Developing a hotel is a business that needs realistic plans and detailed preparations. So you have to avoid the five top mistakes when opening a hotel.

1. Insufficient capital 

It is extremely important to determine realistic revenue projections and cash requirements during the early stages of the hotel planning process. Avoiding this consideration could be detrimental to the future success of your hotel. It takes significant capital to develop a hotel, but it is all too common for new business owners to not secure adequate capital to fund cash demands, once the hotel opens its doors for business. It is imperative to ascertain how much money your business will require; not only the costs of starting, but the costs of staying in business. It is a good practice to determine and evaluate these costs over the first two years of operation.

2. Failing to understand architectural & design specifications required to build your new hotel. 

We recommend vigorous review of all architectural and design drawings during the beginning stages of development. It is important to hire a professional hotel management company that understands how these drawings translate into an efficient and smooth flowing hotel. We thoroughly review drawings and make sound recommendations, incorporate best practices and avoid any unnecessary mistakes, before it is too late to make changes. Having opened many hotels, a common phrase from contractors on the job site tends to be "If it's on the drawings..." Being an owner, it is important to make sure that every detail and specification "Is on the drawings and specified." Not doing so will lead to uncontrolled decisions and most likely change orders that will certainly increase the cost of developing your hotel. Every deviation from the drawings equates to a cost that was not properly planned for.

3. Absence of a realistic pre-opening budget 

There is more to opening a hotel than providing a beautiful building and comfortable furnishings. Pre-opening supplies, pre-opening labor and back of the house budgets can be expensive for a new hotel, and hiring a professional that can define what these costs are and closely manage them is a critical part of the budgeting & hotel opening process. Budgeting for every minute detail is critical to making your hotel's opening and guest experience, flawless.

4. Lack of pre-opening sales efforts 

The hotel business is extremely competitive and when buzz of a new hotel hits the market, your competitors will be doing everything they can to protect their relationships with demand producers in the area. If you want to gain a majority of this pie, you will want to make sure that you partner with a hotel management company that has pre-sell expertise. It is important to have a strong sales and marketing presence, 6-12 months prior to opening. Gulph Creek Hotels has dozens of Sales Professionals ready to be deployed in your new hotel's backyard to assist your hotel with a powerful sales effort and unbelievable results.

5. A loose opening date

Before the first shovel reaches the ground, there should be specific timelines managed by routine and thorough communication with contractors and opening teams, to effectively determine and manage your hotel's projected opening date. Regular meetings are a necessity to ensure that the hotel stays on track. A closely managed opening date will result in lower costs and a more aggressive sales effort. Gulph Creek has delivered and opened every one of its hotels on time and under budget.