how much capital you’ll need, how much that capital will cost, how long it will take to turn a profit, and what the potential upside is to you, as the operator/owner/investor.

A feasibility study includes:

1. A financial model. Create a financial model and figure out how much capital you will require. How much will the construction cost (or buying hotels for sale)? What rates can you expect to obtain and what is the average occupancy rate? Are you able to raise your rates over time, once the hotel is established? This is where you spell out the assumptions that will underpin the remainder of your feasibility study. Be sure to take into account the impact of different tax structures for corporate entities when you are designing your plan. Many hotel owners prefer to operate in an LLC to minimize risks to their business and for tax reasons.
2. A pro forma. The pro forma contains the balance statement, your income statements, and cash flow statement that shows the way you anticipate investing in farming. It includes your projected expenses and income over time , so you can estimate cash flow and determine how long it takes to earn profits. The pro forma will include your expenses that are front loaded within an overall long term forecast to allow investors to evaluate the business’s potential.
3. Capital sources. Naturally, you’ll be able to identify how you’ll access your capital. Do you seek out investors such as relatives and friends or go to an institution or draw from your savings? Perhaps it’s a combination between all three. You must lay this out clearly in order to make sure that you’ve got enough capital to pay for the expenses associated with your financial plan.

The last thing to do is be sure to carefully review your profit projections, particularly in relation to capital costs. Calculate the amount your capital expenditure is and then make certain the pro forma demonstrates that you’ll be able to earn enough to cover the risk.

Create A Hotel Business Plan

Once you’ve got an understanding of your financial projections you need to create a hotel business plan. It’s the blueprint for how you’ll start and market your brand new venture. Without a convincing strategy, it’s going to be extremely difficult to obtain funding, especially when you’re dealing with traditional banks with more strict demands.

What are the things you should include in your hotel’s business plan? In general, a successful business plan will evaluate the strengths of your business, its weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (also called SWOT analysis) SWOT study) for different areas of your business. 

It also provides a case regarding the way your hotel’s business is integrated within the local market as well as general trends in the industry. In the end, it’s a story document, so be careful not to fall into the temptation of formalizing every aspect. The risk of “business speak” is real!

The plan should contain

1. Executive summary. This is the most comprehensive summary of your hotel’s business plan. It should be a short and concise overview of the most crucial components.
2. Positioning of your brand. Tell your story about your brand. What is your brand’s concept? What does it mean? Who do they target it to? What is it that will make a difference within the market? Include an explanation of your goals including revenue targets, occupancy rate, profit date, etc.
3. Market analysis. This analysis must be conducted in two ways: your local market and the larger market. Display the local market’s travel patterns, and then put the broad industry trends in perspective so that potential investors can understand the market’s size and the potential for growth in the future.
4. Analysis of competitors. It is important to clearly define your competition. Be transparent and don’t be afraid to speak up. your back. Investors will be able to point out any obvious mistakes. Be aware of the people your hotel is competing directly with in order to impress prospective investors.
5. Guest segmentation. Increase the number of demographic targets from the section on brand positioning. Who will the hotel be catering to? Be as specific and precise as you can including any personas you have and the market that you can address for your market. For example, if you’re a boutique business hotel targeting Millennial travelers, demonstrate how big this segment is. Understanding how guests behave is crucial to establishing an effective hotel, and it is often neglected.
6. Strategic plan. Discuss your strategy for marketing distribution, revenue management and marketing. This is where you can convince investors that you’ve got an effective strategy to connect with your customers, control your inventory and increase the amount of revenue you earn.
7. Operations plan. Give a thorough overview of the operations of your hotel, including the kinds of technology she’ll utilize and how you’ll hire which roles you’ll have to fulfill, your standards for service and any other pertinent operational information.
8. Financial plan. Incorporate your Pro forma that outlines projections and potential profits.
9. The team. Make your team sell! Investors are watching the ability of management teams to carry out the goals set out in the plan.
10. Milestones. A timeline of the relevant milestones, from the initial permit to construction, hiring, the grand opening and eventually, profitability.
11. Appendix. The final section of the document is the place to place the additional details or documents. Avoid anything too complicated there to let you concentrate on the most crucial strategic elements elsewhere. Keep in mind that the goal is to increase investment, and the plan must be modified in line with that goal.

