How to Open a Hotel: A Step by Step Guide

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, there are more than 50,000 hotels scattered throughout the country right now. They account for more than 5 million guestrooms in total.

This might lead you to believe that there are already enough hotels operating in the hotel business. But believe it or not, there is always room for one more!

With this in mind, you might want to learn how to open a hotel in your city. Starting a hotel is a fantastic idea for those interested in figuring out how to start a business.

Do you want to kickstart a hotel company and open up your very first hotel? Today, we’re going to show you how to do it.

Use this step-by-step guide on how to open a hotel to get things moving in the right direction.

Take a Look at the Hotels Already Operating in Your City

Before you take a deep dive into how to open a hotel, you should make sure there is enough room in your city for another hotel. It would be a good idea to check out your local competition to see what you’ll be up against.

If there are already tons of hotels with lots of vacancies, it might not be the best time to open a new hotel in your city. But if there is a serious need for more hotels in your area, it might be the perfect time to get your new hotel off the ground.

Whatever you do, don’t begin the process of starting a hotel without doing your homework first. You want to know what kind of competition exists so that you’ll be able to defeat it when the time comes.

Decide What Kind of Hotel You Want to Open

Do you want to open a very small boutique hotel with just a few guestrooms? Or do you want to open a gigantic hotel with 20 floors filled with guestrooms?

You can go in either direction if you want to. There are all kinds of different types of hotels that you can build.

But generally speaking, you’re going to want to try and open the type of hotel that your city needs right now. You should see what other types of hotels are already around and then try to find your niche in the marketplace with your hotel.

Come Up With the Necessary Funding for Opening a Hotel

Starting a hotel is not going to be cheap. After all, there are numerous expenses to consider, including funding the construction project, decorating, hiring staff, streamlining operations using tech solutions akin to this PMS Software, and more. You might end up spending anywhere from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars. 

If you happen to have this kind of cash lying around, perfect! You can use it to get your operation going.

But if you don’t have money of your own to use, you’ll need to obtain the necessary funding to open a hotel. This will typically involve calling on a bank to give you a loan so that you can start your hotel.

Find the Right Location for the Hotel You Want to Open

Once you know what kind of hotel you want to open and you’ve secured the funding to do it, it’ll be extremely important for you to pick the right place to put the hotel. It should be in a conveniently located spot that will attract a lot of people looking for hotels in your area.

The area surrounding your hotel should also be safe so that people aren’t scared to check into it. You should scout out several different locations and go with the one that looks like your best option.

Design Your Hotel to Set It Apart From the Pack

The design of your hotel is going to make or break it. If it doesn’t look high-end enough, you’re going to have a difficult time separating yourself from the other hotels in the area.

You should design your hotel to have a very specific look and feel to it. It should feel like a place that people want to come to and stay at for a few nights when they’re in town.

To accomplish this goal, you’ll want to leave no stone unturned when designing your hotel. From the sign that you hang on the front of your hotel to the beds that you put in your guestrooms, you should make sure your hotel checks all the right boxes.

Even your hotel lighting needs to be perfect. Visit https://www.interior-deluxe.com/collections/hotel-lighting to scope out some terrific hotel lighting options. 

Market Your Hotel to Drum Up Interest in It

After you’re done building and designing your hotel in a great location, you might think that it’s going to sell itself to the masses. But you’re going to have to work hard to market it to those in your community and those who might be thinking about visiting it so that you can fill your guestrooms.

You can market a hotel in dozens of different ways. You can:

• Run advertisements for your hotel on local radio and TV stations
• Use social media to spread the word about your hotel
• Offer special online-only deals for your hotel on your website

The more marketing that you’re able to do for your hotel, the more interest you’re going to build up in it. People are going to be banging down your front door trying to get a guestroom once they know about your hotel’s existence.

Know How to Open a Hotel Before You Attempt to Do It

Starting a hotel might sound like a ton of fun. But it’s actually an exhausting process if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into at first.

Now that you know how to open a hotel, you can start trying to do it and put yourself in a position to succeed. It won’t be long at all before you’re taking your first reservations and running a profitable hotel.

Interested in getting your hands on more tips on how to start a business? Track them down by reading through all the articles on our blog.