Ok, two in one day... within a couple of minutes actually... but I just needed to comment.
What do you do when the place you wanted to start a business is being taken over by a hospitality Goliath? I just found an article in Suffolk Life that there will be this gigantic project that will take place in Riverhead, only a half hour away from where I want to open my hotel. This project is going to be huge. According to the article it includes eight separately themed resorts, a 350-foot indoor ski mountain, hotels, a fitness center, a man-made lake and 2,500 timeshare units.
How is a little dinky hotel supposed to compete with that?
I am hoping that this may turn out to be a good thing for my business. I am not quite ready to open up a business, but hopefully this large project will bring up tourism in the area. There seems to be skepticism on whether the project will ever happen, but if it does, Presiding Officer of Holbrook, Bill Lindsay, believes that it will result in a huge economic boom. There will be more of a reason for businesses to spread out east, and customers may want to rediscover the quaintness of the towns by the wineries while enjoying the benefits of the new amenities nearby.
I was actually worried about attracting more, new and younger people to the area and this could be just the thing to do it. Hopefully this competition will actually be a blessing.
April 29, 2008
It Now Seems Doable
I'm making progress. What seemed so unsure, so insanely large, is now seeming doable.
I'm talking about my project. I have to make a business plan. The main problem was that there is so much I didn't know about what I wanted to do in the business. I'd like to own a hotel, but I've never worked in one before. Sure, I have stayed in a few, just like most of us, but I have never worked there. I don't know what type of supplies the "hotel suppliers" supply. How often do you have to buy new sheets? I can't imagine keeping the same ones for too long of a time. That gets kind of gross no matter how well you wash it.
I don't know the first thing about hiring a person. I don't know what their salaries should be. Its hard to guess without working there. Thank goodness that I have the option of supplementing my project with a plan in order to work my way to where I want to be- my end goal of owning a hotel of my own.
I'm starting off much smaller and much different than what I thought. I found this cute little bed and breakfast online at a reasonable price where I am interested in opening a hotel. Its out on the eastern end of Long Island, right by all the vineyards, where you feel like you're staying somewhere a few dozen years behind the times. It's quaint. It's one of the place where I grew up. Its a place I know, a place I like to visit, and so a great place to try my luck in the hotel world. However my lack of experience is still at my disadvantage, and so before I sink my teeth into this adventure, I plan on spending a few years working in a hotel, and maybe a little while in consulting in small business. The consulting position is what I am recently looking into.
There is a small firm in which I would love to work with this summer. They specialize in turning small businesses into more successful businesses that will run without the sole proprietor nursing every step. I feel I can learn a great deal from the position. I am hoping that I will get it.
After that, perhaps next year or the summer after I plan to get a position in a hotel. Since I have no previous experience I will try my best to work my way up from the bottom. Doing so will give me the knowledge I need to manage those people, knowing what it is like to be them.
After taking this time, I hope to branch out into my own. I hope to make contacts through my experiences that would be able to help me along the way. This is an outline of my plan, although only the bare bones. It is indeed doable, all I need to have is patience.
I'm talking about my project. I have to make a business plan. The main problem was that there is so much I didn't know about what I wanted to do in the business. I'd like to own a hotel, but I've never worked in one before. Sure, I have stayed in a few, just like most of us, but I have never worked there. I don't know what type of supplies the "hotel suppliers" supply. How often do you have to buy new sheets? I can't imagine keeping the same ones for too long of a time. That gets kind of gross no matter how well you wash it.
I don't know the first thing about hiring a person. I don't know what their salaries should be. Its hard to guess without working there. Thank goodness that I have the option of supplementing my project with a plan in order to work my way to where I want to be- my end goal of owning a hotel of my own.
I'm starting off much smaller and much different than what I thought. I found this cute little bed and breakfast online at a reasonable price where I am interested in opening a hotel. Its out on the eastern end of Long Island, right by all the vineyards, where you feel like you're staying somewhere a few dozen years behind the times. It's quaint. It's one of the place where I grew up. Its a place I know, a place I like to visit, and so a great place to try my luck in the hotel world. However my lack of experience is still at my disadvantage, and so before I sink my teeth into this adventure, I plan on spending a few years working in a hotel, and maybe a little while in consulting in small business. The consulting position is what I am recently looking into.
There is a small firm in which I would love to work with this summer. They specialize in turning small businesses into more successful businesses that will run without the sole proprietor nursing every step. I feel I can learn a great deal from the position. I am hoping that I will get it.