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Create Your Digital Presence and Distribution Strategy

When you reach this point, it’s a sign that you’ve secured funding and you’re preparing your own line of strategy to build your business. It’s exciting, but also terrifying.

For the first step to begin, you’ll need to design your hotel’s website. It’s your way to introduce yourself to the whole world! It must be a modern website that is created as well optimized for the eCommerce market with an integrated booking system that is functional on all platforms. It is the heart of your strategy to direct book you’ll want your website to be functional and assist you get as many commission-free bookings you can!

Additionally, you’ll need to be included on third-party websites, such as Booking.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor and many more. You’ll have to create your profile in a way that is engaging, with relevant descriptions and appealing images. Profiles that are well-designed have been tested to generate more bookings, so make sure you invest your time and do not rush!

Make sure you claim your social handle for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Even if it’s not your intention to utilize all of them, make sure you secure the most handles you can to avoid people from squatting!

In the end, you’ll want to meet with various PR firms to advertise your hotel business. At the start, you’ll want to spread the word about the upcoming opening by contacting relevant travel agents as well as news media. This kind of digital buzz early on which can result in the opening being successful. When you’ve got your website up and running, along with your social media profiles set, get your PR firm to do the work.

Pre-Opening Strategies

As more brands and properties are introduced to the market, distinguishing yourself by your experiences is at the forefront. It is imperative to provide the best guest experience possible that gets rave reviews, and also helps make your property make a mark in a competitive field.

Utilize the time that you spend in construction to plan your hotel’s operations correctly right from the beginning. Three important strategies for opening are personnel, operations as well as technology strategies.

Your first priority is hiring. Which roles are you hiring and how will you fill them and when you will be hiring and how do you prepare them for opening. Because of the inherent uncertainty of the build-out process it’s difficult to determine when you should hire important roles, like the GM and director of sales and marketing.

• GM approximately 12 months before the opening date to plan the operational structure for the hotel, make crucial hires, create an educational program, and develop the launch strategy.
• Directors of Finance/Marketing/Sales approximately 8 months prior to opening time to begin planning the way to financial success.
• Director of Engineering/Facilities: around 10 months before opening so there’s enough time to become familiar with the building and its equipment.

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In the second step, you should develop the operational plan that the hotel will follow. This is where you figure out the way each component works together, and include the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that will structure the hotel to ensure reliability and consistency. This is where you’ll be working on such things as:

• Standards for branding. Create the standards that govern the way your brand’s image is presented to the public. This could include cleaning of the rooms, interaction with guests and staff communication, service recovery and guidelines, to name a few.
• Checklists. Make each operation operationalized into a checklist. This will ensure greater uniformity, easier training, and could also serve as useful inputs to any software tool.
• Legal. Are you securing your investment by utilizing the correct legal documents? Do you have the proper contract of employment in place? What about buyout agreements, preventive maintenance or other commercial agreements?
• HR policy. The way you select, hire and keep employees in the company says an awful lot about your company. There are also Job descriptions and a uniform interview procedure, and strategies to deal with the inevitable conflicts between employees.

Thirdly, you should establish your hotel using the hotel’s software that allows for more efficient, efficient operations. Alongside your key employees, assess software based on its design (is it simple to use? ) and performance (does it accomplish what we require to accomplish? ) as well as budget (can we be able to afford this?). 36.4% of the hotel owners we interviewed in this article stated that setting up the appropriate technologies and IT systems were the hardest aspects of opening their hotel.

Here’s the essential technology stack that each hotel must have in order for a profitable operation regardless of the size of rooms:

