Many people wish to start the hotel business in the budget, but find it a complex and expensive task to achieve.
As it is not only about having a building with few rooms in it and charging people for check-ins and check-outs.
In fact, the hotel business is highly competitive and gaining finances is not as easy as it seems.
To deal with entrepreneurs and investors you should have a number of creative ideas for hotel concepts.
In addition, your hotel must be a comfortable place where guests can relax and find solace.
The best hotels are those who make their guests satisfied. As it will determine the reputation and longevity of the hotels.
Just keep mention few things in your mind before you start the hotel business.
Planning lays the foundation for your hotel. It not only determines the way you can launch your hotel but also eliminates wasting time.
A business plan for a hotel is not only important for you to think about how you can handle the opportunity, but also for you to persuade any investor or lender that you have the potential to do so.
A lack of planning will not attract an investor. Therefore, nobody can fund your project, or invest in it, without a business plan.
Take the time to imagine the vision. Using all the senses to picture how you want your hotel to look, feel and smell.
You’ll know when you hit the sweet spot of what you want to achieve in your gut and when that happens, planning can start.
A close understanding of target market is crucial. You cannot meet the needs of your guests until you know what they want.
As every target market needs vary, you have to closely monitor them.
It is always advisable to start a hotel in a place of attraction.
Some cities are known for business and industry setups, some are for tourist places.
There are also cities that are known for their religious importance while people visit some cities for official work only.
Your hotel should be taking the characteristic of the city in your mind.
If you are opening a hotel in a religious place, you need to serve vegetarian foods only.
But if want to open a hotel in a tourist place, you can offer a variety of non-vegetarian food, you can also have a bar-restaurant facility.
Such an initiative would attract more guests.
If you want to start a budget hotel, certain planning is very important to run the business successfully.
First, you identify the city and then do a marketing survey before deciding a location in the city.
These will help you to know your competitors, suitable site of the project and distance from the place of attraction and its accessibility.
A complete feasibility study of the project is very important. A budget hotel can be established in 5000-8000 sq ft.
Ensure that the locality is easily accessible from airport, railway station, bus stand and now shopping malls and hospitals, too.
People from small town and villages come to cities to visit shopping malls.
You also need to see how far establishment from a place of attraction (like tourist places, religious place, etc.) in the city is.
The layout plan of the hotel should be done with the support of architecture, to ensure maximum utilization of the space and also to ensure attractive exterior and interior look.
For financial support, you may contact banks.
Major Banks provide Hotel and Restaurant Financing helps for raw material, property, license and permits, equipment, personnel, furniture, renovation, marketing, etc.
Up to 70% of the total project cost can be financed by banks. Before starting up the hotel project you will require get the licenses from various departments.
For example- In India, for food safety, you need to get a license from FSSAI (Food Safety and Standard Authority of India).
Other examples are for fire safety, you need to get a license from the Fire department of the city, for health, you need to get a license from local civil authority.
Likewise, for Eating House License you need to obtain a certificate from Police Commissioner of the city.
If you are planning to have a bar in the hotel, then you need a license from the Excise department.
Get to know your competitors by observing their moves. What they are doing and what is working for them.
By knowing and understanding your competitors you can truly know what market demands.
But first, you have to find out who your competitors are.
It can mainly be the ones who share the same number of stars, whose structure is as big as yours, etc.
Identifying the right competitors and using dynamic competitive sets is essential.
Use online tools to choose and change your competitive set. If you are in a dynamically changing market, then the technological applications you are using should correspond to that as well.
You can also connect with your competitors at exhibitions and groups they attend. And listen with full attention to grasp every minor detail.
If your hotel is not using new technologies then you are missing out in achieving hotel business goals.
Technologies will make things quicker and easier for hotel managers and staffs.
You can use cloud technology to generate more bookings and successful running of the hotel business.
It is a useful and affordable tool for hoteliers who do not have huge budgets.
Integrated payment system makes it simpler for hotels to accept and process transactions.
Channel Manager is a software which synchronizes the inventory, rates, etc on all channels where the hotel is listed. Hence, it’s a real-time process.
Hotel Reservation System is an online platform for hoteliers to manage their hotels and its rooms online.
It must have the option to create a website and booking engine to manage all your hotel operations.
QloApps is a Hotel Reservation System which is open source and free of cost that helps to create a beautiful looking website.
It has numerous other features and you can customize it as per your requirements.
Opening a hotel is a dream for many people. But with some money, research and knowledge about technologies can help you start the hotel business in a budget.
Take clues from above mention points when you are planning to open your own hotel.
Please share views in the comment box.
If you want to learn about the functionality of QloApps then you can visit this link: QLO Reservation System – Free Open-Source Hotel Booking & Reservation System.
In case of any query, issue or requirement please feel free to raise it on QloApps Forum