After that, perhaps next year or the summer after I plan to get a position in a hotel. Since I have no previous experience I will try my best to work my way up from the bottom. Doing so will give me the knowledge I need to manage those people, knowing what it is like to be them.
After taking this time, I hope to branch out into my own. I hope to make contacts through my experiences that would be able to help me along the way. This is an outline of my plan, although only the bare bones. It is indeed doable, all I need to have is patience.
April 20, 2008
Quit thinking, Start doing.
I think too big.
Do you see how ahead of myself I've been getting? I have big dreams, but I don't know how to get there. I'm a dreamer, and I just want to do- get to the end product, but I often don't realize what I have to do to get there.
I met someone yesterday that opened my eyes to the fact. He has big dreams. He wants to be a senator. How does someone get to be a senator? I do not know, but I'm sure he does. He bases many of his decisions around it. He doesn't step out of line because it may be spread all over the news a few years from now. He knows where he wants to go, and he has a track to get there. How does he have the patience for that?
I have goals... but I suppose that more than anything I just want to live. I want to explore and travel and experience life. (Wow, I sound like a hippie.) However, I do have big aspirations as well. I'm not pretending that I will be doing exactly what I think I will be in the next couple of years. I go down the road that life takes me. I have so many interests that maybe along the way my aspirations will change. I will discover something that I may want to do more. My whole life will swing towards that. Is it right to be driven so much towards something that a. you have blinders on and miss the journey or b. get where you want and then think, "Now what?"
My new friend put it very well- It depends on how you view life. He & I are very different people, and our lives will be determined accordingly.
Do you see how ahead of myself I've been getting? I have big dreams, but I don't know how to get there. I'm a dreamer, and I just want to do- get to the end product, but I often don't realize what I have to do to get there.
I met someone yesterday that opened my eyes to the fact. He has big dreams. He wants to be a senator. How does someone get to be a senator? I do not know, but I'm sure he does. He bases many of his decisions around it. He doesn't step out of line because it may be spread all over the news a few years from now. He knows where he wants to go, and he has a track to get there. How does he have the patience for that?
I have goals... but I suppose that more than anything I just want to live. I want to explore and travel and experience life. (Wow, I sound like a hippie.) However, I do have big aspirations as well. I'm not pretending that I will be doing exactly what I think I will be in the next couple of years. I go down the road that life takes me. I have so many interests that maybe along the way my aspirations will change. I will discover something that I may want to do more. My whole life will swing towards that. Is it right to be driven so much towards something that a. you have blinders on and miss the journey or b. get where you want and then think, "Now what?"
My new friend put it very well- It depends on how you view life. He & I are very different people, and our lives will be determined accordingly.
April 17, 2008
A Boutique Hotel
Under the Sun-- What a wonderful name for a boutique hotel.
If you do not know what a boutique hotel is, I will tell you. Wikipedia defines it as an intimate, luxurious, and usually quirky hotel that differentiates itself by providing personalize accommodation and services/facilities. This seems right up my alley.
As I have said earlier, I love to travel and I am simply fascinated by different cultures. By doing a boutique hotel, I would be able to attract different types of travelers and design each room to different cultural specifications. I could have a feng shui living space, a modern accommodation, an old-fashioned looking room... anything that I would want, tied together of course by a similar color scheme. I could have it all. It would be so much fun. It also would make my hotel more interesting. There would be a reason to come to my hotel... many cultures will feel at home while they are visiting a new country.
I hope to attract many international customers. This is very likely since the low exchange rate of the dollar is attracting visitors from many places throughout the world. With a bit of research I can figure out what they want, what they expect from a hotel, and market it to them (most likely through the Internet). Every step forward I have gives me 10 more questions! How do I attract international customers. What type of words do they search in order to find a hotel. Where would be a good spot they'd like to visit. (California seemed very popular as well as New York, however there was an odd portion of the Irish people I've spoken to that said they visited somewhere atypical such as Tennessee.) Do they want a similar experience as they get at home or do they travel to get something different? How accurate can I be? Is there any rule that I cannot copy other hotel designs? Is it possible for there to be a consistent, natural flow if there are so many themes? I want my hotel to be like a quilt, flowing but each square very different, not like a basket of mismatched socks, aka chaotic and unpleasant to go through. How is that achieved in these boutique hotels?
Back to the research!