• Property Management System It is the main operating system for your hotel. It manages the live inventory, and also is the basis for all other systems you employ. The PMS is what front desk personnel use every day to check in guests.
• hotel website Many small-scale hotels choose to solely rely on travel agencies and OTAs partners to book reservations. This is a massive and costly error. Direct channels are the most successful and hotels without websites are not trusted among guests. Create your website to act as a digital brochure for your hotel for potential guests to find out more about your hotel. If you want to be successful directly, you’ll require an agency partnership.
• Booking Engine The HTML0 Booking Engine is the equivalent to a hotel’s “shopping cart”. Surprisingly, a lot of smaller hotels’ websites now require customers to call for reservations. They are missing huge opportunities and are not always successful. Booking engines make the live inventory from the Property Management System (PMS) available for booking through your website.
• Reputation Management Software Reputation is everything in the modern world. In the past, travelers relied on travel agents and companies for deciding on hotels. Nowadays, customers look up sites such as TripAdvisor, Google and OTAs to find out what the guests who frequent them say. Online reputation software lets hoteliers create and keep your presence on these third party sites to ensure that your hotel’s name is being found.
• Channel Manager It is important to display your inventory on as numerous relevant channels as you can but you don’t want to be spending all day changing rates or managing availability. Channel managers permit you to automate these connections and make sure that once you’ve been spotted by third party sites, your property can be booked.
• Commercial WiFi If your establishment is advertised to be an “off the grid” type of location, you’ll have a tough time finding guests who want to come back without Wi-Fi.
• Rate Shopping Tool The way you price your hotel needs to be able to change with the changing market conditions. The local competition will help you determine your decision-making. A rate shop tool can scrape websites from third parties and provide pricing data in real-time, which you can use to attract more customers.
• Revenue Management Software: Gone are the days of flat seasonal pricing. At least, the hotels that still charge in this manner are soon to disappear. Prices are too high and guests book at a higher rate than the competition or at a lower price and you’re losing money. RMS tools make use of machine learning to assist you set the right price for rooms, without risk of guesswork.
• staff collaboration Software for the properties with the smallest size (5 rooms or less) and Channel on Slack or Trello board may be enough. However, even smaller hotels can be complex for handling guests’ requests, maintaining a property’s operations and managing workflows between shifts. A specialized Hotel operation applications are highly suggested for virtually every hotel.

Throw A Killer Opening Party

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Finally, it’s time to celebrate the fruit of your labour and celebrate the opening with a party! It’s definitely a time to celebrate with family, friends, employees, investors and colleagues as well as influential people who can help boost the success of your hotel’s launch.

One option to start is to host an intimate “soft opening” party for an intimate group of family members and friends. This will allow you to explore the space and gain a sense of organizing events in the space. After you have worked out the kinks, you can open the doors for the “official” launch party that includes VIPs, celebrities, and locals.

If you’re planning your big night, you should choose the theme for your party and think of Instagram-worthy backdrops. A few other aspects of a great opening party are:

• Press. In collaboration together with the PR company to ensure you have all the relevant local media in attendance and any other outlets that could be interested.
• Influencers. Alongside journalists, you should work with your PR company to determine local influencers you can invite. In almost every city, there are food, lifestyle and travel influencers who could put your hotel’s name before a large market for a low cost.
• Event planners. Your sales and marketing teams should also benefit from the event launch by inviting event organizers and organizers to visit the venue in person. This is an excellent way to establish a relationship with potential customers!
• Entertainment. Hire a live band that brings your venue to life and reflects your brand’s promise. Live entertainment or music can be a good incentive for guests to share their photos on Instagram during your event.
• Drinks and food. Of course, there isn’t an event without delicious food and drinks! If your house is equipped with its own F&B the party that opens is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the brand new menu to the local community.
• Giveaways. Make sure to mark the occasion by offering some nights in the hotel and merchandise. These are small gestures which can make huge impressions for a brand new hotel.
• Photographer. It’s an investment worth it to commemorate your event by hiring an experienced photographer. The photos can be shared to share on social media profiles and also share them with people who attended the event.
• Photo booth. It’s possible to set up a photo booth that’s connected to social media , so that attendees are encouraged to snap funny pictures and upload them online and create a direct link to some free advertising.

For a more powerful opening, think about incorporating the option of a paid advertisement campaign as well as special, limited-time promotions to commemorate the opening. These are fantastic methods to draw people in the door to visit the hotel and begin creating word-of-mouth.

What’s something you’re aware of but wish you had known prior to running the hotel you own?

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I am a descendant of a family of hoteliers. We’ve been in the hospitality sector for many generations. Therefore, I like to think that I knew exactly what I was “signing up for”. I definitely didn’t just blindly put myself into this industry. I was prepared to remain flexible. In the end, hospitality is among the most dynamic and rapidly evolving industries. 

What I didn’t know was that many hotels were stuck in the post-it and paper timeframe when it came to managing their daily tasks. Digital solutions are taking over all over the world, many opportunities to improve operations were not even taken into account from the industry of hotels. 

