How to open a hotel from scratch: a business plan with calculations

The hotel business is one of the most profitable. The most demanded hotel services are in popular tourist centers (resorts, historical sites, etc.). In order for the hotel business to make a profit, you need to properly plan it, make the necessary calculations and determine your niche. Depending on the regional characteristics and your own budget, you can open a large hotel complex built from scratch, or open a small hotel with several rooms. Further, we will focus on the second option. We will consider drawing up a hotel business plan using the example of opening such an establishment in St. Petersburg. In this article, we will consider how to open a hotel from scratch and analyze an example of a business plan with calculations.

It is necessary to start drawing up a business plan by defining the target audience for which the hotel is opening. Focusing on potential customers, you can present the general concept of the project, marketing strategy, establishment design, etc. To do this, you need to determine which social group, age and occupation will subsequently become hotel visitors.

The project under consideration involves the opening small hotel with 12 rooms, belonging to the moderate price category. The main advantages of the new facility will be to ensure maximum comfort and safety, flexible pricing policy and provision of additional services. The approximate payback period is 2.5 years. In the future, it is possible to expand the business with an increase in the number of rooms.

Hospitality advantages and disadvantages

To legalize a business, you must register with the tax office at your place of residence. Consider the benefits of ownership in the table below.

OKVED codes at hotel registration:
55.10 - Activities of hotels.
55.11 - Activities of hotels with restaurants.
55.12 - Activities of hotels without restaurants.
55.2 - Activities of other places of temporary residence.
55.23.3 - Renting out of furnished rooms for temporary residence.

These codes do not include the delivery of housing and premises for rent on long term... For this case, the OKVED code 70.20.1 is used.

Master Class. How to open a successful hotel?

Drawing up a business plan for the hotel

Market analysis

Consider the main trends in the hotel services market:

• The increase in the business activity of the population is a decisive factor in the increase in the demand for hotel services.
• There is a significant deficit in services on the markets of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
• In the middle and budget segment of hotels (2 and 3 stars) there is an even greater deficit of quality services.
• Currently, the authorities of most cities are interested in the development of tourism and the construction of new hotels.

Now hotel services in St. Petersburg are provided by almost 30 large complexes and medium-sized hotels, as well as more than 50 small hotels. Since different groups of establishments operate in different price categories, they are not direct competitors. Mini-hotels have to compete, first of all, with the owners of apartments rented by the day. And in order to be successful, you need to carefully think over the business concept, pay special attention to the quality of the services provided and conduct a good advertising campaign. As for the distribution of the St. Petersburg market now, specialists allocate almost two-thirds of it to large hotels, a little more than a quarter - to medium and small and 10% - to apartments for daily rent.

The target audience

The direct work on the business plan begins with the definition of the target audience. At this stage, we choose who will be a potential guest of our hotel. The target group of the new hotel includes business people who have arrived to solve their work issues, as well as tourists who want to get acquainted with the sights of the city.

List of services provided

In addition to the actual provision of rooms for accommodation, the mini-hotel can provide a number of additional services, including transport services, catering, ticket booking, etc.

Organizational part of the hotel business plan

Since the project under consideration has a rather limited budget, the construction of a new building is not suitable. 4 communal apartments located on the first two floors of the building will be converted into a hotel. The design will be made in the modern style, which best suits the preferences of the representatives of the above-defined target group. All premises will be designed in one style, which should also dominate the advertising campaign.

Art Nouveau design for a mini hotel. Photos from arxip.com

The opening of a new hotel requires preliminary implementation of a number of organizational measures:

• purchase of real estate;
• transfer of residential real estate to non-residential, since the current legislation allows you to open a hotel only in such a fund;
• obtaining the necessary permits at the sanitary and epidemiological station and fire inspection;
• conversion of apartments into hotel rooms;
• decoration of rooms in the chosen style;
• selection of employees;
• advertising placement.

Choosing a building for a hotel

The choice of the location of the building for the hotel must be approached very selectively, since in this business the location determines more than half of the success. The building for the hotel accommodation must meet the following conditions:

• be close to train stations and airports;
• have their own parking lot with convenient entrances;
• be close to shopping establishments and catering facilities (the latter is relevant, since a mini-hotel usually does not provide a kitchen);
• use of floors no higher than the second;
• not have the status of a historical monument, since such a structure is unlikely to be allowed to be reconstructed.

Staff recruitment

The success of the entire business largely depends on the right employees. It is the high quality of service that will help attract a large number of customers and, most importantly, make them regular customers. The mini-hotel will need the following employees:

• the manager who carries out the general management of the institution;
• an administrator who solves all issues directly with clients (booking, check-in, settlements, etc.);
• a maid who is cleaning all rooms;
• security guard;
• a technician who ensures the normal functioning of all life support systems.

Necessary staff to open the hotel

Advertising campaign

To attract the largest number of customers, you will need to use various types of advertising:

• creating your own website;
• advertising in travel publications;
• advertising banners near train stations;
• flexible system of discounts.

Financial part

Principles for improving the quality of hospitality services

One of the key features of the hotel business is the quality of the services provided. The hotel's income directly depends on hospitality. Consider the basic principles that will improve the quality of the services provided:

• feedback from employees. It is important to track feedback from hotel employees and customers in order to efficiently manage the service. It is the direct communication with customers that allows you to quickly determine the possible ways of changing the services of the service.
• setting standards and assessments in service. It is important to clearly define service standards and service quality assessment tools. Implementation of work performance assessment is necessary to create a motivation system for hotel employees.
• introduction of a marketing approach to hotel management. The marketing approach to the management of the organization ensures the constant monitoring of key coefficients in its activities. It can help you find narrow and inefficient services and processes.

Assessment of business attractiveness by website magazine

Business profitability	(4 out of 5)	Business attractiveness 3.0
Payback of the project	(3 out of 5)
Ease of business creation	(2 out of 5)
The hospitality business is a complex but profitable business at the same time. As with most offline businesses, location is one of the key success factors. The second factor of success is hospitality and quality of services, since it is through this that you can make repeat sales and create a loyal customer base. The main share of opening costs is renting premises for a hotel. It is on the choice of premises that you need to pay maximum attention. Due to the high demand for economical housing, the project's return on investment is high. For novice entrepreneurs, a good option for starting through a franchise, where all business processes will already be described and key business indicators determined.