If you do not know what a boutique hotel is, I will tell you. Wikipedia defines it as an intimate, luxurious, and usually quirky hotel that differentiates itself by providing personalize accommodation and services/facilities. This seems right up my alley.
As I have said earlier, I love to travel and I am simply fascinated by different cultures. By doing a boutique hotel, I would be able to attract different types of travelers and design each room to different cultural specifications. I could have a feng shui living space, a modern accommodation, an old-fashioned looking room... anything that I would want, tied together of course by a similar color scheme. I could have it all. It would be so much fun. It also would make my hotel more interesting. There would be a reason to come to my hotel... many cultures will feel at home while they are visiting a new country.
I hope to attract many international customers. This is very likely since the low exchange rate of the dollar is attracting visitors from many places throughout the world. With a bit of research I can figure out what they want, what they expect from a hotel, and market it to them (most likely through the Internet). Every step forward I have gives me 10 more questions! How do I attract international customers. What type of words do they search in order to find a hotel. Where would be a good spot they'd like to visit. (California seemed very popular as well as New York, however there was an odd portion of the Irish people I've spoken to that said they visited somewhere atypical such as Tennessee.) Do they want a similar experience as they get at home or do they travel to get something different? How accurate can I be? Is there any rule that I cannot copy other hotel designs? Is it possible for there to be a consistent, natural flow if there are so many themes? I want my hotel to be like a quilt, flowing but each square very different, not like a basket of mismatched socks, aka chaotic and unpleasant to go through. How is that achieved in these boutique hotels?
Back to the research!
April 15, 2008
Two steps behind.
Apparently we are moving forward. We talked about building websites in class today. I think that it may be getting a bit ahead of my plans, but I suppose with all the research that thinking about this stuff as well isn't going to do anything but good.
So onto logos. Its good to be clean-cut and recognizable, as well as on everything. Consistency is key. But isn't that a step or two ahead of finding a name? A name for a hotel is probably something to look for first, and the logo could match. I need a name before I put up a website. I also need information about what my company is going to be, especially where (location! location! location!), and what type (business/professional, vacation, low-budget/high-budget)... These are all things that I have been thinking about- but its time to make a decision!
I was thinking about doing a play off my name. Dawn-- First I was thinking Sunshine... I've actually have had people call me that, but it was cute because it was corny. Do I really want a corny hotel name? I just googled a bunch of related names, and I think I may have found one that I like. Under the Sun.
So when I like something, my brain goes crazy relating it to all different things. If it was Under the Sun, I could easily expand into many hotels, because you can travel anywhere "Under the Sun." I could easily have a logo that is bright with beaming rays of sun, that would be appropriate and set the type of easy-going atmosphere that I would like to work in (as well as other people would like to stay in).
By George, I think she's got it. Under the Sun.
So onto logos. Its good to be clean-cut and recognizable, as well as on everything. Consistency is key. But isn't that a step or two ahead of finding a name? A name for a hotel is probably something to look for first, and the logo could match. I need a name before I put up a website. I also need information about what my company is going to be, especially where (location! location! location!), and what type (business/professional, vacation, low-budget/high-budget)... These are all things that I have been thinking about- but its time to make a decision!
I was thinking about doing a play off my name. Dawn-- First I was thinking Sunshine... I've actually have had people call me that, but it was cute because it was corny. Do I really want a corny hotel name? I just googled a bunch of related names, and I think I may have found one that I like. Under the Sun.
So when I like something, my brain goes crazy relating it to all different things. If it was Under the Sun, I could easily expand into many hotels, because you can travel anywhere "Under the Sun." I could easily have a logo that is bright with beaming rays of sun, that would be appropriate and set the type of easy-going atmosphere that I would like to work in (as well as other people would like to stay in).
By George, I think she's got it. Under the Sun.
April 14, 2008
A Consulting Side
Hopefully I won't jinx it but I am really excited at an opportunity to be an intern at a consulting firm. I know that this is not directly related to my entrepreneurial career as a CEO at a big hotel, but it could help me for the following reasons:
1. This consulting firm, Strategy Leaders, works with small companies who are searching for the push to go from mediocre to extraordinary. In working with them, I can pick up on what to do (and what not to do) when I one day start my business. I can consult myself.
2. Knowing businesses is good for any business. Especially since I will be working in a hotel (and perhaps having many add-ons to it (i.e. a spa or restaurant, etc)) I will need to know what is the more profitable and the least headaches. It also may open my eyes to an entirely different idea that can work better.