What could be the reason that in 2012 we were able to land yet another Mars Rover, but major hotels were still making handovers and lists of tasks on paper? In the end, I did not realize the lack of creativity in the internal processes that are at the heart of the industry. Hotel owners have to make changes in their organizations and convince everyone to join. In essence I would have liked the hotelkit software from the beginning.

Which is the single most crucial quality of knowledge that hotel owners should possess?

You must possess the common sense to be successful in managing the diverse staff at your hotel. As a hotel proprietor you must be able to communicate with every aspect of life. Your team won’t be composed of just individuals who have the same interests as you. 

Even if they seem to be on the same similar wavelength. In reality the idea of having uniform teams could be detrimental! So, the most crucial ability a hotel manager must have is the ability to function as the bridge between various groups and individuals and to be able to comprehend their requirements and to be open. The end result is that different teams can lead to the most effective outcomes!

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Hotel?

The price to begin the hotel industry is definitely different depending on a myriad of factors like:

• Places similar to New York City are much higher in cost than New Delhi, for example
• Quality: obviously , a five-star resort is more costly than a roadside motel
• Size: the size of restaurants, rooms meetings spaces, etc. can have a massive impact on the cost

Despite hotel startup costs differing dramatically however, there are some information points we can be aware of when calculating the cost into the cost of a “typical” hotel. Information from the hospitality consulting firm HVS indicates that ground-up construction of a fully-service hotel generally costs 323500 “per key” (or per room). It’s also for a lifestyle-oriented hotel, not the total cost of a bed with 10 rooms and breakfast, for instance. The figure is broken down into five buckets:

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• Land Cost: $33,900 (10 10 percent) This includes the cost of real estate
• Building/Construction: $221,500 (66%); naturally building and construction is the largest budget item. The majority of owners obtain credit for construction to finance the project prior to when cash flow begins to flow.
• Soft Costs $47,800 (12 12 %) These include all things not related to construction, such as architects, designers, attorneys permits, insurance, and taxes.
• FF&E $29,100 (9 96%); FF&E stands for “Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment” and covers anything mobile in the office desks, computers, electronic equipment, tables…well it’s the concept. FF&E can also be called “hard costs”
• Working Capital and Pre-Opening 10700$ (3 3 percent) It is necessary to hire employees prior to opening to ensure that the pre-opening costs cover salaries before the business is operational and the revenue begins coming in to pay for the day-to-day.

What is the cost to begin a hotel business?

The price to open small-sized hotels within the United States is around $1,000,000 and the cost for an 115-room hotel is $22,000,000. The initial expense could comprise the cost of purchasing the land or a building that is already in place and construction costs, furniture and décor, licenses, permits and franchise or management costs along with marketing costs and the wages of staff.

How much can you make from running the hotel?

Hotel owners have to first pay their employees as well as franchise or management fees, mortgages as well as taxes prior to taking their share. A well-run hotel will generally have a range of 25-40 percent EBITDA margins, which means that if you buy the hotel that generates $1M in annual revenues, you can anticipate earning between $250k and $400k a year, which is roughly 3-5 times the typical salary for a hotel manager. Naturally, taking on more risk can bring advantages.

How can I begin my own hotel company?

Many entrepreneurs begin the hotel business by buying an existing hotel. However, others decide to construct their own hotels. It is the first thing to draft an outline of your hotel business plan. After that, you can begin the initial marketing campaigns, ask about permits and licensing and secure financing. You can then begin construction or remodeling, employ personnel, and then open the hotel.

How can I create a hotel without funds?

To get financing in order to finance your establishment, you have to have a strong and well-studied hotel business plan that can show investors that your hotel will earn a profit for their money. You can seek funding from private investors or investment groups, family and friends or even banks.

Can owning a hotel be profitable?

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A well-run hotel will be able to earn 25-40 percent EBITDA Margins, however the majority of hotels run poorly aren’t profitable ventures. A hotel’s ownership can be profitable if you’ve got the proper mixture of place, cost and the high-quality of the physical asset and marketing strategy, committed employees, and enthusiastic management partners and investors. But, a hotel won’t be financially viable by itself, which is why it will take a lot of hard work in order to make profits.

How can I raise funds to begin the hotel business?

You can start your hotel company using your own savings or borrow cash from your family and friends, angel investors, banks, loans, government loans as well as crowdfunding. Some of the most sought-after loans for hotels are SBA 7s, as well as SBA 504 loans.