melissag
Member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2015
- Messages
- 15
- Reaction score
- 3
Hello,
I'm a long term hotelier. I have worked in every department including front desk, housekeeping, banquets, sales, night audit, income audit, ordering and picking up supplies, and even as an Assistant General Manager. I've worked everything from 26 rooms to over 800 rooms. I love the industry. I have to admit, I fell into it when I was going to college and never expected in my life that I would end up with it as my career.
I live in the greater New Orleans area. Ever since the Super Bowl a few years ago, business has come rushing back with a vengeance and the news is saying that we are busier now than before the hurricane. Though I'm not sure if I believe the news, I can definitely say that we are very busy. The last hotel that I worked at (26 rooms as the AGM, it more a question of what didn't I do than it is what I did do because I did everything and anything that was needed even accounting and housekeeping, occasional maintenance, running front desk shifts, etc) ran at 80-100% occupancy every night of the year even during the normally extremely slow months of August and September. I started on the day it opened, and created everything from scratch. All policies and procedures, even the SOP. Some was experimental and over time I learned what worked and what didn't. Front Desk, housekeeping, sales, and more. Even the General Manager didn't create influence things the way I did as he had other duties to attend to. I know now what goes into making it work. 10-14 hour days were not unusual. Running lodging is a lot of work, especially when there is nothing existing already to make it function as it should.
After so many years, and so much experience, I badly want to own my own place. Bed and Breakfast, or small hotel is my preference. And I am tired of working for someone else. I want to put what I've learned over the years to good use for myself instead of relying on someone else.
At the 26 room place, the previous owner owned the business but not the property. She rented the property from someone else. I see no reason why I could not do the same at a place.
The thing is, I'm having a difficult time finding information on the costs associated with this. To get a business loan, I need to provide a certain amount (I think its 6 months of the running cost including rent/mortgage, bills like water electricity and supplies, and staff wages) to get the rest. Without having an idea of what this will cost, it feels impossible to estimate. I have a very good idea what the bills would be including supplies due to running the information for my last hotel, I also have a fairly good idea what wages would be based on the size and the number of housekeepers needed if any (4 rooms for example, wouldn't need housekeeping staff). What I don't know is the relative cost for rent/lease/mortgage for my area. Or if its even possible to do that because I've been looking for a very long time and have yet to find that an option anywhere in the state. I need to know relatively how much I would need to save to accomplish my dream of finally having my own lodging business. Of course, in the meantime, I will need to find a job so I can continue to pay my own bills.
Do you have any advice that you can give me at all? Even places I can go to find out the information because the internet seems relatively useless in this no matter what search string I use.
Thank you for your help in advance.
I'm a long term hotelier. I have worked in every department including front desk, housekeeping, banquets, sales, night audit, income audit, ordering and picking up supplies, and even as an Assistant General Manager. I've worked everything from 26 rooms to over 800 rooms. I love the industry. I have to admit, I fell into it when I was going to college and never expected in my life that I would end up with it as my career.
I live in the greater New Orleans area. Ever since the Super Bowl a few years ago, business has come rushing back with a vengeance and the news is saying that we are busier now than before the hurricane. Though I'm not sure if I believe the news, I can definitely say that we are very busy. The last hotel that I worked at (26 rooms as the AGM, it more a question of what didn't I do than it is what I did do because I did everything and anything that was needed even accounting and housekeeping, occasional maintenance, running front desk shifts, etc) ran at 80-100% occupancy every night of the year even during the normally extremely slow months of August and September. I started on the day it opened, and created everything from scratch. All policies and procedures, even the SOP. Some was experimental and over time I learned what worked and what didn't. Front Desk, housekeeping, sales, and more. Even the General Manager didn't create influence things the way I did as he had other duties to attend to. I know now what goes into making it work. 10-14 hour days were not unusual. Running lodging is a lot of work, especially when there is nothing existing already to make it function as it should.
After so many years, and so much experience, I badly want to own my own place. Bed and Breakfast, or small hotel is my preference. And I am tired of working for someone else. I want to put what I've learned over the years to good use for myself instead of relying on someone else.
At the 26 room place, the previous owner owned the business but not the property. She rented the property from someone else. I see no reason why I could not do the same at a place.
The thing is, I'm having a difficult time finding information on the costs associated with this. To get a business loan, I need to provide a certain amount (I think its 6 months of the running cost including rent/mortgage, bills like water electricity and supplies, and staff wages) to get the rest. Without having an idea of what this will cost, it feels impossible to estimate. I have a very good idea what the bills would be including supplies due to running the information for my last hotel, I also have a fairly good idea what wages would be based on the size and the number of housekeepers needed if any (4 rooms for example, wouldn't need housekeeping staff). What I don't know is the relative cost for rent/lease/mortgage for my area. Or if its even possible to do that because I've been looking for a very long time and have yet to find that an option anywhere in the state. I need to know relatively how much I would need to save to accomplish my dream of finally having my own lodging business. Of course, in the meantime, I will need to find a job so I can continue to pay my own bills.
Do you have any advice that you can give me at all? Even places I can go to find out the information because the internet seems relatively useless in this no matter what search string I use.
Thank you for your help in advance.
