Dreamed of becoming a Hotel Owner? Start here…
Business opportunities come in all shapes and sizes, where you can invest in just about anything. But it’s quite possible that one option could slip under the radar – hotels.
“Without a doubt, many people seem to assume that owning a hotel or accommodation business requires an investment that is out of reach. And this is simply not true, depending of course on the property and location.” explains Otti Faska, Franchise Establishment Manager for Quest Apartment Hotels.
With businesses broadly sold for an investment level on the basis of existing performance and or future potential earnings (assets aside), there are many ‘price / value’ factors at play in any purchase. “Most importantly, from my perspective, finding the right business for you is a combination of factors, notwithstanding the crucial aspect of are you suited to that business, and is that business to you?”
“As far as investment levels go, you can, and people do, spend significantly more on some cafes or restaurants in the market, than you potentially could on a hotel / apartment business like ours.
Of course they vary in price, but we’ve had a property entry level as low as $500,000, and right up to $5-6million, with $1-$1.5million the average. This range of investment levels is quite an eye opener when people realise this.”
Best suited to the business
“The type of people that are best suited to our style of business are those who have already been successful in a business career and are looking for a well-established, proven model. They may have had a larger independent business or sometimes have had smaller format franchises or multi-site franchises. It is also fair to say that our model attracts more sophisticated investors looking for a substantial business.”
There is no requirement to have specific hospitality experience with Quest guiding them through an extensive Foundation Training Program, which includes on-site hotel operation experience, and all the technical skills required to run the business. “In fact our most desirable attributes are for people management skills, Sales skills, the desire to grow wealth and a hunger for success.”.
Interestingly, Otti also reports that they currently have an ex-McDonalds franchisee, as well as ex-multisite service station operators, teachers, accountants and corporate sales executives as a brief cross section of the background of some current owners.
According to Otti, the launch of the Quest Academy in Melbourne, “Demonstrates our further commitment to training and excellence for our partners with initial training there, but it also has a strong focus on ongoing training and upskilling existing partners already running their apartment hotels.
Location of your hotel
“We like our franchise partners to have their hotel in a location they are comfortable with. The site selection process is a collaborative one and it’s very important the franchise owner has ‘buy in’ on the location they have their business. Our assessment methodology is well-defined.”
Currently, Quest has just under 130 properties throughout Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia, with around 50 of these in Victoria. The focus for the business is very much on expansion in those three other states for the future given the number of opportunities we see in those markets.
“The Fastest Growing Apartment Hotel Franchise Group in Australia”
“As Australia’s largest apartment hotel operator, our business is aimed at the extended stay business traveller, and our 25+ years in this space means that currently, Quest is used by over 80% of Australia’s top 500 companies across the country.
“This is comforting for our existing and in-coming franchise partners, but it also underpins our future growth.” “With a strong pipeline of hotel locations for 5 years and beyond, we are opening on average 6 – 10 franchised properties each year – this is strong for hotels and makes us the fastest growing apartment hotel franchise group in Australia.”
The company focus is on opening new locations involving buying the plot of land and building the property, working closely with the developer, landlord and the franchisee in building and establishing the hotel. Given the length of time this can take, Otti explains that “we’re a committed, well established business as this can be a 2 – 3 year process from start to open, and we are very adept at working with the franchisee and all stake holders to manage this all the way through.”
“It’s definitely an exciting process knowing what the end result is going to be like, but it is still something that takes a great deal of co-ordination and transparency.”.
The company also has on average 8-10 location re-sell each year which is quite normal for a business with around 130 locations. These opportunities become available from time to time but are a quite a different process to the find, build, open new location cycle.
Information About Quest
