Cant sell my hotel

barnaby-bear

slowdog wrote: »

breakfast is included. im not going to say, like the evening meals, its a la carte quality. its good honest grub.

facebook flyer compo impresses me, but im not sure i get the jist properly. a little more elaboration? realise it might just be me being thick.

i would like to make some bigger better rooms. needless to say, cost in an issue, but i liek the idea non-the-less

youth hostel. i wonder if that would actually work. if they get the funding, the council are building a £150m+ new college cmapus right next door to us (well, across the car park). student accomodation FTW maybe?

daily towels - we do and we dont. we have a sign in the bathrooms that states "if you want your towels replacing, please leave them in the shower tray." going on to (briefly) explain the less we wash, the better for the environment. but for the life of me, i cant remember if this was a suggestion or a "you have to" from someone at the tourist board.

oh, we only have a residents licence, so dining and bar to external folk is out of the question. we cant change it either.

local restaurants - not really. 75% are town centre or prom, with only a few others dotted here and there

who said we dont have owner accomodation? as someone spotted, yes we do.(yes, the rooms with the grey gas fire). you may be shocked to learn this, but it is one of the better examples of owner accomodation in guest houses / small hotel. you're gonna have to trust me on that one.

how many weeks are we full? i could answer that but its unimportant. reason being, the number has decreased over the past 2 / 3 years. this has as much to do with the decline in blackpool as it has the current economy and recession. that sounds like a cop out. look at it this way. this place used to make stupid money, and was full from easter to lights switch off (early nov). over the past 10 years, the visitor numbers to blackpool has fallen through the floor, as my taxi driving friend will attest to. its easy to say we might be doing things wrong in some ways, but believe me, this place is a hell of a lot better than it was when my wife took it over. it couldnt have gotten an AA award back then. now we can (and are due to get soon). so the standards have gone up, and the numbers have gone down. go figure.

talking of mr taxi guy. thanks for the kind words. im already on all local estate agents, but they didnt reduce the price to its current level last time i asked them to. thats a call for monday.

we do only have showers. we pinched the only room with a bath. gotta have one luxury havent we?

the only rowdiness we get is the once in a while passing of footy supporters or !!!!ed up local teens. but then, who doesnt?


anyway, sorry for the huge post. i have been going through all this with a fine comb and picking out (and listing) all the compliments and crticisms, and, in bullet form, they will be looked through and pondered and discussed.

however, something struck me today. this is how our busy times work at the moment. summer (ie: next week onwards) = very busy. not as good as normal, but a lot of this has to do with the recession. advanced bookings are surprisingly good, but not where they should be. however, more and more people are leaving it till the last minute at the moment before they book. illumination weekends = very busy. same as the summer really, though still loads of time for advance bookings. illumination midweeks - massive decline when gov decided to fine parents for taking their kids away during term time. bank holidays - generally busy. depends when and what the economy is doing. xmas / new year. always good, but we wont talk about last year (flu wiped out loads of guests and they had to cancel...a couple deaths too.....no shows.....that kinda thing)

so that leaves april - end of june and those midweeks in the illuminations. as my cabbie friend will confirm, blackpool is, for the most, DEAD during those times. and thats where our business (and his) is suffering. like many others. its easy to say that blackpool has too many rooms. it didnt 10 years ago. back then, all those rooms were absolutely necessary. blackpools season has gone from a 9 month season to a 5 month season (give or take), and that is the true problem

so the trick now is, how the hell can we attract people at times when there are very few people to attract? puts a different spin on a few of the suggestions here. im not saying that actually, we are doing things right, and its things out of our control thats cocking everything up. its prob 50 / 50. just i think as we decide how to proceed, we need to work out filling those dead times instead of the times that will look after themselves

however, the be all and end all is that we aint gonna be able to sell until we make some more money. unless we really cut our losses. which we cant really do

thanks again to everyone thats posted though. very VERY much appreciated. and sorry again for the HUGE post

So for a couple you do HALF-board for £44 and travel-lodge room is £56, plus thte travel-lodge I found was pay-for-car parking.

I guess they are suggesting the people on there already like what you do / are your demographic so some sort of message them all offering some offer/kickback/free breakfast for all their friends that sign up and book with you to encourage them to forward it on....

Another plus for anyone wanting to buy but not one being pushed by your EA - I would imagine the type of accommodation for the owners affects greatly who will be interested - two couples, a couple with a granny wanting a granny annex etc....