3. It gets my name out there. It may be a small consulting firm, but the people I meet here may help me (or be my competition) down the road. The more names and faces and experiences I put myself through now when the money is not on the line, the better knowledgeable I will be when I have to take the plunge myself.
Ah, I'm excited. But I severely hope that I'm not getting too ahead of myself. My final interview is Wednesday- wish me luck!
1. This consulting firm, Strategy Leaders, works with small companies who are searching for the push to go from mediocre to extraordinary. In working with them, I can pick up on what to do (and what not to do) when I one day start my business. I can consult myself.
2. Knowing businesses is good for any business. Especially since I will be working in a hotel (and perhaps having many add-ons to it (i.e. a spa or restaurant, etc)) I will need to know what is the more profitable and the least headaches. It also may open my eyes to an entirely different idea that can work better.
3. It gets my name out there. It may be a small consulting firm, but the people I meet here may help me (or be my competition) down the road. The more names and faces and experiences I put myself through now when the money is not on the line, the better knowledgeable I will be when I have to take the plunge myself.
Ah, I'm excited. But I severely hope that I'm not getting too ahead of myself. My final interview is Wednesday- wish me luck!
April 6, 2008
Research Trouble
I am human, and as a human, I have a fault. I have a fear of failure.
I'm sure that many people have fear of failure. Actually, I'm sure of it. If no one else had this fear, there wouldn't be so many quotes about overcoming it.
So, as of now, I have this large project to do. If I have been doing research throughout the entire semester, it wouldn't be that bad. However, I started doing research, then I realized how much I didn't know, and how much I needed to learn... and I got stressed out. Hey- I'm human.
But now is the time to refocus.
The industry is the travel/ tourism/ hospitality/ gaming industry. Its wide, and varied... so much to learn. But why must I be afraid to fail? Why am I afraid to learn?
As I push through my fear and scrape up extra time to do my research, it doesn't seem so intimidating. It is actually rather interesting. I will someday be a part of this world, and topics that seem not to apply to me, will. There is a great movement to spread businesses into Asia. Does that affect me? Well, now I know that if I want to go to India I may find many more hotels there that will be familiar to me, as well as if I'm looking to start a hotel overseas, this may be a place to look into. Why Asia? Is there another region that is similar and may be the next big place to travel? If I do good research now, I may be one leg up.
I'm sure that many people have fear of failure. Actually, I'm sure of it. If no one else had this fear, there wouldn't be so many quotes about overcoming it.
So, as of now, I have this large project to do. If I have been doing research throughout the entire semester, it wouldn't be that bad. However, I started doing research, then I realized how much I didn't know, and how much I needed to learn... and I got stressed out. Hey- I'm human.
But now is the time to refocus.
The industry is the travel/ tourism/ hospitality/ gaming industry. Its wide, and varied... so much to learn. But why must I be afraid to fail? Why am I afraid to learn?
As I push through my fear and scrape up extra time to do my research, it doesn't seem so intimidating. It is actually rather interesting. I will someday be a part of this world, and topics that seem not to apply to me, will. There is a great movement to spread businesses into Asia. Does that affect me? Well, now I know that if I want to go to India I may find many more hotels there that will be familiar to me, as well as if I'm looking to start a hotel overseas, this may be a place to look into. Why Asia? Is there another region that is similar and may be the next big place to travel? If I do good research now, I may be one leg up.
April 2, 2008
The Bahamas
Wow, it has been a while since my last post. The days, especially vacation days, have really flown by. Speaking of vacation let me post quickly about what I learned.
It is our project to research somewhere we would like to start a business. One of my real loves is travel, and so I thought, if I was to open a hotel somewhere why not be somewhere out of the United States? I was going to the Bahamas with my father and a few friends and as I looked at the turquoise water and felt the warm sun on my skin I knew that this would be one of the best places to work. This is going to be the location of my hotel in the project.
I spoke to a few store owners in the different towns that we stopped at through the Bahamas and I asked them how difficult it is for non-Bahamians to open up business on the islands. Lucky for me, the Bahamas encourage development throughout the islands. Also, there is much land for sale (even entire islands!) so I have many places that I have to work with. What I have to now figure out is what type of resort that I would like to have. I don't want to start a resort in touristy Freeport or Nassau... I want something more natural and high class. A private island may be just what I need, but how much space do I need?
More research should help me decipher whether I need 16 acres or 4 acres on another island.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)