How to Make a Career Change With a Hotel Franchise

When it comes to making a career change, there are few more rewarding careers to move into than working in the hotel and hospitality industry. As part of a hotel franchise, you’ll be able to enjoy all the rewards of this sector while avoiding many of the costs of starting your own independent hotel. Here’s everything you need to make a career change with a hotel franchise.

The advantages to running your own hotel franchise are well-documented: you’ll be working in a busy and around the clock industry, you’ll be your own boss and right at the heart of a profitable industry. 

It’s true that hotels and the hospitality industry in general has been hit hard by the pandemic, but with international travel impossible for many the moment, hotels have been reaping all the rewards of the staycation boom. With staycation bookings jumping by up to 300% in some cases, hotels are making a startling post-covid comeback.

The coronavirus pandemic will have lasting effects on the travel industry, as new research finds that 73% of Brits will choose to holiday within the UK, even after Coronavirus travel restrictions have been lifted.
- Accumulate Capital.

Why make a career change with a hotel franchise?

With staycations booming and hotels looking to make up for lost time, there’s never been a better time to make a career change with a hotel franchise. Whether you’re looking to open a lively beachside chain, or a remote countryside getaway, there are a few skills you’ll need to make sure you have in abundance

• Organisation: Hotels are fast-moving and busy environments, so you’ll need to be capable of keeping a cool head and prioritising the tasks at hand.
• Leadership: You’ll have a number of different employees keeping your hotel going, so being able to keep them organised and motivated is essential.
• Ambition: This industry can be demanding, so being able to keep your eye on the ultimate prize will help you push through.
• Empathy: As this is a customer-facing industry, you’ll need to be able to put your customers first.

If you excel at the above skills, you may be the ideal franchisee for a travel and leisure franchise. So, how exactly do you make a career change with a hotel franchise?

How to make a career change with a hotel franchise

If you’re ready to make your dream opportunity a reality, here’s what you need to do to make a career change.

1. Specialise

Once you’ve decided to start a business as part of a hotel franchise, your first task will be to decide what franchise it is you want to work with. There are dozens of big and profitable hotel franchises in existence. In fact by 2019, around 90% of all hotels were franchised operations [JLL].

• This means that while you’re spoilt for choice, you also need to narrow down your options. Consider asking yourself the following questions:
• What location do you want to open your hotel? Is it rural or urban-based? Is your desired franchise looking for franchisees in those areas?
• How many hotels do you want to run? Would you prefer to be a single-unit or multi-unit franchisee? Does your preferred franchise expect you to run one or several hotels?
• Would you prefer to work with budget or luxury hotels? Do you have a preferred price point?
• What do some franchises do better than others? Are there unique selling points? What are future trends to consider?

Once you’ve asked yourself these and other questions, you’ll have a good idea for what kind of business you want to run. By specialising your ideas for a hotel business, you’ll be able to make the most out of your passion.

2. Advertise

As this is such a tough industry to get started in, being able to pinpoint and accurately market to the right demographics can be a tough challenge. Thankfully, your franchisor will almost certainly be on hand to help you do exactly that.

Marketing has come a long way in a short space of time, and the right way to engage your ideal demographics will have likely changed as well. For that reason, you will need to make sure you’re working closely with your franchisor to put together the right strategy for you.

As a franchisee, you’ll be able to benefit fully from all the industry-leading guidance and advice from your franchisor. Whether you need support on marketing, recruiting, branding or identifying the right location, you should make sure you’re keen and eager to take on as much support as you can to make your business a success.

3. Produce a business plan

Your business plan will change based on the input of various different stakeholders. However your final business plan will be an accurate and thought-out document, outlining a lot of key information. While all business plans will need to change over time, you should aim to try and stick to the key commitments that you’ve highlighted in your business plan. This will see you well on-course to deliver the profits both you and your franchisor are looking for.

Remember though, a business plan is an important document and isn’t something to ignore. Failing to follow a rough business plan could bring you into conflict with your franchisor, so make sure that you’re fully committed to delivering the business in your plan.

4. Make a life-changing career choice with a hotel franchise

The hospitality industry draws thousands of new workers every year, each looking to take advantage of the rich profits that hospitality brings. By joining a big franchise, you’ll be in a fantastic position to earn a generous slice of those profits, while having a huge amount of job satisfaction to go with it.

If the hotel industry isn’t quite right for you, there are plenty of other exciting franchising opportunities elsewhere. You might want to learn more about how travel planners are planning a post-covid comeback, or, maybe even how to become a travel agent yourself. In any case, you can have a wide range of franchising opportunities that are sure to fit your needs on the UK franchise directory.