If you said something clear about being on site / owners running who care about hygiene, clean sheets/towels that would suffice - make it clear it's important to you

The most expensive room I've ever stayed in was smaller than most of yours - moving walls is expensive.... it was however very contemporary - white walls - white linen.

Great idea, in the short term I bet they'll be getting studnets in when the first lecture theatre is built and not after the majority is build - is there capacity for you to advertise through the university for short term weeks (especially if at a time when you are quiet) for freshers looking for accommodation, taster weeks, 'conferences' at the university, temporary staff - possibly even without linen/breakfast to reduce work....

I still can't work out your demographic and if I was unsure I can see the appeal of a travel-lodge and the national brand... like I said no-one wants to take the kids for bucket-n-spade to end up in a rocky-horror-transvestite theme night..... other places like Haven/Butlins cater for I imagine similar demographic but make it really clear through theme weeks when you should book - like bridge/bingo/1960s week - is there any capacity to do this.... or a collection of links for each week tying in with local events - e.g. on a family week make it clear that it's a family week with a list of local activities happening that week - what do the caravan parks do to make it clear what weeks are for who....

Is there any capacity to do click throughs or carry ads from local businesses cab firms/restaurants

Is there any capacity to do conferences/training courses - can your public areas take a meeting table/projector

When you get last minute cancellations - how do you refill is there late rooms possibility / your facebook group advertising?

oneeye1

look bottom line is theres far too many cheap places to stay and no where near enuff visitors drop yer price or come up with a niche market that will fill it adult wife swapping

sandraslice

slowdog wrote: »

youth hostel. i wonder if that would actually work. if they get the funding, the council are building a £150m+ new college cmapus right next door to us (well, across the car park). student accomodation FTW maybe?

As and when they start the works,,,The builders will have to stay somewhere whilst working on the site next door,, get in their first before others do.. Put your hotel forward... Conratctors spend a few bob behind the bar too !!!

SouthCoast

If you look at Brighton & Hove on Rightmove and with the benefit of Property-Bee you will find that many hotels and guest houses have been on the market for well over a year.

princessamy86

Slowdog, I've PMd you re auctions.

slowdog

you know, i've suggested that. the wife wont go for it for some reason.....

oneeye1 wrote: »

look bottom line is theres far too many cheap places to stay and no where near enuff visitors drop yer price or come up with a niche market that will fill it adult wife swapping

getmore4less

slowdog wrote: »

there have been some outstanding suggestions here both before and after my absence from the site. a massive thank you to everyone that has posted

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thanks again to everyone thats posted though. very VERY much appreciated. and sorry again for the HUGE post

I think you countered many of the points but the hotel and sales marketing material don't, that is what people are using to decide to either stay or consider buying beef these up with the info.

Make it clear there is a breakfast, a good cooked full english is all that is needed.

Make the owner accomodation clear on the front page of the details

Watch out for the travelodge promotions might need to compete.

look at yours against one ofthe others

http://www.blackpoolhotelsforsale.co.uk/hotels/blackpool_winterbournehotel/winterbournehotel.html
http://www.blackpoolhotelsforsale.co.uk/hotels/blackpool_morningtonhotel/morningtonhotel.html

Ok only 50 beds against 77 but I think many would look that first if buying
£27pp B&B clearly aimed at families with nore family rooms (17/50 against 36/77)

The idea of promoting to transient workers might work if a lot of new building is coming online close by.
Might have to cut pp rates but these will be long term guests.

I stayed at a place in southampton that does this and when the guys go home for the weekends thay use late rooms to try and off load the rooms.

oneeye1

slowdog wrote: »

you know, i've suggested that. the wife wont go for it for some reason.....

yea tuff to find one with a sense of humour

dazco

I am confused now, OP.

Do you want to sell or get more business?

If you are trying to make your hotel busier may I suggest you put your hotel with laterooms (if you already haven't)

Everyone I know goes there, and only there, when they want a hotel room.

GDB2222

dazco wrote: »

I am confused now, OP.

Do you want to sell or get more business?

If you are trying to make your hotel busier may I suggest you put your hotel with laterooms (if you already haven't)

Everyone I know goes there, and only there, when they want a hotel room.

I think he wants to sell, but at a sale price of 5 times turnover it's not an enticing prospect for a buyer. Increasing turnover would make it much easier to sell.

I imagine Blackpool's been hard-hit by things like Ryanair offering flights to France and Spain for £1, which is a lot less than the cost of getting to Blackpool.